Chapter Twenty- Seven
Kay
Collin stared back at me as my words hung in the air between us. His tattooed throat bobbed, and he ran his palm over his buzzed head.
“There’s so much, Karina,” he murmured, looking at the fireplace, his brows coming together. This whole thing had been a shitshow from the start.
That was exactly where we needed to go back to.
“If you were planning on overthrowing Romano, why were you so cold to us?”
He sat up, bringing me with him, resting his back against the headboard. He took one of my hands in both of his, setting them on his sheet-covered lap. Those ice blue eyes looked down as he spoke. “I had to be in the mindset when I was around everyone.”
“Haley told me about the dinner.”
His lips twitched. “Leave it to the redhead to be a chatterbox.”
“You put a knife to her throat, Col.”
He nodded. “I never intended to kill her. I just needed to get Davenport’s attention off Romano.”
“Gwen stabbed him, correct?”
He huffed a laugh and met my eyes. “She launched a dagger into his chest, angel. From across the room.”
My brows rose. “That’s…”
“Impressive. I know,” he grumbled. “I needed to get him out of there.”
I shook my head in confusion. “If you wanted him dead, why didn’t you just let him die there?”
His body tensed, his icy walls building back up in his eyes. “Because I wanted to be the one to kill him,” he said darkly.
“You brought him back here to…?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “My pettiness only goes so far, Karina. I still needed answers from him. There were things, like the rings, I had not discovered yet.”
“Do you think his son knew about the rings?” I had never met his son, but from what Haley told me, he sounded like sleaze.
“I don’t think Tony knew anything besides the location of his dick.” He shot me a glare. Confirmed.
“Not a fan?”
“Dean Connors killing that piss-poor excuse of a man was something I could get behind,” he said firmly.
I smirked. “You and Dean have a lot in common, you know?”
He blinked. His jaw jumped. “What did you just say to me?”
“For one, both of you are cocky assholes,” I teased.
Another blink. “That’s seventy percent of the male population.”
“Dean fights for what he wants. You fight for what you want.”
“That’s another thing: I thought Connors was dead.”
What? He read the look on my face like an open book. “I never knew, Karina. For years, I thought Dean was dead. Imagine my surprise when Romano invited him over for Sunday dinner,” he sneered.
I pulled the sheet up to my chest and gave his hand a squeeze. “He lied to you a lot, huh?”
“Many of the men believed I was just an errand boy. That was the picture he painted me as, but the one thing he underestimated was me.”
I swallowed, my throat dry as he spilled his secrets out to me. Finally.
“What kinds of errands, Col?”
He pinned me with a look. “You’re smart, Karina.”
“I need to hear you say it,” I mumbled, squeezing his hand.
“I was his hitman, angel. The man who didn’t mind getting his hands bloody.
While Romano was maintaining politics, I was behind the scenes enforcing it.
It started small, and then within a year, I was tying politicians to chairs, not stopping until they were screaming for God. There was no God. Just the devil.”
A beat of silence, and then, “How—”
His palm covered my mouth. “Don’t ask me that.” His voice was cold and distant, like he was losing himself to the darkness that immersed his soul.
I touched his face. “Hey, it’s okay.” The softness in my voice clashed against the harshness in his.
“Baby, the only thing about me that is okay is your light.”
I kissed him, soft and quick. He kissed me back with a gentleness that knocked the breath out of me. “Do you regret killing them?”
“No.”
I leaned away from my demon. “Why?” It came out as a broken whisper filled with disbelief.
“Because, looking back on it, most of those men were active participants in the rings. They deserved to die,” he growled, his shoulders tensing.
“You are your own brand of hero, Collin,” I blurted out, tears welling in my eyes. All those women and children…they were avenged because of him.
Tattooed arms reached out, pulling me onto his lap.
Both of us were bare, exposed to our most primal parts as our emotions swirled.
His hands landed on my hips, his thumbs stroking the skin there.
A loving gesture, one I never wanted to be without.
Collin Stevens may be a demon, but he was once an angel, innocent in this world.
Those ice eyes held mine for a long time, processing my words. Then, he shocked me to the depths of my being.
“I am sorry about Jeremy,” he said softly.
