given his name but I knew he was the kind of man you stay away from. It was him who was following me. He’s the guy who was following me weeks ago.
Jesus Christ, I back away but back right into a wall with arms. Glancing up I see another guy. Another lackey for Miguel. Here are my answers. Miguel really is back.
“Buenos Diaz senora Diaz,” the man with the hooded shirt says. “You’re coming with us.
“Let me go,” I wince.
“No. We can’t do that.”
I’m about to scream but the sound is muffled when something covers over my mouth. A sharp smell hits me and I see stars.
As I black out I think of Rosie, then the darkness comes.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Christian
“Capo don’t tell me you’ve been here all night, you look like shit,” Georgiou says chuckling.
He walks into my office and looks at me. He’s probably right about what I look like. I feel like shit. It’s the perfect word to describe how I feel and I don’t want to talk about it.
I also don’t want to admit that I’ve been here since yesterday morning and this is my second day here.
“I’m busy Georgiou, unless you want something…” My voice trails off because I don’t want to be rude to him.
He gives me a long hard stare warning me to watch myself.
“I’m not fucking off if that’s what you mean to tell me, prick,” he sneers. “What the fuck is with you?”
“Nothing.”
“I noticed that all the new contracts have been worked on and signed off. You really did work all night didn’t you?”
“Yeah I did, happy?”
“Christian no, I’m not happy about it. It’s not all about work. I’d thought you’d be less work like and maybe spend more time with Lilly.” He gives me a hopeful smile.
I look at him and I don’t know what to say about Lilly.
What is the right thing? that I chickened out and took on the role of coward when she practically told me how she felt about me, or that I was an ass to her and fucked things up when I told her she could leave when she wanted.
I bring my hands up to my head and shake it.
Every time I remember that part, I can’t believe I actually said that. The fucking thing about it was she was right. there wasn’t anything that she said that wasn’t right, or the right way to think about the fucking relationship we have.
She threw me a rope and I never caught it.
“Christian, what’s going on man?” Georgiou asks and it’s time like these when I’m grateful that he’s who he is because if it was one of the others they would have landed a fist in my face for impliedly telling them to fuck off.
“I don’t know what to do about Lilly,” I confess and he looks me over with curiosity. “I’m not a fucking coward Georgiou but when it comes to her I don’t know what to do or how to behave. I don’t know how to feel.”
He relaxes his shoulders and shakes his head. “Christian, that’s because the last time you loved you were burned so badly it’s taken you years to open your heart to someone else,” he states and I stare back at him. He can see straight through me and I’m that transparent. “I can’t stand in your shoes and guess how you must feel because I know it broke you to lose Amelia. The way that you lost her is… it’s dark and painful. Christian you were eighteen years old. She died eighteen years ago. You never let anybody get close after that. Weeks ago was the first time I realized how you felt about Lilly because a man doesn’t just pack a woman up and her child and move them in with him if he doesn’t love them both.”
Georgiou can be many things. One thing he’s damn good at is cutting to the shit. Getting to the shit you haven’t even come face to face with in your mind.
I blow out a ragged breath and bring my hand up to my head.
“I’m right aren’t I?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I answer and he smiles.
“Well, I guess you should do something about that then,” he says and he backs away out the door.
I reach for my phone and switch it back on. There are a few missed calls from Lilly, no messages though.
I call her but the phone goes straight to voicemail. Sighing I put my phone back in my pocket. Maybe hers