"What do you want?"
"I told you. I want to help." A pause. "You have no family now. No protection. No one who cares what happens to you."
"I have Saint..." He'd been trying. Maybe that means he cares.
Or maybe he just doesn't want to look like a failure as a Don. Can't even keep his wife alive.
"Do you? I hear he allowed your brother to beat you." Alexei laughs softly. "That's not protection, sweetheart. That's ownership. And bad ownership at that."
I close my eyes. I wanted to scream. I'm not a fucking pet. Instead, I bit my tongue and speak softly, demurely. "What kind of help?"
"Come see me. Let's talk. No pressure. No demands. Just two people having a conversation."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because what do you have to lose?" He lets that sit. "You're already nothing, Gemma. Already dead in every way that matters. What's one conversation?"
He's right.
What's one more bad decision added to all the others?
"Where?"
"Eclipse. Tomorrow. Two o'clock." He sounds satisfied. "Try not to get caught this time, love. I don't think Saint is looking to let you live."
He hangs up before I can respond.
I sit there, phone in hand, trying to decide if I'm actually considering this.
Going to Alexei. The man who helped destroy me. The man who's dangerous and manipulative and definitely has ulterior motives.
But what else is there?
Alexei is right.
And it's time to end it.
All of it.
Saint tries again at dinner.
"I talked to Marcello today. He thinks we should take a trip. Get away from the city. Just us." He's watching me push food around. "What do you think?"
"Whatever you want."
"Gemma, I'm asking what you want."
I want to matter. I want to be someone. I want to feel something other than this endless nothing.
"I don't know."
"Try," he pushes. "Tell me one thing you want."
I look at him. Really look at him.
"I want you to go to bed."
He goes still. "What?"
