Twelve
Vito
I watch as my Blood Rose wilts right in front of me.
I’m frozen in my spot trying to figure out how to tell this woman that everything I did was to protect her.
To make sure she got to continue breathing without telling her everything.
Loretta is standing there in nothing but my shirt with her hands on her hips, trying to light me on fire with her eyes.
“That night ruined everything for me. I’d just gotten a full ride to my dream school and was finally going to get out of this shithole town that looks down not just on me but my mother, who was the crazy lady!” She shouts at me.
I let out a long breath as I rub my hands over my face. “Everything that happened after that night was to ensure that you were safe.”
Her eyes go wide, and her breathing becomes shallow.
She grasps the front of the shirt, her breathing too quick and shallow for her to stay standing.
I surge to my feet, rushing to her and trying to catch her before she hits the floor.
I catch her just as her knees buckle, sweeping her up into my arms bridal style.
She fights my hold, her breathing still very unsteady.
Loretta stops fighting me and, to my utter shock, sobs start to rock her body.
I drop a kiss onto her head. “No one’s tears have ever affected me the way yours always have.”
“You keep saying stuff like that,” she talks through sobs. “As if you’d known me a long time when we only just met. None of this has ever made any sense to me.”
“I know my Blood Rose. I just need you to trust and believe that everything that has happened since that night is to make sure you're safe,” I murmur as I make my way toward her room.
When I step through the door, I take in the fact that not much has changed since the night I was here over five years ago.
Loretta’s specific scent wraps around me, pulling the need to protect her screaming forward.
Crossing the room, I lay a barely conscious Loretta on the bed, readying to leave.
When she reaches for me, it stops me in my tracks.
“Don’t leave. I’m so tired of being alone all the time,” she mumbles.
“You’ve never been alone,” I whisper as I slide into her bed. “Not since that night.”
Loretta snuggles into my side, placing her head in the hollow of my neck, throwing her arm across my torso and leg over my hips. Her sleep mumbled words rip what is left of my heart to shreds.
“Always the Shadow Man to keep watch over me. I started believing I was losing my mind, seeing things. Now I know it was you!”
“You’ll never be alone again,” I whisper into the night, pulling her tighter to my chest.
Loretta drifts off into a deep, fitful sleep while I cannot shut my brain down enough to actually sleep. I can’t stop going over the actions of all the people in Loretta’s life that led to the night I first laid eyes on her, or my actions that continue to cause her harm every day.
The moment I drift off, my phone rings from somewhere in the living room.
I glance down at Loretta, praying that she doesn’t wake up.
Slowly I slide out from under her, holding my breath that she doesn’t wake.
When the space is empty, she wraps her arm around the pillow, pulling it to her chest. I stand just watching her, like on that fateful night years ago.
She must feel it in her sleep because her eyes squint open just a touch, looking right at me.
“Haunting the night once again, my Shadow Man?” she sighs with a soft smile on her lips.
Squatting down, I brush her hair back from her face. “No, my sweet Blood Rose, it is you that has been haunting the Shadow Man.”
I kiss her temple before standing and leaving her room.
As I get to the living room, my phone starts ringing again from my discarded pants.
I don’t bother digging out the phone before I pull on my pants and shoes.
My phone starts up again as I slide my shoes on, and I finally check my phone to see who is calling.
Looking around for my shirt before remembering that Loretta is wearing it, I then answer the call.
“Bryce, you'd best have a great reason for calling me,” I say.
“One might want to check their caller ID before answering the phone,” Giaco sneers.
“Giaco, isn’t it a little past your bedtime?” I grumble, longing to go back and lie with Loretta while also knowing that I need to go take care of things on the farm.
His chuckle is not filled with mirth but something purely evil. “It seems like you might need to get laid. It might loosen you up.”
“If that’s what I need to liven me up, what is your excuse?” I snap back as I make my way to the door.
