Page 5 of Bruno
As we step through the grand entrance, I swallow hard. The interior is stunning - a high, vaulted ceiling, a grand stone fireplace, rustic furniture that looks like it has many stories to tell. But it’s still a prison. A luxurious one, yes, but still a prison.
Bruno releases my elbow and walks over to talk to some burly men who I assume are his security team. His presence fills the room, and when he steps away, the air rushes back in. I turn to Chris.
“Bruno said your room is upstairs,” I tell him. “The last room on the left. Go unpack, and I’ll be up in a minute. I need to speak to him alone first.”
“I’m not leaving you with him,” Chris hisses, his eyes shifting to Bruno as he returns. It’s like he’s a protective mama bear watching a dangerous predator approach her cub.
“Go,” I repeat myself to Chris. Although he knows how I feel about repeating myself. When I tell him to do something, I expect it to be done. For the most part, it’s worked out that way. Chris has always been a good boy, although he’d balk if he heard that now. Fifteen years old.Where had the time gone?Every day, I see more of Sal in him. And it’s never more apparent than now when he’s defying me.
“You said we’d talk about this. But neither of you said a word—”
“We will talk. I promise.” I cup his cheeks in my hands. “Get settled. I’ll come when we’re done. Trust me.”
His eyes search mine, wondering if I will disappear like everything else in his life just did. Finally, he nods and heads off, throwing one last hit over his shoulder. “’Kay, I’ll trustyou.” He hits the word “you” so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t break.
This cabin could cover the entire neighborhood where we live. Our little house would fit easily in the palm of the giant property’s hand, but for all its vastness, the walls close around me like a coffin when I turned and faced the only man I’d ever loved.
Salvatore Falcone Jr. hadn’t changed much. Same chiseled jaw with its slight cleft. His dark brown eyes were fiercer than I remembered. Brimming with something more than energy. As if someone had placed a live wire behind his irises so that they burned everything they touched. He’d never been soft. The teen boy with a surly attitude who’d slunk into my art history class, as out of place as a lion in a sheep pen, had been made of sharp edges and rough hands.
Now, the same man stood before me, dressed in a black suit that couldn’t contain his broad shoulders and wide chest. A chest I wanted to wrap my arms around into and never let go. I’d loved him once. Even when he was too stupid and young to love me back. Had he said the words? Never, not once, until the day his mother was killed in a fiery car crash.
He’d come to me then. His body wrecked by grief. When he’d crumpled in my lap and declared his love, I gave him the one thing I’d always held back. Holding out for a declaration of love. An acknowledgment that the love I’d seen pouring from his eyes and filing his touch wasn’t just my wishful thinking. We’d shared tender kisses, long make-out sessions, and combustible caresses. But it was seeing him broken that broke me. His mother was all he’d had. No one in his life gave a damn about him other than his brothers. I’d been eager, oh so eager, to prove that wasn’t true. One night turned into several while he waited for his family to make the final arrangements and call him back. He said he’d be gone a week, maybe two, but he never returned.
When I called him about the pregnancy, he confessed his family’s mafia connections and that they were at war. He couldn’t risk endangering us.Wouldn’t, he said. He swore he’d come back when he left the family business. Promised I’d hear from him when it was safe. I never heard from him.
He sent money through a terrifying mountain of a man. A man who secured us a home and checked in on us occasionally. But from Sal, there’d only been silence. I’d given up asking the mountain, Marco, how Sal was. Because when I did, he’d only answered, “he’s fine.” Two words that meant nothing. Until I finally realized the truth of those words. Hewasfine.
He wasn’t struggling—I was. I couldn’t continue to wait, weep and wonder about a man who was absolutely,fine. I had to stop being a mess. I had a son to raise, and he deserved the happiest, healthiest childhood I could give him. I moved on with my life, and succeeded in doing better thanfine. Until Sal walked in my front door and showed me I’dneverbeen happy or healthy. I was just as lovesick over him as I’d ever been. The only difference between now and then was now I understood you could want something you shouldn’t have. And sometimes, not getting it was for the best.
“Why are we here, Sal?”
His gaze remains steady. “Because it’s the only way to protect you.”
“From who?”
“Verrazano.” He says the name like it’s poison. “The leader of the Verrazzano family put a hit on my family. Specifically, my father and me, along with everyone we care about.”
I swallowed hard. “But we haven’t seen each other in years. Why would they come after us?”
He ran his hand through his dark hair, making me want to reach out to him. He is still handsome and still mine, despite how much he denied it or how much he hurt me. “Somehow, they found out about you and Christopher. My associate informed me they were sending a team after you. I didn’t have time to find out if they planned to kill you or kidnap you. We’re going after the men responsible. It shouldn’t take more than a week or two.”
“Two weeks?” I shake my head. “A few days at most. I can’t be away for that long. Someone needs to cover my shift.”
“It’s been taken care of.”
“How? I’m a nurse, and right now, there’s a shortage of nurses. Chris’s school is also about to go on summer break in a month. He’ll need to study for…”
“A temporary nurse will begin your shift tomorrow. Your job granted you a short-term leave. Chris’s school will send his lessons. He’ll have time to catch up on anything missed. I’ve already arranged it.” He straightens his shoulders and puts his hands in his pockets. “I know this is a major change, and I’ve disrupted your lives, but I would never have done it if I didn’t have to.”
I nod and shift my focus to the view outside. His words knot my stomach. All these years, I wondered if he regretted sending us away. “I see.”
“I’m sorry it had to come to this. I never wanted things to turn out this way. I did everything in my power to avoid it.”
I swallow again, feeling the lump in my throat grow bigger. “It’s okay.” Stopping him not because it’s truly okay, but because each word he speaks chips away at my composure. “I get it—you didn’t want me. I just can’t understand how you couldn’t want your own son.”
Sal’s eyes bulge wide, and his hands fly out of his pockets in fists. I’d never feared him in the past, but the man stalking toward me with fire shooting from his eyes is not the boy I knew. “What did you say to me?”
I wrinkle my brow, confused and unsure. “Huh, what—”
