Dark Heart (Dark Heart 1)

“Oh no. I’m saying that you won’t go at all. Whether you need my ‘help’ or not. I’ll decline your scholarship for you.”

“What?! For seeing Luca?” My heart pounds like a drum. “Why, Dad?”

“There’s a reason you have parents, Elise. And a good parent does what he can to protect his child.”

“I don’t need to be protected! Just from you!” Hot tears spill down my cheeks as I shake my head. “You wouldn’t do that…”

“You have no idea what I would do—or why. That’s why you’re going to trust me. I’ll do what I have to do to keep you safe, including clip your wings. Your sister is stable for now. Go to your room. We’ll talk more about your poor choices tomorrow.”Chapter TenLuca“Thanks for the ride, Diamond.”

What I really mean is fuck you. But I don’t think that’s the smartest thing to say to a newly made guy.

“No problem kid.”

I reach for the passenger’s door handle, waiting for him to say more—but he doesn’t.

I roll my eyes as I get out. “You’re welcome—for the help.”

Diamond gives a wheezy sounding laugh. “That ain’t the way this works, Bowzie.”

I clap my palm against the roof of his brand new Mercedes as he pulls away from the curb. For a second, I watch as he steers into a crowded lane.

Diamond thinks he’s Tony fucking Soprano. Really, he’s a small fry—a nobody. Which means he gets the worst jobs.

The night I gave him Elise’s bear, he was stuck with a truck-load of stolen hundred dollar bills stained with thieves ink. We spent hours scrubbing it off—with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and some other shit. Stung my hands and ruined my fucking shirt.

Last night was a lot worse.

I woke up to Alesso knocking on my window at one in the morning, asking if I could help with “something.” He looked tired and pissed off, and I was feeling guilty that I hardly ever see him anymore, so I pulled on a jacket and snuck out.

“Tony’s got a job. Nobody wants to help him.” Alesso folded his arms and looked down at his Nikes. I socked him in the shoulder just to lighten the mood, and he laughed like I knew he would.

“What kind of bullshit is it this time, Aless?”

He scowled at me using his mom’s nickname for him. “Fuck you, you magnet fucker. Tony said you got a girlfriend over there.”

I snorted.

“What’s she like?”

I waved him toward the alley’s mouth. “Let’s get farther from these windows, and I’ll tell you.”

Once we got on the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex, I told him about Elise, and he told me the address of the warehouse.

“I don’t know what went down there, but Tony said there’s a mess.” Alesso’s eyes were wide, so I could tell what he meant.

“Ahh shit, really?”

He nodded grimly. Turned out, there was plenty to be grim about. Alesso is squeamish—he puked twice, and I cleaned extra quick so Tony wouldn’t bitch if his brother just watched.

It took so damn long, I had to call my house from a booth phone when dawn came, and then I missed the connector from Red Hook into Brooklyn. I told Diamond he would have to drive me all the way to school, and surprisingly, he did.

He didn’t thank me for the help. That’s not the way it works. I snicker—even though it isn’t funny.

Alesso’s got to get out of there. I’ve got to get out of there. Maybe I can find us a job in Manhattan this summer. If we made enough, we could throw a little Tony’s way and he’d stop asking us to help at the docks…or worse.

I’m thinking about the worse—how the blood gelled—when I see the black car park along the curb ahead of me. The door opens, and Elise is out like a shot.

Shit, I must be later than I thought. My heart gives a jolt and I think if it’s blood that gets to Alesso, it’s this girl that gets to me, because I feel sick as I trail her. She doesn’t slow, which means she doesn’t hear my footsteps—or she doesn’t care to hear them. Maybe she regrets the other night. Something dark and heavy presses on me as I consider that, but I can’t just let myself assume.

I catch her at the far end of the bridge, as she’s opening the school door. I don’t want to grab her, so I say her name. She spins around. The second her eyes lock onto mine, tears fill them.

“What’s the matter, la mia rosa?” For a second, her face shutters, and I hate myself for the endearment. Then she moves in closer, bowing her head. I wrap her up against my chest and step out of the doorway, so my back is leaned against the wall of the covered bridge, and that’s when Elise starts sobbing.