already there, baby.” I felt hands on my arms, trying to pull me back. “I’m there every fucking time I look at my sister and see that fucking scar down her face. I’m there every time I close my eyes and see Francesca sitting in the goddamn chair!”
“Ciro, please,” Frankie cried. “Don’t do this.”
“Ciro, that’s enough,” Nix added, his voice right behind me.
“You think you’re the only one?” she challenged. “You think you’re the only one haunted by what happened?”
“Ciro, it’s time to step back,” Luca’s voice hit my eardrums, but I was blind, deaf, and dumb to everything but this woman in front of me.
“You think I give a shit? Do you think I give a fuck about what you’re feeling?” I tossed back. “You don’t deserve a moment’s peace after everything you caused!” My anger was at an all-time high and it was rising with every second I engaged with this woman. “I should have put a bullet in your fucking head when I had the chance. But, then, I guess the trash of Cedar Creek wouldn’t know where to get their pussy from anymore.”
The slap turned my head sideways.
Everyone moved at once.
Nix and Luca were standing in front of me, both men restraining me. Frankie was shielding Robbie, her eyes wide with shock, while Robbie looked terrified.
“Ciro…” Frankie whispered, knowing a line had been crossed.
I shook Nix and Luca off and took a few steps back. I didn’t trust myself and I knew no one else did either, because Nix and Luca joined Frankie in surrounding Robbie.
Everything shut down.
The fire was out.
The blood in my veins had turned to ice and I knew I needed to get away from everyone.
From her.
“If you ever strike me again, nothing will stop me from killing you,” I warned her, my tone quiet and absolute.
I didn’t wait for her response. I turned and walked out of the apartment.
Chapter 6
Roberta~
My entire body was trembling. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I was petrified.
When Ciro first walked into the kitchen, I had known it wasn’t going to go well. He’s never made a secret of his feelings for me, so I wasn’t surprised when he got nasty. But I never imagined the encounter would end with me losing my goddamn mind and slapping the man. I slapped a man who was reputed to be one of the most dangerous men in the state, proving that I didn’t have enough sense to dress myself in the morning.
It was one thing to remain seated as Ciro ranted about me being there because I didn’t blame him for his concerns. Frankie was my best friend, but she wasn’t my sister. So, if I felt torn apart by what happened to her, I couldn’t imagine what Ciro felt. But when he started yelling at her, that was a different story.
Culpability ran deep in my veins and I wasn’t about to let him yell at Frankie for something that was my fault, and we were trying to move past. If Ciro never forgave me, I could live with that. But I wasn’t going to let him continue to punish Frankie for befriending me. For trying to move on from this horrible regret.
Not being able to defend Frankie the night Randy took her was what had given me the courage to defend her at that kitchen table. I probably signed my own death warrant by doing so, but I couldn’t sit there and do nothing.
I also knew things were bad when, instead of continuing dinner, Luca had offered to escort me to the building’s garage where my car had been parked. More telling than that was the fact that Frankie hadn’t step in to stop him. She hadn’t insisted we finish dinner or offer banalities of how everything was fine.
With shaky hands, I had grabbed my purse and sweater, and let Luca escort me out of the building aptly named Kratos. If I remembered high school correctly, she was the Greek God of strength and power.
And now I sat on the side of the road in my rental car wondering how I was going to make the drive all the way back to Cedar Creek without killing myself or some other unsuspecting motorist because my body. Was. Fucking. Shaking. With. Fear.
I had made it around the block before I had to pull over and collect myself. The entire exchange played like a reel on repeat and, every time, I got stuck on the look on his face when