29. Renne
Renne
Dina is an excellent cook. I’ve had her orange chicken and noodles before, and tonight, they taste even better than I remember. Except, I can’t eat much.
I’m sick to my stomach. I’m full of regret, guilt, and sadness that after dinner, I will leave this woman who has loved me so unconditionally for the past year. She made my life so much better. If it weren’t for Dina, I don’t think I would have made it. Let’s be honest. I was a mess.
I’m still a damn mess.
Trouble is that if I don’t eat, she’ll know something’s amiss. Even if I do, Dina will know something is wrong because she’s perceptive. She’s one of those empaths who sense things about other people even before the people realize what they’re feeling.
That natural talent of hers is probably how she’s in a relationship with Declan Crossbow, who scares the bejesus out of me. Connor is playful and funny, even when he’s terrifying.
I’m going to miss them all.
Hanna missed me today. Ever since I came back, she’s clung to me. At the dinner table, she sits on my lap while the other three people eat quietly. All five of us occupy the same space, which should feel normal. I’m uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable, because they don’t know they’re sharing a meal with a traitor.
The man I ran from is Connor’s uncle? Gosh, it doesn’t get any worse. I hate that the people who should’ve protected me pushed me into this even more.
The audacity of the agent to call me back and tell me he thought I knew that Cassian Macarley is Connor Crossbow’s uncle. Why the fuck would I know that? It’s not common knowledge.
Hanna stands on my lap. Over my daughter’s shoulder, I shove the noodles into my mouth. She turns, grabs a noodle, and puts it in her mouth. The slippery pasta ends up on her shirt while those blue eyes stare at me.
She and Connor have the exact same eye color and shape. I’ll never be able to look at her and not think about him.
“Did you get anything done today?” Declan asks Dina.
“Not much.”
“My fault,” I tell him. “I crashed at my apartment.”
“There’s tomorrow,” Dina says.
I can’t tell her that we won’t see each other tomorrow.
A walkie-talkie pings. “House, come in,” a man says.
Declan wipes his mouth and picks up the unit. “House here.”
“Your uncles are at the gate.”
My heart goes into overdrive, forcing me to gasp. I’m a moment away from a panic attack. His uncle saw me. Watched me from across the table where we sat together on the yacht.
Maybe he won’t recognize me. Can I take that chance? Hell no. I’d rather die. Which might happen anyway.
Before I die, I might pee on the chair. My hands shake, and the fork rattles against the plate.
Dina frowns. She doesn’t know why I’m freaking out. Nobody knows why I’m freaking out. Only I know. I must get ahold of myself.
“Come again?” Declan says.
“Your uncles are at the gate.”
Connor puts his fork down. “What are they doing here?”
I must leave before these men get here. How can I just bolt out of the manor? What if Cassian Macarley recognizes me and shoots me? Poor Hanna.
“I didn’t call them,” Declan says.
The brothers lock eyes, and you could cut the tension between them with a knife.
I colored and cut my hair. I changed the shape of my eyebrows, but I have no idea how much Cassian remembers from that night.
I force myself to stand on shaky knees. I hope my knees don’t fold and I don’t fall on my face. I can’t fall because my baby needs me to get it together. “Welp, that’s my cue to leave, I guess.”
“What do you want to do?” Declan asks Connor.
Connor grips the plate. Under the pressure of his fingers, it breaks. Blood drips from the cuts on his hands.
Dina leaps out of the chair, but I’m already there, grabbing the cloth napkin and telling him to wrap it over the two deep gashes that are bleeding the most. “Do you have bandages?”
“A first aid kit,” Dina says.
“I need stitches,” Connor says.
I can’t tell yet if he does or not because he’s fisting the napkin and barely containing his anger. “Can you do it?” he asks me.
I don’t answer because I don’t know what to do anymore. “What do you want me to do?” I ask, my voice small and weak. There, I asked him what to do. I asked for help.
“On your way home, you’ll bring me to the hospital, where you’ll stitch me up.
” He stands so quickly that the chair flies back, hitting the glass wall behind him, making it shake.
“Bye, guys,” he says. “Tell my uncles I better not see any of them near me for the next twenty-four hours, or they’ll find that precious doctor of theirs face down in the fucking river! ”
“Take care, brother.”
“Handle them, Dec.”
Declan nods. “I will.”
Connor grabs my getaway bag, which doubles as a diaper bag. “Get the baby. Let’s go.”
“What is happening?” Dina asks. “Why the hospital? Declan has a first aid kit. Ekatia can stitch you up here.”
“Her name is not Ekatia!” Connor shouts.
