Page 41 of Unresolved

Chapter Twenty

Gemma

Iwoke with crampingpain.But this time it wasn’t from losing the baby I’d wanted with every cell of my body, it was the period that mocked me for being lacking as a mother.

I might have carried my son to full term, but his heart had stopped working long before I’d delivered him alone in my apartment.Not even the paramedics had been able to save him when they’d finally arrived.

I’d been sitting in a puddle of blood, my still baby in my arms while I’d sobbed over him.The paramedics had had to pry him from my arms, then treat me for shock along with blood loss.

The memory made me ache all over even as a great, yawning emptiness grew bigger inside.I would have given my life to save my baby, my love for him as instinctive as breathing.But at least I’d seen his face, touched his lifeless body.I’d never given Evander that same opportunity, and now guilt stabbed at me like a thousand knives.

My dark thoughts faded as the noise of an incoming vehicle intensified.I frowned.I’d been so distracted by grief and guilt I hadn’t noticed anything else.That it sounded more like a car than Evander’s Harley made me sit up straighter, my heart pounding.

Though a hopeful part of me wondered if rescue was imminent, a bigger part was filled with foreboding and dread.Then I made out yet another rumbling engine.Two cars approached.

A shiver of hot and cold pulsed through me.I pulled the bedcover over my nakedness.This wasn’t good.Not at all.

The first car stopped in front of the cabin, its engine cutting off as the second car pulled in and went quiet.Doors opened thenthunkedshut as every muscle I had drew tight.

I knew I was in trouble even before the tread of what I guessed were six or seven people sounded on the porch outside.Indistinct voices murmured near the front door, but I made out a few sentences.

“The Harley’s gone.”

“Son-of-a-bitch.So much for an element of surprise.”

So definitely the bad guys, then.A bead of sweat rolled off my brow as my stomach churned.I wouldn’t be getting saved by these men.It didn’t take a genius to realize I was in real trouble now.

“You five wait out here while Tommy and I look around inside.”The man speaking sounded like the leader, hisdon’t fuck with metone coming across loud and clear.That I’d soon be discovered sent my heart racing into overdrive.“We might find something useful.”

I bit back a whimper as two sets of footsteps entered the cabin.

Rembrandt sensed my high emotions as much as he sensed the intruders.He hissed, the fur on his neck standing high along with his now super-thick tail.Shit.He was in danger too.I shoved him off the mattress and he scooted out of sight under the bed...just in time.

Two men sauntered through the bedroom doorway as though they owned the place, as though they didn’t have a care in the world.I held their hard stares even as I gulped down escalating panic.Of course they were carefree.They weren’t the ones cuffed to a bed and left vulnerable and without any defense.

I immediately recognized the man at the front in his tailored dark suit and black fedora hat.Enzo Accardi.He didn’t know it but we were related.His eyes were the same color as mine; his nose the same tilt.His skin was paler, his stubble-free jawline a little broader, stronger, his chin more indented, but otherwise the likeness was uncanny given we only shared a father.

He paused at seeing me cuffed to the bed, a smirk then pulling at his full-lipped mouth.Some errant strands of dark hair stuck out from under his hat and across his brow.“Well, well.What—who—do we have here?”

The man behind him, Tommy, had thinning gray-brown hair, a paunch that stretched tight his tweed-colored suit jacket, and a black star inked across his left cheek.He stopped just behind Enzo and I knew right away his deference meant Enzo was the leader.But then, Enzowouldbe the future Accardi don.

I’d grown up observing my half-brother from pictures on the internet and in newspapers.I’d learned about his often devious acts that had landed him in trouble and often in court, where a highly-paid legal team then cleared him of any charges.

He was daddy’s golden boy, his one and only son.His only child...as far as anyone knew.

It was odd finally studying my brother in person and discovering he had the same dimple in the left cheek as me.We were the spitting image of our dear old dad, I only hoped and prayed Enzo didn’t notice or all my subterfuge, my sacrifices had been for nothing.

“Looks like you’ve scored an unexpected little prize, boss.”

Boss?I frowned.Surely Enzo hadn’t stepped into our father’s role just yet?

He nodded.“If she’s a prisoner, she’s someone important to Evander.”He rubbed his jaw with rigid knuckles inked with symbols similar to hieroglyphics.“But would killing her be enough of a payoff after what they did to my father?”

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