Chapter 16 #2
Yet the hatred welling inside me didn’t stop my heart from caring for him.
Which was why this was so painful. If I’d been used and discarded without any emotions on my end, this would have just been ordinary treachery.
But I had felt things. Felt things so deeply that I knew my heart would never recover.
With my feelings being used against me, that turned the treachery into unforgivable betrayal.
And that betrayal pressed down on my chest with such force that I struggled to breathe.
He swallowed. Didn’t speak for a moment and then finally nodded. “Yes. I was using you for my own ends.”
“For your father’s ends,” I corrected.
“I wasn’t going to rat on the old man—”
“Unfortunately for all of you, he admitted that it was his plan all along,” I snapped. “Don’t bother covering for him. This has his fingerprints all over it anyway. Don De Luca would double cross his own mother if he had to. Guess the apple didn’t fall far from the poisoned tree.”
“Stop. Listen to me.” He took another step down. “I don’t want this to lead to bloodshed for my family. You and me, we can work this out. You can take your best shot at me. Literally. But you need to leave my father out of this.”
“I’m coming for your entire family, Enzo,” I warned. “None of you will get away with a betrayal like this.”
“Betrayal. So, you do feel something for me,” he said.
Every part of me wanted to reach out and tell him how much I cared.
Luckily, finding out his scheme had spared me that final humiliation.
I’d end things without him knowing the depth of my feelings for him.
He’d think that this was score settling instead of a scorned, heartbroken woman getting her revenge.
I forced myself to scoff. “Is that what you think?”
“Why else would this hurt so much?” he challenged. “This is more than simple pride.”
“It’s a betrayal because you lied to my face and used me. That’s why you slept with me. To make this seem real,” I retorted. “If you refuse to see how messed up that is, I can’t help you.”
“I was going to tell you the truth, I swear,” he said.
“Lies.” My voice broke and I turned away, my vision blurring. “I’m getting out of here.”
“No, you can’t leave. It’s not safe,” he said. “There’s a hitman out there, for fuck’s sake.”
I couldn’t stand to spend another minute with him. If I did, I ran the risk of attacking him, or worse. It was time to cut and run.
“You don’t have any authority over me,” I said, composing myself. Quickly, I brushed my tears away and straightened to face him again. “Get out of my way, Enzo. Or I will make you regret it.”
He lowered his hands. Stepped aside.
Seeing my chance to escape with some dignity, I marched back inside.
I didn’t know how I was going to get out of here since I didn’t intend to rely on him or his pickup truck.
I was stranded out here. But there had been a gas station about two miles back.
With my experience walking New York City in high heels, I could chance a three-mile hike in rain boots.
Maybe there were emergency services out there now that the storm had passed.
I went to my room, repacking my bags as quickly as possible. Weapons, clothes, food, burner phone. All that went back into my bags. With my bags packed, I wheeled them out of the bedroom and returned to the porch.
Outside was quiet. Suspiciously still. I didn’t see Enzo. There was no one out here. I should have been relieved that he wouldn’t be here to see my less than dignified exit, but something about this felt...off.
Leaves weren’t rustling and I didn’t hear any birds chirping. They’d been pretty chirpy earlier, no doubt elated that the storm was over.
But the stillness made me uneasy. Hair on the back of my neck stood on end. That was when I smelled smoke. I saw a plume of it rising in the distance, coming out of a window in the woodshed that was several feet away from the pickup.
The woodshed was on fire. Flames burst out of the window, a black cloud of smoke descending over the property.
I didn’t think. Didn’t weigh my feelings for Enzo with my own safety.
Didn’t contemplate how I would ever mend by broken, betrayed heart.
There were no thoughts. My legs just started moving.
One foot in front of the other. Toward the burning woodshed.
I tossed the bags aside and ran. I ran toward the fire, knowing in my heart that Enzo was in trouble.
Knowing in my heart that I hated him while unable to accept that he was going to die.
When I got to the woodshed, I grabbed onto the metal doorknob. The heat of it singed my hand, the pain forcing me to snatch it away. I glanced around in desperation for anything that might help me open that door. A fallen branch, a tool, anything.
As I searched, I heard a crack of splintering wood.
The door slammed open, Enzo shoving his way out.
His shirt was burning, flames running up his arm.
His head, shoulders, and arms so completely covered in soot that I couldn’t tell how extensive his injuries were.
He was choking. Grabbing onto his chest in pain as he crashed to ground.
I screamed. Heart hammering, I ran back toward the shed, flinging my body over him to put the fire out. Somehow, I managed to put the flames out and I rolled away from him, desperate to discover the extent of the damage.
Crouching down, I managed to haul him into a sitting position, my spine screaming in pain under the weight of his muscular body. Smoke brought tears to my eyes, my throat burned, and I started coughing as I tried to inhale.
Enzo held onto me as he caught his breath and stopped choking. He gripped me tightly, meeting my gaze with a crazed look in his dark eyes. The fire must have sent him into some sort of shock. I had to get him to a hospital immediately.
He held onto me as I got us both on our feet. “Can you walk?” I asked, terrified that moving him would make things worse. But I couldn’t leave him here. If he’d inhaled too much smoke, he could die. The fire could have already burned his lungs. Not to mention the burns on his body.
“I can walk,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your father...”
“What?” I strained to hear. Had Enzo lost his mind?
“Your father did this,” he said.
“No, Enzo, this was an accident,” I said, trying to get him to see the truth.
He shook his head vigorously, that crazed look never leaving his eyes. “I saw a shadow. Somebody was here. Your father sent him to kill me.”
Out of all day’s devastating revelations, that was what tore my heart in two. In that awful moment, I was caught between my feelings for Enzo and loyalty to my father.
It was like the ultimate test of my loyalty, with me trapped between my fear for Enzo’s life and the fear that my father had sent a hitman to kill the only man I had ever truly loved.
THE END