I pull on a black hoodie and cover my face as best as I can before slipping out of Kai’s car and all but running to the entrance of Roni’s apartment building, desperate for the shelter the building can offer.
Kai follows me in and I lead him up to Roni’s apartment. We walk down the hall, and as we approach her place, our pace begins to slow.
Her door is open just a crack and it instantly sends chills sweeping through my chest.
A gun rests in my hand within seconds as Kai covers my back. We creep toward her apartment and I lean into the door. Reaching out, I silently push the door open with the tip of my gun.
I hear nothing from inside, and from where I stand at the door, I see nothing either, but that doesn't mean that no one is in there. It doesn’t pay to be stupid.
Keeping my back to the wall, I creep into Roni’s apartment and the first thing I notice is that the room is completely empty. No furniture, frames, not even those ridiculous little candles she had on the window sill when I came storming through here the first time.
It’s a fucking shell.
My brows furrow but before I start thinking into it, Kai and I finish checking the apartment to make sure we’re alone. I meet him back in the kitchen to find his face filled with the same questioning concern. “What the fuck is this?” he asks. “I thought she lived here. Where’s all her stuff?”
I shake my head and walk over to the window, peering out to where her car used to be, but as the seconds tick by, it becomes startlingly clear.
She ran.
Christian let her go, probably told her some bullshit to scare her, and just like that, she’s gone. I knew it was always an option, but fuck, I didn’t think she’d take it so willingly.
Why does it sting so fucking bad? Is that from the bullet or her betrayal? It’s nearly impossible to tell; getting stabbed through the back would hurt less.
I step back into the center of her apartment, glancing around at the emptiness that seems to mimic the hollowness inside my chest. She’s really gone.
I thought we were starting to build something again, learning to trust again, and finding that old fire that used to burn so brightly between us. I know it was only a week, but fuck, it’s been one of the best weeks of my life.
She can’t be gone. I have to get her back and I’ll stop at nothing to find her, even if it means kidnapping her every fucking day for the rest of my life. I refuse to allow this shit to be over. How could I possibly live without that smile and that sarcastic as fuck fiery attitude that always seems to have something to say? Her body and her mind, but most of all, the passionate way that she loves to hate me, the way her nails sink into my skin, and the way her palm slaps across my face while we’re fucking, reminding me that despite how things may seem, she’s always been in charge.
Roni Russo is mine.
I glance back up at Kai and let out a breath. There’s nothing I can do about it tonight, especially considering the gaping hole in my chest. “Let’s get out of here,” I tell him, “And do me a favor; stop by the liquor store and get every fucking bottle of bourbon they have. I’m going to need it.”
CHAPTER 12
DOMINIC
The boys sit around me as I stare into the darkness of the warehouse. It’s been two fucking days and they haven’t left me alone for two seconds, apart from the few hours it took them to figure out who the fuck betrayed us to the Wolves. They dealt with it and were back in no time, probably terrified that I’ll go and take my frustrations out on Christian and accidentally start another gang war. But what does it matter at this point? Maybe another gang war while I’m already down is exactly what I need to finally end this pathetic existence.
Look at me, sitting here in an empty warehouse, hiding out from the rest of the world, unable to show my face while my girl runs further and further from me.
I finish off yet another bottle of bourbon, knowing that at some point, I’m going to have to stop drinking and start getting on with my shit. I’m the leader of the Black Fucking Widows. I don’t have time for moping in my creepy as fuck murder house. I should be out there planning a way to move against the Wolves without losing any more of my men.
Christian is going to pay for that shit.
When will it fucking end? It seems that no matter what either of us do, this war between us will always rage on. It’s been going strong for over twenty years now. I doubt it’ll be ending any time soon. I might as well get comfortable and prepare myself for a show. There should be movies made about this rivalry. It’s one for the ages.