“Forget what I said,” Phoenix snapped. “This isn’t a game, Mo! People’s lives are at stake. What if I told you it was Chase or your brother, would you pay attention then? Hmm?”
I shook my head in an effort to fight the truth. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Phoenix threw his hands up into the air. “What could I possibly gain from a lie? When the truth is so damning!” He bit down on his lip and placed his hands on his hips. “Mo, you need to stay out of it. Let him go, if you don’t…”
“If I don’t?”
Phoenix turned away from me, his face like ash. “Imagine a world where a husband is forced to kill his wife. Imagine a world where a brother is forced to watch his sister get raped. That’s the world you live in, Mo. That’s the world his father—” He jutted his finger towards Tex. “—created. It’s his legacy, that’s what Tex has to fix. That’s what he has to protect everyone from. If he fails to gain the allegiance of Alfonso’s men, if he fails in any way to gain the allegiance of the other families, if he shows weakness, that’s the legacy you’ll be allowing to live, and if for some reason he fails… we’re all going to die.”
Tex stirred with a moan.
Phoenix knelt down to his side and shook his head. “I won’t tell you again, Mo. Leave him alone. Go get dressed, I won’t watch. Let me know when you leave and I’ll go about getting him cleaned up.”
Slowly, I rose from the bed and quickly slipped on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt.
“Also.” Phoenix didn’t turn around. “I need you to get Nixon.”
“But—”
“Mo.” Phoenix’s voice was harsh, edgy. “Get Nixon.”
Getting Nixon meant he’d know what happened and I knew I looked like I’d just been with someone, the room smelt like us, I smelt like him. Tears threatened as I walked down the hall and into the Billiards room.
“Nixon?” I pasted a fake smile on my face. “Can I talk to you?”
He flashed a smile. “Of course.”
That same smile stayed firmly in place until he reached the door, his fingers dug into my arm as we walked swiftly down the hall.
“What’s going on?” he asked smoothly, as muscle ticking in his jaw as his teeth clenched harder.
“Chase almost killed Tex.”
Sighing, Nixon looked up at the ceiling and crossed his arms. “For the hell of it, or was there good reason?”
“Oh, there was a reason.” Chase stumbled out of the bathroom, his hands a bloody mess. “He slept with Mo.”
I took a step back as Nixon took a menacing step forward.
I jutted my chin forward in defiance as I challenged him with a glare. “He’s my husband.”
“Funny you should say that.” Chase crossed his arms. “Because when you were both busy ripping each other’s clothes off, the deal was just getting signed.”
“Deal?” Fear spread through my body like ice. “What deal?”
“An alliance,” Chase scoffed. “What? He didn’t mention it to you?”
“What type of alliance?” I asked knowing I probably didn’t want to know the answer.
“The most powerful family in Sicily is the Campisi clan… the second most powerful, Nicolasi.”
“So?”
Chase shook his head. “So do the math.”
“Nixon?” I pleaded.
“He’s going to marry into Nicolasi; it’s been decided. I told them how I altered the marriage records between you two to protect him from the hit. Luca’s drawing up the new contract later this evening—they want it a done deal so they have a joined front at The Commission.”
My heart dropped to my knees. Nixon kept speaking but I couldn’t make out any words, just white noise. Tex knew. He’d known the whole time and he still did what he did… he knew my heart would be broken but he broke it anyways. He broke it with the full knowledge that I’d never forgive him, never be able to come back from this moment. We all have those instances in our lives, where something big happens, where we have a choice to react and let that something big define us or mold us. I had no idea what I was going to do. All I knew was that I couldn’t envision myself ten years from now healed. I didn’t see a future anymore. All I saw was black—all I felt was fear.
Gasping I put my hands over my mouth and let out a little sob. The pieces fell into place, why he’d said goodbye, why he was cutting off all communication. And finally, why he’d let Chase almost kill him.
Shaking, I tried to move away from Nixon but my feet wouldn’t budge, instead my knees knocked together as I bit down on my tongue until I tasted blood.
“Mo.” Nixon grasped my elbow. I jerked away from him, my eyes downcast, focusing on the hardwood floors.
“Is everything okay?” Luca’s accented voice pierced the haze of shock.
