29. Delancy
Delancy
W hatever exploded above us sent shards of wood and debris into the basement. Thick smoke fills the air, causing me to cough.
My father’s alive?
I crawl on the floor, trying to find Noah, but instead I come across Matthew. He’s passed out but alive with a nasty head injury. This asshole. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like him. I’ll deal with him later. I’m really going to enjoy killing the fucker.
“Noah!” I scream out, but I’m met with silence. Well, not silence. My ears are ringing, and I think I hear angry shouting, gunfire, and people running around above us.
“Son,” my father’s strained voice calls out.
I ignore him as I keep crawling. The smoke and dust are beginning to thin enough that I can see Noah on the ground.
She’s tipped over in the chair, her arms still tied behind her back and ankles secured to the legs. I find a knife on the ground near her and cut her out of the binds.
Blood trickles out of the bullet wound in her shoulder. I check her body for other injuries, but thankfully I don’t find any more.
I pat her cheek gently at first, then harder when she doesn’t wake. “Noah. Please, come back to me.”
I press down on her shoulder to slow the bleeding and her eyes pop open. She gasps for breath.
“There’s my rainbow bright,” I say, palming her cheek.
“What happened?” she asks, looking around. “Oh, my God. Del, your father. Are you okay?”
“It’s fine. We need to get you out of here.”
“No. Del, I’m okay. It's through and through. The bleeding has already slowed down. Take care of him.”
“Can you stand?”
She nods and holds out her hand. I help her up, and she wobbles a bit before straightening her back and lifting her chin with determination.
Fuck, she’s perfect.
I give her a quick kiss on the lips and turn away to find my father. He’s on the ground on his back, injured by splintered wood lodged in his stomach. A survivable injury… if we get him to a surgeon soon.
But that won’t be happening.
I search the area for a gun and find one next to my father’s left hand. He realizes I’m eyeing it and tries to grab it, but he’s too injured, too slow.
“Are you going to kill me like you did your mother?”
“Fuck you, old man,” I growl. “You know I had no choice.”
“You could have let them kill you too.”
I aim the gun at his head, and I'm seconds from pulling the trigger.
“Lance,” Elias says from the top of the stairs. He carefully walks down, a few steps are gone but for the most part, they’re intact. He glances over his shoulder at a woman preparing to follow him. “Stay here, Reine.”
Reine? Who is that?
“Sage is here?” Noah asks, panic filling her voice when she spots her best friend.
Ah. Right. Elias knows French.
Reine = Queen.
Sage makes a move to follow, despite Elias’s order to stay, then takes in the appearance of the stairs and changes her mind.
“Give me the gun.” Elias holds out his hand, and I shake my head. “I need to do it.”
“Pathetic,” Percy spits out when Elias takes the gun from me. “Have I taught you nothing, Elias? This is not how the QBM Don should lead. I hand my legacy over and you... you share it with the enemy?”
Elias doesn’t wait for Percy to go into another villain speech. He pulls the trigger and shoots him in the middle of the forehead.
He stands there, staring down at our dead father.
“Elias,” I whisper, and he holds up his hand.
“He doesn’t deserve our grief. Not after everything he’s done.”
“I don’t give a fuck about him. I wanted to make sure you’re okay. I know that wasn’t easy.”
Elias turns, his face full of anguish. “He made my life miserable as a kid. Killing him was easy because I needed to do it for my own closure. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you that night twenty years ago.”
“I thought you always hated me for killing Mom. I thought you wished I had died instead.”
Elias’s eyes glaze over with tears.
“I never... Lance-a-lot... I hated myself.” He rubs his large hand over his face. “I hated that you were the one forced to do it. I was the big brother. I should have been there to protect you. It should have been me, not you.”
I walk to Elias and place a hand on his shoulder. “It shouldn’t have been either of us.”
“I’m sorry I let you believe... I’m sorry. I love you. I always have. I’ve been punishing myself for that night, and I dragged you into my suffering.”
I bring him in for a hug, and he freezes at the move. Neither of us are used to such sentimental gestures. But he relaxes and melts into me after a few seconds.
I hear Noah sniffling behind us, and I pull away from my brother.
“That’s so sweet,” she sobs.
“What?” Sage screams from the top of the stairs. “What am I missing? Someone fill me in.”
Elias and I help Noah walk over debris so we can get the fuck out of here.
“Are all of Percy’s guys dead?” Noah asks. “How many people knew he was still alive?”
“And why the fuck did you blow us up? You could have killed us.”
Elias scowls at my tone. Always the disapproving big brother.
“We caught a couple of them for questioning. Hopefully, we’ll have answers soon,” he says. “And we didn’t blow you up. This place was rigged with explosives. One went off during the gunfight when we first arrived.”
“I can’t believe you brought Sage here,” Noah scolds my brother. “She could have died.”
“Are you kidding me?” Elias scoffs. “You think I had a choice?”
