Page 24 of Final Reckoning

12

Hurry

Christmas Eve, 7 pm

The final fewcustomers of the evening have just left Callahan’s. Our holiday extended hours were a big success; a score of Adamo cousins helped out, and my sisters and I worked split shifts to keep a fresh supply of goodies going. It’s been exhausting, but gratifying.

I haven’t had any contact with Matteo since the day he brought me home. Not a visit, not a call, not even a text. I’ve gone from anger to grief to numbness.

His cousins assure me that Matteo’s busy dealing with Santiago. Their excuses only make me feel worse. If he wanted to talk to me, he could find five minutes to do it.

I’ve only got myself to blame. I knew what I was taking on when I let myself get tangled up with him. It was foolish, and I did it anyway.

That day at the campground, I promised myself I wouldn’t regret our time together. It’s a vow I intend to keep. Right now, though, it’s hard because we have unfinished business.

I should have told him goodbye that day, but I wasn’t ready. So I need to see him one more time, and say the things I have to say. Then I’ll have closure, and I can let him go and move on with my life.

He’ll always be in my heart. It’ll be a long, long time before I can look at another man, if I ever do. But at least I’ll have some measure of peace.

Lando should be here any minute with a few of Carlo’s guys to pick us up. Right now, it’s just the three of us, taking a moment to relax and enjoy how far we’ve come.

“Six months ago,” Bree muses, “we were struggling to get through one day at a time. Look at us now.”

She and Jade exchange glances. They’ve both been very protective of me since I got back and Matteo disappeared again. I think they wanted him to show up for me even more than I did.

“It’s okay,” I say. “You know how happy I am for you two; you don’t have to pretend to be single for my sake.”

I’ve met Matteo’s parents, Alma and Nario. They came by Elina’s house one night, along with Matteo’s twin brother Brando and his wife, Sasha. All of them were very kind and welcoming, as though I were already part of their family.

That was difficult for me. I didn’t know how to tell them that if they’re harboring hopes for me and Matteo, they shouldn’t be. All I could do was be as polite in return as possible.

As they were leaving, Alma drew me aside. “Be patient with my son,” she said, laying a hand on my cheek. “He needs you.”

My throat thickened with unshed tears. “Alma …”

She deserved the truth, but I was too cowardly to give it to her. I let her draw me into an embrace, one so warm and maternal that I wanted to bawl like a baby. It was all too easy to imagine her becoming the mother I’ve never had.

After a long moment, she let me go, kissed my cheek, and left. I went to bed and cried, irrationally angry at Matteo for having a wonderful family. If they were awful to me, it would have made things easier.

But that doesn’t seem to be the Adamo way.

“Quinn,” Jade says now. “You know the man for you is out there somewhere.”

I give her a bittersweet smile. “Yeah, he is. I already met him.”

Bree mutters, “I’m gonna kill him.” At first, she kept trying to reassure me that Matteo wasn’t deliberately ignoring me, and surely he’d be back soon. As day after day passed with no sign of him, she got more and more angry.

“I’d just as soon you didn’t kill him,” I say softly.

She waves a hand. “I’ll bring him back after I kill him so he can go on suffering. But I get to kill him at least once.”

I can’t help smiling. “I love you, Bree.”

Before she can answer, the back door beeps to signal that someone’s entered the code on the security panel there. “Finally,” Bree says. “Not like Lando to be late.”

“I’m afraid he has been unavoidably delayed,” a voice says. A tall, dark-haired man appears in the kitchen. He’s holding a gun in his hand.

None of us has ever actually seen him before, but there’s no doubt as to his identity. How do you talk to a sociopath? “Good evening, Mr. Santiago,” I say.

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