Chapter Forty-Eight

Theo

S o. Yeah.

That just happened.

Clearly there is a lot of shit to unpack here, judging from what I was able to overhear of that conversation thanks to her too-loud, and nosy-as-fuck best friend. I didn’t mean to interrupt what was meant to be a private conversation, but when I came up to check and see if my girl was awake and just happened to hear my name mentioned, I froze. It’s not my fault she had the damn phone on speaker for the world to hear.

Pushing myself off the wall, I make my way across the room until I am standing at the foot of the bed. I pause, waiting for her to notice me.

Still nothing.

Okay then.

Taking a deep breath, I try to steady myself for the conversation that clearly needs to be had. As I clear my throat loudly, I have to fight back a grin at the site of her damn near jumping off the bed in shock at my sudden appearance.

“Il mio passerotto?”

Her face is drawn and tense, her shoulders raised in a defensive posture, before she lets out a breath and they drop in defeat.

“Please tell me you didn’t hear that?” Her words are a statement, but I hear the question in her voice. The desperate need for me not to have heard that intimate conversation between my girl and one of her most trusted confidants.

There’s no point in denying it though. I can’t lie to her anymore. Not about the past. And not about this. Besides, with how loud her friend was over the line, it would have been hard for anyone in passing not to have heard the whole conversation.

“I heard.”

Her gaze drops to her hands, which are fidgeting uselessly in her lap on top of my duvet, lips trembling as she fights back tears. “How much?”

“I’m assuming pretty much the whole conversation. Somewhere around your friend singing about us kissing in a tree? It was kind of hard not to hear, actually. She is quite. . .” I pause, trying to find the right word, “expressive.”

“Ha! Yeah, she certainly can be.”

Danica gazes up at me once more, and I can’t help but reach out to touch her cheek. I hate seeing the look of defeat written on her features; the tears welling in her beautiful green eyes.

“Hey. Shh. It’s alright.”

A tear falls now, and I brush it away with my thumb, gently caressing her cheekbone as I smooth away the wetness. “Listen, I think we need to talk. Clearly, there are things that were left unsaid that we need to address and I-”

I’m cut off abruptly by the ringing of my phone and I swear under my breath in frustration. I want to ignore the damn thing, but there are very few people who actually have this number, and they know not to call unless it’s important.

I cut a sheepish look in apology to Danica before pulling my phone roughly out of my pocket. Swiping to answer, I bring it to my ear. “What?”

Thirty Minutes Later

“Goddammit, Theo! They hit my fucking restaurant!”

I scowl at my cousin, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “You don’t think I know that?”

Tony stands in the middle of what had been the dining room of his restaurant. When he texted me last night, saying that there had been another hit from my blackmailer, I figured he meant there was another note left for me, or that maybe his men had caught someone in the act of trying to make another drop. And I was right. There had been a note, left at the restaurant. It’s one of very few places I don’t have on complete lockdown at this point. Due to the nature of the business, it would be damn near impossible and the blackmailer knows it.

Whomever the fucker is, they are smart; getting other people to do the drops and not giving any personal details away in the process. Every note has been left by a different person, and no matter how many of them we have managed to find, for all our. . . persuasion. . . they still haven’t been able to give me the answers I need. No one has been able to ID the person responsible for all of this. And now, after the threatening letter, they followed through with their threat. Merda!

Fucking hell. When the note was found at the restaurant after closing, I didn’t think they meant to actually destroy the livelihood of the people I care most about as a means of getting back at me. Apparently, I have done too good a job of sealing up my own life without giving enough thought to the collateral damage that could be done to my friends and family. With a groan, I crumple the note in my fist out of frustration, before unwrinkling it to read once more.

I told you not to test my patience. You came out of the shadows, back into her life. For that, someone you love must pay the price. It’s a heavy burden to carry, walking in the shoes that belong to another. I want you to know how it feels, when the life you knew crumbles around you. One. Piece. At. A. Time.

I kick uselessly at the charred embers on the ground, before turning to look once more at Tony.

“I’m. . .” I shake my head. . . “I’m so sorry, man. I don’t know what to say. This is all my fault.”

Tony’s face is grim as he looks around the ruins of his legacy. The restaurant had been left to him, passed down by his mother’s family and when she died it was his legacy to take over. The only thing he had left of her old life, and the best front we had for the business dealings he led on his father’s behalf. Now what the fuck are we going to do? Ugh.

“Yeah, it is your fucking fault.” There is no anger in Tony’s voice, just bitter resignation, as he turns to face me.

“What?”

“You heard me. This is your fucking fault. You just couldn’t leave things well enough alone. You had to go and tear the whole fucking town apart trying to find any clues of who the fucker is, and then you went and pissed him off. He fucking told you man. In that last letter you showed me, he told you to stay the fuck away from that chick but you just couldn’t, could you?” His words are rising with anger, and I take a step closer, hands raised in a placating gesture.

“Hey, now. First, she is not just some ‘chick.’ You know that. Danica is my whole fucking world. And I couldn’t leave it alone, not when that fucker has been stalking her too. You saw the pictures he took.”

“Those where seven fucking years ago!” He finally explodes, running up close to shove me in the chest. “How the fuck do you know he is still stalking her? You got one fucking envelope full of pictures, seven fucking years ago , and lost your shit. And now you have ruined everything in the process. You obliterated that relationship you claim is so important to you, and now you went and pissed off the fucker so much he is coming after me! This was my life! My legacy!” His screams are garnering attention from passersby, face red with rage and eyes wild as he tries to shove me once more.

But I am stronger than him, and I stand my ground. Grabbing his arms, I force them down, as I lower my voice to not be overheard. “Listen. I screwed up, I’m sorry. Clearly, bringing Danica back to my place pushed the blackmailer over the edge, but what was I supposed to do? He broke into her home, threatened her, and then attacked and shot one of her . . .” I grimace, “her friends. I couldn’t just leave her there and you know that!”

Abruptly, Tony steps away from me, features slipping back into a mask of calm, though his eyes are still stormy. “You’re right. What was I thinking? Of course you had to bring her into your home, despite being warned to stay away. How silly of me to be upset about a little thing like my business being burned to the ground.”

My wince is almost painful as his words cut through me like a knife. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry Tony. I’m gonna make it right. I promise you.” I look at him earnestly, hoping he knows how much I mean these words. “ I’m going to fix this.”

“Sure Theo. I know you will.” And with that, he turns on his heel, walking away from me into the ruins that remain of his life.