Francesca
I held my breath until I got that text from Wolfe.
On my way home, baby.
My body relaxed into the chair, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. It was the first time I’d felt something else besides grief. It was the first time I’d felt gratitude in a long time.
About an hour later, he came up the stairs. His clothes weren’t covered in blood, so I assumed everything went well.
I got off the couch and went to him. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
A smirk widened across his face as I came into his chest and hugged him. He scooped his arm around my back, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead. He left his lips there as he held me in the living room.
I was the one to move away first. I stood back and looked into his espresso-colored eyes. “How’d it go?”
“According to plan.”
“Yeah?”
“I was able to get Leo alone in a seamstress shop. Had a nice little chat.”
My brother used to mean the world to me, but now I couldn’t hear his name or picture his face without wanting to split his skull open with an axe.
“Gave him a phone. Told him I want to know Warren’s whereabouts beforehand. The only way I’m going to ambush him is when he doesn’t know it’s coming.”
“Did he say anything else?”
He moved around me and stepped into the kitchen. He opened a couple cabinets and made himself a stiff drink. “You really want to know?” he asked with his back turned to me.
“Yes.”
He turned around and leaned against the counter, taking a sip before he set it on the counter beside him. “Said he was sorry and didn’t mean for any of it to happen. Cried in front of me. By no means do I feel bad for him, but he seemed pretty damn genuine.”
I felt some pity for him…but not a lot.
“The deal was Warren would help him take the vineyard, and then he would take a portion of the profits. But instead, Warren took everything and made Leo a prisoner. If Leo doesn’t comply, he’ll be killed. Now he’s a low-level lackey who does whatever he’s told.”
“What about everyone else?”
“They’re working for Warren. If they refuse, Warren will kill their families.”
“My father would hate that more than being shot.”
He grabbed the glass and took another drink. “Don’t worry about them. We’ll get everything back soon enough.” He stared at me for a while. “I insulted him for a bit, kicked the horse while it was down because it deserved a beating. And then I told him, when this is all done, I’m going to kill him.”
“What did he say to that?”
“Nothing, really. He knows he’s dead, no matter how this plays out. If you and I don’t kill him, Warren will. That asshole is living on borrowed time.”
“Did—did he say where they buried my father?”
He crossed his arms over his chest while he stared me down. “That didn’t come up.”
I gave a nod, knowing Leo would still see to his arrangements despite being the reason he was dead in the first place.
“Once he feeds me the right information, I’ll move in on them with Cosa Nostra, and it’ll be done.”
I tightened my arms across my chest.
“When they’re all dead and we have the vineyard back, you’ll start to feel better.”
“You think?” I whispered.
“I do.”
“I’m not sure anything will ever make me feel better.” I could stand on a pile of dead bodies and wear a crown made of their bones, and I’d still sob from the pain of my loss. I didn’t have a mother…and now I didn’t have a father.
And I didn’t have a brother either.
“Watching me cut off Warren’s head will at least give you closure.”
“When your mother passed away and you hunted down the man who killed her, did that make you feel better?”
He stared at me for a while before he crossed his arms over his chest. “Absolutely.”
“Yeah?”
“They say laughter is the best medicine. They’re wrong—it’s revenge.”
I fell asleep in Wolfe’s arms and woke up in blood.
My father’s dead body was beside me, and even though he was already cold, his eyes moved. They looked at me, silently pleading with me to stop what had already happened to him. It was eerie and disturbing, and I woke up screaming. “Dad! Dad!”
“Baby, baby, baby…” Wolfe grabbed me around the stomach and pulled me into his chest. “Just a nightmare.” He dropped his lips to my shoulder and kissed me, his strong arm squeezing me to him. “It’s not real.”
I continued to pant as I sat there in bed, staring at the dark room and the shadows in the corners. It felt so real, seeing my father’s eyes shift and move, the last part of him that remained alive. “I—I dreamed that—”
“Baby, it’s okay.” He kissed my shoulder again.
I continued to breathe and sweat, every inch of my skin covered in a thick layer of perspiration. It was drenching my hair. I felt like I’d just done an hour on the elliptical. “I’m so hot. I can’t breathe… I’m scared.”
