Chapter Thirty-Two
The sound of the gunshot makes Vincent flinch and Scarface to growl and almost knock me down on the ground.
My heart twists when I move my head toward the bedroom window, hearing my dogs bark. Everette would never kill someone in the house just because he wants to, not when Vincent is living here. My mind immediately goes to danger.
Is he attacked?
Did someone sneak up on him?
All my thoughts are interrupted by the two guards who are telling me to go into the house, but I don't move as a pair of green eyes encounter mine, looking at me and Vincent with fear. Everette looks straight into my eyes and I wish I can see through the window and see what's going on. He breaks the contact and looks at the guards who are still trying to talk to me, and with one nod of his head and pleading eyes, I straighten myself, take Vincent in my arms, and walk into the mansion.
I walk with big steps toward Vince's room while the guards and panther are following me. I put Vince down and turn to the guards.
"Do you know what's happening?"
"Someone broke into the mansion, ma'am. You need to stay here until Boss solves the problem." One of them answers me and I frown.
Who in their right minds would break into a mafia boss's house?
My body fills with alert when Ivan's figure crosses my mind. It's not possible. That fucker is too smart to just walk into the beast's den.
I almost flinch when Vincent tugs my pants hard. I look down at him and see his blue eyes staring at me with boredom, while he holds my phone up at me.
"Your phone is buzzing and I can't read." I let out a laugh when he uses the word read. At almost five years old, he thinks he can do everything. All he can do with that comic book is to make up a story based on the pictures.
I take my phone from his little hand and see the name Venus on the screen. I don't even know when was the last time I spoke with Venus. At the charity ball? Usually, when she hunts, her phone is turned off, focusing on her prey.
So, her calling me it's strange.
And my gut is telling me that she's not calling me because she misses me. With trembling fingers, I accept the call and her rapid breathes make me lose my mind already.
"Venus?" I ask and I feel my heart bursting out if my chest.
"No, no, no, it's not here," I hear her voice and it sounds like she's smashing something. She speaks Italian when she's afraid.
"Venus, calm down." I try to tell her, but to no vail. I look at Vincent and he seems captivated by the comic. I
leave his room, gluing my back to his door.
My body is on high alert at Venus's state. She's not losing control easily, something we both learned together, but right now she seems on the edge of breaking the last string of control she has, and that's scaring me.
"It's not here, Althea." She says and it takes me all control to not snap at her.
"What's missing?"
"I promised you I'll take care of it,"
"Venus please calm down and tell me what's missing." I don't recognize my voice.
There's only one thing that I gave her to keep safe, and if that thing is missing...
Fuck, I can't even think about it.
Venus takes a few breathes in and out, and with a small voice, she crashes my world. "I came back home from hunting Ivan because I had a bad feeling, and I searched the whole house, Althea. It doesn't show that someone broke into it, but it's gone. I kept it there since you first gave it to me."
I feel my body light and with one hand on the wall to keep my balance, I ask. "What's missing, Venus?"
A second goes by.
Then five.
Then ten.
"The painting."
I suck in a big mouth of air and I feel my body giving out. My chest hurts and I think my heart is breaking in two broken pieces.
"What painting?" My throat hurts, feeling like its closing until no words can come out.
"Althea,"
"What painting, Venus?" I demand broken.
I gave her only one painting.
"Everest." And the tears fall, leaving hot traces on my face.
No.
No Dio, ti prego no.
It's a dream.
A nightmare.
No, no, no.
A sob takes ahold of my body and it almost brings me to my knees.
What if he sees the painting before I can explain to him?
What if he doesn't let me explain?
Will he hate that much?
Will he forgive my broken heart that beats only for him since I was twenty?
"Althea, I'm so sorry. Dio, what have I done?" I hear Venus punching the wall hard, and more tears are escaping my eyes.
"It's not your fault," I whisper.
"How can you say that?" Venus snaps at me and I close my eyes when I feel my heart numb.
"He stole the painting. You didn't give it to him. He stole it." I don't know how I can still talk, but I need to make her understand that it's not her fault.
When I gave her the painting, somewhere deep in my heart I knew that it's not gonna be safe forever.
After all, I was born to suffer.
"I-I need to go." I stutter, my body already tired.
"You're going to tell him?"
"I have to. Before he finds the painting."
"He loves you," I puff brokenly at that. "Althea, he looks at you like you are his whole world."
