Page 48 of King
“What about your duty to me, Matteo?” I point at my chest. “The woman you claim to love.”
“I do love you!”
“I’m sorry, Matteo. That’s not love.”
I shake my head, disappointed in myself for wasting my life on a man who couldn’t love me because he doesn’t know how to love anyone but himself.
“Don’t you fucking dare say that shit to me, Alana. I gave you a fucking life. Bought you a house, trips, and designer clothes. I treated you like a fucking Queen. And what did I get out of it, huh? A lying, disloyal bitch!”
“If you think material shit is what love is, I feel really sorry for you. I never once asked you for any of that shit. All I asked you for was honesty and fidelity. And when you knew you couldn’t give me that, you should have just let me go. Why didn’t you just let me go so I could live my life, and you could live yours?”
He runs his hands through his hair. He knows it’s the truth. I’ve never been about material things throughout our entire relationship. Sure, it’s nice to get things but I would have rather had him than all that shit. And he knows it. Material things can’t return love.
“All I wanted was you, Matteo,” I say, my heart breaking all over again. “Not stuff. And you couldn’t even give me all of you.”
“I’m not sorry for doing the right thing,” I say, after a few moments of silence. “And if you need your revenge, here I am. Do what you got to do.”
He stares at me for a few moments like he’s trying to commit my face to memory. I see it in his eyes when he finally makes the decision whether to let me live or kill me. I’ve already made peace with whatever happens.
Good or bad.
I brace myself for the pain I know is coming because his eyes darken, and his jaw clenches. He’s made the decision.
“Close your eyes, Alana, and turn around,” he orders.
I refuse to look away. If he’s going to kill me, he’s going to look me in the eyes while he does it. Despite Emilio’s squeezing my arm, I try to take a step closer.
Matteo raises his gun. “Don’t move, Alana.”
I don’t listen and I take another step closer, then another, and another until I’m so close I can touch him.
Emilio moves so quickly, rushing his brother. I see the shock on Matteo’s face then I hear it. A single gunshot echoes through the building. I expect to see Matteo hit the ground but instead, an agonizing pain rips through my entire body.
Gunshots, shouts, and curses ring out but it’s hard to focus on anything but the pain covering my entire body. Instinctively my hand covers where most of the pain is radiating from—my chest. My hands are wet and warm. My vision blurs. This can’t be good. My body feels heavy. Too heavy to stay standing and my legs give out from beneath me.
And just like you see in the movies when someone’s about to die their life flashes before their eyes. Images of my childhood, Amelia, my life in Vegas before Matteo, when I fell in love with him, and when I knew I absolutely hated him. And finally, an image of King comes into view. I reach up, hoping to touch his face one more time, but I know it’s too late. I’ll never see him again.
“I love you,” I whisper before everything goes dark.
Chapter Twenty
KING
Theconstantbeepingofmachines is driving me insane. I’ve been here for hours just waiting for her to open her eyes. When she was wheeled in, and after her surgery to remove the bullet from her chest, I couldn’t see her unless I was family.
Fuck that shit. I lied and told them I was her fiancé and Amelia, her only real family, backed me up. Nobody will keep me from her side. They will have to kill me first.
Now that’s she stable, I’ve been able to come to terms that I’m going to be a father. Joy and anger move through me with the news. I want to put a bullet in Matteo’s head after I’ve already done it, for almost taking away the two most important people in the world to me.
I grasp her hand tighter, afraid if I let it go, I might lose them. It’s irrational at this point to think that way since the doctor expects her to make a full recovery.
That day replays in my head. Every moment. Emilio rushing Matteo and instead of shooting him, like he should have, he stuck him with a knife over and over again. I guess he wanted to make it more personal. But it also allowed Matteo to try to take out Alana. A single shot to the chest. All I could see was red. When I got close enough to end Matteo’s life, I didn’t hesitate. I put a bullet in his head.
Emilio should be grateful I didn’t kill him too.
“Come on baby, open your eyes.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve pleaded for her just to look at me. While the doctor says she’s out of the woods that fear remains because she hasn’t woken up yet.