“Fine.” Nixon answered just as a noise sounded from the end of the hall. Phoenix walked slowly around the corner, Tex’s heavy body leaning on him as they made their way towards us.
It all happened at once. Nixon reaching for me, Chase doing the same, Luca touching my other arm.
With a hoarse cry I pushed at Nixon and pulled the gun from its holster strapped to his chest, inside his jacket.
With shaky movements I pointed the gun at Tex and screamed, “You bastard!”
Phoenix froze as Tex lifted his head, his face a mask of confusion and blood. “Mo…”
“No!” My hand trembled as I pressed the barrel of the gun to his muscled chest. “How could you?”
“Mo this isn’t the place to—”
He flinched and licked his lips as I jammed the gun harder against his body. “What? Air out our dirty laundry? Tell everyone that about fifteen minutes ago we were naked? Oh, I’m sorry, when would be the right time? How about after I find out you’re marrying a Nicolasi bitch just to align the families!”
Tex paled, his mouth dropped open, then closed, then opened again. “Mo, it wasn’t a sure thing. I didn’t—”
“Shut up!” I wailed, shaking the gun harder against him. “You don’t get to talk. You don’t get the satisfaction of apologizing, and I’m sure as hell not forgiving you, not now, not ever. We. Are. Done.” I wanted to pull the trigger. I wanted him to hurt as bad as he hurt me, but I couldn’t. No matter how much I hated him, I still loved him. My heart wouldn’t let my finger squeeze. So instead, the gun fell from my hands and clattered to the floor. “Move.”
Tex and Phoenix stepped apart. I walked through them, head held high. Screw him, screw all of them! I was done, so done.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Violence breeds more violence. Always.
Phoenix
E
VERY MUSCLE IN
T
EX’S
body was taut, waiting to spring into action. It took every ounce of strength I had, to hold him in place and keep him from running after her.
I hated that everything was working out so well almost as much as I feared the opposite.
“Well.” Luca’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That was interesting.”
“Sorry.” Tex muttered.
Chase swore, shaking his head in disgust. “I’m not.”
“Tex.” Luca barked. “You should say goodbye to the men. Nixon, as the host you should leave with him and Chase, you look like hell, don’t come out.”
“Wouldn’t even if I had to.” Chase glared. “Besides, you’re not my boss.”
“I think I speak for bosses everywhere when I say… thank God.” Luca hissed.
Chase rolled his eyes and went in the opposite direction. I pushed Tex forward. Nixon put his arm around Tex’s shoulders and gripped his head jerking it towards him as he spoke in hushed tones. Yeah Tex was a dead man walking.
“So…” Luca pulled out a cigar and rolled it between his fingers. “Game.” He stuck the cigar in his mouth. “Set.”
“Match?” I offered him a matchbook.
Luca took the matches and grinned, cigar still sticking out. “I knew I could count on you.”
“What’s done is done.”
“Not yet.” His smile fell. “Not yet.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Even if you’re heartless—one still beats inside your chest. Irritating, to say the least.
Tex
I
WENT THROUGH THE MOTIONS
. I said goodbye to the men, I shook hands, I accepted the cigars and drinks, I laughed like I didn’t have a care in the world and talked to them as if I truly cared whether or not they all got shot at The Commission.
It was all a lie.
Because my heart wasn’t in it.
My heart didn’t even exist anymore. I’d already given it away. I promised myself I’d make it real, and I’d done exactly that. Only the joke was on me. I gave her everything, knowing there was no turning back. Knowing that in that moment, in her room, I was finally allowing myself to feel one last time, what it was like to be loved.
I knew the minute we were done that it was over.
I knew the future wouldn’t include the love of my life, but an arranged marriage with a strange woman who would bring the Campisi family back into trusted circles.
Power, it was all about power. Being a part of the Mafia was like being in a chess game where you had no idea if you were the queen or a pawn, until it was too late, until you lost the entire game or until you won.
I wasn’t sure if I would win.
But I sure had to try.
“Hey.” Bee walked up to my side and touched my arm. “Think we can talk?”
“Yeah.” I said hoarsely. “Let’s go out back.”
I gripped her hand in mine and led her to the backyard. It was a chilly evening, but Nixon had turned the outside heaters on just in case the men wanted to go outside and smoke.
