Page 7 of Unforgivable Ties

“Give me that!” I attempted to grab it from his hand, but his towering height made it impossible for me to reach.

“Little small, don’t you think?” Vincenzo said, eyeing it.

Small?That thing was like, seven inches and super thick. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I snapped, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

“Smaller than me, at least,” he shrugged and handed the toy back to me.

Stunned, I snatched it from his grasp, but not before a blush had crawled its way from my neck to the tips of my ears. I was mortified, and a bit intrigued by his implication.

“Will you please leave now?” I asked exasperatedly.

“For now,” he said. “But I’ll be back.”

“What? No! That’s the end of this; you can go back to living whatever nefarious lifestyle you lead and I’ll go back to my normal one!”

“Unfortunately, Doc, you owe me. Your ‘normal life’ ain’t going to be so normal anymore.”

“Who owes who now? I saved your life!” I exclaimed, poking him in his muscular chest.

“The right thing to do would have been to shoot you in that warehouse. So, you owe me.” He shoved past me and went back into the living room.

He reached the front door before I could yell at him more and twisted the knob, but paused before heading outside. He turned back towards me, his facial features hardened from years of a life I couldn’t begin to fathom.

“By the way, your apartment has black mold. You should really move out.”

“At least I’d be free of you,” I said, looking him in the eye.

“I’d find you, Doc.” He slammed the door shut so hard he knocked magnets off my fridge.

With a huff of frustration, I snatched the cushion from my couch and let out a loud scream, muffling it against the soft fabric. What had I gotten myself into?

Vincenzo

Iwatched Stephanie over the next few days. She had a pretty normal routine—school Monday to Thursday from six am to three thirty. On the weekends, she would head to the library or stay home and study. She spent time with a girl who had curly dark hair, and they would often go out for coffee together.

The important thing was that she didn’t go to the police. Even though I had interrogated her and broke into her house, she had kept her mouth shut. I was pretty impressed. Almost any other person would have gone to the cops after what had happened to them.

But I always caught her glancing over her shoulder, looking for me in every shadow. It was almost as if she could sense my presence, even when I was very careful to remain hidden.

The ping of my phone broke the silence of the inside of my car, and I read the text message. Finally, I knew exactly what I needed Stephanie for.

I put the car in drive and started towards her house. It was seven pm on a Monday, so she would be home, and probably be in the middle of making dinner. As I passed by the warehouses,each one near identical to the next, I rehearsed the plan in my head. I wasn’t sure why, but my heart pounded noticeably and I felt the anticipation building as I got closer. I had killed and beaten high ranking dangerous criminals, but for some reason, this had me more nervous.

I parked my Audi on the street just far enough away so she wouldn’t be able to see it if she looked out her window. The living room light was casting a soft glow from behind Stephanie’s curtains. I couldn’t see any signs of movement from the outside, but I knew she was inside.

Stealthily, I made my way across the parking lot and to the stairs. This building was such a piece of shit—part of a stair cracked underneath my foot as I made my way up.

I gave her a chance to open the door willingly. “Stephanie,” I said, knocking on the door. “Open up.”

No response. But I knew she was in there. So, I knocked again, this time more assertively. “If you don’t let me in, we’re doing this the hard way.”

Still nothing. I should just kick the goddamn door in—it looked like it was about to fall off of the hinges anyway—but I doubted she could afford to fix it. I rolled my eyes with a sigh and reached into my pocket for the lock pick set I always carried. The lock was a simple one, made for privacy rather than protection. It took me just under a minute to get it open and within a moment I was inside.

She was crouched behind her sofa, her head just peeking around the side. Her brown eyes widened in shock as I came in, and I heard her curse as she ducked back behind the sofa.

“Did you really think you could keep me out?” I deadpanned.

“No,” she said, standing up from behind the couch. “But I had to try.”

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