Empire (Eagle Elite Book 7) (8 page)

I hit him in the chest, and when he didn’t move or even make a noise, I hit him again and again and again as the confusion of the night washed over me, and when I was done, I realized, he was hugging me.

“Where is her room?” he asked, not seeming to address anyone in particular.

Someone must have pointed because nobody answered, and he picked me up in his arms and carried me up the stairs and into my bedroom where he gently placed me on my bed and sighed. “You’re young.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that,” I said as tears streamed down my face. “Why did you hurt my uncles?”

“Would you believe me if I said they hit me first?”

“No.”

He chuckled. “They may seem old — they can pack a punch.”

“My uncles would never hit a person.” The idea was almost laughable. I probably would have laughed if I wasn’t so scared.

“Okay.” He sounded like he didn’t believe me. “Val.” He used the name I’d told him to. “Sleep.”

Yeah, right, because sleep was going to come so easily. A snort of disbelief escaped as I glared. “And things will look better in the morning?”

He hesitated, those gorgeous lips pressed into a firm line. “No.”

“That wasn’t very encouraging.”

“Would you rather I lie?”

I swallowed the thickness in my throat; it felt like I’d swallowed a golf ball and was trying to cough it back up. “I’m not sure.”

Sighing, he reached out and touched my cheek, then jerked back as if he couldn’t believe he’d just touched me. Abruptly, he stood and turned his back to me.

It was a nice back.

Muscular in all the right places.

I just bet that shirt had a hard time staying on.

I had a sudden image of him ripping it over his head then mentally scolded myself. He was the enemy, he was the reason something had happened — was happening — tonight. Everything in me screamed danger.

And yet, I was stripping him in my head.

Yeah, I was losing my mind.

“I used to believe it.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “The lie, the one that says all you need is a good night’s sleep, and things will look better in the morning, feel better, be better.” He hung his head. “Now I know the truth.”

I swallowed. “And what’s that?”

He turned, just enough for me to see his striking profile, the tick in his jaw as he clenched his teeth into an almost grimace. “Regardless of what surrounds you, the blanket of darkness at night, or the warmth of the sun during the day, circumstances remain. Sadness… remains, anger… remains. Sleep promises rest — I haven’t rested in a very long time.”

I leaned forward. “If the next word out of your mouth is that you’re a five thousand year old vampire, I’m probably going to jump out my window.”

His lips broke into a tense smile. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m human. So very human.” He frowned as if the thought actually upset him. “I bleed just like everyone else.”

“Clearly.” I pointed to his knuckles. “Sergio?”

He crossed his arms and faced me again. “Val?”

“Who are you?”

“Don’t worry about who I am, worry about what I’m not.”

“A vampire?”

“That.” He grabbed the blanket from the foot of my bed and placed it over me. “And… I’m not your friend, Val.”

The comment stung.

The golf ball in the back of my throat swelled, stretched wide and spread down my chest as I fought for a breath that didn’t hurt.

“Okay.” I finally squeezed out, my voice weak. “No false hope and all that?”

“I don’t do hope,” he snapped, and then he whispered under his breath. “Not anymore.”

He walked with a jerking gait over to the door and left, shutting it behind him, leaving me to wonder… if he wasn’t my friend…

Did that make him my foe?

A lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing —A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sergio

I’D BEEN FIELDING
texts and calls from the crew back in Chicago all night. Tex was losing his shit. He even went as far as to ask if Frank shot my sorry ass. I replied with a middle finger emoji and moved on.

Nixon was next.

Followed by Chase.

Even Phoenix decided it would be in his best interest to play therapist. God help us all if the darkest mob boss out of all of them, the one with the most secrets, the worst past, started sending me motivational texts about teamwork.

Actually, it was more along the lines of, keep your head out of your ass, you can’t see the sunshine when you’re poking your head where it doesn’t belong.

I didn’t have the energy to respond. Not after dealing with all the Alferos, damn it. A little warning from Frank would have been nice. Then again, that wasn’t really Frank’s style.

He was more of a toss the person into the snake pit and, if he lives, give him a promotion sort of guy.

My neck hurt, my knuckles were scabbed over with a mixture of blood and torn skin.

And the night was young.

We’d left the Alfero house with plans to have a meeting the following day, which was good, all things considered.

They wanted to talk that evening.

But I knew the last thing the innocent girl sleeping upstairs needed was to wake up and truly see her entire existence altered. Granted, you couldn’t run from reality, from your truth — if you could, I’d have done it.

God knows, I’d tried.

The truth would find her soon enough — and the happy girl who offered easy smiles and doted on her uncles like they were senile retirement home members, would be gone.

Replaced by the harsh reality that only the mafia brings.

Death.

Blood.

Destruction.

Repeat.

“Don’t be gone long,” Frank said once the car stopped near Times Square.

“Aw, you gonna miss me, old man?” I tried joking, even though my voice was gravelly, foreign. The night had taken its toll already.

Frank rolled his eyes. “Try to stay alive.”

“I’ll do my best.”

He snorted as I slammed the door to the Mercedes and leisurely walked toward Broadway.

