Page 86 of The Don

“How can I not hate them? They made a deal with the devil. An unrealistic deal at that. A repayment of five thousand a month is ridiculous, who on earth could afford that? They were set up to fail from the moment he made them the offer. Adrian knew what he was doing, and if you think about it, I’ll bet you anything he’s made these deals all over the place. How many daughters has he taken? And what the hell is he doing with them? You were his wife and look at how he treated you, what do you think he’s doing to all the other women he’s taken?”

A stabbing pain shoots through my head. “I never stopped to consider that,” I say. “I’ve been so caught up in my own head that I never thought of any other deals he might have made. All I wanted was to protect you.” Now I feel even more guilty that I didn’t speak up earlier and save whoever else he did this to.

“When you’re in that sort of predicament, all you can do is survive, Eliza. Don’t you dare feel remorse or guilt for what he’s done. That’s on him, not on you. And I’m sure, Ruben is doing everything he can in order to find Adrian. I know Dominic hates him, and they’ll kill him when he’s found.”

I wipe at my eyes and clear my throat. “Is it wrong that I want to be the one who finishes him?”

“It’s not wrong, but there’s no way Ruben will allow it.”

“Yeah, I know.” My stomach churns with unease when I look at my uneaten platter. “I’m going to go to the bathroom, I need to splash some water on my face and...” I lift my shoulders in question. “I need a minute, Rose.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No.” I wave my hand at her as I stand. “I just need a minute.”

Rose pushes her chair back and rounds the table. “I love you.” She rubs her hands up and down my arms, then hugs me. “You should never have had to carry this burden on your own. Thank you for telling me. I understand now why you couldn’t do it earlier. You were stuck in a bad place.” I’m on the verge of crying again, but I hold it in for my sister’s sake. I don’t want to worry her any more than I already have. “Our parents might have been selfish, but we’ve got each other. Right?”

I nod as I pull back and stare into her vivid blue eyes. “I’m so glad you’re my sister. I love you too.” I give her one more tight hug before heading into the bathroom.

I take a few moments in the stall to compose myself and just breathe through my heavy thoughts. I never wanted to tell Rose and I was hoping I’d be able to skate around the subject, but she made a compelling argument that I did indeed owe her an explanation.

The feeling of guilt is still overwhelmingly strong. I am the one who willingly put myself into Adrian’s hands. But finally telling Rose is also a relief. Now, there’s no more secrets between Rose and myself.

Rose protected me when I didn’t have the will to protect myself. For that reason alone I owed her the truth.

“You can do this,” I say to myself. I’m going to go out there, eat my damn platter, and feel good for telling her. I’m going to try.

I stand in front of the basin, rinse my hands, and splash some water on my face. A woman from the other stall comes out and stands beside me. “Hey,” she says. I look at her in the mirror and smile wanly. She finishes washing her hands before I do, and turns toward me. Scanning me up and down, she crinkles her brows and snickers.

“Is there a problem?” I pull my shoulders back and watch as she juts her hip out and rests her hand on it.

“You?” she asks. “He wants you?”

It takes me a second before my skin erupts in goose bumps and fear washes over me. I suck in a breath and move to push past her. “Get out of my way,” I say when she blocks my exit.

“I can’t believe he wants you.” She lifts her elbow with aggression and snaps it in my face, causing me to stumble back and fall. I smash my head on the basin and instantly black out.

Chapter nineteen

Ruben

“They should have eyes on him in two hours,” I say to Dominic.

“Two hours?” He paces back and forth in my office.

“Yeah.”

“I should be there. I should be the one to bring him back.”

“No, you heard what 15 said, he’s got his men looking out for us. This way, my men can sneak in there and get him.” I look to my phone because it’s nearly been an hour since Salvo has messaged me with the report on the girls.

“What’s wrong?” Dominic asks and stops pacing.

“Salvo knows to message me on the hour, every hour with what the girls are up to.”

Dominic pulls his phone out and looks at the time. “It’s two minutes past.” He lifts the phone and places it to his ear. I look to him, then to my phone. He shakes his head as he lowers the phone.

“Fuck,” I grumble. I dial Eliza’s number, but it too rings out. I then dial Salvo’s number. Again, it rings out. “Dante!”

---