Page 58 of Double Edged Hearts
Chapter Seventeen
Alex
I walk out onto the boardwalk and absorb the cool night air.
I got this place because of the lake and the homey feel about it.
Our home in Italy when I was younger looked a little like this. I didn’t want to leave, but Pa got a job working for Raphael Rossi. He was to do some work in New York for him. Run the branch of the bookie office there. The pay was good, and Pa couldn’t refuse.
We left Italy a family of five. Now there is just me.
Only me and the ghosts of the pasts haunting me so bad I think one day I’ll lose my shit and go crazy.
What filled the hole losing my family left behind was Claudius and the guys.
Almost, but not really.
The only person who awakened my heart and unlocked a place inside me I never knew existed is the stubborn-as-fuck woman inside the house who probably hates me right now for acting like a mobster.
But I don’t fucking care.
She doesn’t realize how much shit we’re in, and she doesn’t know we’re alone in this.
She doesn’t know I’m about to sever the last link to any kind of family I have.
I pull out my phone and see there’s one message from Donny asking me if I’m okay. I won’t be messaging back. Claudius can tell them all what happened. There are no calls from anybody else. Not because I’ve been cast into the outer darkness; it’s because they don’t know shit about what’s going on. They’re all like a bunch of big brothers, and they would have had my back today. This is one time I won’t involve them. I won’t allow them to put their lives at risk, or their families.
I walk further along the lake until I’m in the woods and about two miles away from the house. Then I make the call I’ve been waiting to make all day.
Claudius answers on the first ring.
“Alex…” he says.
“Hey, Boss.”
“What’s going on?”
I scan the trees and the surrounding area. It’s actually beautiful. I’m hoping we’ll be safe here for a while. No one knows about this place, but the same way I won’t assume we weren’t followed, I won’t assume safety from people like Matvey.
“I wanted to thank you for accepting me as part of the crew.” The second I say that, I hear his breath catch.
“Why are you saying that, Capo?”
“Because I’m leaving. My girl was in trouble. They tried to kill her. I couldn’t allow them to do that. They took her and I just managed to get her back. Doing so… I made my choice, Claudius.”
“Alex—”
“Claudius, don’t,” I interrupt. “You were right. You shouldn’t risk anybody’s life for me. I don’t want you to. I killed my own brother to save you, and I hate myself for it. I hate myself every damn day that I had to do that. The pain never goes away. He was the devil to you, and I hate what he did, but he was still my brother. You must know for me to do that, I must have taken you to be my brother too.”
“Fuck, Alex, where the fuck are you? I’m coming to get you.” His voice is hurried.
“No, Claudius. This is it. It’s goodbye.”
“Alex—”
I end the call. The phone buzzes again just as I launch it into the lake.
I pull the earpiece from my pocket too and send it to the bottom of the lake to join the phone.
