Bruno
“We should go home, Bruno. The doctor said there's nothing we can do...for now.”
I can't leave, I can't...
“You go; I'll stay the night.”
When Sarah collapsed, the first thing I did was to call Ian. Now you might think, who the fuck is Ian? Well, let’s just say that he owned me, big time. Five years ago, he messed with the wrong people, Russian mob to be precise. He knew me from the army, and he knew what I was doing by that time. His wife, Margaret, was kidnaped. At that time, I didn’t know how important someone can be in a men’s life, now I get it.
That’s why when he picked up the phone I just had to say, “My wife is sick.” And he told me to come to this place.
Thomas King is his boss now and the owner of this establishment, he’s someone who searched for me when the news of my early retirement spared as fast as wildfire. He offered me a position in his new company call ‘King Security’, but it didn’t find it suitable, I was making so much money and I liked to work alone.
Sarah had gone into emergency surgery, she stayed there for an hour and forty minutes, apparently some tissues where damage after that fucking bullet, now she’s asleep and in recovery.
The moment I saw her lying on the floor my body raked with fear and that question is always in the back of my mind came rushing forward, “what if I lose her?” There's no life without her, I can't, I'm suffocating from just imagining it.
“You'd better get a few hours of sleep, Bruno. Tomorrow you're going to need a lot of energy.”
“Are you still here?” I feel like all the ammunition in my body is exploding, one by one. “Haven't you done enough already? Get the fuck out of here.”
Carter looks at me with guilt and I don't give a shit how he feels it, he's still wearing that ridiculous vest with his bad boy name on it, his upper lip is split like mine and his left eye is completely closed. He gets up quietly and walks away from me, without saying goodbye.
My elbows are touching my knees and my hands are holding my head from my cheeks, I am absolutely defeated.
Why did Carter bring up Sarah in that fight? She had a chance to move on in her life and she didn't; she got stuck waiting for me. I'm not stupid, I know exactly what Carter meant, Rage connects all the loose ends my mind has. He had replaced me in a short time, both with Sarah and Carter.
Did you really expect people's lives to end the moment you left?I don't dare say it out loud, but I kind of did.
Night after night praying that Sarah stayed single, even though I left her, wishing she’d never fall in love with another man, never move from my house. What kind of person am I? If all I think about is myself.
God, I am monstrous.
That explains why Carter had gotten involved with Rage, he was his friend and brother while I was calling him just to ask him about her and not even once I asked to know how he was doing, how he was dealing with having been a victim of Asad. No. What did I do instead? I fucked right off to the Middle east and left him with his wounds to heal all alone.
Fuck, I’m so fucking self-centered.
Rage gave him camaraderie, and family that Carter no longer had, or rather say never had.
The alpha male intended to return and continue his reign as if nothing had happened.
What a fucking idiot!
* * *
“Bruno...” Dante's voice appears in my right ear.
What is he doing here?
I get up and I walk towards him, he holds me tight, our hands hitting our backs, to undo the knots in the throats.
“I'm so sorry.”
I point to the chair, inviting him to sit down, as if this space were mine.
“Thank you.” I sit down again. “What are you doing here? You shouldn't leave Amira alone.”
“She's not alone, Carter said he'd stay with her, while we change guards.”
