Chapter 31
What The Fuck
Tess to Carina: Seriously. What the fuck? [delivered]
Tess
A steady beeping interrupts my dreams, and I’m forced back into reality, my mind immediately remembering the moments before the world faded.
A sob tears from my lips as I remember the pain on Nico’s face, remember the moment he fell, his face going slack as life left him.
“Tess?” a panicked voice says as hands cup my cheeks. I blink my eyes open to see Enzo’s face above me, his eyes filled with sorrow. I throw my arms around him and cry into his shoulder, my body shaking. He strokes a hand down my head and over my back. “It’s okay.”
“No it’s not,” I cry, feeling overwhelmed by everything. “Nico’s gone. He sacrificed himself for me.”
Enzo nods into my shoulder as he continues to hold me and let me cry. “I know. And I know if you could ask him, he would do it again in a heartbeat.”
My tears fall and snot drops onto his expensive suit, but I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for ruining it.
Eventually my tears dry, and I take in the room around me. It’s a bedroom of some kind, with walls painted a forest green. But there’s also hospital equipment surrounding me.
“Where are we?” I croak, pulling out of Enzo’s hold. He steps back then sits in a chair that’s pulled up next to the bed.
“My apartment,” he says. “You’ve been out of it for a couple days.”
The door bursts open and Kai hobbles in with his pink boot. His face is a mixture of relief and pain as he looks over me like he’s assessing all of my injuries.
The pain in my side is now more of a dull ache, and my head is killing me, but the worst pain is the one in my heart. The grief I’m feeling over my friend's death. And that’s what Nico was, a friend.
Enzo gets up and directs Kai to take his seat. Kai then grabs hold of my hand as if he needs to touch me to make sure I’m real.
“Hurricane,” he says, his voice raw and broken.
“Hi,” I whisper, as a tear rolls down my cheek. I smile sadly at him before turning to Enzo. “What the fuck happened?”
Enzo sighs, rubbing the back of his neck as he starts pacing.
“We took out most of the Russian operation. But Petrov got away.”
“Petrov?”
“Mikhail.”
Oh.
“Who was the woman that found us?” I’m almost scared of the answer.
“Anastasia Volkova, she’s a Russian assassin.”
“What the fuck? Why was an assassin after me?”
Enzo stops pacing and tips his head up to the ceiling as he releases a long breath. “We don’t know.”
“How did you find me?”
Kai squeezes my hand as Enzo talks. “Kai got your location from your phone call, luckily you were close to Doc's house—he lives further out than the rest of us—he found you and brought you here.”
I rest my head against the pillow behind me and try to make sense of everything in my mind.
“Where exactly is here? Are we in New York?”
“Yeah, we’re in the city. The safehouse was in Albany, Doc used one of the choppers to bring you here.”
The door opens again, and an older gentleman walks in, his stride confident and commanding. “Alright, everyone out, let me check on my patient.”
Kai clenches his jaw and looks like he might refuse but I give his hand a small squeeze and he eventually nods, getting to his feet with Enzo’s help and the two of them leave.
“Tessa, how are you?” The man smiles warmly at me as he begins checking my vitals.
“Just Tess, please. I’m… I don’t know.”
He chuckles. “Understandable. You’ve been through a lot.
” His expression turns serious. “You were lucky, the bullet wound was just a bad graze, but it will scar.” He continues on, telling me about my injuries, apparently I hit myself in the face with the gun when I fired it, I don’t even remember doing that but when I touch my cheek I hiss in pain, the skin tender and bruised.
The doctor leaves and Kai returns alone, coming to sit back next to my side. He takes my hand and kisses it gently.
“This is probably a little more than you signed up for, huh?” I tease, wincing at the pain in my head as I attempt a laugh.
Kai’s lips twitch. “I don’t know. This feels pretty on brand for you.”
I really do laugh then. “I’m like a beacon for trauma at this point.”
“Maybe that’s why I keep gravitating towards you,” he shrugs simply.
I try to sit up but end up just groaning in pain as it pulls on my wound at my side.
“Take it easy,” Kai cautions.
“What’s the plan now?” I ask.
Kai rolls his eyes. “For you? Nothing. Just rest.”
I purse my lips. “Kai.” I glare at him. “Seriously, we need a plan.”
He sighs. “We have one.”
My eyes meet his and I see his determination shining back at me. For the first time since everything got turned upside down, I feel a sliver of calm, knowing that Kai’s with me.
Kai
Tess is finally walking around, but I can see she’s in pain, even though she tries to hide it. Enzo has been occupied, dealing with the Mafia side of things, while I’m looking after Tess.
I walk through the flat looking for her, after finding our room empty, to see her cooking.
She loves it—almost as much as she loves making the place a mess as she does.
She’s wearing one of my tops as a dress and the sight has my cock stirring.
It’s been too long since I’ve been inside her, since I felt her warmth.
As she cooks, I silently start cleaning up behind her.
She’s quiet, too quiet. I find I no longer like the silence. I want it filled with her rambling.
