Bonus Chapter - Vinnie
The Day Sly Left
My head throbs as my eyes fight to open. There’s a heaviness behind them, a desperate need to stay closed. I don’t understand. Confusion swirls as I struggle to open my eyes. The slivers of light make the pain in my head worse.
The slamming of a door sounds from inside the apartment, and I groan as my head rolls to the side to see who it is. There’s a searing ache at my hairline, and as carefully as possible, I reach up to touch it, feeling the spot wet and sticky.
Whimpering from the way it stings, I hold my hand up to see my fingertips covered in blood.
“Vinnie?” Lia’s voice calls out as her footsteps draw near.
A silent tear slips from my eyes and rolls down my cheek.
“I’m in here,” I croak, my throat dry and hoarse.
Cecilia pushes open my bedroom door, and the moment she sees me on the floor, she falls to her knees at my side.
“Oh, my gosh! Vinnie! What happened? Are you okay?” She’s frantic. Her hands are all over me, pushing my hair from my face, cradling my neck with the back of her hand as she assesses the spot at my hairline. “I’m calling 9-1-1.”
“No,” I croak again, my lips darting out to wet my lips. “I’m okay. Call Dr. Yang.”
“O–okay,” she stammers. Then, with confidence, as though she’s flipped a switch and turned her fear off, she nods. “Okay.” Pulling her phone out, she calls my primary doctor.
Dr. Yang has been my doctor since I moved out of my parents’ house and left the family doctor. I wanted her to call him, knowing he will make a house call and save me a trip to the hospital, along with the unnecessary paperwork, and the press.
“He’s on his way,” she tells me after a brief conversation with him. “I want to move you to the bed, then I’m going to get you a wet compress for your head and try to clean you up a little. It looks like the bleeding has stopped already, though, so that’s a good sign.”
As she slides her hand out from under my neck, I wince a little again. My neck and shoulders are sore.
“Vinnie, what happened?”
For a moment, everything is a blur, but then the memory returns crystal clear.
August, entering my home and my room. The file. The photos. The threats.
And then the assault.
Sly.
I was supposed to meet Sly.
I’m late!
Pressing my palms into the floorboards, I try to sit up. “What time is it?”
My head feels light, and my vision swims. I can feel my body sway, and Lia wraps her arms around me. “Hey, I’ve got you. You’re okay, Vin.”
“What time is it?” I repeat, closing my eyes to try and keep myself from crying.
“Around one-thirty,” she tells me, and as the words leave her lips, my heart falls.
“I’ve got to go.” My hands claw at my bed, trying to grab onto it to help myself up, but my limbs feel like they weigh a thousand pounds. The more elevation I get, the more intensely my head throbs, and the woozy feeling settles in.
My stomach rolls, nausea reaching all the way in my throat.
“You look green,” Cecilia says as she helps me stand.
My body falls forward, my palms landing flat and sticking to the glossy photos scattered across my duvet. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Lia keeps one hand on my back as she picks up a pile of photos with the other. “What is all of this?” Letting them drop, she pushes as many as she can out of the way so I have a place to lay.
“August—he did this. He found out about me and Sly and had us followed.” I take a deep breath, still trying to inflate my lungs and steady my heart. “I was about to leave to meet Sly to tell him I want to tell our families about us when August showed up. He let himself in somehow, then showed me all this. I thought he was bluffing, Lia. Just trying to scare me into submission. Then he hit me, and I guess I hit my head as I fell.”
Her grip on my hand tightens when I told her August hit me. “We should call the police.”
“No,” I say with conviction. “We can’t. He’s already threatening to kill Sly, Cecilia. I won’t let August hurt him.”
“It’s not your battle to fight, Vinnie. If we report him to the police, they can handle this.”
“The police won’t protect him. August and my brother have most of them in their pockets. The only one who can protect Sly is me, and I’ll do that in whatever way I have to. August won’t hurt him, Cecilia. I won’t let him.”
“Even at the cost of your own happiness?”
“Sly is my happiness, and what August wants is me. If that’s the price to pay to keep Sly safe, then so be it.”
Cecilia blows out a shaky breath. “Sly is a big boy. His family is just as powerful as yours is—and August’s. Why don’t you let him handle it?”
I pick up a handful of photos that I can reach and shake them in between us. “This is why. Sly is meticulous. He is street smart and knows the good and the bad sides of people. If he didn’t suspect August was having us followed, even on the most secluded of dates, it means August is more conniving than we thought. I can’t tell Sly until I have a better idea of what I’m dealing with.”
She nods several times, taking in everything I’m saying. Her eyes squeeze shut for a moment, and she blows out another breath. “Okay. We’ll figure it out. I’m here for you, always. You know that. You’re not in this alone, and we will figure it out. Together.”
“Thank you.” I squeeze her hand.
“The doctor will be here any minute. Let me go get that washcloth really quick.”
“Could you hand me my phone first? I have to call Sly. I’m supposed to be there.” My voice cracks, and a fresh round of tears streams down my face. It makes my jaw clench, which only pulsates my headache further.
My face must show my pain, because Cecilia brushes her fingers across my temple, pushing a little at the spot as she rubs it to try and relieve some of the ache.
“I think you have a concussion,” she tells me as she hands me my phone. “I’ll just be a second. Don’t fall asleep.”
“Okay.”
As much as I don’t want to lie to Sly, I’ll just tell him I slipped and fell, and that I’m waiting for the doctor to be evaluated. It’s not too far from the truth, although he might be upset that I didn’t call him first, since he’s a doctor. I’ll just tell him Cecilia called before I had the chance to.
The lie makes me nauseous all over again, but it’s what I have to do to keep him safe.
My fingers dance across the screen as I type in my code and pull up my call log, pressing Sly’s name as I pray to God he answers and gives me the chance to explain.
But his phone is off. Instead of ringing, the immediate sound of it clicking over to a generic voice mailbox that says it’s full sounds through the speakers.
I hang up and try again, only for it to go straight to voicemail.
Refusing to accept it, I try again.
And again.
And again.
I try until the phone slips from my fingers as Lia takes it from me, the tears a constant river flowing down my cheeks and pooling at my collarbone.
I’m too late.
He probably thinks I purposely didn’t show.
I’m too late.
The voice mailbox is full and cannot accept any messages at this time.
Goodbye.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.