53. Isabella
CHAPTER 53
Isabella
C ristian clapped his hand over Gemma’s mouth. She stared at him, wide-eyed, and he brought his free finger up to his lips in a “shh” gesture. He looked at me, and I thought about punching him. “She’s like a child, huh?” I hissed at him.
His eyes were pained. “It just happened,” he tried to explain.
Gemma said something behind his hand, but neither of us paid attention to her. “Did this just happen? Or has it been happening for a while?” Guilt morphed his features, and I didn’t need to know the answer. Lorenzo had been spot-on when he called them out in the kitchen: even if they hadn’t started having sex then, it wasn’t much longer beyond that when they did. “Never mind,” I said. “What do we do now?”
He took his hand away from Gemma’s mouth, and while she looked like she had swallowed a bug, she didn’t say anything. “I have some money,” he said. “I’ll grab it.” His eyes met mine. “Do you think you can grab a burner phone? He has one in the go-bag in your closet.”
I nodded. “Then what?”
“I’ll get her out to the garage; meet us there.” I nodded, but before I could get moving, Cristian caught my arm. “Move fast and as quietly as possible. If Lorenzo suspects anything…”
He didn’t need to fill in that blank. Lorenzo told me himself what would happen.
We separated, and I walked as quickly as I could back to the second floor. Walking past Lorenzo’s office, I held my breath, listening for any sounds. I could hear him on the phone with someone.
I rushed down the hall and into our bedroom. Cristian said that Lorenzo had a go-bag in our closet, and while I had never seen it, it wasn’t hard to find. The duffel was tucked in the very back; it was filled with clothes, some cash, a gun, and at the very bottom, a burner phone and a small, round, metal disk. It looked a little like an air tag. I stared at it for far too long until I shook myself: I needed to get moving.
Going back into the hallway, my breath caught in my chest again. I glanced down the way, towards Lorenzo’s closed office door, and my heart clenched. I’m sorry , I thought, picturing how angry he was going to be when he realized what I’d done. But I can’t let you hurt her .
Grand Central Station was teeming with people, all rushing this way and that to catch their trains. I pushed my way to the ticketing desk for the Metro-North Railroad while Gemma and Cristian grabbed some coffee from a stand nearby. I bought tickets for the first train headed out of the state of New York.
Cristian handed me a cup of tea. “I put two sugars in it.”
I took a sip and hummed. Comforting warmth spread through my belly. “Thank you.” I handed the tickets to him.
His eyes widened a little when he realized that I had only handed him two. “Isabella.”
I forced my mouth into a soothing smile. “You’re going to take her to Connecticut,” I told him.
“Wait,” Gemma said. “What?”
I ignored her. “Once you get there, you buy tickets for whatever destination is the furthest away. Then, do it again from wherever you end up,” I said. “Don’t contact me to let me know where.”
Cristian stared at me, blankly, for the longest time, but then he nodded. “Okay.”
“Isabella, I don’t understand,” Gemma said again, but still, I didn’t acknowledge her. My eyes were on Cristian.
“You’re going to protect her,” I said. “You’re going to start fresh somewhere as far from here as possible, and you’re going to make her happy. Do you understand?” I blinked my burning eyes. “Try to make yourself happy as well.”
Cristian glanced at Gemma, and I watched his expression soften. I didn’t know what was going on between them, but it was softer than lust. “I promise,” he said. “I’ll take care of her.”
“Now, wait a fucking minute!” Gemma was done being ignored. “What is going on here?” She looked at me, angry and sad and overwhelmed all at once. “You’re coming with us.” It wasn’t a question.
“I have to go back,” I said. I wasn’t going to apologize to my sister for my decision.
Sheer panic overtook her, and she grabbed my arms. “You can’t,” she pleaded. “Who knows what that monster will do to you when you go back?”
I shook my head. “Lorenzo isn’t going to hurt me.” At least, not physically . I wasn’t worried about Lorenzo killing me. He might lock me away in one of his cells for the rest of my life, but it was a price that I had been willing to pay the second that I climbed into Cristian’s car. “Not going back was never going to be an option, Gem,” I told her.
“Why?” Gemma demanded, voice wet and thick with emotion.
I shrugged. “I love him,” I said simply.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Love doesn’t excuse what he’s done.”
“It doesn’t,” I agreed. “But what he’s done, what he’ll continue to do, is what I signed up for.”
Fat tears rolled down her face, and she leaned against Cristian’s chest, even as she refused to let me go. “How could you do this?” she demanded, over and over. “How could you tie yourself to someone like him?”
There was nothing I could say to explain myself; there certainly wasn’t time before she and Cristian had to be on the train. I cupped her face, kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry about me,” I said. “All I want is for you to be safe, all right? That’s all I need, and I’ll be fine.”
A robotic voice overhead announced that their train was now boarding. Gemma cried harder, but Cristian simply wrapped his arms around her. He handed me the keys to his car; he didn’t need them anymore. “We won’t contact you,” he said and pulled my sister towards the terminal.
I was able to give him a shaky smile. “Thank you.” I didn’t let myself cry until he turned his back to me.
I stood there until I knew, for sure, that the train was gone. The car was parked in a public parking garage on the next block, but I considered getting a ticket for a train back to Long Island. Surely, if I called Lorenzo from the station, he would come to get me?
I heard someone click their tongue against their teeth beside me. “I’ve been waiting for you, Izzie.”
Santino stood behind me; his smile was made garish by the burns that were still pink and healing on his face. I went cold.