AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Uncle, I don't have time for your games. Don’t leave town," I said and walked away.
I couldn't go upstairs to Vanessa's room. I knew she didn't want to see or talk to me, which depressed me. I had let her down.
So I went to the bar. One of the men poured me a glass, then another, and another until I couldn't stand it any longer. Tristan assisted me in climbing the stairs before I left.
I made my way across the hallway, using the walls for support as I neared her door. I unlocked itand let myself in. Vanessa's sobbing relieved some of my inebriation. She was curled up in her bed, her back turned to me. Her body trembled as she cried and breathed.
Her sadness was an emotion I couldn't quash no matter how hard I tried because a part of her lived inside of me.
It had taken me a long time to come to that realization, but it was not lost on me now that I had. It was the reason my chest hurt whenever I thought I was about to lose her or she was in danger. Her anguish ripped into me, and I wanted to mend it. I wanted to assist her but couldn't figure out how.
"You," Vanessa said to me for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. But her words and voice were filled with venom and hatred for me.
"You caused this," she charged, getting out of bed and walking to me. I could barely keep my balance, but I stood, hoping she'd hug me and share her pain.
I didn't cause this, I wanted to say but could not put together the words.
"You and your Mafia business. You caused this!" she yelled at me once again.
"I didn't," I finally said, but she barely heard my words.
"Do you know how many people you have killed? Do you know how many lives you have destroyed, including mine?"
Though I knew where her outburst came from, it did nothing to soften the sting of her words as they pierced me. I had tried but failed to save her uncle's life.
"I didn't—" I began, but she cut me off again.
"Why did you have to take him away from me? Your uncle most likely deserved to be stabbed. What about my uncle, though? He was a decent man," Vanessa yelled through her tears.
"He tried to killme!" I mustered the courage to respond. I unbuttoned my shirt and exposed my chest to her.
"He shot me in the chest," I told her.
Vanessa's eyes became even more enraged as she stared at me. She clenched her fists but let them go before charging at me. Even though I knew she was going to hit me, I didn't move out of her way.
"Getaway from me!" she yelled, pounding her fists against my chest.
"I apologize for everything. I promise you that when I find out who did it to him, I will—"
"Revenge?" she cut me off once more. "That's all you know—and that's what started all of this. Now I don't have my uncle anymore," she cried before collapsing onto my chest.
Vanessa sobbed while clutching my shirt. Even though she let me hold her, I knew Vanessa and I would never be the same again. I was afraid I had lost her forever.
He came forme, I wanted to say, but I knew we'd all lost something that day. I'd never be able to resurrect her uncle. And that finality made me worried about what might happen between us.
There was no reason to keep her at the mansion any longer, and I knew she didn't want to be there. She'd leave me, and I wouldn't be able to deny her freedom this time.