“You okay?” I ask, stepping up behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist as I rest my chin on her head.
She turns in my arms, snaking hers around the back of my head and resting her head on my chest. “I’m thinking about my parents.”
“Your adoptive ones?”
“Yeah.”
“You never talk about them.”
“I barely think about them. They were nice. And I’m so grateful they adopted me. But after I was eighteen… they just didn’t really care anymore.”
I frown. “That’s not nice. I’m sorry they made you feel unwanted.”
She shrugs, pulling away from me to start assembling pasta sheets into the oven dish. “They did their best. But sometimes I got the impression that they didn’t really want me. They were so strict sometimes, everything had to be a certain way. It was suffocating.”
I stiffen and Tess, of course, notices. “It’s not like you. You have a reason to need control, and you might think you need it, but you do pretty well even when everything is falling apart.”
Her words soothe some broken part of me, because she’s right. I’ve realised recently that I don’t need to be in control all the time. That it’s okay to let go, to let someone else take charge.
Tess continues, “My father had so many rules, and they would shout at me whenever I did someone wrong. My mother was just… there. I don’t know. They were fine. I don’t have bad memories. I just don’t really have any good ones either.”
“What made you think of them?”
“Just… everything. I have this whole new family I know nothing about. I don’t even know if I’ll have the opportunity to know them. I still haven’t met my father.”
The door opens at that moment and Enzo stalks in followed by who is quite obviously his—their—father. They’re like carbon copies of each other. Same ridiculously expensive suit, hair coiffed to perfection, a hard edge to their faces. There’s no denying the resemblance.
Tess see’s it too because she squeaks and runs behind me to hide.
“Hurricane?” I laugh, trying to step out of her way. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t meet my father while I’m not even wearing pants!
” she chokes out and I turn to face her, seeing that her cheeks are bright red.
I try to ignore that she just told me she’s not wearing anything under the top because I do not need to get an erection while meeting her father—the head of the Italian fucking Mafia—for the first time.
Enzo looks like he wants to laugh but is doing a good job of holding it in.
Massimo Russo looks as if he can’t quite work out how to approach this situation.
There’s a hesitation to his movements, like part of him wants to run over and hug Tess, while the other wants to remain stoic.
There’s an amusement in his eyes as he watches her squirming behind me.
He turns to face Enzo. “Shall we continue our conversation in your office?”
Enzo nods and the two of them head off down the hall.
Once they're gone Tess finally stops trying to make herself as small as possible and instead sprints to the bedroom to put on proper clothes.
She comes back a few minutes later wearing tight blue jeans that hug her curves and a red top that clings to her perky tits.
I groan, not knowing which outfit was more tempting.
I snatch her around her waist and drag her towards me so I can kiss her deeply.
She sinks into it, wrapping her arms around me so she can tug on my hair.
My hands come up to cup the back of her head, tangling my fingers in her auburn strands.
Her body moulds into mine, and I sigh into her mouth as our tongues clash.
A throat clearing has me jumping back away from her. Massimo Russo is staring at us with a hard, unreadable expression.
Tess looks like she’s ready to pee herself with anxiety.
“It’s nice to meet you, Tessa. Sorry it’s not under better circumstances,” her father says, his eyes softening just a fraction as he looks at her.
She doesn’t correct him on her name like she would anyone else. Just nods before saying, “Nice to meet you too.”
He turns his attention to me. “And Kai, it’s good to put a face to the name. My son’s told me a lot about you.”
I scratch the back of my neck awkwardly. “Uh, thanks?” Could I be any more of a div?
We stand in a strange silence, like we’re in some kind of Mexican standoff.
Thankfully, Enzo chooses that moment to join us. “This is a great family reunion,” he says dryly.
Tess laughs and the tension seems to ease. “I was about to serve dinner, do you guys want some?”
“What did you make?” her father asks, his tone casual.
Tess beams. “Lasagne.”
“Let’s see how good your Italian roots are then,” he taunts, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
Tess jumps into action, serving up four plates of food. We each grab one, taking them to Enzo’s dining table.
It’s quiet as we eat, and Tess bounces nervously as she always does when someone is trying her food. I don’t know why she worries, she is phenomenal. By the sounds of appreciation coming from her father and brother, I’d guess they agree.
“This is really good, Tess. How did you learn how to cook like this?” Enzo asks, reaching over to serve himself another helping.
Tess flushes. “I taught myself. I always loved cooking. I almost tried being a chef once, but… then I did psychology instead and forgot about it.”
“Why?” her dad asks, joining in. I can see he’s trying, but clearly unused to making small talk.
“I don’t know… I just never really considered it.”
Her father makes a disapproving hum in the back of his throat before his face becomes serious. “I’m not just here for a meet and greet. Though, I am happy to meet you Tess, even if I don’t do a good job at showing it.”
She swallows before smiling shyly. “I guessed you might have ulterior motives.”
“Anastasia Volkova…” he starts, hesitating on his next words. Enzo leans forwards, clearly unaware of what he’s going to say too. “She’s your mother.”