“I can hear you guys talking about me,” Sage says at the top of the stairs as we carefully make our way up. “I wasn’t letting him leave without me. Literally locked myself inside his car. Besides, I was the one who knew where you were. He had to bring me.”
“How did you know where to find us?” I ask, suspicious. I don’t think Noah could take anyone else betraying her, especially from her best friend.
“Noah and I installed apps on our phones to track each other at all times.”
“Right. I forgot we did that.”
“Seriously, Noe?”
She shrugs. I hate anything that would make her vulnerable, like apps that could track her location, but she clearly doesn’t seem concerned.
Sage is her best friend who she inadvertently brought into our world.
She wanted assurances that she’d be able to locate her in case of a situation like this.
I don’t know shit about technology, and I refused to have my hacker friend install anything on her phone, but of course she found a way.
“I texted you about hanging out, but you didn’t answer right away, which is normal if you’re with Del because you two fuck all the time.
” I smile, proud of myself for Sage knowing how much I keep Noah’s pussy aching.
“I had a bad feeling, so I checked your location. You were heading into Queens, which I thought was weird. You never go that deep into Queens. I called, and you didn’t answer. I panicked and called Boss, um, Elias.”
Oh, they have nicknames for each other now?
“Once Sage gave me the location,” Elias says, narrowing his eyes at the woman, “I knew exactly where you were heading.
This was our childhood home. A part of me never believed Percy died.
Him getting sick and refusing to let us see him on his deathbed always rubbed me the wrong way.
Then there was one night a year ago when I swore I saw him.
I thought I was losing my mind, seeing ghosts.
“So, when I found out this is where Noah was being taken, I sent in a few soldiers ahead to scope out the place. One of them spotted Percy through the basement window.”
“Fuck,” I whisper. “At least you were mentally prepared. They drugged me, and I woke up thinking I had died and gone to hell and Percy was the devil.”
Noah hugs her best friend once we emerge from the basement. There are QBM soldiers everywhere.
“Are we sure none of these people are traitors?” I carefully scan the men and women in the room, looking for any signs of deceit.
Elias shrugs. “I think they would have made their move by now.”
“Are you okay?” Sage asks Noah, noticing her shoulder.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ve had it worse.”
Sage frowns. “I’ll always worry about you.”
Her eyes trail to Elias.
“Thank you for saving them,” she says, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear.
I can see Elias struggling not to go to her. To pull her into his arms. He doesn’t though, and I wonder how long this resistance between the two will last.
“Cops are on their way. You two should go,” Elias says.
“I’ll stay with you,” Sage offers, and I almost laugh at my brother’s face. I’ve never seen him shocked. Glad he’s found a woman to keep him on his toes.
Well, found, but has yet to convince her to be with him.
“Your father called me after he couldn’t get a hold of either of you,” Elias says as we all head to the door. “He told me about the strange call and text, which I assume came from Percy?”
“Yeah, he was trying to lure Gio here. I bet that’s what the explosives were for,” I say. “He was going to level this place with him inside.”
Elias nods in agreement, turning his attention back to Noah. “He was in the Bronx, and it was going to take him too long to get here so I told him I was closer, and I’d check it out. You should call him back. He’s worried.”
Noah turns to me. “Let’s head back to the townhouse. I’ll tell Gio to meet us there. It’s time I finally confront him about all this.”
I point my thumb over my shoulder. “There’s a guy downstairs. Lenetti’s head of security went rogue. He was working with Percy. Save him for us, okay?”
Noah’s face lights up at the unspoken promise of my words. I’m sure she wants to kill Matthew as much as I do.
So, we’ll do it together.
I wrap my arm around her waist and kiss her temple.
We walk out of my old childhood home, and I turn around to stare at the faded and peeling paint, the vines snaking up the sides, the broken or cracked glass windows.
I thought seeing this place again would bring back memories, both good and bad.
Instead, a sense of closure washes over me.
This home is no longer mine. I’ve held onto this trauma for far too long.
It shaped me, defined my past and present, but as for my future. .. only one woman matters.
My fake fiancée. Would she want to be my real fiancée? I suppose I don’t need a piece of paper or glitzy jewelry to tell me she’s mine.
Marriage is outdated and dumb and—Noah would look fantastic in a flowing white dress, her hair up in an intricate style, or falling down her back in curls. What color would she dye it? A stark white to match the dress? Though she’d probably choose a black dress.
Oh... Noah with black hair.
“Del, look!” Noah gasps and points.
A butterfly perches on my shoulder. That’s strange. It’s winter. We just had snow the other day. Butterflies are dormant during cold months. However, today is warmer. The blue and black wings sparkle in the rays of the setting sun. Did it emerge for me?
“I think your mom sent it to you.”
I smile and nudge the butterfly onto my finger. It flaps its wings a few times before flying away.
“Do you think it means joy or change?” Noah asks.
“Change.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been dying to ask you—”
“Technically, I’m the one who almost died.”
I grab Noah by the waist and tug her body against mine.
My lips brush over hers. “Will you marry me?”
She smiles against my mouth.
“I thought you’d never ask.”