No one can love me.
That's the curse I received when I was born, along with a life full of pain.
The moment Everette met me, his heart got cursed too. I had to watch him chose my sister while my heart was begging for him to recognize me. He had to live a lie because of the curse.
His cursed heart.
Isn't that ironic.
"Talk to you soon." I whisper.
"Ti amo, mia sorella da un altro universo."
I let my phone slip from my hand, crashing to the ground. I walk with little steps toward our bedroom, seeing Harper and three other guards holding a man in their hold. The man seems dead, but I know he's just unconscious. A trace of blood forms behind them, and I know the housekeepers will have their fun washing that.
My husband loves to play with his prey.
The guards nod their heads at me and continued their way.
My feet stop at the door to our room and I think about all the possibilities. My head lowers and my heart get heavy.
It was nice to feel loved. Even if it was for a moment.
With tears in my eyes, I enter the room, prepared for everything, but this.
Everette sits on the bed, with his hand on the left side of his chest, pale as a ghost. His gaze is stuck on the sheets, but only when I get closer to him, I see that his eyes can't come off from the picture.
"No," I whisper-gasp when the figures of us is in front of him.
Powerful sobs make me fall on my knees in front of him, with my arms on the bed and my fingers on my mouth. His face is emotionless, but his chest is moving
fast and hard.
"What am I looking at, Althea?" I cry harder when his rough voice demands answers.
"Please just let me explain," I stop when his cold, green eyes turn to look at me.
"Get up." He orders.
"Please-" I try but it's useless. I can't move, I can't think.
"I said, get the fuck up." He growls at me.
I look down, feeling like I can't breathe anymore. I deserve every single thing he gives me, but it hurts too much.
Fuck, it hurts so much that I feel like dying.
I feel his cold hands gripping my shoulders tightly, rising me from my position. I feel his fingers into my skin, and I'm suddenly jerked onto my feet, with his hard face close to mine.
"Everette, please," I sob. His jaw tenses and I curse myself when I realize that I called him by his other name.
For the first time since that day, I called him Everette. I almost fall to my knees again when his hands leave my body. I don't beg, especially to men, but I will beg my husband to listen to me and to believe me, because if the first time I survived, this time it will kill me.
"Why, Althea?" My whimpers get ahold of me and I try to calm myself. "Fucking talk. Didn't you just beg?"
I close my eyes at his harsh words, but hell, I deserve everything he says. My eyes open and with one last sob, I talk.
Vincent's cries tore at my heart, and I almost cry with him.
It's been two hours and he's still wide awake. His little lungs are letting him scream the house off and his angry face turns redder and redder. He's a calm baby, and even though he just turned one, it's the first time he makes this fuss over falling asleep.
"Do you think he knows his mother died?" I hear Keres's small voice ask me. I turn toward her and she looks at me and Vince with a soft face.
My gaze moves to the baby in my arms and I let out a sigh. Yesterday, Hanibal killed Vincent's mother, Anna, in cold blood. It took him long enough to kill her. Anna was a pole dancer who got tangled with the wrong man. When she got pregnant with Vince, Hanibal kidnapped her and made sure he got his heir. Anna didn't want the child, but for some money she managed to carry him.
I always knew she's crazy, and in a moment of weakness, she wanted to kill Vincent. Thank god, Keres has the scream of a banshee and Papa heard her, saving Vincent.
I look at my sister again and continue rocking Vince to sleep. "She was never here for him to actually realize that she's not here anymore."
"Yeah, but still."
And that's my sister. Always with a good heart even for those who are psychopaths. The better daughter.
"Keres, she tried to kill him because she hated the fact that she birthed his child. That's what Hanibal does best. Breaks women like it's his favorite hobby. It's a
surprise that she lived a year more."
"I know, I know. I'm just sorry for Vincent. He doesn't deserve any of this."
"He doesn't, but he has us." I say and a wave of protectiveness claims my body. I look at Vincent and his tantrum is finally over, his blue eyes looking tired at me. I bring him closer and kiss his forehead multiple times.
"Alert, code red, code red! Jealous sister here." Keres whispers because Vince finally closed his eyes, sleep taking over his body.
I bite my tongue to not laugh and wake the tired baby. With little steps, I walk toward her and throw my hand around her neck, smashing her to me and Vince.
Keres giggles, but wraps her hands around us. I inhale her strawberry scent and let her arms calm me. She has this aura around her that always makes me content with life.