Hanna makes a sad face as if she’ll cry. The four of us stand there staring at each other.
Hanna’s watching me for a reaction to Connor’s yelling.
She is unsure whether she should cry. Gently, I smile.
“I’m sorry,” I say to the adults. “Truly.” I have a feeling it would offend Connor greatly if I didn’t admit it.
I think he’s trying to help me, and I have to let him and not deny what he already knows.
Connor assesses me. “You’re not even going to try to deny it?”
“You wouldn’t have said anything if you didn’t know my secret. I’m so sorry. I was afraid. I’m…I’m still afraid.”
“What is your name?” Dina asks.
“It’s Renne.”
Dina smiles even when she cries. “That fits.”
“House, come in,” the man calls from the walkie-talkie.
“House here,” Dec answers. “How many cars?”
“One.”
“Is it just my uncles?”
“No, there’s a woman with them.”
“Who is the woman?” Connor asks.
The man takes a moment to answer. “Endo’s wife.”
Connor looks at Declan.
“She’s a doctor, isn’t she?” Dina says. “Between her and…and Renne, they can do your stitches. Can you not stay? Declan, please, what is going on?”
“I’m in witness protection, Dina.”
Dina’s eyes widen. “A witness?” She looks around. “Did you know?” she asks Declan.
“We found out recently. The thing is, the crime lord she’s being protected from is my uncle Cass, who’s at the gate. Since my uncles came unannounced, I assume he recognized her from the picture I leaked, asking about her identity.”
“Why would you do that?” Dina asks.
“Whoever knows about her will come forward, and we can take care of them. My uncle was kidnapped that night on the yacht. After it sank, a man named Daniel Pembroke grabbed him. But all you saw was my uncle shooting back and successfully eliminating his captors. We didn’t know there were witnesses. ”
“He murdered people in cold blood.”
“Daniel Pembroke, who is paying the cops to keep you with us, arranged the meeting on the yacht, and they attacked my uncle with all those civilians around. A shootout broke out. People died because Pembroke placed them there as distractions.”
“Endo is getting impatient,” the guard at the entrance says. “He might storm the gate.”
“Tell him he can come in, then wait one minute before you open the gate.”
“Say goodbye to Renne, Dina,” Connor says.
“You know I’m leaving?” I ask.
“I know everything.”
Dina cries hard when she hugs me. I’m crying too, and Hanna joins us, until the three of us are an absolute mess. And I have to go.
Dina removes her earrings and closes my fists around them. “So you can remember me.”
“I don’t need earrings to remember you, my friend.”
“Thank you,” she says.
I can’t even see where I’m walking from the tears that cloud my vision.
At Pete’s car, I’m surprised when Connor doesn’t take the wheel. He opens the door for me.
“Connor, I’m sorry.”
He’s not looking at me. “You’re driving.” He secures Hanna in the car seat in the back and sits in the passenger seat.
I sit behind the wheel. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not talking to you, Renne. Drive the car.”
I drive down the long driveway with a rock in my throat, heaviness in my heart, and tears that won’t stop pouring down my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is.”
“I’m so sorry.” I sob.
“Stop crying. You can’t see to drive.” Connor rests his weapons on his lap. The SUV bearing his uncles ascends the driveway. I’m so scared, my teeth are chattering.
“Endo brought Scar. He won’t do shit. They wanted to talk, but I can’t let them, because if they say the wrong thing, I’ll kill them all.
I would not feel good if I killed my uncle Cass.
He’s like me.” Connor clears his throat.
“A very rotten apple, but he did his best to raise me. Used to take me out of school and on the boats far out into the sea where we did nothing but fish for days. So I have to save everyone from myself when they can’t save themselves from themselves.
Uncle Cass would say something dumb about you, and I’d have to shut him up. I’m trying. I really am.”
My foot shakes so hard that I can barely touch the gas pedal. The SUV slows to a crawl and the tinted windows roll down as the vehicles approach each other.
White-knuckled, I grip the wheel. “Are they going to gun us down?”
“No.”
“Why are they opening the windows?”
“They want to chat.”
A whine escapes me. I can’t speak to them. I can barely breathe.
The cars pass each other slowly, and I see him. The man from the yacht. His face looks the same as I remember it. Dark eyes, dark hair, grim expression. There’s a scar bisecting his eyelid that I don’t remember; otherwise, it’s him.
Time passes slowly. It’s like we’re in reverse time. All the memories rush at me, and I recall the nightmare from the yacht.
The group of us were dancing when the gunshots broke through the music. People screamed and panicked and, like a herd, tried to get below deck, but there was no place to go on the yacht, so we crowded together, me in the middle.