Chapter 23 - Constantine
Constantine
I bolt upright in bed, groggy and looking around to find the bed empty. Something woke me up. I glance at the clock, which reads just after eight in the morning. The sun is streaming through Enzo’s curtains as I’m trying to figure out where Enzo went and what woke me up.
It was probably him. He woke up and is getting ready for the day. That has to be it.
I stretch in bed and yawn. That’s when I noticed the note on the small nightstand. I pick it up and read it.
Little Bird,
I don’t want to wake you because I don’t want you to stop me. I’m off to face Alfonzo. We need to have words. It’s the only way to keep you safe. I’ll be back soon.
XOXO
Enzo
I smile at the symbol of hugs and kisses. Still, I’m mad at him for going. Now I’ll just worry.
I reach for my phone, which is charging, and send him a quick text.
Me: Please be careful.
My heart leaps when he responds right away.
Enny: I’m already on my way home.
Relief fills me. Okay, it must have gone well then. I set my phone down, stand, and pad over to the bathroom. But as soon as I open the bedroom door, someone bursts in and knocks me onto my back.
I’m dazed as pain radiates up my spine.
“It’s time to clean up this little mess,” he growls. He’s not a tall man, but he’s stocky and looks stronger than me. His tanned face is marred by chickenpox scars, and he seems at least ten years older than me.
The man reaches for me, grabs my hair, and drags me out of the bedroom. I cling to his hands so he doesn’t yank out all my hair as we head to the kitchen. My feet are trying to find purchase as I try to fight him.
“Let me go!”
“Oh, you’re about to die. Where the fuck is Enzo?”
“None of your business!”
The man lets me go and kicks me in the stomach. My gut is still bruised from last night. I heave and gasp for air. I’m so tired of being beaten up. So dang tired!
Despite being unable to breathe and my stomach feeling like it wants to hurl, I quickly grab his foot when he tries to kick me again.
The position puts him off balance, and he falls onto his back.
Now he’s the one dazed. I quickly jump on him and punch the heck out of his face.
I’m no Enzo, but I have rage on my side.
I see red and violence. Not once have I lashed out on impulse except on that night I killed my parents, but everyone wants to hurt me, to kick me down, to keep me small! Not anymore! Never again!
He tries to fight me off, but I keep punching him over and over. My hand hurts, but that doesn’t stop me. Blood starts spilling out of his nose and mouth. It’s not enough! I need more. I need death! He needs to die!
“F-fuck you!” I yell.
My hands land on his throat, and I squeeze and squeeze.
His already ruddy face turns redder. The man finally manages to pry me off and shove me away.
I land on my back again, but I quickly roll over and crawl away.
He grabs my foot and drags me back to him.
I cling to the kitchen table, but my fingers can’t hold on.
When I get closer to him and he bends down to grab me again, I roll onto my back and kick him in the face. He freezes for a second before falling on his ass. I scramble onto him again, needing more blood.
Blood, blood, blood!
Die, die, die!
I punch him in the nuts with my bleeding knuckles. He cries out and tries to curl into himself, but I don’t let him. I punch him in the face again, and his nose finally breaks, then I choke him again.
Suddenly, someone yanks me off the man and sets me gently onto my feet. I’m ready to hurt my second attacker until I see that it’s Enzo, who stomps on the man’s face over and over until he’s not moving. Then he stomps on him again.
“Dare to hurt my bird? Fuck you! Die! Fucking asshole!”
Then Enzo grabs his gun and puts a round of bullets into the man’s head. Now that he’s dead, Enzo drops his gun arm and stands there, hovering. His gun hand is visibly shaking at his side, but other than that and his heavy breathing, he’s unmoving.
“Fucking piece of shit!” he snaps and spits at the dead man.
When Enzo calms down, he puts the safety on the gun and sets it down on the kitchen table before turning to me. “Are you okay?”
The dam bursts. All my emotions explode out of me, and I start sobbing. Still, I nod even though I’m not okay at all. Enzo erases the distance between us and gathers me into his arms, holding me tight as I let out decades of pain.
He doesn’t say anything and doesn’t let me go until I finally calm down. When I do, he gently grabs my upper arms and eases me off him. “Con… please tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m so tired of people trying to hurt me.”
