Page 3 of Broken
Sometimes I even tried to imagine what our lives would be like if things hadn’t gone the way they had, and it seemed to me as if our relationship that had barelyhad the chance to begin was always doomed in every fantasy I could come up with. Theo had been a gang member and now he was a hitman. Killing was in his blood. How could I love and find a happy ending with someone like that?
Except, I’d gotten involved in gang stuff too, and I’d killed too. I was far from innocent. Even as a teen, I’d found a way to get myself in trouble and had gotten mixedup with bad people until I’d decided to turn my life around. And yet, I’d been dragged back into it, or more likely, I’d let myself get dragged back into it. And as far as I knew, Theo went only after criminals and gang members. Yeah, okay, maybe that wasn’t such a comforting thought.
“Chiara, watch out!” someone yelled, and I blinked, barely having time to avoid a lamppost that was in myway and that I hadn’t seen because I’d been thinking too hard about Theo. Geez. That man was going to be the end of me one way or another. We were getting closer to my apartment, so I took a good look around, but I didn’t see anything suspicious. Ugh, I really wished I knew why Theo was really here.
Just as we rounded the corner, a loud thud made us all jump. Something crashed to the ground,and my guards immediately pulled me close to the wall of the nearest building as they surveyed our surroundings. The sound seemed to have come from the end of the alley, near the trash containers, and two of my guards headed there to check, their weapons drawn.
My pulse sped up as I half expected someone to lunge at them from the shadows, but nothing happened and they headed back, wavingat me and the rest of the guards to indicate that it was safe for us to keep moving. It might’ve been a cat chasing a rat or something. The city was noisy, and just because someone shouted or something thudded, it didn’t mean it was Theo.
His eyes flashed in my mind again. The way he’d been looking at me at the club... It hadn’t been the look of a man out to kill, but maybe I was foolingmyself about that and hoping for something that was never going to happen. Still, I didn’t regret what I’d done to save my friend’s life. If Theo was going to hold that against me, then so be it. Ingrid would’ve killed me without a second thought if she’d had the chance. She’d never liked me being by her daughter’s side.
I pushed myself off the wall and kept walking. When my building cameinto view, I quickened my steps, and my guards followed suit. My neighbors probably hated that I’d brought danger to their doorstep, and they seemed to disappear whenever I arrived, and I bet they’d seen the Cobras’ tattoos and decided it was better not to get involved with me.
I’d moved here a few months ago so I wouldn’t put my family at risk. My parents, my brothers, and my cousins livedat the other end of the city in an area that didn’t belong to any gangs, and even though the Cobras were watching over them too in case Theo decided to use my family to get to me, I still preferred to be farther away from them to make sure they wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.
Would Theo go after innocent people if he couldn’t get to me? I believed he wouldn’t. Maybe only as a last resort.That was in part why I wasn’t really hiding and hadn’t moved somewhere remote where Theo would be less likely to find me. If I was going to go down, I wasn’t going to drag anyone with me.
My guards rushed into the building in front of me to make sure it was safe, and I had to wait in front of the entrance for a few minutes that seemed like an eternity. But if Theo thought I was going to godown easily, he was wrong.
“All clear,” I heard someone say, and I finally went inside. The Cobras followed me to the stairway and we climbed up to the fourth floor. My guards were the only ones in the hallway as I hurried toward the door. I hadn’t given the Cobras a copy of the key to my apartment because that seemed a bit too much, and I didn’t want them to snoop around when I wasn’t there.
Sure, they probably wouldn’t do that, and I trusted their leader, but I couldn’t trust all of them. If there was ever trouble, I could trigger a special kind of an alarm inside that would open the door for them. Vix had wanted me to install a fingerprint scanner, but this building wasn’t that fancy and I couldn’t quite afford such a thing. I didn’t want Vix to pay for it either.
