Chapter 7 – Sage
I jerk awake to someone banging on my door. Squinting an eye open, my palms pat around my bed for my phone. I find it underneath me. I must have fallen asleep with it in my hand. Because you were waiting for Elias to text you back.
I shouldn’t have been disappointed. I don’t need to be missing him and wanting him to text me.
I check my phone for the time—finding no new texts—and groan.
Six a.m.
“Who the fuck?” I mumble and roll out of bed.
I quietly walk to the door and hold my breath when the wooden floorboards creak .
“Open up, Sunshine,” a familiar voice growls from the other side.
My heart plummets to my stomach, and I suck in a deep breath.
No. No fucking way.
“I know you’re in there. I can hear you breathing.”
How the hell did he find me?
There’s a reason why I changed my name and hid in the most populous city in the country.
I should have gotten a restraining order.
“If you don’t open the door, I’ll break it down.”
I wish I had a gun, not that I know how to use one. I consider pulling a knife from my utensil drawer, but I’m not strong—or brave—enough to use it.
I unlatch the chain lock followed by the deadbolt, then the doorknob lock and crack open the door.
“Chase?”
“Let me in.”
“No.”
He shoves the door and pushes me out of the way. The wall stops me from falling on my ass.
“What the fuck, Chase?”
“Shut up!”
“You have no right—”
Chase grabs me, his fingertips digging into my upper arm. I try to pull away from him, but he’s too strong.
“How do you know Elias Carter?”
I stop struggling, my face falling. “What? I...”
“Don’t even think about lying to me. My men saw you at Lenetti’s party. They sent me pictures, Sunshine. You in a tight red dress, looking like a fucking slut.”
“Your men? What are you—”
Chase cuts me off and grabs my hair to drag me over to my bed. My feet are barely able to keep up with the sudden move. He shoves me down onto the mattress and fear rips through my body, my throat drying.
Chase has never forced himself on me, but this is a different version of the man I was married to.
What if I left him before his true monster came out? What if that’s who he is now?
Chase’s hand strikes out and a sting blooms across my cheek.
Suddenly, I’m back to the first time he hit me. To the shock and betrayal I felt when he backhanded me for spending money on a new set of nails. He was pissed because I let him forget it was my birthday.
You should have reminded me.
You shouldn’t have used your money to buy yourself a gift.
It was always my fault.
And I started to believe that I was the problem.
Which made leaving him the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I felt guilty .
It took years of therapy to finally accept that I did nothing wrong .
“You fucking bitch,” he spits and pushes me back so he can straddle me. He clutches my throat with both hands. “I had eyes all over Gio Lenetti’s Christmas party. My men saw him take you into the bathroom. Everyone heard you. They saw you walk out, you looking thoroughly fucked.”
“You’re hurting me,” I wheeze out, clawing at his fingers.
“Good. Maybe that means you’ll do what I say.”
My vision begins to blur and right before I pass out from lack of air, Chase lets go.
He crawls off me, and I sit up, coughing and rubbing my neck. I try to wet my throat with a sip of water from the bottle I left on the table next to my bed.
“Why are you here, Chase? We’re divorced, remember?”
He turns his back to me. He’s such a small man compared to Elias, but he’s not scrawny or weak. I’d say he’s average size with a bit of a dad bod. He buries his hands in his light brown hair, tugging at the strands—something he does when he’s stressed out.
“I need you to do something for me.”
“No.”
I flinch when he whips around and takes a step toward me.
“You will help me, or I’ll pay a little visit to your parents.”
My eyes widen, and I’m sure the blood has drained from my face. “You don’t know where they live. ”
“You’re my wife. I know everything about you and your family.”
“ Ex wife!”
Chase spits on me, and I protect myself from the spittle with my hands over my head, waiting for something harsher. He gets in my face, his mouth inches from mine. I hold my breath.
“You. Are. Still. Mine.”
My attempt to hold back my tears fails, and they fall, one by one down my cheek. Chase shakes his head, appearing to almost pity me, and stands up straight. I let out a long stream of breath, relieved to have the space between us.
“Ready to comply?”
I give him a quick nod.
“I’m making a name for myself in New York City’s crime syndicate. I’ve moved on from identity theft and drug dealing. I’m running shit now, and I’m aiming for the top.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
He’s fucking delusional.
Chase snarls, his dark blue, rage-filled eyes piercing through my soul. He huffs out a breath, booze stinging my nose. Something tells me he hasn’t been to sleep yet if he smells like a bar at six in the morning.