His eyes water, too, and he pulls me back into him. “I know. Never again. No one will ever hurt you again. Once we’re free from here, I’m going to train you to fight back. Understood?”
“Okay.” Even though my entire body hurts right down to my soul, I cling to him, feeling safe. I trust my angel with my very being.
“I thought Alfonzo agreed to let us go. I gave him an ultimatum, but he failed. He must have sent someone to hurt you while I was headed home. Fucking bastard. He’s going to pay for this.”
Enzo gently takes my hand and leads me to his bathroom. And once again, I end up sitting on his toilet lid as he gets ready to heal me.
“I’m sorry they hurt you, baby,” he says as he takes my hand and cleans up the cuts and blood on my knuckles. Then he checks for breaks. “We’ll ice this once I have you all cleaned up.”
I simply nod, struggling to find words.
Enzo takes my chin and makes me look at him. “Precious. You’re precious to me. I just killed for the first time for you, and I’d do it again. That’s a promise.”
My eyes water, not from the earlier fear and adrenaline crash, but from love. “I will always protect you, too.”
Enzo leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips. It fills my heart with such goodness. It doesn’t take away all the pain and trauma, but it’s a kiss of promise—a promise of a better life, one filled with love and happiness.
“This has been the craziest fucking Christmas ever,” he says when he pulls away.
“I still hurt for Enrique, but he can rest in peace now, and I can live knowing that, at the end of the day, I found revenge for him. All that is thanks to you. I may never have known what happened to him, and they may have killed me for it. But you gave me the most precious gift. Thank you.”
My face blooms, and I smile shyly as I wipe my wet face. “You’re welcome.”
“Now, let’s deal with the body, then we need to get packed and get the fuck out of here. Do you have any money stashed at your place?”
“Yeah, I have some, but not tons.”
“Anything will help. I have a bit saved that will tie us over for a while. I’ll put my house on the market, and when it sells, we’ll have some extra funds. First, I need to have another word with Alfonzo.”
My stomach jolts from fear again. “No!”
“Yes. I refuse to be afraid of him. He sent someone to kill you, and he needs to know that he will never be safe.”
Enzo pulls out his phone, leans against the bathroom counter, and calls Alfonzo.
“I warned you. Be prepared to watch over your shoulder for years to come. You’ll never know when I’ll come for you,” he says as soon as Alfonzo answers.
Enzo appears relaxed except for the white-knuckled grip of his phone.
“You did know! You and Mario talked about killing me off. If he sent that bastard before we killed him, it was on your order! You back off now because not only will I hunt you when you least expect it, I will let the entire family know of your deal with the Da Costas and your betrayal. No one will trust you.”
Alfonzo must say something else as Enzo listens before he scoffs. “Psh… I have evidence. I have the letters, recorded confessions, and Constantine was a witness. Hmm, I wonder if Carmen would be willing to come forward. She must be distraught by all this.”
Enzo nods, even though Alfonzo can’t see him.
“Yes. Okay. And I want to remind you to leave us alone to live our lives, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll live to a ripe old age, and no one will learn what you did to Enrique and me.
Oh, and pick up the body in the lake by your warehouse…
or don’t. The bastard can rot with the fish for all I care. ”
He hangs up and puts the phone back into his pocket. “We’ll see if he sticks to the agreement. He probably will, since he’s got less to lose with me living my life with you. Are you ready to start our new lives?”
I smile broadly, stand, and pull him into a hug. “I’m so ready.”
It’s taken us all day to pack, clean, and get rid of the body.
It isn’t easy being in a neighborhood, even if it being dark outside.
We have to move the body through the backyard to Enzo’s garage, where we dump it into the trunk of his car.
Then we have to clean up all the blood on his kitchen floor.
But there’s nothing we can do about the bullet holes that exited the man’s head.
Enzo says he knows someone who can fix the floor without asking questions.
When we’re done, we drive off toward the warehouses where I’d originally followed Enzo to find Mario.
It’s late by the time we toss the corpse into the lake. It’ill be up to Alfonzo if he wants to retrieve it.
“Let’s get to your place to grab what you need,” he says as we stare at the lapping water against the concrete barriers. “Then we can leave here, taking both of our cars. We’ll also have to switch out license plates while we’re on the road, just in case.”
“I’d rather drive with you. Let’s just sell mine. It’s not worth much, but we’ll get a few thousand from it.”