Page 2 of Vicious Hearts

“I saw her bump into you,” he says. “You want me to have a word with her?”

I turn my assessing gaze toward him. I don’t know what he sees when he looks at me; why he feels the need to pull up a woman for pushing past me. She’s obviously in the middle of some sort of emergency.

I’ve spent more than enough time standing here watching a helpless woman collect her things off the sidewalk. She’s a mousy brunette who’s obviously seen better days. I shake my head and turn away as we walk into the hospital, down the halls until I finally come to a stop outside my destination.

There are two soldiers at the door, armed to the teeth, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care either way if they frisked me or not. Because I do care. I smile internally as the first soldier steps forward and indicates for me to turn around. He pats me down and he does it well. He removes the gun strapped to my ankle and puts it into the back of his waistband.

Manny steps forward to intervene, but I stop him with a look, appreciative that he does his job well. Don’t need a gun where I’m going. I don’t need a gun, period. If I wanted to do damage to someone, I’d use my bare hands. My eyes could do the job just as well.

Manny does a good job of protecting me when I come to Seattle, and he does an even better job of running local operations for me. But there’s no need for him to be overly protective. Everyone here knows exactly who I am. They know the power I wield, and they know what I’m capable of.

Even so, I would expect nothing less than the highest security measures for the man laid up in the hospital room regardless of who visits, and I’m glad that security is so tight.

“You’re cleared. They’ve been waiting,” the soldier murmurs after doing his job. He gives me a look of appreciation for letting him frisk me without argument. There’s nothing like earning a man’s respect through your diplomacy rather than through the violence of your fist. I nod and move quietly through the door.

I enter the sparsely furnished room, my eyes immediately falling to the bed where the old man lies. His eyes are closed, and he looks like he’s at peace. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, and I realize how much I’ve missed him in the time I’ve been away. I make a mental note to put more effort into being more active in his life. Especially looking at him and seeing how he’s aged. I don’t know how much time we’ll have left with him, and I don’t want to live my life with regrets. Not with this man.

His son stands on one side of the bed, a woman on the other side. I understand he got married recently; this must be the wife I haven’t yet met. My eyes linger too long on the dark-haired beauty; they must because she moves from her place and goes around the bed until she curls into her husband’s side, looking at me with some discomfort. It could be the scar running above my eyebrow, or it could be my sheer presence. I’ve heard a lot about her, but no one’s mentioned how beautiful she is. They make a beautiful couple.

I heard also that it took them a while to get to the altar. That by the time they got there, they just rushed down the aisle. No sign of a baby, though, so I’m not sure why they were in such a rush.

Her husband winds an arm around her back, his hand resting against her skin, his fingers soothing her softly. It’s a delicate touch but it speaks volumes. It speaks of love and desire and all the emotions we as humans hope to attain at least once in our lifetime. That most of us know we never will.

Something flickers in my chest as I watch them together. They make the perfect couple, complementing each other in every way possible, like two sides of a mirror. He stands about a head taller than her, but they may as well be equals the way they look at each other.

He drops his arm and clasps her hand in his own as he walks toward me.

“Dante,” I greet him.

“So glad you could make it, brother.”

3

ARIADNE

As soon as she opens the door, I fall into Nina’s arms and ugly cry. Great, heaving bawling that brings her partner Michael running to the front door in alarm. Michael’s a great guy, he really is – but he’d be even better if he wasn’t my douchebag ex’s best friend.

“He didwhat?!?” he screeches, looking at Nina in disbelief when she tells him what Rand’s done. I don’t think I’m as upset about the cheating as I am about the words he said that sliced through my heart. No one has ever been as unforgiving. Even my parents, a deserter and an alcoholic, didn’t resort to verbal abuse the way he did. No, they just ignored me.

“I can’t believe you’d be friends with a piece of shit like that!” Nina yells. I didn’t come here to cause discord between my best friend and her boyfriend, I really didn’t. But someone needs to tell the world what an asshole Rand really is. It was through Michael and Nina that I met him. Last time I go on a date on a recommendation from someone who swears up and down that the guy is “a catch”. As with all narcissists, they hide their personalities well and only show you what they want you to see. I’m sure they both didn’t know what he’s really like, even though Michael and Rand have been friends since childhood.

Michael sputters, his face going red in embarrassment at his best friend’s behavior. He grabs his jacket and keys, puts on his shoes hurriedly, and I can only imagine he’s going to confront Rand. Dude, I don’t need anyone to fight my battles. I break out in a fresh batch of tears and tell him I don’t want him to leave. He looks at me like he’s out of his depth.

“I’m going to run to the store and grab ice cream,” he says. “I’ll be right back.”

The thing about Michael is he knows exactly what a girl needs when she’s in tears and her world is falling apart. He never fails to satisfy. He doesn’t do so well with the emotional part, but he does his part with ice cream and chocolate. Every. Single. Time.

“He’s not worth your tears, Aria,” Nina says, walking me to the couch. She’s clinging to me like she’s the one that needs comfort, and I hold on for dear life.

“He could’ve just left, you know,” I sniffle, in between my tears. “Why not just leave me? Why wait until I catch you with your hands on someone else to tell me thatYOU DON’T LOVE ME!!”

I let out a wail and I know it’s only a matter of time before the neighbors come knocking down Nina’s front door or call the police to report someone getting murdered next door.

“Oh, honey,” she sighs. “That’s such an asshole thing to do. You know, karma’s going to come right back and bite him in the ass.”

“When, Nina, when?” I ask, wide eyed. “I’ve wasted two years of my life on that douche. Two years I won’t get back.”

“Better now than later, Aria,” she reminds me. “You guys had started talking about marriage. Imagine!”

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