“What is it?”
“Did youknow?” Dante asked.
Angelo kept his tone casual. “Know what?”
“About her place. She lives in Englewood, Angelo. The elevator’s broken. She has to take three flights of stairs to get up to her apartment. She’s got nothing, man. There’s a damn folding chair, a couple of posters on her walls and a card table. That’s it.”
Angelo’s hands fisted in the bedsheets as his little brother’s words registered.An empty apartment?Holy hell…
“I knew she lived in Englewood, but she actually never invited me over,” said Angleo, thinking quickly. “Guess I know why.”
“I know she can’t make a lot of money working at a bodega, but for fuck’s sake, she can’t stay there,” Dante continued. “So, instead of just packing for a few nights, I had her pack up all of her stuff and told her she was moving in with you. I hope you don’t mind. I mean hell, you’re engaged, she should be moving in soon anyway, right?”
A flash of rage wept through him at the thought of Kara living in an empty apartment in a dangerous part of town. No one deserved to live like that. Her face flashed across his mind, those blue eyes, wide and frightened, the hair that had whirledlike a flame flashing in the dark as he’d found her in the alley, screaming for help… and then he pictured her as she had been in those moments before she’d left him to go home with his family. Still afraid, still so unsure, but he’d seen the trust building in her, and that trust was everything to him.
“Angelo?” Dante’s worried voice pulled him out of his dark, heartbroken thoughts. He closed his eyes briefly, then steadied his breath so he wouldn’t worry his brother.
“No, you did the right thing, Dante. Thank you. I was hesitant to ask her to move in, she’s pretty independent.”
Why hadn’t he asked Kara to tell him more about her life before he suggested they keep the fiancée story going? Oh right, because he’d been hurting like hell from being stabbed and having surgery. He hadn’t been able to think clearly, especially not with the pain killers in his system. All he’d wanted was to keep her close, keep her safe, that’s what had been going through his pain-fogged mind.
“How thehelldid you ever get ahold of Kara if you couldn’t call her?”
“It wasn’t easy,” said Angelo, hoping that vague response would be enough. “Tell dad that I owe him.” His family was doing what he should be doing, taking care of Kara. He was glad his family was able to be there for her when he couldn’t, but it didn’t ease his guilt and sorrow that he wasn’t there. It was clear there were things about Kara he needed to know and fast. Like why she had a bare apartment and not even a cheap cellphone.
“I will,” Dante said. “I like her, Angelo. She’s sweet. Don’t screw this up.”
Angelo chuckled and then groaned as his abdomen muscles protested.
“I won’t,” he promised, wishing that was true. He had a feeling that when this was over, he would regret losing Kara. But as much as he wanted to tell himself he’d find a way to keepher, he feared he’d lose her. He had seen fear and pain in her eyes. They were the eyes of woman on the run from something. Thanks to his work at the soup kitchen, He’d learned a lot about reading people’s eyes. He knew what a look like hers meant, and he wanted to protect her from whatever she was afraid of.
Sigh… picking up strays again…Perhaps it was because he knew how fortunate he was in his upbringing that he wanted to help others. His father had warned him he couldn’t help everyone, sometimes not even the person you wanted to help the most. He wanted to help Kara so much it made him ache. He would find a way.
“I’ll text you Kara’s new number once I get the phone set up. I’ll tell her to call you when she’s finished reading Millie a story. Everyone’s heading to bed for the night. We’ll come check on you in the morning.”
Angelo could picture Kara and Millie in the guestroom he let the kids stay in and smiled at the thought of his niece and Kara reading together. Then the smile slipped at his disappointment that he couldn’t be there himself. He’d never felt more helpless, more lost in his life because he couldn’t be with his family.
“Thanks, I’ll wait for her call.”
Angelo set his phone on the bedside table and stared up at the ceiling as he waited.
The hospital phone suddenly rang on the table next to his cell phone. Confused, he reached over, wincing and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Angelo,” Jared greeted. “I heard Kara has your cellphone. She texted me a little while ago. She said to tell you that Dante went to her to his apartment, and apparently he got a little upset at her lack of decent living conditions, packed her up and moved her into your house. She said to tell you she lives in Englewood. Just in case you need to know.”
Angelo closed his eyes and sighed. “Thanks. You’re about fifteen minutes late. Dante just dropped my cell phone off here in my room. Dad bought Kara her own phone for Christmas on the way home from the hospital tonight. He told me about her place.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t think he’d get there so fast. I was feeding Hayley and helping Felicity with the cooking.”
“It’s all right. I just wish I’d known what she was going through.”
“But you couldn’t have,” Jared murmured. “She was a stranger to you. You’d never even met her before last night.”
“I know… but hell, it doesn’t change how I feel.”
“You can’t save everyone.” His friend was reading his mind.
