Page 47 of Hostile Bond
I swallow hard. “Stop fucking about, Sin. What you’re about to do is dangerous…it’s a suicide mission for someone like you.”
He could kill her first.
“I’m not completely unworldly, Dré. This is something I need to do for closure, like you have to finish Acer. It’s my mission. Not yours.”
I move away from my brothers' watchful eyes and lower my voice. Debilitating unease flips my stomach, the acidic bile torching my ability to process her revelation.
“Think about this, Sin. If Sean’s men don’t capture you, my grandfather will send a team of hitmen after you. Wherever you go in the world, they’ll be waiting.”
She sighs heavily. “You’re my everything, Dré. Don’t think for one second, being away from you isn’t tearing me apart. But she’s mymother. I need you to do one thing for me…” She clears her throat as if she’s holding back a sob. “Don’t have men waiting in Dublin when I land. I have to do this. I have to protectmyfamily.”
“I’myourfamily too, Sinéad,” I look to the sky as if there's a chance she might see me from her window. “We’ll figure something out together. Do as you’re told and come home to me…please!”
“Mammy needs me. Frankie’s men watched her from a distance, but this is personal for Sean. I know we’ll have to disappear again.”
That cruel declaration is all it takes to suck me into a riptide. Her words rupture our future together in an agonizing split, separating our united path in an incomprehensible way.
I may as well get fucked up on a cocktail of drugs, hand over Miami, and fall on my knees in the ashes of our marriage, because I’m hollow without her.
But my father inadvertently taught me how to do things my way, no matter what his expectations were. I’m a wild card—an unforeseen explosion. Our situation is a star-crossed, blood rush that only has one outcome.
I swallow against the hammering pulse in my throat and grit my teeth. A whirlwind of shock, anger, and disgust clouds my vision. She’s miles away from me and I’m left standing here alone, a basket-case.
“You’ve broken the number one rule, Sinéad Souza. This will have considerable ramifications––”
“Dré…” She interrupts. “If you love me, you’ll let me get my mother away from him.”
“And if you loved me…” I inhale, finding it hard to speak. “You wouldn’t have crept out while I was sleeping. You didn’t trust me.” My jaw twitches from the lethal temper brewing within my entire being. “I would have dealt with the situation, but now you’ve got my whole family involved.”
I hear her suck in a slow breath, as if gathering the courage to speak. “A slap on the wrist from his father won’t undo the terrible things he did to her—or me. Do you really think he won’t take the opportunity to hurt her since he’s found her again? You need to face up to it, Dré. I’m on this plane, on my own because of that man. He did this.”
“No, Sin… you did this. You ran from me instead of… trusting me with your secrets.” My voice cracks like the eternal flames of hellfire.
“I left you…for you. So, you wouldn’t have to choose between your uncle or your wife.” Her excuse reaches me across the airwaves, chilling me with hideous goosebumps.
I’m falling into unknown territory. Tumbling into a cavernous void without an anchor to pin me in place.
“You put me on the Sapori throne, Dré. I was thrown into your world when you married me. And this is me rising up to the challenge. No one fucks with my mother. Not even a man whose blood runs through your veins. I hope someday you can forgive me for starting a war.”
I swallow the hard truth and squeeze the device in my hand, my thinning temper dangling by a worn thread.
“I would have done anything for you. But you never gave me the chance to prove it. Not back then, and not now. Instead, you’ve left me for the last time. Blood isn’t the only thing that makes a family. It’s loyalty, trust, respect, and knowing without a doubt that those people will be there for me.” The comfortable darkness I know so well slips into my love torn soul and freezes my veins with black ice. “I believed we were something different, that we’d formed our own family, Sinéad. I gave you my heart, and this is how you repay me––by shutting me out—so yeah…”
In order to survive this unthinkable loss, I squeeze my eyes shut and block out the vision of the jet soaring out of my reach. Except in that second, I’m faced with glistening rings of spellbinding turquoise. Those haunting eyes of hers soothe my anguish and remind me of the extreme love I have for her, even when my heart beats to a rhythm of violence. A rare fascination I’d fallen victim to from the very first second we met under our tree.
“… thisiswar. Comprendes?” I swallow hard against the cyclone of emotions making this unacceptable feud difficult. “And nothing will ever be the same after this.”
“Dré… I…” Her voice wobbles. Yet I do my best not to respond, fortifying the dividing wall I’ve erected between us. “I love you so much.”
The second she hangs up and snuffs out our only method of communication, the heart wrenching silence crucifies me.
I love you too, Wifey.
I’ve never been this close to fucking tears before. The skin on my face tingles and a surge of heat spreads from my neck to my scalp. The phone drops to my bare feet and I stuff my fingers into the messy hair on top of my head where my crown of thorns has slipped.
No matter how much oxygen I sip, my lungs won't expand. This sensation of not being able to breathe properly is what I imagine a panic attack might be like.
What the fuck has she done to me?
