4. Tyson #2
She looks exhausted, like she hasn’t been sleeping, the sparkle long gone from those baby blue eyes I used to call home.
Her skin even looks sad, the usual glow missing from her olive complexion.
“What are you doing here?” She asks, taking my hands in hers, the subtle movement sending shivers down my spine – even her touch makes me weak.
“I needed to see you, Carter. I’ve wondered if you were okay everyday for the last few months, and I just … couldn’t stand it any longer, being away from you.”
“I’m okay, Tyson.” She stares at the ground, not making eye-contact, but I can feel her bones tremble as she speaks.
Something about her isn’t right, this isn’t the fearless, made-of-stone girl I once knew, instead, she’s hollow, like there isn’t an ounce of humanity left in her body.
“You lied to us, and I need to understand why. You left us, and I can’t go another day without knowing why.” I assert, tilting her chin until our eyes meet again, and she flinches, like she’s afraid I’m going to hit her.
I’d never do such a thing, and she knows that, but the fear that lives behind her irises is new, something I’m worried is eating her alive.
“Where’s Jasper?” She changes the subject, frantically searching around the room as if he’s going to pop out from behind a fake plant.
“Back in Jersey, plotting all the ways he’s going to kill you. I couldn’t let him do that yet, not before we had the chance to talk,” I say, and she lets out a deep sigh, the tension only slightly easing up on her muscles.
Again, she averts my gaze, keeping her eyes low and her words barely above a whisper, but I lift her delicate frame, placing her on the table so she can relax without me towering over her.
“Since you’re here, you obviously know my real name, and all about my father?” She muses, and she’s hit the nail on the head, as I’ve spent all my time learning each and every detail of her family history.
“Yes,” I answer, drawing a short breath while I wait for the explanation I trekked across the country for.
“He sent me to Jersey to wipe you guys off the map. If I did, I’d come home and run the Cassini Family, but I swear to you, Tyson, I fucking fell in love with you two.
Everything I ever said was true, you don’t have to doubt that my feelings were real.
I was absolutely going to run away with you both, and when we were clear, I was going to confess everything.
I’ve never loved anything until you, and Jasper.
” She twists her fingers along her other wrist, like she’s nursing an injury but I keep my protective side stuffed down, focused only on the answers I need.
“But why did you leave?” I ask, relentlessly questioning her to keep this line of communication open before we run out of time.
“My father orchestrated everything that night, and when his men came for me, I had no choice. I’m just as much a prisoner to him as you are to your fathers.
” She hits me right in the gut, a harsh reminder of what else was lost that night, and even though I hated my father, he didn’t deserve to die the way he did.
“Our fathers died that night, too,” I say somberly, and her body flinches, a sadness cloaking over us as I deliver so much information to her at a rapid speed.
“What? How?” She raises her voice higher than I’ve heard thus far, a look of shock on her face that I determine as genuine.
Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing what kind of life she’s been living here in California, but she seems sheltered, like any information she has is just a bread crumb, unaware of the full story, especially considering she thought I was dead.
“Masseria's home was hit at the same time. My dad died, but Mr. Masseria is in a coma,” I inform, and she drops her head in her hands, our silence deafening in this room.
It takes a few minutes, but rather than pushing her to talk, I let her process all of this bomb I’ve dropped on her, waiting until she’s ready.
“I’m so sorry, Tyson. I had no clue any of that was going to happen, I promise you I was trying to save our lives that night.
Before my father’s men took me, I made sure you got medical attention, that was my condition.
” She looks up at me, tears welling in her beautiful blue eyes, but I can’t stand to see her so sad.
“I know, babygirl. It’s what saved my life,” I whisper, pulling her close until her head rests on my chest, and I gently stroke her hair, just how I know she likes to be comforted.
“Are you here to kill me?” She mutters, a certain perkiness in her voice that I haven’t heard yet, and I cock my head to the side, wondering why she’d even think I was capable of something like that.
Even if I came here, and she confirmed everything Massi believes to be fact, I’d still walk away without laying a finger on her.
My heart lives inside of her soul, carrying it with her as she walks this Earth, and I’d rather go through another round of near-death surgeries than even think about her dying.
“No, Carter. I could never harm a hair on your head.” I pull her in close, but my eye catches something sparkly, and I realize she’s wearing a ring on her finger. “What is that?”
“Oh, um, I’m engaged. My wedding is in twenty-two days,” she confesses, and my breathing stops, the air being stolen from my lungs as I recover from arguably the worst thing I’ve ever heard.
Tilting her chin once again, I force her to look into my eyes, to give it to me straight as she explains the one thing that could have me wishing I died that night, rather than surviving just to see her married off to someone else.
“Are you happy?”
“Yes, I’m happy.” Her words hit me like a ton of bricks, but I notice that what she’s saying doesn’t meet her eyes, and there’s a specific brand of sorrow stored behind them, while she tries her hardest to keep a brave face.
“Is he good to you?”
“Yes, he’s good to me.” She hesitates, like it’s taking everything in her to speak those four words aloud, and the truth is hidden underneath what she isn’t saying.
Whoever she’s marrying, it isn’t willingly, and I have an ominous feeling that this a marriage made on promises of power, an arrangement that only benefits the Families, certainly not the bride being forced into it.
My heart squeezes in my chest, so hard that I almost give in and let this pain take my life once and for all, but I push through, shoving it down so I can carry out the mission that I’m now convinced is the reason I’m still breathing fresh air.
Save her.
“Tell me to come back for you, Carter. Tell me to save you from whatever this is, and I fucking will. I’ll scorch this Earth until it burns if it means you’re safe, do you understand me?” I take her chin between my fingers, ensuring she looks into my eyes and completely absorbs what I’m saying.
The weight of the world relies on her answer, but she’s so brainwashed that I can tell she won’t say what I need to hear, or ask for the help she was previously convinced wasn’t coming.
“Yes, Tyson.”
“So say it! Fucking say it, Carter!” I yell, causing her to jump, but I shake my head, not letting her think for a second that she’s getting away from this.
She doesn’t break our gaze, but I use my ability to read through her, instantly noting that she’s almost pleading with me to understand what she’s trying to convey without words.
She rubs at her wrists again, slowly lifting the robe and pushing it to her elbows, revealing scars that look to be from restraints, and I only look for a second, returning my eyes to hers as we continue to share messages with only facial expressions.
“Please.” She mouths, a single tear falling as she finds the courage to ask for help, and I nod, swiping at her cheeks and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“You should go. If anyone finds out you were here, or that we spoke …” She starts, her voice breaking as she shakes her head, letting me know that what she wants, and what she’s saying, are two very different things.
“I’ll be back for you, babygirl. I promise,” I whisper into her ear, feeling her body relax with my close proximity, but I pull back, looking into her eyes one last time to ensure she got my message.
As much as it kills me, I know I have to go.
My time here was already borrowed, and even though I could snatch Carter and run away right now, I need to take this home to Massi.
We have to come to a consensus on how to extract her the right way, while he comes to terms with the fact that she’s being held against her will – versus the crazy conspiracy theories he has about her true identity – and we need to save her.
It’ll be a tough pill for his ego to swallow, but I can guarantee that new enemies for him to obsess over are on the horizon, and we can finally get our girl back.
So, I do the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, staring into the eyes of the person I love more than life itself, and I walk out the door, leaving her alone to face her demons head on, with nothing but a shred of hope that rescue is coming.
Hold on for me, because I promise, I’ll be back, soon, babygirl.