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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dario

“Nico killed Jason, yes…but did you ever ask yourself why?”

She ignored me, looking at the people all around us. What was wrong with my judgment? How did I keep ending up with people I couldn’t trust in my life?

Finally, she looked over at me. Her eyes were full of tears.

“I won’t let you use Jason to hurt me anymore,” she whispered, her voice sounding choked.

Something about her sadness, the pain in her voice, tugged at my heart. Hard. Scowling, I pushed back out of my chair and crossed the table to help her get up.

“Come on,” I said shortly. “We need to get going.”

“I didn’t really eat anything,” she said in a vague sort of voice, looking at her plate that was full of food.

What had happened? Did the thought of finding out something questionable about her perfect Jason fill her with so much dread that she wasn’t even willing to fight anymore?

For whatever reason, I found myself growing angry. If she wouldn’t even fight for him, then what were the chances that she would even consider fighting for us?

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

She seemed hesitant to answer but then slowly turned and looked at me. Her big eyes studied me, making me feel vulnerable and seen in the worst way.

“I’ll cook,” I heard myself say. “When we get home.”

She looked surprised. “You know how to cook?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“I don’t.”

“Well, I guess you’re about to learn something new.”

I took her hand in mine and pulled her after me out of the restaurant. The trip back to the house was silent, but she didn’t take her cold little hand from my grip.

We ventured back inside to the updated modern kitchen I had had installed just six months ago. The house looked so different from when I bought it. I had purchased it a few years ago from the homeowner who had bought it at a foreclosure auction.

He’d lived in it for at least ten years, but then it had been vacant for a long time, just wasting away. When I found out, I bought it and started the renovations, doing one room at a time, wanting it to look just right.

I didn’t know why I had purchased it. What was I going to do with an island retreat? But then Mya came along and I knew why I had added it to my collection of properties.

Maybe someday, we would come here to be happy together.

Steeling my mind against emotions from the past, I looked over at Mya. She was sitting down at the kitchen counter and watching as I pulled ingredients from the freshly stocked fridge. I had had no idea how long we would stay when we arrived, so I had asked for the basics to be delivered upon our arrival.

I figured we could go back across the water to town if we needed more provisions. I considered myself a good cook, but I rarely had to cook for myself.

When I did, I preferred something quick and easy…like an omelet. That gave me an idea.

I pulled out eggs, spinach, and some fresh peppers in various colors.

I made quick work of the peppers, dicing them up as she watched. I knew she was impressed by my knife skills just from the way she watched me, almost transfixed. Either that, or she was remembering how I’d stabbed Hortensio.

I picked up an egg to crack it against a bowl but hit it too hard. Yolk dripped down the bowl and splatted a little in every direction.

I cursed inwardly at my sudden fit of emotion. I usually separated my work and my personal life better. What was happening to me?

“Hmm. Most people make omelets with eggs inside a bowl. However, to each their own. “

I shot her an annoyed look, but I was secretly pleased she was speaking to me, even if it was to roast me.

She shrugged, her expression forming into a smirk as if she were the cool kid and I was the nerd desperately trying to impress her.

Hmm…. at this moment, I kinda was.

The sound of a car pulling up caught me off-guard.

“Are you expecting someone?”

She was frowning now, and her eyes searched mine. She knew that there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else coming to visit us here.

I shook my head. I wiped my hands off and reached into the secret area right above the dishwasher. There was a little compartment there where I kept weapons just in case of an emergency.

I pulled a gun out, and she gasped. “Why do you have a gun in your hand?”

I could hear another car pulling up. I handed her the gun.

She stepped away, shaking her head no vehemently

“Take it.” I pressed it into her hand. “Head to the basement and don’t come out until I come get you. Stay quiet.”

“But…”

“Go, now!” I barked, pushing her in the direction of the basement. She hesitated and then disappeared in that direction.

I waited until she was gone and questioned my judgment yet again. I was fucking up, making mistakes. I had told Ivan that he wasn’t needed this evening.

Clearly, I had been wrong. Now there was no one to get Mya out of the house while I took care of business.

If people were able to actually drive onto my property here on the island, then that meant my men guarding the ferry were dead.

Fuck. This was terrible timing. That omelet would have been delicious.

I had given Mya a handgun because of its size. I kept much more powerful guns around all my houses in strategic places, always loaded just for situations such as these, but she could never have used them safely.