Stepping through it, I look around to check for anything that might be out of place. Not finding anything, I pull the door closed, making sure that both locks are locked. As I turn to go to my SUV, the feeling of being watched crawls up my spine. I look around for something or someone.
“Fucking hell, Vito, are you even fucking listening to a thing I’ve said?” Giaco cuts through my single-minded focus.
“I’m being watched,” I tell him.
“Are you shocked? Why do you sound like this isn’t normal for men in our line of work?” he wonders absentmindedly.
“Not when I’m where I am right now. There shouldn’t be anyone watching this place that isn’t one of ours,” I tell him, still trying to find the person or persons watching me.
The task is being made very difficult by the fact that it’s Halloween and there are decorations that look like people everywhere.
“Oh, little brother has a secret he’s keeping,” Giaco prods, sounding interested now.
“Not touching that statement ever,” I growl, climbing into my vehicle and starting it. “Now tell me why you’re calling me at this hour when I’ve got stuff to do.”
“I did, but you were too busy looking for ghosts,” Giaco laughs.
“Well, then I’m hanging up,” I say to him.
“Fine, fine,” he placates. “I was calling to tell you to be on the watch for your shipments. We’ve had another go missing.”
“Fucking hell. Do you have any idea who or why?” I back out of the driveway, turning toward the farm, but look back at Loretta’s house one last time, not liking at all the feeling in my gut about leaving her tonight.
“I have a pretty good idea who. Why doesn’t really matter,” Giaco tells me, “We’ve got people on it and things should be handled by Christmas.”
“I wasn’t aware that you were able to make friends outside of the family,” I throw a jab at him.
“Let’s just say some wrongs are going to be made right. Oh, and let Andre know that we’ll be coming for Christmas to see Grandfather and talk more about the shifts in power at the ports and what this will mean for the family.”
“Giaco, play it straight. Do we need to be preparing for a war to come knocking?” I question him, my mind racing with ways to protect the family and Loretta.
“No war for us. Not to say that war won’t come to the ports in Savannah. So, take this as a warning to find another way to get what you need,” Giaco states flatly.
“I hear you. Thanks for the heads up, and I’ll let you know how things are going,” I tell him before ending the call.
I take the long way back to the farm, giving myself time to think over everything going on.
Andre and I are going to have to finalize the details of our travel plans to Nashville.
It’s not a long drive—only about two and a half hours from home—but I just don’t know if the smartest thing to do is drive instead of flying.
A text message comes through on my SUV radio screen from Bryce.
Bryce: Are we going to need more ice for tonight?
Me: Yes. I won’t make it tonight.
Bryce: Got you. I’ll make sure we have enough to make it.
Me: Thanks
Pulling into the farm, I park in my spot and just sit there for a minute.
I’m bone tired and allow my eyes to slide closed.
The sound of someone banging on the window causes my eyes to snap open with my gun drawn and pointed at the figure standing there with hands up.
I groan when I realize that it’s Andre standing there smirking at me.
“Fucking hell, man, I almost shot your ass,” I growl, pushing the door open and stepping out.
“I noticed,” he chuckles. “Want to talk about what has you so worked up and edgy?”
“Giaco called, letting me know that the supply out of Savannah won’t be possible and war is imminent.
He said that he and Larsen will be in touch once they have more information.
Meaning we must make this shit with the O’Malley’s fucking work.
” I pace as I talk. “Add in the mix of the Loretta and Alan Davis shit and I can’t fucking wrap my head around fucking everything.
I’m trying to make sure our shit is handled and nothing is falling through the cracks. ”
Andre is nodding along until I said Loretta’s name. “Loretta Wagner?”
I stop my pacing with my back to him and my hands on my hips. “Do you know of another one that I might know personally?”
“Vito, what are you doing?” Andre questions. The tone in his voice is every ounce the Don and not my friend and cousin.
“Haven’t you been listening? I don’t fucking know what I’m doing,” I toss at him, refusing to turn and see the disappointment on his face.