As Islid my key in the lock, I made sure to step away from the door and stand next to the wall in case someone was waiting for me inside. Quickly turning the key, I moved aside, and one of the guards pushed the door open with his weapon ready. I glanced down the hallway and wondered if my neighbor across the hall was watching us through the peephole. Maybe he thought I was some kind of a queenpin orsomething, and I was surprised he hadn’t called the cops already—or maybe he had and Tobias had found a way to deal with it since he probably had some cop friends who helped him out with his business.
The guards searched my apartment and when they came out, they holstered their weapons and gave me a nod, which meant it was safe for me to go inside. Two guards remained in front of the doorwhile the others went away. They’d be somewhere inside or right outside the building.
I hadn’t even realized just how tired I was until I closed and locked the door behind me, and kicked off my shoes. Stretching out my arms, I let out a soft groan and started toward my room. My guards had turned the lights on, so I switched them off. The moonlight coming through the balcony door was more thanenough.
A shadow on the floor caught my eye, and I looked up with a gasp, but I couldn’t see anyone. I was probably still on edge after my encounter with Theo. The Cobras always checked every corner, and it didn’t look like anything in my apartment had been disturbed, as far as I could tell. I let myself fall onto my soft bed and closed my eyes, which was a terrible idea, because my mindimmediately formed an image of Theo’s handsome face.
Would I even be able to sleep tonight or would I keep thinking about him? Maybe that was exactly what he wanted: to drive me mad with worry and leave me wondering what he was really planning to do with me. I opened my eyes and sat up. It was better if I occupied my mind with a TV show or a movie of some kind, as long as it didn’t involvehitmen and shooting, or anything romantic. Damn, what was there left for me to watch that I actually liked? Fantasy or sci-fi? Yeah, maybe that would work.
I got to my feet and started for the door. A creak behind me made me stop. The balcony door. It was the balcony door, wasn’t it? I was imagining things again, or maybe I wasn’t. Another squeak followed. That door was supposed to be closed.
A cold breeze whooshed through the room. Oh fuck.
I turned around. The balcony door was wide open, and a shadow was standing in the doorway.
It was Theo.
Chapter 3
MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS to go grab my gun that was on the nightstand, but I knew I’d be too slow. Still, I was willing to try throwing myself behind the bed and reaching the nightstand, but before I could do that, I spotted a few drops of something on the floor right next to his foot. Theo stumbled forward and then went down.It took me a moment to realize what had just happened, and against my better judgment, instead of going for the gun, I ran toward him.
“Theo!” I crouched next to him as he rolled over onto his back. His shirt was soaked with blood, which was pooling on my floor. “Oh God. Theo!” Placing my hand on his cheek, I stared into his dark eyes. “What happened? What...?”
His brow was sweaty, hisbreathing labored. “I just... I wanted to see you... one last time.” A smile spread across his lips as his fingers brushed my cheek, and then his eyes rolled back into his head and his hand dropped to his side.
“Theo, hey, no! Theo!” The desperation in my voice wasn’t enough to wake him, and I grabbed the hem of his shirt, lifting it up. My fingers ended up coated in blood. Oh God. He’d beenshot. Had it been the Cobras? But why weren’t they here already then? Shit.
I got to my feet, my mind in overdrive, my heart in my throat. I couldn’t just let him die in here. Yeah, his death would solve many of my problems and I might not even need protection anymore, or at least a little bit less of it, but I’d be damned if I didn’t try something to help him.
I rushed for my phoneand quickly dialed the number of my friend Alice. She was a nurse and also ran a special secret clinic for gang members and all the people who couldn’t go to a hospital. I’d used Alice’s help more than once and I’d already asked for too many favors, but I didn’t have any other option. If I called anyone else, they’d tell me to let Theo die and I couldn’t allow that to happen.
“Alice!” I saidas soon as she picked up. “I need your help. My friend’s been shot and he’s unconscious on the floor of my apartment. Please help me,” I choked out.
“Chiara?” Surprise was evident in Alice’s voice. “Are you...?”