Page 101 of Unfinished

Sitting next to Hannah, she seemed to be getting along well with my entire family. As dinner finished up and we waited for dessert, I leaned back in my chair. She was talking to some cousins of mine across the table about something tech related, so I took the opportunity to slide my hand up her thigh.

My hand froze when it brushed against something metal strapped to it and I leaned close to Hannah to whisper, “Is that a knife strapped to your thigh?”

“Of course. In case I was separated from my clutch,” she whispered back grabbing my hand and removing it from her thigh. She continued the conversation with my cousins.

This woman was going to be the death of me. While I hated the fact that she even needed to have weapons on her, I was also incredibly turned on by it. She let me run my hand up her thigh to find the weapon strapped to her. She showed me her dark side, tested me, seeing if I could deal with the fact that she wasn't the same woman I knew. Then she removed my hand still trying to keep distance between us.

She didn't understand yet was the darkness never scared me. Her darkness was just another reason to love her.

After the rizogalo, a dish similar to rice pudding, was served for dessert, I took Hannah’s hand and we joined her father out on the back patio for coffee. Bill was going to tell her the entire truth. Things she never knew, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Alright, Daddy, you have some things you need to explain?” Hannah pulled out a chair from the table and sat down crossing her legs and placing her hands in her lap. I took the seat next to her while her father sat across from her.

Bill looked at me first, “I got permission from Michael to explain but not give details. Details are not something that I want to share anyways.”

Hannah shifted in her seat looking between her father and me. I nodded to Bill and leaned back in my chair. I was sure there were things that even I didn’t know about what Bill did for my uncle.

“In California I worked for a Teresi-owned company. Do you remember when you were fourteen and I took you to that job site?" He questioned her and she nodded, "That was when I really started working for Michael and John. When Elaine got me fired, the guy out there hadn’t realized that she couldn’t make those decisions. No one expected her to stick her nose in the family business.”

Bill sat back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair with a sigh.

“After we moved to Pittsburgh, I was contacted by Bas and offered a job to make up for what Elaine did. I took the foreman position and continued working for the Teresi family.” Bill paused looking at me then looking at Hannah, “Does he know?”

Hannah nodded, looking down at her hands, and Bill continued, “When you were attacked I already knew how to hide a body that would never be found.”

“How come I wasn’t informed of what happened?” I tried to keep my anger under control.

“You left her, Liam. If you had known about the attack you would have completely lost it and Salvatore would have figured out you had a weakness. My daughter. I needed to keep her safe too.”

If I had known, I would have brought her back to NYC with me, forced her hand, made her give up everything she had worked for, and kept her safe from any other harm. Which would have destroyed her more than the attack. I hated that Bill was right about this. I hated that I left her at all.

“What happened after?” Hannah asked her father.

“I started doing more 'jobs' for the family. Now I run the business there. It’s quiet now, but every now and then we have someone that starts problems and needs to be dealt with.”

“Did you ask Liam to keep me away from it?”

“Yes. Salvatore never knew about me. I was a low man in the family. But Liam … not only is he the heir to Trident Advertising, but he’s a beloved nephew of Michael. I told Liam that he had to do whatever he needed, to make sure that Salvatore never so much as glanced at you. We pulled protections from you to make sure no one suspected you were involved in any of this. I wanted to tell you about everything but the moment I mentioned Liam you told me to never mention him again.”

“Pulling those protections was the worst choice I made. I should have left someone, anyone, on you, because the moment Derek showed up I would have sent him packing,” I said.

“How did Derek happen anyway?” Bill questioned Hannah.

Hannah sighed then said, “Derek showed up in my life about six months ago. Smart. A financial analyst. Seemed like a good guy. I’ve been dating him for six months. I broke up with him a couple of nights ago when I found out he was working with Salvatore.”

“You were dating someone, and you didn’t tell me?” Bill leaned back in his chair slightly stunned.

“Don’t try to scold me for keeping secrets right now. It was never serious with Derek, anyway. I doubt you’d want to hear about every fling I've had.”

Bill scowled slightly but turned to me with a questioning look on his face.

“Evidently, Derek went to Salvatore. He would do jobs for him in exchange for protections. He told Salvatore about Hannah. I had to step in.”

“Derek was found dead this morning,” Bill stated but looked at us expectantly.

Hannah and I had already figured out our stories the night Derek died in case we needed them. It didn’t matter who asked, it was the story that was given. With the feds seeing Derek at my work and me telling the truth of our association they would likely want to clear Hannah and me of any wrongdoing.

Hannah broke up with Derek because she found out he was connected to Salvatore, but didn’t know anything about what he did. The connection alone was enough for her to decide to leave him. My cousins and I were at the restaurant since I knew she’d be breaking up with him that night. I took pictures of the bruises on her wrists he left, but after she got away from him she went home.

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