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“Sure… Alison.”
I drove home with Max in uncomfortable silence. He’d been with me through some tough times, and I had learned to trust him just as much as Matt did.
I could sense his uneasiness, waiting for my questions to come. So I put him out of his misery and got it over with, stating a fact instead of asking questions I knew he would try to avoid.
“You like her.”
“It doesn’t make a difference.” He replied, not denying the fact. “She’s the boss’s little sister.”
“So what?”
“I’m not what she deserves.”
“Because you’re a soldier?”
“Because I’m a menace. My demons are alive and well, and one day, they’ll catch up to me. I will not have her or anyone as collateral.”
His tone was too serious, and by the way he kept his eyes on the road, I knew he wouldn’t elaborate on the riddle. I knew a thing or two about haunted pasts, and I couldn’t blame him for trying to steer clear of a path of pain.
With those thoughts swimming in my head, we got back home in no time. I scrambled upstairs and ran straight to the shower. Dinner time was almost here, and I was still not even remotely ready.
This time around, Matt had convinced me to hire someone to do all the work so I could relax after all the stress of the weekend.
“You look beautiful, Gattina.” Matt pulled me to him, kissing me passionately as I came into the living room.
“You look handsome too, Mr. Battaglia,” I replied after he pulled his lips away from mine, stroking his muscled chest, covered by the thin layer of his white button-down shirt.
The food was ready, the table was set, everything was done and ready to receive our guests. Matt opened a bottle of red wine, pouring both of us a glass, raising his for a toast.
“To the love of my life.” He smiled, sparkles shining in his beautiful gray eyes.
“To the love of my life,” I replied, completely and utterly in love with the man in front of me before we both took a sip out of our glasses.
“They should all be arriving any minute now. Alison already called, making sure we were decent.” Matt said, rolling his eyes in fake annoyance. I knew he just loved her to bits, and I did, too. “How are the girls enjoying their training?”
“Oh, it’s been a blast.”
“Good. I’m happy you’re—” His phone rang from his pocket, the touchpad indicating it was Liam.
“Hey, don’t tell me you guys are running late,” Matt answered, putting the phone on speaker.
But the voice on the other side wasn’t Liam. Jamie was shouting and crying uncontrollably on the other side of the line, sharp noises filling the background.
“MATT! MATT! OH MY GOD. PLEASE HELP US. THEY SHOT HIM! HE’S DEAD MATT! HE’S DEAD!!!!”
Chapter 35
Matt
“JAMIE? JAMIIIIEEEEE?” I screamed into the phone. I had heard the panic in her voice, gunshots in the background, glass breaking, and then… absolutely nothing! “JAMIE?” I yelled into the damn phone that had gone as eerily dead as everything inside me. “FUUUUCCCCKKKK!”
Out of despair that had mingled with a dose of rage and an overwhelming sense of impotence, I threw the phone against the wall, shattering it to pieces. While I watched it breaking into millions of pieces, feeling as if all those shards of metal and plastic were boring into my flesh.
It wasn’t metal but glass. I hadn’t realized I was squeezing the glass of wine I had in my hand, with more strength than it could handle, and just like me, it was fighting back with a bite of its own.
This can’t be happening. Not again! Please God don’t make me go through this again!
“MAX! Get up here now!” I heard Francesca shouting into her phone, a mere decibel above my heart that now thundered in my ears.
