Chapter Five
Callie
I stare at the man that looks like he may fall over even though he is seated. Severu never should have brought him down here. He clearly isn’t well enough to go traipsing through this fucking mansion much less being left to his own devices.
He is wearing black tracksuit pants and a black silk robe that has slipped open and shows the bandage around his torso. His olive-toned skin is pale from all the exertion and his facial features are tight with the pain I know he is surely feeling. It doesn’t detract from the fact that the man is stupidly handsome. Dark hair and full lips make him look like he should be on the cover of a damn romance novel.
Shaking my head, I clear out any lustful thoughts. The man almost died. And I am done with men, maybe forever.
“Why are you down here?” I ask.
“I wanted to meet you. I should thank you for saving my life,” he says, breathing heavily.
I wave him off. “If another person thanks me for being a decent human being and not just leaving you in the street to die, I am going to rip my hair out by the roots.”
A chuckle falls from his lips before he puts his hand to the bandage at his side. Clearly, it hurts.
“Most people would have left me,” he says. “Some would have called the cops or an ambulance. But people are generally in it for themselves so they rarely get involved in these kinds of situations if they can help it.”
“Wow,” I say when he finishes. “The life of a criminal has clearly jaded your view of the world.”
“Probably,” he says softly, leaning back against the couch and closing his eyes.
“Don’t die down here,” I say after a long silence. Returning to the car, I work on getting the carburetor loose. “I like working on this car and Severu will just try to convince everyone I killed you.”
He chuckles weakly from his spot. “I’m not dying, just catching my breath.”
“Good.”
I continue working on the engine, stripping out each part and thoroughly cleaning it before putting it on the steel table behind me. At one point I hear him snore and I can’t help but smile. If he’s snoring, he’s still alive, so I leave him sleeping.
I know it’s morning when Alceu walks into the garage. He takes in his brother’s sleeping form before joining me under the hood.
“I wish I knew what you were doing?” he says as I attach the block and tackle to the engine, ready to loosen the bolts holding it firmly in place and finally lift this big bitch out.
“Well, you have other talents,” I say, not looking at him. “And enough money to hire a hundred mechanics.”
Alceu chuckles. “What exactly is it you think I do?”
“I don’t know and honestly, I don’t care either. As long as you let me do my job and don’t interfere, you could run an illegal creche out of your bedroom and I wouldn’t give a shit.”
A full belly laugh erupts out of the man beside me and I shake my head. He must be nuts. According to his wife, Guilia, he likes the fact that I don’t have a damn filter. She says my blatant honesty is refreshing to someone like him. I call that crazy.
Most people don’t appreciate the way I speak my mind. People find it offensive that I say what I mean without taking their feelings or opinions into account. But it’s actually fun talking to him. He also has a habit of speaking directly instead of trying to be polite or politically correct. Though for a criminal that’s probably the norm. I have no idea.
I know I’ll have to leave here eventually and face the life I left behind when I beat the shit out of my fiancé—ex-fiancé I mentally correct—but for now, living in the house of one of the most feared men on the continent has its perks. Even if I should probably be terrified.
“Is there a reason you have graced me with your presence this morning?” I ask. “We both know you can’t help me with the car.”
“Obviously,” he replies, and I see him roll his eyes. “We need to talk about your ex.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I mumble, grabbing a rag and cleaning my hands. “What is it now?”
Alceu watches me carefully as he speaks, and I know he is cataloging every single one of my reactions.
“I sent my lawyer to the apartment to smooth things over,” he explains. “But it seems you did quite a bit of damage to his body and his ego on your way out the door.” He holds up his fingers as he catalogs the damage with a little smile. “Five broken ribs, a shattered collarbone, a few stitches, and from what my lawyer said, there was considerable bruising. He is also very much sour about everything that happened. He will be pressing charges, even though we offered him a sizeable bribe.”
I squint. “Don’t give that prick a damn dollar. He deserved everything he got.” I pace away from Alceu, anger once more coursing through my veins. “Actually, he should be grateful. If I was in better shape I would have killed him.”
“You’re a violent little thing, aren’t you?”
I glare at him. “He was fucking my roommate!” I exclaim. “Two weeks before the wedding. In my goddamn bed.”
“I can have Severu take care of him,” Alceu offers nonchalantly with a smile.
“Hell, no!” I say quickly. Alceu quirks a brow in question to my hasty reaction, probably wondering if I will be returning to Kevin after everything that happened. “I don’t want to owe that prick any favors. Besides, I changed my mind. He should live knowing a chick kicked his ass.”
“That doesn’t solve the problem.”
“And killing him will?”
“If there is no one to press charges, there can’t be any charges.”
I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter, Alceu. I did the crime, I’ll do the time. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“You could end up in jail,” Mancuso says from the couch, staring at us.
“I’m a first-time offender. If I plead guilty from the start, I might get six months, but I doubt it,” I reply. They stare at me in stunned silence. “My father was a cop,” I add explaining how I know this.
“Was?” Mancuso asks.
“He died. About ten years ago.”
“At least let my lawyer handle this,” Alceu cuts in. “I owe you for saving this idiot’s life.” He inclines his head in his brother’s direction.
“Fine. But then we’re done with all this ‘I owe you’ bullshit,” I say with finality. “I’ll let your lawyer help me and I get to finish the car but then we’re done.” Alceu arcs a brow. “I mean it. I don’t need you looking after me like I’m some lost puppy. I can take care of myself well enough. I’ve been doing it for years.”
“If that’s what you want,” he says, his smile growing wider by the second. “But I can honestly say I wouldn’t mind if you decided to stick around.”
Ignoring his words, I stick my head back under the hood of the car. How is it that a man, a family that doesn’t know me, wants me around? But the person that claimed to love me couldn’t give a shit. Life sure is cruel. I thought I had the support I needed to get through this but now I have nothing.
But no one ever said life would be fair, did they?