Page 49 of Endure the Pain

“Stefan, tell your goons to stand down or I’m going to put a bullet into this one.”

“Are you giving me an order, daughter?” Stefan questioned.

I turned to look back at him with an expression hard as fucking stone. “What were you going to do to Louie down in the basement?”

Jamie’s head whipped in Stefan’s direction, eyes full of shock and disbelief. Stefan's gaze didn’t waver from me. He also didn’t answer, which was an answer enough.

“I see,” I said. “I love them. I’m fucking them. Sometimes separate. Sometimes together. I didn’t tell you because it’s still new and none of your fucking business. I don’t butt into your relationship.” I pointedly looked in Brody’s direction, silently telling him I knew. “I’ve respected your privacy and trusted that you’d tell me when you were ready. You couldn’t trust me enough to let me explain. Not even for one fucking second. In fact, this entire situation has shown me where I stand with you. We had a deal, Stefan. Father first. Boss second. You broke our deal. You hurt me unjustifiably. According to your precious code, retribution is owed to me.” An evil smile pulled at my mouth. “Let’s play a game, Stefan.”

He squared his shoulders, not backing down.

“I’m going to ask you a question. If you answer honestly, you’ll save your goon. If you lie, I’ll shoot him. Either way this turns out, your debt to me will be paid.”

“Ask away,” he said calmly, but I could tell his control was holding together by a hair.

I locked my eyes with his. “How many times have you told me that you love me?”

Silence blanketed the room.

I could see the muscle in Stefan’s jaw clench. His body was so still, I had the impression my question had sucked all the air from his lungs because he didn’t even look like he was breathing.

“I thought as much,” I said and pulled the trigger. The shot was deafening in the small hallway. I never looked away from Stefan. Even when Hank’s body hit the floor.

“Our deal is no more now. You can stop forcing yourself to be a father. But know, you’ve lost your daughter. You just want to be the boss. Fine. Then I’m going to just be a mobster.”

I turned to a shocked Jamie. “I want to stay at Louie’s.”

He recovered, looked past my shoulder at Louie, and nodded. “I’ll follow you there in a minute.”

I turned around and Louie already had his hand held out waiting for me. I took it. We had to weave around everyone in the hall. They lowered their guns slowly as we passed. We walked away and didn’t look back.

CHAPTER 16

Louie had been quiet since we'd left the house. My hands had started shaking during the drive to his condo. I wrung my fingers, hoping to make it stop to no avail as I waited for Louie to unlock his front door.

Once inside, Louie asked, “Can I get you anything?”

I took a seat on his couch. Tonight’s events kept threatening to replay in my head.

Stefan had tried to take Louie to the basement.

Jamie had hit Stefan.

Ihad hit Stefan.

Louie knelt in front of me and took my hands in his, stopping me from twisting and pulling on my now red fingers.Can he feel them trembling?

“What do you need?” he asked.

I didn’t want to talk about what had happened tonight. If I did, I’d cry, and I refused to waste my tears on Stefan.

So I was going to bury my hurt and sadness for now with the intention of revisiting those feelings tomorrow when I was stronger. “A shower.”

He nodded and led me by the hand to the bathroom. “Do you want company?”

I squeezed his hand. “I always want your company.”

Louie shed his tux, letting the pieces fall to the floor, and unzipped the back of my dress. We took our time washing each other. He peppered my body with kisses as he did. As though to remind me that he loved all of me no matter what I might have been thinking of myself, especially after what Donnie had almost done to me.