Page 76 of The Killer Cupcake
CHAPTER 30
WHAT DEATH OF LOVE LOOKS LIKE
"Thank you for everything." Kathy accepted the bus ticket from Carmine's weathered hand. He gave her a nod that held more weariness than respect.
"You should be fine. Matteo will stall until your bus is well on the road before he gives Carmelo your letter."
She tucked the ticket into her purse, avoiding his eyes.
"I suppose I owe you an explanation." His voice carried the weight of confessions he'd rather not make. "About Willa. Why is she with us, carrying my child?”
"I don't think I want to know." Kathy's voice was hollow. "These past two years have shown me enough darkness, enough deception. I don't expect truth from anyone anymore."
Carmine sighed, leaning heavier on his cane. "Janey didn't take Pinkie leaving well after Elmer died two months later. She started coming apart. Then Willa's tragedy. The girl had done the impossible and turned a Thibodeaux against a Thibodeaux. The two of them had moved into their own place and gotten married. She was pregnant, and JB was different. Then she lost the baby. That’s when all things in their love started to crumble. He left her to go back home like a coward, and she was out there in the wind, surviving on scraps. While he came in andout of her life and she believed that she could win him back.” He paused, choosing his words like a man navigating broken glass. "I thought Janey was trying to help the girl. Should've seen the poison coming. Should've stopped it before the Thibodeauxs tasted her sweet candies. But I'm old, Kathy. Tired. Can't catch Janey every time she falls anymore."
Despite herself, Kathy listened.
"Willa was broken after JB died. That's her story to tell, not mine. All I can say is—I came home one night, found them in the parlor together. Janey invited me to dinner, sat me down like it was any other evening. Turns out JB was trying to get into the family to access the money to run with Willa. And Willa was once again pregnant. That’s when they told me what they'd decided." His laugh was bitter. "Janey believes a child will save her, keep her from losing what's left of her mind. And Willa... she can’t let the Thibodeauxs know she is carrying JB’s child. Janey decided that Willa join the family, and we let everyone know it was my baby. Just needed my compliance for the lie.”
"And you agreed?" The judgment in her voice surprised them both.
"My time's running out." He straightened slightly, dignified even in his confession. "I'm taking them to Vegas. Away from the Thibodeauxs' vengeance, to protect the child, and away from the Marcellos' grasp. Away from all this blood and lies. Then I'll close my eyes for good, and maybe—maybe—this baby is my son or daughter, and my heir. That agreement means this child can heal what I couldn't in my Janey,” He touched his hat brim. "So yes, I agreed. And this is goodbye."
Before he could turn away, Kathy stepped forward and embraced him. His body went rigid with surprise before he carefully returned the gesture, his arms uncertain around her.
"I don't understand Aunt Janey or Willa,” she whispered against his shoulder. "May never understand them. But thankyou for saving their lives all these times. For protecting them both."
She stepped back, composing herself. "Goodbye, Mr. Bonanno."
His smile was ghost-thin. "Safe travels, Kathy. Find yourself some peace."
She gathered her bag and climbed aboard the bus, choosing a window seat near the back. Through the smudged glass, she watched Carmine make his slow way to his car, each step measured against his cane. A man returning to his beautiful hell. Another man living a lie.
Kathy closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the seat. The engine rumbled to life beneath her, carrying her away from Memphis, from Carmelo, from all of them. She tried to empty her mind, to forget their faces, their lies, their twisted love.
But some poisons, she was learning, had no antidote.
Two hours.Two fucking hours of handshakes and flashbulbs while she waited.
He'd posed with every politician and wise guy who'd traveled in for the fight, his split lip screaming with each forced smile. Signed contracts with hands still swollen from the gloves and endured some newspaper hack who kept circling back to his mother's suicide until Matteo finally snapped and threw the bastard out by his collar.
Through it all, Carmelo's eyes stayed locked on the door. Kathy couldn't enter the white press rooms—Memphis rules—but he kept expecting her face to appear somehow, that smile that said she was proud of him.
When the last photographer finally packed up, Carmelo was already moving. He shoved past the lingering reporters and ignored the promoter calling his name. His ribs screamed with each step, but he didn't care. She was waiting. In twenty minutes, they'd be on the road. By dawn, they'd be halfway to nowhere, just him and Kathy and the future they'd always dreamed of.
"Melo, wait up!" Matteo's voice was behind him.
"Can't. Kathy's waiting." He walked faster, his body singing with adrenaline despite the beating he'd taken.
He burst through the dressing room door, already grinning, already reaching for her?—
Empty.
The room yawned back at him, silent except for the drip of a leaky pipe. The champagne Carmine had sent sat unopened in its bucket, ice long melted.
"Where is she?" He spun as Matteo appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. "She go back to the hotel? She said she'd wait here. Said she'd?—"
"Here." Matteo held out an envelope, his face carved from stone. "She left you this."