“You said that she was nothing and not important. That she would do her time and then you would make sure she never looked our way. Now you're what, scratching an itch with her?” Andre’s voice rises with every word.
I spin on him, pinning him to the side of my SUV before he has time to comprehend what has just happened.
Fear fills his eyes, and the need to cause pain that rides my soul revels in the fear for longer than I should allow.
With more control than I’ve ever thought I was capable of, I take a deep breath and step back, springing away from him with my hands on my head.
“Shit, Andre. I don’t know what that was.” I turn, looking back at him.
Andre moves before I have time to react, swinging with a well-placed left hook to the ribs and right jab to the eye. I bend, gasping through the pain in my ribs and eye, placing my hands on my knees to avoid ending up on my ass.
Andre straightens his shirt before placing a hand on my back. “Don’t ever put your hands on me like that again, Vito. You might be family even if no one wants to admit it, but never fucking forget I am your boss.”
Nodding, I stand to my full height before I speak. “I’m sorry, Andre. This is what I mean. I’m fucking losing it, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
The sound of shuffling feet followed by a haggard laugh catches our attention as Grandfather Silas comes shuffling into the light. “What’s happening to you is something that happens to all Kardoni men when they find their center.”
Andre and I share a look as he continues shuffling and talking.
“The woman seems to reach inside your body and pull a part of your soul out with them. You can’t seem to do anything but worry and stress about them, wanting to always be with them because nothing can happen to them if you're there with them.” Grandfather Silas looks at me, his eyes clear for the first time in longer than any of us would like to admit.
“Grandfather, all you old men have been saying this for years, and I still don’t know that I believe it.” Andre scoffs, walking over to Grandfather Silas and offering him his arm.
“How can I be wrong? Look at your second and tell me you don’t see it.” Grandfather Silas waves his hand at my face. “I mean, look at his face and the way he is holding his ribs. That should tell you men everything you need to know.”
Andre and I share a look. “What is the word on our party favor?”
“With everything else going on, I think it would be great training for Bryce to sharpen his skills.” Saying this hurts because torture and information gathering are things I enjoy. Right now though, I need someone clear-headed to take care of it.
“I like that idea. Do you believe he is ready?” Andre wonders as the little nurse comes around the corner.
“There is only one way to find out.” I shrug, realizing that I’ve lost Andre’s attention to something more important, it seems.
Grandfather Silas looks at me over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin. “He’ll fall just as hard as all the Kardoni men before him, and at this rate it won’t be much longer.”
“Silas, I know I put you to bed before I got in the bath. What are you doing outside at this time of night?” she reprimands Grandfather.
Andre growls low in his throat when he sees what she is wearing. “Do you think what you’re currently wearing is appropriate for roaming the halls in?”
The little nurse places her hand on her hips and glares back at Andre, “I would have you know that if you could find a night nurse that would actually do their job, I would be in bed right now. Seeing as you haven’t done that here, I am in the cold freezing my butt off looking for Mr. Silas, who likes to wander around. ”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and look down because she is talking to one of the most powerful men in the country like he is just some random person. This cannot end well for her in the end.
Grandfather Silas lets go of Andre, shuffling over to the nurse. “I’m sorry, sweet girl. Can you take me to bed now? This old man is tired.”
She takes his arm, glaring at Andre before turning and helping Grandfather Silas shuffle back into the house.
“Yeah, you're fucking sunk, cousin. I’ll talk to you in the morning.” I slap him on the shoulder as I walk by him.
“Aren’t you going after your woman?” Andre yells at me.
“I need to take care of a few things and get some sleep,” I call back.
“Well, I want you in my office in the morning at 10:00 a.m. to talk travel plans.”
I wave my hand over my head and make my way into the house and into my room where I pull out my phone and text a number that I never truly thought I would need.
Me: I had things to do. Text me when you wake up!