married for ten years. His wife, Greer, was more than a handful who kept him on his toes. I’m sure he wanted me to just stop arguing.
“Because you gave me no choice. Yes, I got myself into a mess with Meeks, but you made it even worse.”
“And I admit I made a mistake handling Meeks.”
“You got my brother killed,” she spat.
“I don’t need your constant reminder of what happened, Royal. I tried everything I could to prevent it from happening. If I could go back and change it, I would.” It was still fresh and new. I expected the blame to be laid at my door. She had a couple of weeks of being upset and blaming me, but she wouldn’t be able to talk to me this way forever. I had walked out of church with the Knights because I wasn’t being respected.
If I had to, once I was done fixing my mistake with Meeks, I would walk out on Royal, too.
When I had first met Royal, there had been a pull to her. She had a light and air that called to my dark soul. Years of working for Leo Banachi changed a man. The light and innocence of the world had faded years ago for me. I had seen the bad in the world, and it had tainted me.
Royal was something that normally didn’t get close to me.
She laid her head on the headrest and sighed. “I’m too tired to argue with you, Marco. Please just take me to whatever prison you plan to and leave me alone.”
“Prison?” I scoffed.
“Will I be allowed to leave whenever I want?” she questioned.
“In the house? Yes.”
She laughed flatly. “But I can’t actually leave, Marco. You’ve just given the definition of a prison.”
I looked out the window at the countryside. “I can’t let you go, Royal. You’ll be dead within an hour without me next to you.”
She sighed. “If only you would have cared this much about my brother.”
Another knife of guilt stabbed into me.
I held my tongue. She was hurt. I was to be her punching bag for now.
So be it.
*
Chapter Three
Royal
I was tired.
I just wanted to sleep and stop being hurt and angry.
My eyes were heavy when Apollo turned into an asphalt drive and navigated down a wooded driveway. I didn’t know Rockton at all, and for all I knew, we were anywhere right now.
I should have known when Marco had called it an estate that wherever we were going was going to be impressive.
We rounded a bend in the driveway, and I’m sure my jaw hit the floor.
In front of us, a large—and I mean humungous—log cabin sat in a clearing with tall fences surrounding the perimeter. Apollo pulled up to the gate of the fence and rolled down his window. He waved a badge at the post with a scanner thing on it, and then, the gate slowly opened.
“Princeton and Murphy just touched down, Marco. They should be here within the hour.” Apollo edged through the gate and drove up to looming house.
“I suppose you could call this an estate,” I drawled. I could probably live here and no one would ever be able to find me.
“It’s a home.”
It’s a home. As if this wasn’t impressive or anything.
That just went to show that Marco and I lived very different lives. I had never seen a house this monstrous before, and it was just a home to him.
Apollo pulled to the front door and parked. He stepped out of the car and opened my door.
He held out his hand, and I placed mine in it. “Welcome to Wyndemere Estates, Royal.”
Of course this place had a name.
Marco helped himself out of the car on the other side and moved to the front door.
Apollo motioned toward it. “I’ll show you around.”
“Is tour guide part of your job, too?” I rounded the car and climbed the steps to the front door with Apollo next to me.
“I do whatever Leo or Marco need from me,” Apollo replied simply.
“A life of service, huh?”
Apollo chuckled and moved to the door where Marco stood waiting. “There’s more to it than that, but you can say that to put it simply.”
“Say what?” Marco asked.
Apollo unlocked the front door and pushed it open. “Miss Royal was just wondering about my job duties.”
Marco turned to me. “Taking interest in the mafia life?”
“I like Apollo. I was just wondering more about his life.”
“Maybe you could ask his wife about his life.”
I rolled my eyes. “You mean Greer? And I’m