I was the kill-them-all-and-let God-sort-them-out type.

I planned to just start shooting, no questions asked. They shouldn’t have shown up uninvited with good intentions.

Armed, I made my way through the kitchen and hit the emergency switch I had asked the electrician to install, plunging the house and gardens around it into darkness.

My mind drifted a little as I strained my ears for sounds at the front of the house.

I broke my wrists and dislocated my ankle one summer, falling six feet down into the creek that ran next to our summer cabin. The cabin had been on the mainland, not here on the island.

I’d limped home, the pain in my ankle horrendous. My mother had taken one look at me and panicked. My father had sent Dr. Kali to come take a look at me.

I remember being afraid that the doctor would tell my father that I had cried.

Dr. Kali wasn’t the kind of Mafia doctor I had seen in the past, however. He was dressed in a sharp suit, but his voice had been reassuring. His words had lacked roughness and he had a quiet dignity about him that I had wanted to emulate.

I couldn’t believe he was an acquaintance of my father’s.

As he had put a cast on each of my wrists, I remember asking why he worked for my dad. He had asked why he wouldn’t.

“Everyone deserves compassionate care”, he had said. “Especially innocents like you and your brothers….and your mother.”

He had paused and then he had asked me if the cast was all right.

“I think it’ll be itchy.”

He had smiled warmly at me, “Well, maybe that will be a good reminder to be extra careful when the unexpected presents itself.

My thoughts returned to the present. The unexpected had presented itself now.

I could either stay and kill them all, or I could get Mya safely out of the house.

I heard more cars pull up. Exactly how many of them were there? It was then that I smelled it. Gas. They were going to try to burn us out. That was unexpected.

Change of plans , I thought to myself, making my way toward the basement.

Her first shot went wide of me, but the sound echoed loudly in the hallway. Fuck. That hurt.

“Move again, and I’ll kill you,” came Mya’s voice from the darkness, the sound muffled by the ringing in my ears.

“It’s me, Mya.”

She came out then with the gun still trained on me.

“Oh shit,” she said dropping the gun to her side. “Sorry!” She rushed to my side and grabbed my shoulders, looking at me closely.

“Did I hurt you?”

“Just my hearing,” I said, ignoring the ringing in my ears and looking around. “We need to get out of here. They’re about to set the house on fire.”

Her eyes grew wide with panic. “Oh God, no. How are we going to get out of here?”

She began to pace.

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to have to make a run for it.”

“Through a fire? Are you kidding me?”

I walked toward the back wall of the basement, looking for something I hadn’t thought of in ages. I found it and pulled the handle.

“Where does that door lead?” she asked, grabbing me by my arm.

“The original owner of the home had escape tunnels added to the compound,” I replied. “I never asked much about what he did for a living. I figured I didn’t really want to know. Come on, let’s go.”

I grabbed her arm, and together we went through the door. I could smell the smoke already The house was going to burn to the ground. They would pay for this.

In silence, I led her down the tunnel that I had only explored once, right after taking possession of the house.

“Where does this lead to?” she asked, breaking me away from my thoughts. She held onto my hand for dear life.

“It should lead to a natural cave some distance from the house.”

“Should?”

“It’s been a while. I don’t know if the tunnel has caved in.”

She stopped abruptly and said, “Maybe we should go back.”

“Into a house that’s burning down?”

I pulled at her hand but could feel her digging her heels in.

“We could get stuck down here. What if we run out of oxygen? We could die.”

“Mya, we need to keep moving.”

“But…”

“Now!”

To my surprise, I heard her choke back a sob. We didn’t have time for this.

Every part of me just wanted to drag her behind me, ignoring her emotional breakdown.

I was her husband, not her master , something within me said. She needed compassion, not more orders.

Against my better judgment, I pulled her to me and hugged her tight. She was shaking.

“Mya, we’re going to get through this,” I whispered against her hair, the smell of her fruity shampoo having a calming effect on me. “I just need you to trust me. You’re tough, Mya. A survivor. So, let’s just focus on that…surviving. Can you do that for me? I mean for fuck’s sake, you already almost shot me.”

She let out a startled chuckle. “I missed.” Her voice was soft as she leaned her cheek against my chest.

“You were still brave enough to try to scare me off.” I pulled away, wishing there was time for more to be said. But now wasn’t the time for confessions and emotions. “Let’s go.”