I inhaled a shaky breath, my hands on his bare chest. Everything had been just fine—well, as fine as things could be in the middle of a shit-show—I didn’t want this subject to come up.
It was selfish of me, really, and the guilt was eating at me.
No matter how many times I tried to shove it down, it would resurface, its teeth bigger and sharper than last time.
I was in love with the man who stabbed my brother.
I was in love with the man who betrayed us.
I shouldn’t be in love with him. In fact, my hatred for him should be felt from miles away.
A lump formed in my throat as the memories of Jer lying in a hospital bed came back, the disbelief I had felt when Gwen told me it was Collin, even though I just spoke to him that night when I followed him to his car.
My Col? He hurt my brother.
“Karina.”
I shook my head. “Sorry. I, uh—”
His fingers slid under my chin, and as he leaned in closer, agony masked his features and guilt flashed in his eyes.
“Hurting you will be one of my many regrets. I have told you this before. What I did to your brother is among those regrets, and I know my words don’t mean shit, but I needed to say it. ”
“Why did you stab him?” I breathed, tears forming in my eyes.
Another jaw jump, and then he let out a ragged sigh. “Romano told me to…he said that if I didn’t, he would kill Gwen as soon as he got her on the dance floor.”
My hand flew to my mouth, cutting off the sob that tried to escape.
He looked pained as he rubbed his hands up and down my back, trying to soothe me. “I tried to angle the knife in a way that he wouldn’t die while Romano was watching from the dance floor.”
A strangled, muffed cry left my body.
He cupped my face, his thumbs stroking my cheeks. “I am so fucking sorry.”
I dropped my hand. “All this time?”
He nodded solemnly. “Gwen is a pain in my fucking ass, make no mistake about it…but she was innocent in all of this. From the beginning. Kevin hated dragging her into it. I didn’t like it, but I had orders to follow.”
“She hates you, Collin…She wants to kill you.”
“She can take a number. A lot of people want to kill me, your friends and family included,” he deadpanned.
I bit my lip, pondering whether I should bring it up. Fuck it.
“Haley told me you and Gwen got into it at that dinner.”
He huffed a laugh, sitting back against the pillows. His muscles flexed with the movement. He was a work of broken art, and all I wanted was to put him back together.
“When I saw her walk in with Tony, I saw everything I'd worked for slip away. When she launched that dagger into Romano’s chest, I saw the empire crumbling. I went to him immediately to stop the bleeding, of course. He and everyone else interpreted that as unwavering loyalty, but I never had any loyalty for him.”
I waited for him to continue, taking his hands in mine again. Even though this conversation was difficult, I liked that we were being open with each other. Only took nearly ten years.
“It was easier for me to slip into the role of the errand boy if I pretended I actually was one, if that makes sense. When I was in St. Louis a few months ago, I was there to check the finances at Busch Stadium. After Gabrial Tipponi was killed, Romano sent in a replacement. The idiot had been fucking everything up with the numbers and bets. We were losing money instead of bringing it in. I walked in on him fucking a waitress in one of the box seats. I killed them and brought his head to Romano. He found my thin patience amusing.” He smiled to himself.
“Ray Romano had pissed me off to no end when he sent me to that god forsaken city, but if he hadn’t…
I don’t think you would be in my bed right now,” he murmured.
I didn’t want to think about that time in my life. I wasn’t living, just merely surviving.
“When did you start recruiting your own men?” I asked.
He laid his head back against the headboard, his eyes on the ceiling.
“A few years ago when I realized Romano had no real purpose for me. Tony was a complete fuck up, and his men weren’t truly loyal to him.
They could be bought. I’d discovered that very quickly.
When Romano would send me out on hits, or when I was tracking down Kevin, I would go to the prisons. ”
I nodded. “Xander told me you gave him a second chance at life.”
“He was wrongfully accused. I looked into his case. The evidence didn’t add up, but someone was paying the judge,” he explained.
“Xander wanted a new life, and I offered him one. Each of my men know I will kill them if they turn on me. If they run, I will hunt them down.” Col’s voice was firm, steady, but also cold.
He could be so cold, but he could also be warm… when he wanted to be.
“So, none of your men are Romano’s?” Were any of the guys downstairs? Did they know about the rings?