Blood roared in my ears as I hit Broadway and looked at all the signs proclaiming a variety of shows.

With shaking hands I pulled out the honeymoon checklist Andi had given me and looked down at the scribble that said, Go to a Broadway show in New york and sing along even if it sounds horrible.

I didn’t have much to choose from since it was getting so late. I finally decided on Beauty and The Beast, maybe because I felt like the beast, only in the end, I wouldn’t turn into the prince.

Then again, it always boggled my mind. The prince had lived so long as a beast, how was it possible for him to go back to his royal status? And what was the purpose of all of his suffering if he was left with no reminder of the way he looked toward people on the outside? It would fade. And in my mind, it was only a matter of time before the prince became spoiled and discontented, because that was life.

That was the
real
human condition.

Save me today, and I’ll live for you tomorrow.

Fix it and I’ll do anything.

Just this once! And my life is yours.

We say a lot of words we don’t mean.

And yet, I would say all of those things again and again, if it would bring her back to me.

With lead-filled legs, I went to the box office, purchased my ticket and sat in the farthest row back I could.

It was packed; then again, it was Friday.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out.

Nixon:
Are you dead?

Sergio:
I’m texting you back, does that answer your question?

Nixon:
You need backup?

Sergio:
No.

I turned off my phone and slid it into my pocket just as the lights dimmed then lit up again only to dim one last time. As the music swelled, I closed my eyes and hoped to God, one day, one day I’d be free.

SUNLIGHT STREAMED THROUGH
the curtains, landing square on my eyes. I hissed out a curse and tossed a pillow in the general direction of the window.

We were staying at a boutique hotel near Times Square, the more people around us, the merrier. It meant we didn’t have to worry about getting shot at. My money was on the uncles staying up all night trying to figure out how to order a hit on their own family and the single Abandonato in a sea full of Alferos.

Four loud knocks on my door had me leisurely getting out of bed, grabbing my Glock, and holding it behind my back as I peeked through the peephole to see who was there.

Dante.

He didn’t appear armed.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t.

Sighing, I pulled the door open. “Either I’m going to be your first kill, or you want to talk.” I scratched my head with the gun in my right hand. “My bet’s on the latter.”

“You’re a real arrogant prick, you know that, right?” Dante observed in a calm voice.

“I’m very aware of my accomplishments, yes.”

Rolling his eyes, he shoved past me.

“Yes, please, come in. I wasn’t sleeping or anything.”

“Men like you don’t sleep, too much blood on your hands.”

“Jaded for someone so young.”

“Nineteen isn’t young, not in this world. How old were you when you first killed someone, when you took someone’s life?” His blue eyes locked on mine. They saw too much, just like Luca, damn it.

“Fourteen,” I answered in a deliberately bored tone. “Though I was only ten when my father forced me to shoot the family pet at point blank range. Then again, it was either shoot the pet or my own cousin. I chose the dog.”

Dante didn’t flinch, but he did avert his eyes.

“I don’t need your pity,” I snapped.

“Good.” He sneered. “Wasn’t offering it.”

“So that’s it? That’s what you wanted to know? How old I was before I sold my soul to the Family?”

“No.” His shuttered expression cracked, revealing something I recognized well — fear. “I wanted to talk about Val.”

“What about her?”

“She doesn’t know.”

“No shit.”

“Would you just listen? And stop with the sarcasm, damn it. Do you realize how annoying you are? Or how emotionally draining it is just to be in the same room as you?”

“I’d like to think it’s part of my charm.”

He took a deep breath and walked over to the window, keeping his back to me. Stupid move. I could kill him without hesitation.

But maybe that was the point.

He was trying to show he trusted me.

By showing his back.

I nodded silently. I respected that.

So I lowered the gun to the table and crossed my arms. “I’m going to assume that when you say Val doesn’t know, what you’re really trying to get across is that she doesn’t know you know.”

His shoulders tensed.

“And you’ve been keeping it from her… how long?”

He didn’t answer.

“Dante.”

“My whole life,” he whispered. “Gio, Sal, and Papi made a promise never to reveal anything to Val. It would destroy her, the truth. The promise included me… until things went wrong.”

“You mean until you were sent away, and the families started their little war?”

He nodded, still staring out the window. “They trained me. I swore I’d never tell Val but now…” His shoulders lifted and fell as he released a heavy sigh. “Now she’s going to find out.”

“She won’t hate you.”

“She will.”

“Val seems like a forgiving person.”

“Hah!” He turned and met my stare. “And you know her so well?”

“I’m about to,” I muttered, sitting on the bed. “Look, for what it’s worth, there isn’t any part of this situation that makes me comfortable. My family is perfectly happy in Chicago. The Cappo runs things from there as well as Italy. We finally have peace because of what your father has done, because of the Empire he has built. I’m not here out of any selfish ambition. I’m here because I owe it to him to follow through with his plan, from the very beginning, so even if that means I have to eat shit — literally, I’ll do it. That’s how much I respected Luca. I would consider it the greatest compliment of my life if someone said I lived the way he did.”