Chapter 10 Luca
Luca
Ipush open the door and Harper’s sat in her car by the curb. She doesn’t seem set to get out, so I open the passenger door and slide in.
Something has to be wrong. Gunner isn’t with her. She’s alone. Her hands tremble still gripping onto the steering wheel. Has she stopped taking her meds? Besides Tor and my mom, Harp’s is special to me.
“Does JJ know where you are?”
“Yeah. He’s watching Gunner. I won’t be staying long.”
“What’s going on, Harp’s? You don’t come all this way on your own for a fly through visit.”
She finally looks my way and that’s when I see disappointment in her eyes instead of the mania I was expecting.
“I know what you did to my mom.”
I almost sigh with relief. If this is what this is about and not her suffering from another episode, I’m good with it.
“Are you here for an apology, cause I’m not looking to say sorry for looking out for my mom… and you.”
“To be honest, I don’t know why I’m here. I’ve been spinning this over in my mind for a while now and while I know I’m not angry with you anymore, I wanted to talk to you in person.”
“Harp’s, your mom is selfish to the core, and trust me, I am too so I know when I see it. She’s been shit to you, she’s treated you like crap your whole life, you can’t say it hasn’t been easier for you since she left.”
She looks away but she knows it’s the truth.
“It wasn’t your right.”
“Maybe not, but you’re my sister and between you and my mom, if I can make your lives easier, I will, and I’ll never regret it.”
“She said you threatened to kill her if she ever came back. Is that true?”
I nod. “Shit’s moved on now I’m here in the city, but if I found out she had returned, I would’ve made a special return home to end her.”
She gasps. “No matter if it hurt me? And don’t say it would’ve been for me. It would be for you, cause you wouldn’t like her not doing what you told her to do.”
I sigh. “You know me better than I thought.”
She goes quiet and I ask her, “What do you want from me, Harper? You here cause you want her to come back to Willow’s Peak?”
She laughs. “I don’t know if I want her back full time, but maybe to visit. Gunner’s circle is small.”
I snort. “Gunner has family.”
“Yeah, how often is he going to see his Uncle Luca? He’s going to grow up knowing of you, seeing you a few times a year at most.”
“And it will still be better than your mom’s influence over him,” I retort.
She rolls her eyes. “You know what I’m getting at. I don’t like that you kept this from me. I don’t like secrets, and this was a big one.”
“The next time I run your mom out of town, I’ll let you know.”
Her cheeks redden with anger. I take hold of her hand and urge, “Harps, you want your mom in your life, I can’t stop you.
You want her back in Willow’s Peak, that’s on your mom to show you’re important enough for her to risk my wrath.
She’s a cunt, always has been, always will be.
You’re not gonna change her. Gunner isn’t gonna change her.
She will always be the same. She will always let you down. ”
“You think I don’t know that about her? I know, Luc.”
“Then why let her back in? I can’t explain how much I hate her.
Actually, despise her. You ask me to go back on my promise and not kill her, I won’t, but don’t hate me when she lets you down or causes my mom stress, and I take it out of your hands.
” Her eyes fill with water, I quickly add, “I might be here in the city, but there aren’t enough miles in the world I wouldn’t ride to come help you.
You say Gunner’s family circle is small, so is mine, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep them safe. ”
She tilts her head back on the head rest and lets out a long sigh.
“I don’t want you to kill her.”
“Then I won’t.”
She smiles for the first time since arriving.
“Come inside for a while. Get a drink, stretch your legs before you drive back,” I suggest. “Tor would love to see you.”
“Does she know what went down.”
She knows everything, fuck, she was there. But for the sake of my old lady’s relationship with my sister, I lie straight through my teeth. “No.”
And if Lily tells her different, I’ll make her death look like suicide.
I climb out of the car, round it, and open her door for her. I hold out my hand and help her out of the car.
“Just so you know, you didn’t have to ask me not to kill her, you could’ve just told me how it is.”
She snorts. “Leo said the same thing.”
Arching my brow, I mutter, “Did he now?”
“Yeah, told me to tell you to lay off. That I’m a Jackson and it would carry.”
“Yet, you didn’t.”
“I’m all about the politeness these days.”
Her laughter reminds me of her manic days but she’s well, she’s doing okay.
I open the back door for her, and she slips inside, and the kitchen becomes shrouded in shrieks.
My heart pounds at my wife slipping back to her old self.
