Exiting the car, I bum a few from one of the guys, then sit back in the car and fire it up. I suck in the deep aroma, letting it fill my lungs before I exhale. It does nothing. I put it out just as quickly as I lit the damn thing and lean my head back. I watch two ambulances pull in. The EMTs get out and shake hands with Salvatore. I watch him work his magic with all the men around him.
I don’t envy him at this precise moment. He’s a good man, a decent man. One who doesn’t deserve to be fighting the unknown of what’s happening inside his warehouse. He didn’t even see what was in that video, and yet, I know he knows. He’s aware of everything. Controls everything. I stay focused on him. He may be acting in control right now, his words rough and his smile tight. But he’s not. His shoulders are slouched. He keeps checking his phone and his watch. The building up the road.
I survey him until I feel like I have him all figured out. Until I see him look once more toward the building. The building that holds my heart.
“I want to ask you something, Calla.”
I remember that moment so well in my mind. The way her eyes got huge. The strange look she gave me.
“What? That you want to marry me?” she’d teased, her head lying in my lap. We were at the park that day. Moms were pushing their children on the swings. We were surrounded by laughter, though somehow it seemed it was only the two of us.
“How the hell did you know I was going to ask you?”
I puffed out my chest like the badass teenager I thought I was. She pushed herself up off of my lap and started jumping up and down, screaming.
“Yes! A thousand times, yes!”
We talked it all out. Planned it all out. Thought we would have the world at our feet and that no one would be able to keep us apart again. Little did we know the very same day she became my wife, she would be ripped away from me by the one person I trusted. And now, when I finally have her back, have a chance to prove to her that I love her so damn much I ache, I can’t do anything but sit in this car and stare at that front door. Willing it to open.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Calla
My head is thrown back by her punch, though it barely scrapes the surface of the pain my body is in. She hovers above me, her tiny frame seeming so much smaller than I remember. Drugs will do that to you. Make you lose your appetite. The only craving you have is the desire for your next hit, your next score, or whatever the hell you call it. She’s a fucking druggie.
I tilt my head to the side, doing my best to try and muffle the sounds of my cries from the sudden jolt to my shoulder. The numbness from holding it still for so long causing a surge of the worst pain I have ever had to progress its way down my arm.
“You’re not so tough now, are you? Cain’s not here to protect you this time.”
She puts her face up close to mine.
“Do you know how long I have waited for today? A long time. I’ve loved Cain ever since I can remember, and then, Boom! Out of nowhere comes you. You stole him from me, and now you’re going to pay.”
The bitch lunges at me, clamping a vice-like grip onto my shoulder, her fingers pressing deeply into my wounded flesh.
“Aaggh!” I scream out in agony. “Fuck you!”
I spit in her face.
“You weak cunt. That’s the best you got? You’re fucking pathetic,” I hiss.
“Calla. Shut the hell up.”
Manny speaks with a thick tongue, his words scarcely intelligible.
Royal steps in front of his brother, backhanding him across the face.
“You shut the hell up, brother. This isn’t your call. Emerald, hurry the hell up. You have five minutes to play. And guess what, sweetheart? I’ve all of a sudden changed my mind.”
Changed his mind about what? He glances down at his watch, lightly tapping his fingers on the face.
“Since the two of you are clearly testing my patience, I’ve decided to kill you both. Do what you want with her, she’s no use to me. He can watch this time,” he says, flicking his hand.
I watch in horror as he walks over to Manny whose eyes are pleading with mine to hold on for as long as I can.