“Who are you texting?” Merrick growled the second I started typing into my phone.
So I guess weweren’tdoing the silence until Gio came back. “My best friend.” I tried to keep my voice even toned. Though I was grateful that Merrick would be there even when he didn’t like me, I wasn’t his number one fan by any means.
“Don’t,” he demanded.
I furrowed my brow, feeling additionally agitated because of the pain I was in. “What?”
“Don’t text anyone,” he repeated. “We have no idea who could be tracking your phone or keeping an eye on you. Someone could have gotten to her. You’d be surprised where you’ll run into a lack of loyalty.”
“She’s been my best friend for years and has already proven she wouldn’t betray me like that. Besides, I’ve already been texting with her since I got here. If someone was tracking my phone or if she was going to turn me in, it would have happened already.”
“She could be marinating you.”
“She’s notmarinatingme.” I took a deep breath in, held it, and let it out. “Look, I know this is your world, but it’s not our world. We’re just two women who are friends. There’s no deep, ulterior motive, okay? Just relax.”
He set down his phone and gave me a glaring look. “Just relax? You sure don’t know who you’re talking to, do you?”
“Yes, I do. You’re a big, scary, mafia don. My fathersoldme to your son and my brothers tried to kill me, potentially twice. I got shotthroughthe torso yesterday. You’re terrifying, but what I’ve been through in the past three days is pretty fucking scary on its own. I don’t know if you’re allowed to talk to your wife this way, but that’s not how we do things. I’m allowed to make my own decisions. I’m not doing anything to hurt or put Gio at risk, so please… Why don’t we just hate each other in silence.”
“Not doing anything to put Gio at risk?” he said. “Your entire existence has been a risk to Giovanni.”
Hearing the words left a sour taste in my mouth. The relationship I was forming with Giovanni, though still very undefined, felt like something he wanted as much as I did, at least to a certain extent. I had to imagine that if having me around was such a terrible thing, that he would have just gotten rid of me. Right before I got shot, I offered to work off my father’s death for Giovanni to try and mitigate the damages from my father not paying him back, but I knew when I offered it that I didn’t have much to offer in that realm. I was mostly hoping he could teach me.
Was I really that much of a problem that Merrick would think my veryexistencewas a risk to his son?
“Your father owed him such a hefty sum of money that Giovanni hasn’t thought about again since first laying his eyes on you.” Merrick stood up and started to stalk his way across the room towards me. “He’s only been to his architecture company a handful of days in months. It now has to be shut down because of the war he started withyourbrothers to protect you.” He got even closer. “His entire home is going up in flames as we speak because he couldn’t risk your family getting a leg up on him while he takes on a problem that isn’t his to keep you out of their clutches.” My throat was starting to knot with emotions. Hearing it all listed one right after the other made it feel more real.
Iwasa burden.
“I didn’t ask for any of this,” I whimpered. “I didn’t ask to be hogtied and dragged out of my apartment. I didn’t ask for my brothers to send paratroopers crashing through his window to drag me out. I just want to be in a place that makes me feel safe and wanted. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
Wrapping one of his hands around the railing on the side of my bed, Merrick leaned down over me so that his face was hovering inches above mine. “You’re not some innocent, damsel-in-distress. When your brothers came and got you, you could have just stayed gone, but you called him to come and get you. He drove into enemy territory alone because you told him to come. You could have just stayed there.”
“They were going to kill me.” Tears were starting to seep down my cheeks regardless of how hard I was trying not to cry. “Gio… Gio makes me feel safe.”
“And for that he’s paying with his home, business, and life. Congratulations.” Merrick backed off then, walking over and sitting down on the couch and crossing one leg over the other. “Hate isn’t a strong enough word to describe how I feel about you. I plucked that kid out of a back-alley and raised him into an emperor, and on the cusp of greatness, he’s chucking everything into the wind because he likes that you’ll let him tie you up.” Each word was like a dagger through the heart. “NowI think I’m fine to ignore you until Gio comes. Why don’t we both just be quiet?”
It felt like my pain had doubled in the last ten minutes. My whole body hurt now. My head, my torso, my legs; even my throat felt like it was all clenched up and I wasn’t going to be able to breathe soon. I was trying not to cry, but each time I started to calm down, I thought about being that much of a burden to Giovanni and started up all over again. Merrick seemed unmoved by my sobbing. I was counting down the time until I could take more medication, mostly because I was hoping that it would put me to sleep.
Fortunately, something better showed up sooner.
“Hey.” I looked up, still crying, as Gio rounded the corner into the hospital room. He looked down at his dad and nodded a thank you before coming over to my side. He looked down at my face and frowned. “You’re crying. Is the pain bad?”
I looked up and Merrick had his eyes on me. In his stare was an obvious warning:Keep your mouth shut.
Gio set a hand on my face and pulled it back up to meet his gaze. The cold, unfeeling man I’d met back when I first came to his estate was gone, and he was now gentle and considerate. He wasn’t unrecognizable, just a softer, more caring version of the man I’d once met. It comforted me so much to be around him, and yet all I could think about was how I was holding him down and ruining his life.
Maybe it would have been better if I’d just stayed with my brothers. Even if they killed me, I wouldn’t have been destroying Gio’s legacy.
“Yeah, it’s the pain,” I said. “Everything hurts.”
“Doctor says she can have more pain meds at about two,” Merrick said. “It’s quarter-til now. It’s getting pretty close.”
“Do you think you can hang on a little longer?” Gio asked. “Otherwise I don’t have any problem…” His voice trailed off, and then he looked back at Merrick. It wasn’t until he did it that I realized my own gaze was lingering on Merrick and not him. He looked back at me and then shifted so he was totally blocking Merrick from my view. “Avion? Are you sure it’s just the pain?”
Not being able to see Merrick made it a little easier to breathe, but regardless of if I wanted to be honest, everything Merrick had said was true. I’d already damaged so much in Gio’s life, that the very last thing I wanted to do was mess with his relationship with his father as well.
“Yeah,” I lied. “My head hurts a lot, and my back. Almost more than my wound.”
