Chapter 56 Kade
FIFTY-SIX
KADE
I stood outside the reception hall wanting nothing more than to go in there and wrap Evelyn in my arms. I didn’t though, because I knew I needed to keep my distance.
Stefanos and his enforcers could be anywhere and I refused to have Evelyn in the crossfire.
I loved her too much to push her into my mess.
So far everything had gone according to plan in regard to Ricci.
Machine had informed me that authorities had found Ricci’s body hunched over in his home office tied to a chair to make it look like he was tortured in his own home.
Information about his “extracurricular activities” had been strategically placed so the police would find it.
I knew Ricci had the local police departments on his payroll, however I had more. One call was all it took to lead the mouse to the cheese, so to speak.
Machine clasped his hand on my shoulder. “We going inside, fratello?”
I shook my head. “Nah man, we have work to do.”
I made it four days before I couldn’t take the war in my head any longer and called Evelyn.
The phone rang several times before her angelic voice filled my ear. “Hi.”
I smiled before responding. “Hi, princess.”
“Is everything alright?”
“No,” I answered honestly.
She paused. Before she could respond, I spoke up again. “Have dinner with me tonight?”
My request was met with heavy silence.
“Please, baby. One more chance,” I pleaded.
There was a pregnant pause before she exhaled. “Okay,” she whispered, so quietly that I also missed it.
A wide smile spread on my face. “Okay. Meet me at Carbone at 7:30. I have some things I have to wrap up before dinner. Does that work for you?”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Bye, princess.”
“Bye.”
I hung up the phone and felt a new surge of energy flow through me. Tonight was going to be the start of a new beginning.
I was wrapping up an email when my phone rang. UNKNOWN popped up on the screen. Frowning, I picked it up. “Romano speaking.”
The sounds of gunshots made my blood turn to ice.
“Well, hello Mr. Ghost,” a thickly accented male voice responded. The blood drained from my face. Stefanos.
“And this is?” I asked coolly.
“Don’t play games with me, Mr. Romano.”
“What do you want?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“You interfered with my business, so now I’ve returned the favor.”
Stefanos moved the phone away from his mouth to yell at someone in the distance. “Es suficiente! Leave him and get your asses in the car.”
Who was he speaking of? An unwanted thought crossed my mind.
“Your guard dog has a message from me. Fuck with my business again and this will look like child’s play,” Stefanos bellowed.
Fuck! Machine!
I hung up the phone and instantly called Machine’s cell. No answer. I called three more times before he finally answered.
“Hel-” he choked out.
“Where are you?” I demanded. My palms felt clammy, and my vision began to tunnel.
“Mason Street.” He coughed weakly.
“Hang in there, compango!” I rushed to my car and navigated the traffic-filled streets of downtown New York.
My GPS brought me down a narrow alleyway.
I was grateful that we had our locations shared with one another on our phones.
As I pulled up to the pinging GPS spot, I noticed Machine curled up in the fetal position on the ground.
After sending a text, two more cars containing my men pulled in behind me and began to search for traps.
Machine remained still as I tried to wake him. Blood seeped from his right shoulder, and his face was covered with blood and bruises. I yelled at one of my guards to help me move him to the SUV. Machine groaned as we lifted him. He was heavy, dead weight in our arms.
“Fuck, man, when you're better, no more milkshakes for you.”
A brief smile crossed Machine’s lips as blood dripped from his swollen lips.
“Let’s go get you some feel- good meds. Ya?”
He could only muster a grunt in response before passing out again.
God, if you are there, please don’t take my best friend.
I rushed into the emergency department of the closest hospital, holding Machine up with one of my guards.
“Someone please help us!” I yelled toward the reception desk. Men and women in green scrubs surrounded us and worked quickly to get Machine onto a stretcher.
“What happened?” a tall man in a white coat asked.
“I think he was shot. I found him like this.” Not exactly a lie but, also not the full truth. I answered the rest of the doctor’s questions to the best of my ability before he ran to catch up with the responding nurses.
The guard who assisted me with bringing Evan in—his nametag read ‘Eric’— stood at the entry of the waiting area to keep alert. All of this was a mess. I leaned against the wall and scrubbed both hands down my face. A mix of emotions plagued my mind as I tried to come up with a game plan.
I gasped when I remembered where I was supposed to be.
I looked at my watch. 8:13 PM. I let out a curse and began to frantically pat my pockets, searching for my phone. “What the fuck?” Muttering to myself. I ran to my vehicle to search there. Fuck! No luck there. Where the fuck was my phone?
Then it dawned on me and my face fell. My phone must have fallen out of my pants pocket when I was tending to Machine in the alley.
Well, this night just went from shitty to a clusterfuck of diarrhea.
The love of my life actually was giving me a second chance and now I had no way to contact her because I didn’t have her number memorized, my best friend was fighting for his life, and now I needed to find my fucking phone. Just perfect!