Page 55 of Ms. Fortune

It turns out I can’t do this.

It’s now 3:59. I’ve failed. All of my money. All of my connections. Useless. Fucking useless. It all means nothing because I’m about to lose Normandy, the one thing in my life outside my brothers that I truly hold dear to me. She came into my life from out of nowhere and turned my world upside down. And now, she’s going to die because of me. Because I can’t save her.

The plaza in front of the building we were in is bustling with people leaving work and heading for home. Home to their families and loved ones. The sky gets dark early now, and it starts snowing. Not fluffy, pretty flakes, but hard, wet, freezing snow. I don’t feel it. I can’t feel a damned thing. We take cover in the walkway under the building.

Four o’clock comes, and I can only stare at the people passing by but see none of them either. Taylor’s phone rings with a video call, and my stomach drops. I want to vomit. The dread overtaking me is paralyzing. He answers and holds the phone between us so we can both see the call, and when I see Normandy on the screen, in her pajamas, tied to a chair and gagged, with bruises on her face and dried blood on her neck, I want to reach through the phone and grab her. Pull her out of there. Hold her to me and tell her I love her. Say those three fucking words.

Her head is down, and she’s not looking at the camera, but I can tell she’s crying. Her shoulders are shaking with her silent sobs.

“We tried to send you the money. Believe me, I did everything I humanly could to get that money to you, but the government stopped it. It’s not my fault. Give us more time. Just a little more time…I can have it for you tomorrow. I swear….”

“Too late, Mr. Billionaire. You had your chance. And you had plenty of time to work out the details. Besides, your so-called FBI friend over there gave you an early head’s up, right?” The phone pans down next to Normandy, and I see the obviously dead body of Frank Santangelo.

Holy shit. They killed Frank. “But I didn’t know the government was going to….”

He doesn’t let me finish. “4:01.” I see a gun raised into the frame and hear the shot, Normandy’s muffled scream, but then there’s some sort of a scuffle, and the call disconnects.

Taylor and I stare silently at the now dormant phone, neither of us able to form words. I just witnessed them kill her, the woman I love, in cold blood. She died because she trusted me. She had faith in me to get her out of there, and I failed. I fucking failed.

I fall to my knees in the snow and bury my face in my hands in anguish. I’ve lost her.

Chapter 36

BLACK HOLES (SOLID GROUND)

NORMANDY

Beeping. This incessant noise has haunted my dreams all night and doesn’t ever stop. Maybe it’s my alarm clock. I try to reach my nightstand but can’t move my arm. Slowly opening my eyes, I discover I’m not at home or any place I’ve recently called home. I’m in the hospital, and my arm seems strapped to my side.

All at once, everything that happened rushes back to me. Frank’s dead body at my feet, the dirty rag in my mouth, the phone call with Brandon, the Calnetta brothers fighting with each other, the gunshot, the excruciating pain. Then it all faded to black for me. I don’t remember anything else. The beeping on the machine speeds up as I recall the entire series of events. The more I wake up, the more the right arm that is strapped down starts to hurt.

“Don’t try to move it. You’ll make it worse.”

I turn toward the voice and find Chelsie sitting in a chair beside my bed. I hadn’t noticed her until now. She looks exhausted. The dark windows behind her tell me it’s late. Or early.

“What happened?” My voice is a cracked mess, full of pain and drowsiness.

“Well, you were shot, obviously.” She indicates my bandaged arm. “And you kept flailing around while you were out, so they strapped it down to stop you from hurting yourself even more.”

I glance down and see that she’s holding my other hand tightly. Seeing it causes a mixture of relief, fear, and tension to release from my chest in a sob I can’t hold back. She squeezes my fingers even tighter.

“Did they get Calnetta?” This all has to have been worth something. I need to know it wasn’t for nothing.

“I think so, but I don’t know for sure. The FBI isn’t telling me anything.” She rolls her eyes. “It’s an ‘ongoing investigation’ or whatever. But they want to talk to you as soon as you wake up. We can put them off, though, if you’re not up for it yet.”

“Let me get my bearings first.” I lay my head back on the pillow and close my eyes, but as soon as I do, my mind replays the horrific scene in that room, the flash of the gunfire, the searing pain as the bullet hit me.

“Normandy?” Chelsie’s voice drifts back to me, and I force my eyes open to look at her. “Brandon is on his way.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to see him.”

“But….”

“But nothing.” My voice is perfectly clear now and rising. “I said I don’t want to see him. Do not let him near me, Chelsie. I mean it.”

“Norm, why not?” her brow furrows in confusion. “He’s been beside himself. He thought you were dead.”

“Yeah, well, it’s no thanks to him. I just got lucky.” I can hear the machine beeps racing again, echoing my heartbeat. “I’m lucky that one of the stupid Calnetta brothers had a conscience. Otherwise, I would be dead.”

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