“So.” She stood beneath the heater, arms crossed. “You’re my brother.”
My smile felt forced. I had no connection to this woman, no memory of her, she was a stranger, yet I’d die for her. The absolute madness that washed over me at keeping her safe wasn’t even logical. I just knew I’d kill for her, without a second thought.
“That I am.”
“You’re tall.”
“I ate a lot of spinach growing up,” I joked.
She snapped her fingers. “Right, I was never one for vegetables, always fed them to the dog.”
“Which is why you’re smaller than me.”
She grinned. “Yeah it has nothing to do with me being a girl.”
“Woman,” I corrected. “You’re all grown up.”
“Do you… ?” She chewed her lower lip and took a tentative step forward, her heels clicking on the wood. “Do you remember me at all?”
I sighed, scratching the back of my head. “By the time you were born I was long gone, Bee. I’m sorry.”
Her brows furrowed for a minute. “Yeah, me too. It would have been nice to have someone to talk to.”
Uncomfortable, I cleared my throat. “Well, I’m sure you had friends, right?”
Her look was incredulous. “Friends? Brother dear, I had to look up the definition of that word when I was six and saw a TV show about a sleep over. Dad never took me anywhere. I’m pretty sure the only reason I lived was because Mom was so fiercely protective, didn’t want to lose another child and all that.”
Pain pierced through my chest. What would it have been like to have had a parent care so desperately for you? I didn’t know. Would never know that kind of love.
A brief image of Mo flashed across my mind.
That was a different kind of love, and it was no more.
“Have you heard from her?”
Bee shook her head. “After Phoenix took me into his protection I was cut off from the entire family… Phoenix was afraid Alfonso would try to use me as a way to get to you.”
“Smart.” I sighed. “I guess I owe Phoenix a lot. He um, he never touched you, right?”
Bee snorted with laughter. “You kidding? Swear, I asked him if he was gay every single day he was with me.”
Yeah I bet Phoenix had hated that. “So, he didn’t?”
Bee’s cheeks stained pink. “He doesn’t even see me.”
Yeah, I highly doubted that. Phoenix may have been to Hell and back but he was still a man and my sister wasn’t a child. Hell, I was having a hard enough time letting her wear a cocktail dress in public.
Clearing my throat, I looked away. “You’ll stay here.”
“Here?” She repeated “In Chicago?”
“Here.” I licked my lips. “With me and the Abandonato’s until I take my place.”
Bee’s shoulders slumped as she examined her nails, almost trying to appear indifferent about the whole thing. “So, is that what you’re going to do? Follow in Daddio’s footsteps and damn us all to Hell?”
“No,” I snapped. “I’m going to fix it.”
“But—”
“Leave it at that,” I warned. “I’ll keep you safe and I’ll fix everything—all of it.”
“So, you’re Superman now?” Another step towards me and then finally she laid her head on my shoulder. “I always was fond of the cape.”
“No…” I wrapped my arm around her. “Superman would find a better way to do what I have to do.”
“And what’s that?”
“Kill a lot of people.”
“Oh.” She didn’t cringe at all instead she pressed closer to my side. “Just do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Don’t kill Phoenix.”
At that I laughed. “Can’t kill what the devil don’t want.”
She tensed.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“He’s been good to me, even though he says I’m a pain in the ass, and maybe I am, but I just… I swear I’ll kill you myself if you tell him this but…”
“Spit it out Bee…”
“He’s the only friend I’ve ever had.”
My heart shook with injustice as my arm clenched her tighter to me. Sad, when the killer becomes your friend, when the very devil is the only one keeping you company at night. What type of life is that? What type of childhood? When the darkness is your only comfort, your only warmth.
“I won’t,” I answered finally. “I won’t kill him.”
“Thanks,” she breathed. “I mean if anyone should get the honor it’s me, did you know he made fun of my shoes?”
“The absolute nerve.”
“Right?”
“I’m surprised he’s still walking.”
“I did stomp on his foot.”
“Mature.”
“I thought so.”
“Bee?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know you well yet—but I’ll protect you until I die, you know that right?”
She sighed. “Yeah, Tex. I know.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Waking up alone is a very cold feeling even when sunlight burns your skin.
Mo