“Elias took something from me. He’s getting in the way of my... business ventures. I need him gone and since you’re opening your legs for him like a desperate fucking whore, you’re going to help me take him down.”
“I don’t know how—”
“You’re going to be my spy. Listen in on conversations. Gather intel on the QBM and the Empire and bring it back to me.”
“You’re insane.”
He kicks me in the shin, hard enough that I know it’ll leave a bruise. I bite my lip to stop myself from crying out.
I can’t show him how much he hurts me.
He cocks his arm back, preparing to back-hand me, then drops it. The moment I relax my shoulders; he lashes out and grabs a chunk of my hair.
“If you don’t help me, I will go to your parents’ place. The cute little green home on Willow Street in New Haven? In the suburbs?”
Oh, fuck. He wasn’t lying. How did he find them?
The entire time we were married, he never let me go see them.
He’s never been to their house, and I was confident he didn’t even know their names.
He met them once at our wedding, but he barely spoke to them.
Plus, anytime I talked about my parents, I’d say Mom or Dad.
Not to mention that he’d tune me out during those conversations.
“I will torture them, cut off their fingers, let you hear their cries and begging until you comply. If you run to the cops or tell your boyfriend or the mafia princess bestie, Mommy and Daddy go bye-bye.”
“I don’t even know Noah that well.”
“Don’t lie to me! I told you; I’ve been keeping tabs on you for a while now.
I watched your friendship with that woman grow.
Then last night she reveals to the world that she’s Noemi Lenetti, Empire heir?
Imagine my surprise when you managed to land the QBM boss too.
How lucky am I that my ex is a fucking slut? ”
He releases me, and I fall off the bed, barely catching myself with my palms on the floor.
“And now Noemi is engaged to Lance Carter. I can’t have the Empire and the QBM uniting. They’ll be too powerful, especially if they dissolve the Lords of Staten Island.”
The Lords of Staten Island? So there’s a third mob in New York City? My head hurts. This is too much information. I want to go back to yesterday when I didn’t know about New York City mafias. When my ex was just an idiot low-level criminal not some wannabe crime boss.
Chase shrugs. “Actually, this is good. If the Empire and the QBM take out Finn O’Connor, and I take down Lenetti and Carter, then I’ll claim the mafia throne.”
Fucking delusional .
“I’ll call my crime syndicate, the Elite,” Chase says, waving his hands in the air as if the name is flashing in neon lights in front of him.
He points at me. “And you’ll be my little rat, giving me all the intel.
I need names: their associates, their law enforcement sources, safe houses, business dealings, everything. ”
“I don’t have access to that type of information.
I’ve never met Noah’s father... I don’t know anything about his organization.
I swear. Noah and I met at work. She’s always been Noah to me.
I just learned about her secret life last night.
” Chase stares at me as if waiting for me to break and tell the truth. “My parents, Chase. I wouldn’t lie.”
His fists clench at his sides. He’s seconds from taking out his anger on me again. Thankfully, his phone vibrates, and I’m saved. Chase curses and angrily taps at the screen, then shoves it back into his pocket.
“Then you better figure out how, for your parents’ sake.”
He gives me one more snarl before stalking out of my apartment.
I curl up into a ball on the ground and shut down.
I cried until I had no more tears left, then I showered, dressed, and put on makeup to cover my puffy eyes and the bruises Chase gave me.
They’re not as bad as the ones he used to give me .
I call a ride share and head to Brooklyn where Noah is holed up.
After her building blew up a little over two weeks ago, and she nearly died, she grabbed my phone and installed an app that allows me to track her location. She installed the same app on her phone too. She asked that I only use it in an emergency situation, and I agreed.
Now is an emergency.
Kind of.
Noah isn’t expecting me, likely already forgetting about the tracking app. Confusion riddles her face, then relief takes over as she pulls me into a hug.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Please don’t hate me.”
My body melts into hers. “I could never hate you.”
She releases me and scrunches her nose as if she doesn’t believe that.
“Do you want something to drink?”
“Something hard, please.”
I explore the loft while she’s in the kitchen pouring us some whiskey.
The space is overtly manly. Blacks and grays and hardwood everywhere with brick walls and floor to ceiling windows. The loft has been renovated, and a wall has been put up to separate the living area and bedroom.
“So, this is Del’s place?”
Noah nods.
“Is he here? ”
Noah grimaces as she walks over to me carrying two glasses.
