Two
Vito
I followed the orders Andre gave me. The assistant chief was dealt with, and the family wasn’t even on anyone’s radar.
The thing I could let no one find out is that the girl who was charged for the death was also a witness.
I paid a lot of money to ensure she would never tell anyone what she had seen that night.
It helped that her fuckhead of a stepfather had the entire town believing her mother was fucking crazy, and with just a whisper here and there people would never believe that she didn’t do it.
The day she signed the paperwork taking the deal, I could finally breathe again.
Allowing a witness to live was a great way to fast-track your soul to hell.
After that, I set up one of my personal accounts to automatically deposit money on her commissary and didn’t think about her again until I got the call from one of my associates that she was being released.
I called her lawyer to have him reach out and let her know she was left the house and a small sum of money.
Now, I’m standing in the shadows of a grove of trees watching her fall apart just like she has done every year since I found her on this day.
After she allows herself the allotted amount of time, she stands and turns to leave.
This time I don’t move fast enough, and she catches sight of me.
Standing stock still, I’m nearly holding my breath waiting to see what she will do.
Her eyes scan the tree line before snapping back to me, and I swear she can see through the shadows and into my soul.
She makes it about halfway up the embankment, never moving her eyes from mine until her foot catches a root and she goes down on her hands and knees.
I don’t think before I move to step out of the shadows and go to her.
To remind her to watch where she puts her feet and pay closer attention to things around her before she ends up seriously injured or worse.
When my booted foot makes it out of the shadow and into the daylight, a man shows up rushing to her side.
Halting my steps, I watch the interaction.
I slink back into the shadows, waiting and watching like always.
He reaches out and touches her. I reach out, grabbing hold of the tree beside me as a feeling rocks through me I’ve never known.
I feel as if someone has punched into my chest and wrapped their fingers around my soul and is squeezing the life out of me.
The urge and need to cut parts of him off inch by inch until I make it to his elbows is nearly blinding.
That need and drive become nearly unbearable when she tries to pull her hands away and he refuses to let her go.
She finally gets her hands free before turning and practically sprinting up the embankment.
I shift back so that I’m once again hidden, watching closely in case I need to step in and send this fucker straight to hell.
I’m gripping the tree so hard that I know I’ll have a few splinters when I finally leave.
She finally makes it up the trail and is fighting to get her keys from her pocket with the motherfucker hot on her heels when she drops them on the ground.
I watch as her face falls and more emotions than she would ever admit line every inch of her body.
The jackass that seems to not be able to take a fucking hint chases her.
When he places his hand on her lower back, I finally lose my ability to stay in the shadows.
That is until my movements cause her eyes to land on mine. When they do, hers go wide, and the fist currently strangling my soul loosens just enough that some of the haze I’ve been in clears.
“Fuck,” I mutter before retreating into the shadows until I know she can no longer see me.
She eventually gets her keys back, gets in her car, and pulls out of the parking area.
When her brake lights are far enough away I know she can’t see me, I watch and scowl at the motherfucker that hasn’t removed his eyes from her retreating car.
Yeah, this man is going to be a big fucking problem.
Stepping out of the shadows so that my presence is known, I pull my phone from my pocket.
The dumb motherfucker still doesn’t take notice of the fact that he is now being hunted by a predator.
I take a couple of pictures of the man before my phone starts vibrating in my hands.
The name on the screen isn’t someone I talk to often, and I’m not sure it’s a good thing he is calling.
“Giaco, this is a surprise,” I answer, turning to make my way to my waiting SUV.
“Aww Vito, can’t a cousin call his family?” Giaco croons down the line like the slick motherfucker he is.
“We both know that my only claim to the family is my place as number two to Andre, and my mother was the whore for a number of your asshole fathers,” I snide, not in the mood for his shit.
He chuckles as if I told him a fucking joke. “That is the truth. I guess the proper greeting would be, hello dear bastard brother.”
“Giaco, I am not in the mood, nor do I have the time to deal with your shit,” I snap as I get to my SUV and climb in, never taking my eyes off the fucker that is now scrolling on his phone walking right past me to his car. “If there is a purpose to this call, let’s hear it. If not, I’m hanging up.”
Giaco chuckles before I hear the creaking of him leaning back in his chair, then he lays out the issues they’re having with some not so friendly people causing issues for their suppliers out of Savannah.
I let him know that we’ve also noticed an issue with stuff coming out of Savannah, which is why we’ve started working with the Irish out of Nashville.
We talk business for a few more minutes, and I let him know I’ll talk to Andre and be in touch in a day or so.
Just as I crank my SUV, the fucker’s car pulls past me.
Deciding to make a pit stop before making my way to the farm, I pull out behind him intent on following him for a beat.
We make it down the mountain, and I’m about to take the turn to the farm when I realize he is turning into the diner, where I see Loretta’s car is parked.
Growling, I pull back into traffic so I can pull into the diner as well.
Looks as if the time has come that I can no longer watch my secret obsession from afar.