He got out of bed and started to get dressed.
I continued to sit there in the dark, heaving and panting like I was still running.
“Come on.” He came around the bed and brought me the leggings I wore around the house.
“What?”
“Get these on. Let’s go for a walk.”
“Outside?”
“Yeah. Come on.”
I was still partially asleep, nearly sleepwalking, so he pretty much put them on for me. Then he scooped me into his arms, carried me down three flights of stairs, and walked outside.
The sea air was cold when it hit me in the face…and soothing.
He carried me down the sidewalks, the lampposts lighting up the street along with the sconces on the outside of the other buildings. There wasn’t a single person on the street, not a single car in the road, and he carried me like I weighed nothing on our midnight stroll.
I watched the town pass by like I was a passenger in a car.
He turned the corner and headed toward the sea.
I couldn’t see it because it was dark, but I could hear the waves against the shore, feel the wind pick up as it moved through my hair.
He came to a stop and held me on the sidewalk, stared at the ocean with me, just stood there for minutes like my weight wasn’t the slightest inconvenience to him.
“This is what I used to do when I had nightmares,” he said suddenly.
I turned away from the water and looked at his face. “You used to have nightmares?”
He nodded. “After my mom died. And for a little while after I killed the asshole who shot her. But then I moved on, and they stopped. Haven’t had them since.
” He looked out at the water for a few moments before he met my gaze.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this. It hurts me to know that you have to carry it. ”
His face was blanketed in the light of the lamppost and the moonlight, his stern jawline and handsome face on a beautiful display. I saw an emptiness in his eyes that I felt in my soul, saw the other side of my coin, the other half of my whole. “But I don’t have to carry it alone.”
Wolfe was dressed up like he intended to go out for the night. In a button-up collared shirt with the top open and black jeans, he was as delicious as a piece of tiramisu. He put on one of his flashy watches.
“Do you have plans tonight?”
“Cosa Nostra is having one of their dinners,” he said as he clasped the watch into place. “Don Russo asked me to come.” He turned around and faced me. “We’re both invited, but I didn’t want to pressure you before you’re ready.”
“So you’re going to go out looking hot like that—” I looked him up and down “—by yourself?”
He grinned because he knew exactly how fucking hot he was. “Come on, baby. You know I only have eyes for you.”
“But still…” I knew literally everyone everywhere would stare at him.
His thick arms stretched the sleeves of his shirt, and his ink extended a little past the sleeves and the collar.
“I don’t like it when people look at you.
” It wasn’t a trait I was proud of, but nevertheless, I was a jealous woman.
Jealous and possessive and passionate. I never knew I had those qualities until I was in this relationship.
“You’re welcome to come and be all over me.” He continued to smirk like he was enjoying this. “Wouldn’t mind that one bit.”
I’d literally left the house twice, and one of those times had been when he’d carried me through the town to the ocean.
Being out and socializing just felt like a weight of dread on my shoulders.
But a part of me also missed…life. Missed feeling the cool night air against my skin, missed the energy of a crowded restaurant, missed spending time with Wolfe.
All I’d done the past two weeks was grieve.
“No pressure, though.” His smile dropped. “If you aren’t ready, you aren’t ready.”
For the first week, I could barely stand. I could barely take a shower. I was still devastated now, seeing a gray sky instead of a blue one like everyone else, but staying home wasn’t helping me. It’d been essential at the time, but it didn’t feel so essential now. “No, I’ll come.”
“Yeah?” he asked, that smile on his face back and reaching his eyes.
I loved that Wolfe always made me feel wanted without actually saying it.
He showed me in other ways, like in his excitement of having me come along to dinner.
Another guy might want space to be out with the guys, but Wolfe had never acted like that.
He always made me feel wanted. “But you’re about to leave and I’m not ready, and I don’t want to make you wait. ”
“I’ll wait as long as I need to.” He moved to the couch and grabbed the remote so he could watch TV until I was finished. “Take your time.”
“But I don’t want to make you look bad for walking in an hour late.”
He gave me a firm look that shut me up immediately. “I would much rather walk in with you an hour late than be on time without you.”