“He’s in the bedroom recovering. My father, um, shot him.”
She hands me a vodka soda, and I slam it back.
“Damn, Sage. Everything okay?”
I wince, desperately wanting to tell her about Chase. Thankfully, she starts talking before I make the mistake of revealing everything.
“Of course, it’s not okay,” she answers for me. “You’re not okay. I kept a secret from you. I—”
“Your father shot Del?” I interrupt, my voice an octave higher.
“Yeah, well, you know... rival and all.”
“Right...”
Noah takes my glass and refills it. I numbly sit on the couch trying to process... everything. This world my best friend belongs to—that I’m now a part of.
She returns with my second round of booze, but I stop myself from pouring this one down my throat and sip it slowly instead. It’s top shelf vodka, that’s for sure. I let the liquid coat my insides and relax my tense shoulders.
Closing my eyes, I sigh. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
For the next hour, she talks, and I listen, asking questions when needing clarification.
Noah tells me about the night before Christmas Eve twenty years ago when two men broke into her home.
How she watched from the stairs, hiding behind the balusters of the staircase and watched them shoot her mom point blank.
How she ran and hid because they planned to kill her too.
Her father then sent her away and changed her name to protect her. She was only eleven years old. I can’t imagine witnessing something so horrible only to be abandoned by the man who was supposed to comfort her.
Noah returned to New York City for answers because not only was her mother killed, but the next night, the wife and daughter of Finn O’Connor, Lords of Staten Island Don, died in a mysterious fire.
Then Del was forced to kill his own mother.
Elias... he was the one who found her. I don’t know how old he is, but I’m assuming he’s in his thirties now. If his mother was killed twenty years ago, then that means he was probably only fifteen or sixteen. And for it to happen on Christmas Eve?
Noah didn’t go into details about Del and Elias’s mother’s death, and I wasn’t about to ask. I’m already sick to my stomach about everything that’s happened to her. Especially now that she believes her father is the one who placed the kill order on all the mafia wives and children.
They just need more concrete proof.
“So you’re not mad at me?” she asks.
I shake my head .
“Never. I’m honestly more upset that you kept this badass part of your life secret, but I understand why you had to.”
A silence falls between us, and I’m not sure if Noah is waiting for me to ask her more questions.
I have a million, but instead, I blurt out, “I slept with Elias again.”
She chokes on her drink, making her cough.
“In a bathroom at the party last night.”
My cheeks heat, and I tell myself it’s the vodka and not me remembering how hot it was watching Elias fuck me in the mirror’s reflection.
“Sage, I’ve never seen you flustered over a man before,” Noah says, amused.
“I’m not flustered.”
“You definitely are.”
“Fine, but it’s because he’s frustrating. I can’t stand him.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. I never want to see him again.”
“Liar.”
I groan. “Okayyyy, you win! He’s the best fuck of my life, but he’s controlling and that’s what I hate. But at the same time, it’s sexy as hell. I just... I want to tie him up. Blindfold him. Give him a few welts with my riding crop.”
I need it more than ever after Chase’s visit this morning. I could get on the Madam app, but it’s solely virtual. Or I could go to the sex club. Spank a few subs and order them to lick my pumps.
It wouldn’t be the same.
It wouldn’t be Elias.
“Oh, you’ve got it bad for him.”
“What?” I squeak, Noah’s voice surprising me and pulling me from my thoughts. “No. I don’t. He’s a good lay. That’s it.”
“Sure. Keep lying to yourself.” She points at my glass, and my eyes widen, not even realizing I drank it all. “Want another?”
I shake my head. “No. One more and I’ll be tipsy, and I have a shift at the bar in an hour.”
“Are you off on Saturday?”
I nod.
“Good. Come to dinner at my father’s.”
“Your father who’s a mafia boss? The man who you suspect is responsible for ordering a hit on a bunch of people? The man who just shot your new fiancé? Congrats, by the way.”
She waves off my accolade. “It’s a fake engagement.
.. kind of. And don’t worry about my father.
He was only pissed that I sprung the engagement on him in front of all his rich friends, but he’s cooled off by now.
I have a plan, and I need you there at dinner to act as sort of a mediator.
Gio won’t lose his cool with a civilian present. ”
“Um... are you sure? ”
“I’m pretty sure.”
I check my phone and groan. “Ugh, I’m going to be late, but yeah, I’ll come to dinner. Not going to lie, I’m terrified.”
“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”