In this moment there’s no room for her grief.
Her excitement to see Harper has me wanting this moment to last forever so she’s not sad any longer.
“What are you doing here?” Her smile slips, then she asks, “Did we arrange this, and I’ve forgotten?”
“No.” Harper laughs pulling Tor in for another hug. “Luca didn’t even know.”
Tor squeezes her and though it shouldn’t, jealousy ripples through me.
“I wanted to talk to Luc.”
“Everything good?” she asks, backing up and looking between us.
“Yeah. Can’t a girl surprise her brother?”
Tor narrows her eyes, but she doesn’t question her any further.
“Now, where’s my nephew? I’m not staying for long, so I need to get my cuddles in.”
“He’s up in our room, come on.”
I’ve thought about taking Tor back to Willow’s Peak so she could be around everyone we know, to see if it would help, but when I go to open my mouth and see what she thinks, it doesn’t come out. There are reminders everywhere. It wouldn’t help in the long run but her seeing Harper today is good.
“Is JJ here?” Angel asks walking into the kitchen.
“Nah. She’s alone.”
“Is she good?” he asks.
I pull out a chair at the table and he follows suit. I give him the lowdown about what went down when I ran Lily out of town.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He snorts.
“I’ve promised Harp’s that I won’t kill her, but I wanna know where she is and if she returns to Willow’s Peak. If she fucks up, I’m gonna need you to be me.”
He mocks a shudder running through him and laughs. “The thought of being you should scare the shit outta me.”
“Don’t lie. You’d love to be me, even for just an hour.”
“Seriously, though, what’s she gotta do to warrant death?”
Staring at my VP, I tell him, “Cause one fuckin’ tear.”
He nods slowly and I lean back in my chair.
“I’m not expecting you to draw it out. A simple bullet in the back of the head and a grave in the middle of no where will do.”
“Done.” A slow smirk covers his face. “Then you’d owe me bigtime.”
“Nah, the number of times I’ve saved your ass, you owe me for all days.”
I stand and walk out with his laughter trailing behind me.
I glance over in Annabel’s direction, and she’s sat at the corner table with a bottle of beer and her nose in a book. It’s then I notice the brothers all watching her.
I look at her again and try to see what they find so fascinating. I wouldn’t say she’s ugly, but she isn’t anything special. There’s not a remarkable feature about her.
I ask King, “What the fuck are you lot staring at?”
For the life of me I can’t work it out.
“She’s reading.”
“Yeah, I see that. You lot never seen someone read before?” I grunt.
Trey tells me, “Prez, she’s weird. She was just crying about something then in the next breath she was laughing.”
“You’re a bunch of fuckin’ idiots.”
Before they can waste more time today, I remind them, “Shouldn’t you all be looking into who shot at me this morning?”
With their reminder, they all shoot up and get to work.
Every step I take up to my room is slick with the blood.
The smell setting up home in my nose. I slip twice on my way to the top and land on my ass when Effie’s door is open and her room empty.
We were warned she could get away and she has.
Fuck. The sound of a safety catch being released echoes through the hall, and I scramble up to my feet, noting my hands are red with blood.
A masked figure is stood ten feet from me, aiming their piece straight for my head.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand and receive no answer.
Their silence eery and drawn out.
I wait but nothing happens. I push forward slowly and end up walking straight past whoever it is and continue following the path of blood.
When it reaches the next flight of stairs up to my room, I’m on the verge of throwing up.
The bitter copper smell grows stronger with every step to the top.
Blood drips from the doorknob and I have to pull my sleeve down just to twist it.
Not two seconds after the door swings open do I crash to my knees at the sight before me.
River is sat in the middle of the room, splashing the pool of blood surrounding him.
Tor, my fucking wife, and reason for my existence is laid beside him.
She’s dead but I can’t see why or where all the blood is coming from.
I tear my eyes away from her, preparing to go get my son, when the masked figure is stood over him, pointing his gun at him.
Who the fuck is this guy? I’m going to smash his head into the wall until it’s completely caved in and then set his body alight.
But I can’t move. I go to warn him off but I can’t open my mouth…
I jackknife up and sweat coats every inch of my body.
Tor is sleeping beside me. River is awake but happily kicking his feet in the air in his crib.
Princess is curled up by the door, not on alert. It was a fucking nightmare.
It felt too real. If I close my eyes, I can still smell the blood.