Page 69 of Caged Bliss

“Sister, were you bothering Claudia?” Angelo looks exhausted. I’ve never seen him so drained before in my life, and it breaks my heart. If Elena weren’t here, I would’ve already gone to him.

“Never,” she says sweetly. “We had a lovely talk. I figured she wouldn’t want to be alone right now.” Elena waves and walks off.

I finally reach Angelo’s arms. He sighs once he hugs me, and I can’t ignore the smell of blood and sweat on him. I get under one of his arms and he leans on me as we head inside and go right upstairs.

“What happened?” I ask quietly.

He fills me in as he starts the shower. Tommy’s condo was empty, but they found some incriminating evidence. Roc ambushed him outside, except Roc’s dead now, and Angelo has a pretty good idea where Tommy’s hiding out. Bianco men are currently watching the place from a discreet distance.

I help him shower. It’s strange, but there’s nothing sexual about the way I clean him off, soaping his body and rinsing the suds down his gorgeous skin. He lets me take over, not complaining, not fighting, just watching me with his beautiful eyes. When I’m done, he puts on sweats, and we get into bed together.

His arms pull me close against his warm body, and all at once, I know what I want. It’s so clear, so bright and painful. Tears swell in my eyes, but this is right. It has to be right.

“What if we let it all go?” I whisper to him.

He’s very still in the darkness. His chest rises and falls. “I’m not sure you mean that.”

“What if we did?” I press. “Forget about Serena. Forget about Tommy. Your family will catch them and deal with them eventually, right? You’ve gone through enough, Angelo, and I don’t want to lose you. What if we let it go?”

Each word is like a knife in my heart. I’ve never seriously considered giving up on Serena before, but after today, I can’t act like she’s the most important person in my life anymore. I killed for Angelo, and I don’t regret it one bit. I’d do it again if I had to. And if we keep pushing this, if he keeps barreling straight into danger searching for his obsessive revenge, I might not be there the next time he needs help.

I can’t stand the thought of losing this, not after I just found it.

And I know, deep down, that Serena’s been gone for a while. She might’ve been gone since the first night Rodney crossed the line. I could’ve lost her then without realizing it, and I’ve been so angry and so intent on bringing her back that I haven’t been able to see the truth.

She doesn’t want me anymore.

I’m still her sister and I still believe she loves me, but she doesn’t want my life anymore. She moved on, found something else, found drugs and parties and whatever else. She found a way to drown her misery, to escape all the bad shit that happened to her when we were younger, and no amount of self-sacrifice can take away her pain. She’s hurting, and it kills me, but I can’t change it.

She has to want to come back. I’ve always known that, but now I can see so clearly. She has to want it, but she doesn’t.

“I don’t know if I can,” he says and I hear how hard that is for him to admit. “It consumes me, baby. What they did to me back then. Tommy’s been free all this time, he’s been living a life while I was rotting in jail and I hate him for it.”

“You can’t change that, just like I can’t change my sister. We have each other now, and what if that was enough? What if that was more than enough?” I kiss him gently as tears roll down my cheeks. “We could just walk away.”

His face is hard in the dark half-light leaking in through the blinds. Slowly, he strokes a thumb down my face, wiping away the tears. He leans forward and kisses me, and he lets out a low sigh.

“I made you a promise. I swore I’d put things right. I told you I’d get your sister away from Tommy, and I’m going to follow through.”

“This isn’t for me anymore. This is your choice.”

“I know that, and I hope you can forgive me, but I have to see it through.”

He kisses me and I kiss him back, because of course I can forgive him. I understand better than anyone else in the world, but something shifted inside of me earlier, something irrevocable and solid and real. It’s like a switch flipped, and now I can see what’s right in front of my face.

I have what I want. He’s right here in bed. Only I need him to survive this terrible journey he’s on, otherwise, I’m not sure what I’ll be in the wreckage.

Chapter 36

Angelo

Ifeel like I have ten consecutive hangovers. My skull pounds and my throat’s a raspy mess. The wire cut across my neck is an ugly gash, and I wear it proudly. Let the bastards stare. I waltz into Cage the following day and I feel the eyes on me right away. I’ll wear my wounds like jewelry. Glittering and blood red.

Bianco and Quinn men enter in my wake. The bouncers say nothing. I think they’re too afraid of what happened to Skinny to open their mouths at this point, and I can’t blame them. Cage is still running, it’s still ticking along, even though I doubt Tommy’s been in contact with anyone here. The place isn’t very crowded, but it’s still early in the day.

I find Rodrigo in the manager’s office. He’s sitting in Tommy’s chair watching the CCTV monitors with a grim stare, his eyes hollow and staring off into an unimaginable distance. He focuses on me when I close the door with a click and swivels in my direction.

“Mr. Bianco,” he says, spreading his hands. “I take it you’re in control of the club now?”

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