In the darkness, I couldn’t see her face. I wanted to look her in the eyes to reassure her, but all I could do was hope that she trusted me enough.

I felt her hand stroke down my arm, and then she grabbed my hand. “Okay, lead the way. Let’s just hope we don’t die here. There are probably spiders everywhere…”

The smile that spread across my face caught me by surprise. We were trying not to die, and all I could think of was how funny it would be to see Mya lose her shit over a spider.

In silence, we continued carefully in the dark toward what I hoped was the cave. It had been years since I’d walked through this tunnel. The natural cave had been connected to mining tunnels when I explored in the past.

I knew that this area was known for its natural resources. There were mines all over the coastline as well.

As I kid, I hadn’t cared that mines were dangerous. I had viewed the mines as a place for looking for lost treasure.

Never one to be afraid of the dark, I’d embraced the mines as a playground. I would get lost in them for hours. And at the end of my mom’s life, they had become my refuge…until he had come for me. Until Dad had taken me under his wing and killed my humanity.

Suddenly, light streamed into the tunnel. We both approached the light cautiously.

“Stay here.”

I slunk forward and ran my fingers over the rotted wood of the doors that closed off the tunnel. They had been newer when I first explored this area. Now, they felt fat with moisture, soft and squishy under my hands.

I was scared the frame that held the entrance doors would fall in, but I figured that would allow us to crawl through them.

I tried to open the doors but they wedged when they were only open a crack. I shoved and pushed until I was able to make a gap that we could both fit through.

I slipped through the space I had made, and grabbed Mya’s hand. We stepped out into the moonlight.

“Oh!” Mya exclaimed, looking around at the cave.

I smiled for a moment, enjoying her wonder.

The moonlight pouring into the cave glittered on the greenish, blue water and caught hints of sparkle in the cave walls. It looked more like a movie set than a real place.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” I asked her.

She twirled slowly and nodded.

“Come on. Time to go,” I said to her regretfully, offering her my hand.

“Where are we going to go?” she asked me, looking worried.

“If we walk down the beach, there’s a dock with a few boats. I keep them there just in case we need them,” I told her.

She slipped her cold fingers into mine and we started walking toward the cave entrance.

“Doesn’t it get tiring?” she asked me in a small voice.

“What?” I asked, helping her navigate the uneven ground at the edge of the cave.

“Don’t you get tired of having to think of everything, having to plan for danger that might be around every corner?” she clarified.

I sighed, looking down at her pretty face for a moment, before setting off down the coarse sand of the beach.

“I don’t have a choice,” I said.

“That’s not true,” she said immediately.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Mya…” I started to say.

“It’s not,” she said stubbornly, panting a little as she kept up with my longer strides. “You could choose to stay away from the action, put yourself in a safe location, be a normal man.”

“Normal?” I scoffed and laughed. The sound of my mirth hurt my own ears. It sounded scratchy and uncomfortable, like a hair shirt I wore all the time.

She was silent for a moment. “What if I asked you to make that choice?” she said.

I turned toward her, and she blundered into me. I grasped her shoulders, and she tipped her head up to meet my gaze. She was so small in my arms.

“What did you say?”

She stuck out her chin. “What if I asked you to choose to live a different life, one where we would be free of all of this?”

I scanned her eyes. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t seem to be holding anything back. She was just looking at me, her eyes snapping with emotion.

“How could I do that and keep you safe?” I asked her, my heart aching. I actually wanted to give her this, wanted her to be happy. But how did a Mafia don just go into hiding?

“I don’t know,” she said stubbornly, “but I’m asking you to choose me over this. I want you to prove that you care about me and not this horrible, dangerous life.”

I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. I didn’t even know how to give her what she was asking for, but I realized that I wanted to figure it out. Finally, I said, “I’ll try and find a way to do that, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay,” she said.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. I meant for it to be chaste, to be tender, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

She moaned into my mouth, leaning into my kiss, her tongue tangling with mine. My hands came up to grip her cheeks, and I leaned down further into her, wanting to lose myself in her softness and her attention.

The sudden sound of shots made us break apart. I looked around wildly, but didn’t see anyone close to us. Maybe they had found the tunnels and the cave.

“Come on,” I said to her, scooping her into my arms and taking off toward the small dock. I hoped that the boats were still there.