Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Honey, no,” he said. “He was asleep.”
That didn’t mean he hadn’t been crying, though. Because I’d heard him when the gunshots rang out.
He’d been hysterical.
Had he cried himself to sleep?
My heart ached at the idea of that.
“He’s okay,” Luca insisted as another body moved into the bathroom, this one with his phone raised, and there was a flash of blinding light as he took a picture. “What the fuck, Milo?” Luca hissed.
“Aurelio will want to see this when he’s up. She looks badass.”
“Aurelio?” I asked, his voice a croak. “Is he… he’s…”
“He’s in surgery,” Luca said, voice calm, but I could hear the pain underneath. Aurelio wasn’t just his employee. He was family. “The doctors sounded optimistic.”
Somehow, those were the words that finally broke me.
I didn’t even recognize the haunting sob that escaped me then as I dropped down to my knees on the bathroom floor, cradling my bloody face with my bloody hands as the floodgates opened, and the tears poured down my face.
There was nothing subtle about the way I cried then. The wails that escaped me sounded like those of a dying animal. And I couldn’t seem to quiet them or slow the stream of tears.
To their credit, the men didn’t run from the room.
“She’s gonna fucking crack if she keeps on like this,” Milo said.
“Say something productive or leave,” Luca said, and I heard the cabinet open and close, then the water, before Luca was kneeling down in front of me, pulling my hands from my face, then mopping all the blood off of my skin, rinsing, then working on my hands.
As he just… let me cry.
Like he knew it was useless to try to offer me empty promises, or to tell me everything was alright.
It wasn’t.
If Aurelio didn’t make it, it might never be okay again.
By the time the tears finally stopped, my core ached from the intensity of my sobs, as did my throat, and my face felt raw from the salt.
“Okay,” Luca said, voice low. “I really wish I could give you as much time as you need here, honey, but I can’t. I’m going to need you to do some things for me, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, blowing my nose into the seemingly endless supply of tissues Milo kept thrusting at me.
“I’m going to have Milo get you a change of clothes. And then I need you to take a long shower. Scrub every inch of you. Your hair. Your eyebrows. Under your nails. Your toenails too. Everywhere.”
Right.
Because I looked like some heroine in a horror movie.
Soaked in blood.
“Okay,” I agreed, nodding.
“Okay. And after that, I am going to need you to follow on a path out of the front door. Judah will be waiting for you out there. And then you’re going to get in a car and go—“
“I need to be with Aurelio,” I cut him off, tone desperate.
“I know,” he agreed. “Lucky and Milo will take you there.”
“But what about all of…” I said, waving toward the house in general. Which was full of dead bodies. Including, the most brutal scene of all, Warren’s corpse. Gutted.
“All of what?” Luca asked. “Nothing happened here today.”
“What?” I asked, squinting at him.
“The thing is, you were home in bed with your son,” Luca said. “And you got a phone call that your boyfriend was involved in a drive-by shooting.”
“A… I…” I started before it clicked.
He was giving me the official account of the events of the night. The things that were likely being told to the hospital staff and the police. Because this wasn’t Navesink Bank. Because Lettie wasn’t there to fix things. And Aurelio had needed to go to a normal hospital. Where the cops would be called. And questions would be asked.
“Okay,” I said, nodding.
“You were at home,” Luca repeated, “in bed with Judah.”
“In Navesink Bank.”
“That’s home, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes,” I agreed, feeling it down to my bones. “Yes, that’s home.”
“That’s why it took you so long to get to the hospital.”
Right.
Because it must have taken hours for Luca and his men to get to the house. Hours when I’d been zoned out.
“Why was Aurelio here?” I asked.
“He was having a guys weekend with his buddy who is going through a bad breakup,” Luca said.
“Right. Of course. Umm…”
“Damon,” Luca filled in.
“Right. Damon needed some moral support.”
“Exactly. And they were stopped by the side of the road and became the victims of a horrible, senseless, crime.”
“I got it,” I agreed, nodding.
“Thanks, Milo,” Luca said as a pile of clothes were placed on the bathroom counter. “Take your time,” Luca said, helping me up to my feet, then reaching into the shower to get the water warming up.
They left then, and I stripped with my gaze away from the mirror, not wanting to see myself covered in blood. I folded the clothes and placed them on top of the hamper, then climbed into the shower.