Capone—the man who looks like he should be on the side of the suits rather than the bikers—pushes him backwards, his head smacking the sheetrock and denting another hole in it.
At this rate, I’m going to have to close my doors because I can’t afford the repairs.
“He stays with me,” Capone says. “I have orders for Joseph.”
“Someone get Antonio from the back, and let’s load up my brother’s men,” Tucker says. “Let Father know that if you oranyone else comes after Phoebe again, I’ll kill you where you fucking stand. Both of you.”
A sympathetic look is shot my way from Zep as he walks past me to the back. Without anything else to really do, I move to hold the door open for him, and he bends down to hoist Antonio onto his shoulders in a fireman carry.
“Thanks, Phoebe,” Zep says with a nod.
They walk the dead men out to the SUV—granted, I don’t know if Antonio is really dead or not—like it’s no big deal. Like it’s not morning, and people will see this.
“You’re going to have to close today, Phoebe. I’m sorry,” the redheaded president says.
I should know his name, but I don’t remember it. Not that I’m really thinking that clearly right now.
“We’ll get this cleaned up, and we’ll fix the wall,” a dark-haired man says and walks to the supply closet.
He comes out with a mop bucket, and I can’t help but chuckle. It looks utterly ridiculous. They just killed three men, and he’s just going to mop up the floors like they spilled tomato juice or something.
“You got orders for me, huh?” Joseph says with a smirk as an angry man stands him upright. “What are you gonna do, Greco? Huh? You gonna give me a taste of my own medicine? You’re still pissed at what I did to you when you were a teenager?”
Holy shit. No wonder Capone looks like he should be in the mob. He was. I think. Or do I have his name wrong? Is he Greco?
“Unlike you, I don’t plan to shove anything up your ass.”
This makes me gasp, and the looks from the others match my shock. This is getting too dark, but I can’t walk away. I can’t escape the blood no matter where I go.
“You’re just pissed at yourself because you liked it. Be honest—”
He’s cut off by Capone aiming the gun and shooting him square in the forehead. Blood and brain matter splatter on the wall around the bullet hole, and my entire world tilts. I’m suddenly brought back to another time, and all I can hear is someone screaming.
I think it might be me.
Chapter Nineteen
Phoebe
Open eyes. Dead on the ground. Staring at me. Blood everywhere. Brain matter and skull fragments. It’s all bringing me back to a time I don’t want to remember.
I do everything I can not to go back to that place, but it’s right back here. In front of me. Dead eyes staring at me from the ground, holes in the head.
“Shit,” Capone says, his voice breaking through my scream. “I forgot she was here.”
“It’s her fucking bakery,” Zep shouts.
If I wasn’t on the verge of a total breakdown, I’d laugh. They forgot I was here. In my own bakery. In my business. That now has some guy’s brain on the wall.
Tucker rushes toward me, and it triggers something in me. I move away from his touch and stare at the wall. The man stood right there, and now he lies on the floor. My eyes won’t leave the mess.
At least I’ve stopped screaming.
“Phoebe—”
Pushing past him, I run into the bathroom and barely make it to the toilet in time as I vomit. It’s too much. I don’t want to be back there. I don’t want to remember, and I sob as I continue to throw up, fighting the war in my head.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry,” Tucker says, hurrying over to rub my back.