He smiled, looking back at me. It was downright sinister. “I would approach them, yes. But if they turned, I would kill them right then. Loyalty was what I craved, not manpower.”
“Haley told me about the St. Louis attack, when she got taken.”
His smile slowly fell. “I didn’t order that attack. When those two spineless men showed up at my house, I knew something wasn’t right.”
“How many men does Romano have?”
“More than the US Marines,” he answered simply, turning his head to the window as lightening struck outside. At this point, I was sure my eyes were out of my skull.
“How many men do you have?”
My demon turned his head back to me. “Quite a few, baby.”
The underlying tone in his cold voice sent a different kind of shiver down my spine. My heartstrings tugged, and I just needed to remind him. “You are a good man, Col,” I whispered, touching his handsome face.
He chuckled and shook his head. “You only want to see the good in people, Karina.”
I shook my head and shifted on his lap. “That’s Gwen, not me. You forget where I come from,” I countered, pulling the sheet around my shoulders. He studied me for a moment, watching my movements.
“Are you cold?”
“No, I just feel weird sitting naked on top of you,” I laughed. He raised a brow.
“Karina, I would have you naked every second of every day if I could. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or energy to kill every person who looks at you.”
I rolled my eyes, hoping that he was joking. The look on his face told me otherwise. Clearing my throat, I pressed on. “Are you sure he's dead?”
“I blew up a building with him in it.”
My jaw dropped. “You have bombs?”
His handsome face spread into another smile, this one warm and genuine. “Not at the moment, no. Explosives are messy and expensive. There was a gas leak in the restaurant kitchen, and I used that to my advantage.”
Uncertainty pooled in my stomach. Something about this seemed…too easy. This couldn’t be over, and the tightening in my ribs scared me.
Was the devil really dead?
Would the Mafia accept his death and Collin taking the throne?
“Col?” I asked as I bit my thumb nail.
“Yes?”
“How do you plan on convincing the rest of the underworld that you are the new boss?” I didn’t know the correct terms for all of this, but if I was going to be a part of his life now…
“The Dark King thought he was all powerful because people feared him. He would send men’s daughters into the rings just to prove a point. Marriage contracts, deals with children, all of it—”
“How did you find out about all this so quickly? The FBI only just found out.”
He sat up, placing his warm hands on my shoulders. “Karina, there are government officials who are active participants in those fucking rings. Do you really think they would allow the FBI to find out?”
But James had been following this case for years…
Haley told me this case was the only case James had been assigned to since joining the FBI. He assisted in other cases, but this case was his and his alone. The higher ups dumped it on him, and his director was adamant about closing it.
“So how did you find out?” I asked cautiously.
“When Haley was brought to me, I started my own investigation. The mafia has ties with the government that Agent Garner does not. I sat down with senators after telling them I was sent there on Romano’s behalf.
They never came out and said it. I got my confirmation from Romano myself—the night you decided to raid my kitchen,” he explained, his voice ending on a soft note at the mention of my baking adventures.
I smiled at my lap. “I had to break it in.”
“Did you now?” I could hear the smile in his voice.
I sighed. Those were happy memories for a different time. “You still didn’t answer my question. How are you going to convince the rest of the underworld that you are the new devil?”
His fingers reached under my chin, tilting my head back to look at him.
His jaw was tight, but there was a warmth in his eyes.
A warmth only reserved for me. “The Mafia is old school, Karina. There is a line of succession. Romano’s line ended, and because I killed him, I automatically step into the role.
There will be backlash, of course, but eventually they will submit or be killed. ”
“How many more cities have the mafia in them?”
He chuckled, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Not just cities. Countries. I have men scattered all over. To be powerful, you have to be feared, but there has to be trust in there somewhere. My men trust me. I trust them.”
“Do you?” I raised a brow.
He looked at me. “I wouldn’t have left you and Haley on this island if I didn’t, Karina.”
My heart fluttered. “Col?”
“Hm?”
“Are we going to make it?”
He pulled me to him, placing me back on his chest—directly over his beating heart.
Its steady beat echoed the most beautiful song in the world in my ear.
Warmth crawled up my body as I wrapped my arms around his torso, giving him a good squeeze.
He didn’t have to answer that question, and it was unfair of me to ask it.
“I want us to,” he softly admitted, his arm wrapping around me.