When Mamma left us, Keres took her role as a big sister more serious than anyone. She's always there for me, but she doesn't know all the things that happen in the house. She doesn't know that Papa smacks me every day, she doesn't know that I'm dying slowly on the inside.
And she'll never know.
One day, she'll leave this house and never look back. She'll find someone that loves her and she'll eventually stop caring about me.
I'll make sure of that.
"Ti amo, mia sorella da questo universo." She kisses my forehead and I feel tears gather in my eyes.
"I see that you're jealous of Venus, too." I smirk and she puffs.
"If she's your sister from another universe, then I'm your sister from this one." Keres murmurs and tighten her
arms around me.
"Ti amo, il mio spirito." I say back.
My arms start to tremble because of Vincent's body, and Keres takes him in her arms. They look so much alike it's fascinating. To their blond hair, to the blue eyes and high cheeks.
"Go freshen up, I'll take care of this little monkey." I nod and leave the room to go take a little walk outside.
Autumn starts being seen and the wind turns a little colder than before. Mamma's garden is full of purple flowers, and it looks like she's still here to take care of it.
I see Trinity looking at something after the huge gates of the mansion, her little body trembling. I whistle after her, but she seems to be absorbed by that something.
I walk toward her, looking through the gates, and almost stumble when I see a man passed out on the ground.
"Cazzo!" I yell and open the gate to run at him. Trinity stays behind, afraid to step out of the garden.
I run as fast as I can, falling to my knees when I'm above him. His clothes are dirty, stains of blood covering his chest and face. I freeze when I take a look at his face.
He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life. His face looks sculped by a Greek god, with a perfect jaw and muscular high cheeks. His nose has a little bump, but it makes him look perfect. His lips are full and his eyelashes are long, resting on the lower ones. His hair is messy, with little curls around.
Cazzo, I think my dead heart just skipped a beat.
I take his face in my hands, shaking him to wake up.
"Can you hear me? Nod your head if you do." I look over his injury, letting a curse when I see the gunshot wound. "What's your name?"
Good job, Althea. You don't even know if his dead,
but you expect an answer.
"E-Everest," I hear him murmur, his voice creating goosebumps all over my skin. His eyes remain closed, a sign that his body is too weak to even move.
"Everest? Were you conceived on that mountain?" I ask and try to move him. His chest vibrates, his face contracting in pain.
"Everette Moretti." He says clear this time, and my hands stop.
Of course he's a future Boss. And not just any Boss. The Outfit's future Boss.
"Moretti, huh?"
I try to keep him to talk, but when my body clearly can't move him, I whisper, "I'll be right back, Everest. Don't you dare move or die."
I warn him but I think he fell unconscious.
Cazzo!
I run back inside, yelling for the house doctor. My feet hurt, but I'm not stopping. He needs a doctor, and he needs him now.
I ignore the jumps my heart does when I think of his handsome face, focusing on running.
"Why are you yelling like a fucking banshee, Althea?" I hear Papa's angry voice and soon, his arms catch me.
"The heir of Outfit is in front of our gates, wounded." I explain quickly, my Papa's eyebrows almost snapping.
He starts running, and I follow him just as fast. He starts yelling at some guards, and soon, all of us are out of the house, going to Everette.
I stop at the gates when I see Keres above his body, holding his face between her little hands. Everette's eyes are open now and he looks at Keres with confusion and curiosity.
I hear my heart cracking at the picture in front of me,
then a numbness takes place in my chest.
Calm down, Althea. He'll recognize you.
The guards take Everette in their arms and start caring him in the mansion, while Keres glues herself to him. The look in her eyes makes me cry until I'm left to faint.
Don't Keres. Please don't take him away from me, because if he's falling for you, I'll have to let him go.
Please, Keres.
Don't.
Papa sees my face and comes next to me, taking my face in his hand, gripping hard until I feel his fingers disappear in my skin.
"Don't you even think about it, Althea." Tears are gathering in my eyes, my heart already too heavy for my chest. "Keres found him, didn't she?"
When I don't answer, his hand turns my face hard to left. My cheek is on fire, and I need to take all the power in me to look at him again. "Didn't she, Althea?"
"She did." I cry hard, my knees letting me fall on the ground.
My hands are gripping the dirt on the ground, while my eyes look back at Everette and Keres.
And just like that, I watch my own heart walk away from me.