I grabbed my beer and took a hefty gulp.
“I’m like a junkie, fighting against the temptation to just take what is mine, to take you and marry your ass and raise that little boy together… It would be so fucking easy but then I remind myself that I left you alone for three years. Grieving for a baby, we never even got to meet and that I very well could end up back there and you would be alone again and your son would grow up hating me or you could be standing in the cemetery like today, watching as they lower my body into the earth. Either way you’re alone. Either way I fuck up your life. Either way Luca loses.”
I slammed the bottle down onto the wooden table, trading it for my gun and closed my eyes. In one hand, I held hope and the other I held my reality. I let out a heavy sigh and placed the ring back in the box, snapping it shut and placing it on the table. I reached for her earring, ran my fingers around the hoop absentmindedly as I closed my eyes, and saw her face. I flipped the gun around so that the barrel of it faced the ceiling and tossed her earring, all I had left of her, in the air and watched as it caught onto the gun, spinning around the barrel.
I finished my beer, stuck in a trance as the diamonds spun around the metal, slowing until it sat there around the gun. The sound of keys fitting into the lock on the front door broke me away from my dark thoughts. I slipped the earring off the gun, stuffing both her earring and the ring she never received in my pocket before placing my gun down on the coffee table.
The lights flickered on, temporarily blinding me as my eyes adjusted. I hadn’t even realized I had been sitting in the dark until Mike showed up and reminded me. I didn’t turn around or even acknowledge him for a while, just kept my eyes trained on my gun.
“Nikki drop you off?” I asked, after a few moments. He may not intend to fall for her, but he will it’s in evitable. Once a Pastore girl gets her hooks into you there is no going back.
“Yeah,” Mike said cautiously.
I slapped my hands against my thighs and grabbed my gun. Show time. I rose to my full height, slid the safety in place, tucking it into the back of my jeans before grabbing my leather jacket and shrugging it on. I turned around, my eyes finally meeting Mike’s and I kept my voice controlled as I issued him a warning.
“Be sure you want to work for Victor,” I said gravely. “Because once you do there is no getting out of it. You will be at his mercy. You’ll be feared. You’ll be detested. You’ll be all alone. Forget about the people you love because they’ll never look at you the same. You won’t be respected and the life you thought you wanted will be your biggest nightmare.”
I didn’t expect Mike to listen to a word I said. I felt, as his friend, and I hadn’t been a good one to him, that I owed him that little bit of advice. I’d hate to see him in my fucking shoes, hell I wouldn’t wish my life on my worst enemy. I brushed passed Mike and headed out the door to be the thug that I was.
Chapter Twenty-Three: 2015
I stood beside Jack watching Mike fire off at a paper mark, his bullets slamming into the heart of the target with hardly any effort at all. Victor wanted Mike to be able to fire a gun, in case a situation should arise at the club, so that Mike wouldn’t be a complete waste. He figured that at least he’d be able to save his own ass.
“The kid’s a natural, just like his old man,” Jack said, talking over the sound of the gunshots. I pulled off my protective earphones and tilted my chin towards the soundproof room, signaling for Jack to follow me. I could still keep an eye on Mike through the glass windows but I wanted to use this opportunity to speak to Jack alone.
He followed me into the room, closing the door behind him and we both faced Mike as we started conversation. He reached into his leather cut and pulled out an envelope, slapping it against my chest.
“What’s this?” I asked, taking the envelope, folding it in half before sliding it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“It’s Jimmy’s phone records,” Jack said, moving closer to the glass, eyes trained on Mike as he refilled his magazine of bullets. He knocked on the glass, causing Mike to turn around and Jack then pointed to the right of him. Mike nodded in response and loaded the gun with the correct bullets.
“Anything suspicious?” I asked.
“I didn’t check, figured it was best you do so that way if you find any red flags you can get right on it.”
“I know he did it,” I confessed. “I just need to find the proof.” I ran my fingers roughly through my hair. “Has he been in touch?”