Page 16 of Fragile Union

HOLLY

"Tell me again," Kenna says as she shoves the cup into my hands. "And for God’s sake, drink the bloody tea."

I wrap my hands around the cup hoping the warmth will take away the coldness that seeped into my body and hasn't let go since. "Makenna," I say softly, "I'm not sure how much more I can tell you." I'm tired, I want to go take a shower and wash this blood off me. The shooting happened almost two hours ago and I'm tired, sore, and emotional.

"For my sake, please, walk me through what happened," she asks as she perches on the corner of the coffee table in front of me.

"I met with Maruzzo like you wanted. At first he was the same as always..." I begin and a shiver runs through my body. I bring the cup to my lips and take a sip, the cut on my lip stings as the heat hits it but I ignore it and drink.

"In what way was he the same as always?" Now this is new, she hasn't asked me this question before.

I shrug as I bring my legs up onto the sofa, putting the soles of my feet flat against the material and rest my forearms on my thigh. "He's an arsehole, Kenna, he hates that I'm a woman and the one who deals with money. Whenever I have to deal with him, he's disrespectful, either staring at my tits or he's not looking at me at all. Then there's the way he talks to me, as though I'm merely a piece of shit beneath his shoe. It's fine, whatever, I'm used to it, so I don't work as hard in putting his money into the right stocks."

It's something I learned straight off the bat, men, especially the men in the Mafia; they're all the same. All they care about is money and status. The more money you have, the more respect it garners and that could mean a promotion if the men respect you that much. With Maruzzo and the other men like him, I make sure they make enough to keep them satisfied but not enough to put them in the category that my friends and family are in. We're all wealthy, obscenely so, but we don't flaunt it.

"Right," she says. "So what happened then?"

Before I answer her, Dante walks into the room a scowl fixed onto his face. "That was Romero, he's on his way back, he's pissed and demanding answers."

"Yeah, well he's not the only one," Makenna fires back. My aunt is a force to be reckoned with when she's pissed.

"We were talking about where his money should go next, as in what property to buy to expand the 'legitimate' side to his business." I use finger quotes for legitimate because we all know there's no such thing. The made men buy up stores, shopping malls, banks, and restaurants under the pretense that they're actual businessmen when in fact, they do it to keep the police off their backs.

"Apparently, the men had been talking." I glance at Dante, that's a big fucking no-no. You don't talk about what I do for you, just as I don't say what the boss’ plans are. It's the reason why I'm able to continue to do what I do. "He wanted a more lucrative purchase. Money I know he shouldn't be able to get without refinancing some of his other businesses, which he has no intention of doing." Which means he's stashing his money and that will lead to questions like why is he doing it? Where is the money coming from? Then it'll go to is he a traitor and we all know what happens to traitors in the family.

"I'll have the men look into it," Dante assures me and I'm wondering if that's the right thing to do or not, but he's the boss and I bite my tongue. It's one thing to criticize them in front of my husband and it's a different thing to do so to their faces.

"We'll look into it," Kenna insists, not glancing at her husband for approval. "So, he was interested in expanding, so you were talking, then what happened?"

“I reached for my coffee and then there were gunshots, six or seven at first, the windows smashed, and I threw myself down onto the bench until the shooting stopped." I remember sitting up and seeing the destruction all around me. “When I got to my feet, Anderson was on the floor and Maruzzo was gone."

I'm not sure when he managed to slip away but he did, and the fucker didn't even check to see if everyone was okay.

Makenna and Dante share a look, and I know what it means. Either Maruzzo was in on the hit or he was the one they were aiming for, and if it wasn't him, who was the intended target, then who was, and that could lead back to me.

"Are we done?" I ask her, needing to get away.

She nods. "Yeah, Hols, go on up and have a shower. I'll check on you in a bit," she says softly.

I get to my feet and watch as she gently caresses her stomach. She’s three months pregnant and yet she's not even showing.

I slowly make my way up the stairs, my bare feet getting colder by the second as I make my way toward mine and Romero's room. This house is too small, we're all practically on top of each other. Makenna and Dante have purchased another home that they had intended on being in before Rome and I got married but when they found out Makenna was expecting, they wanted changes made to the house so when the baby arrived it would be as safe as the white house.

I turn on the shower as soon as I enter the bathroom. Tears slowly start to leak from my eyes. Today has been shit. From the moment I woke up, it's just been fucking crap. Mal texted me this morning, Ma's on the warpath, she thinks Da's found himself a woman. I say fucking fair play to him. He can't be expected to stay celibate for the rest of his life. But Ma hates to share and of course I don't answer her calls, in fact, I have her number blocked. So, she calls Mal hoping to get him onside, but she fucked up when she told him Da wasn't his biological dad.

Then there was Alessio, that fucker is pissed about the porn magazines I have sent to him monthly. That was Makenna's idea but still, I'm the one to blame and he constantly glares and growls at me whenever I'm alone with him. It's come to the point where I'll leave any room he's in so I don't have to listen to him bitch about me or even glare at me.

Then the shit with Romero happened. God, just when I thought we were making progress we were finally starting to get somewhere, he pulls back and erects a fifty-foot wall between us. I knew he could be callous, that his darkness was there, always bubbling on the surface. I was naive, I thought he wouldn't hurt me. But sometimes words hurt more than any slap, punch, or kick does.

The tears stream down my face as I step into the boiling hot shower, the water beats against my back, the steam filling the room. I can't stop the tears as my body wracks with sobs. I sink to the bottom of the shower and wrap my arms around my knees as I cry my heart out.

Of course, that's how Romero finds me, I'm not sure how long I've been sitting here but I'm lifted into his arms and I face plant into his neck, my hands tightening around him as I cry some more. He doesn't say a word, just holds me tight.

"Your clothes are getting wet," I murmur against him once my crying jag finishes.

"Don't care," he says as he puts me back down on my feet. Hurt slashes through me but I bite my lip to stop the whimper from coming out. His thumb gently pulls my lip from between my teeth, his eyes darkening as he takes in the cut. "This happen at the restaurant?"

I nod, unable to speak right now as his hands run over my body. I'm so confused, I have no idea what's going on.

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