Come Undone (24 page)

It
was the tone I’d heard him use with others, even Arnaud. But never with me. The
thought made my chest contract. I put on a straight face, my practiced mask of
apathy. Why I hadn’t been wearing it all along, I didn’t know. The
self-preservation skills I’d been honing since I was thirteen and a half had
failed me for the first time.

“Yes.
I understand completely,” I managed with wary regard. It was a struggle to get
the words out but I hid it behind my disguise. “I’ll make the arrangements.” I
crossed my arms and waited. We were silent for a moment while he looked at me
expectantly. “Anything else?” I echoed his words, but was careful not to mock
him.

“No,”
he said at last. “I guess that’s it then.”

I
turned away so I wouldn’t have to watch him leave. After another beat I heard
the door close behind him. With a heavy sigh, I dropped my head in my hands.
The weight of the world rested on my shoulders; guilt, desire and confusion
coursed through my body. The chaotic back-and-forth I’d been putting myself
through began to wear on me. Feeling suddenly exhausted, I locked the door and
lay down on the couch to think.

~

When I
awoke, the office was dark, save amber dots of city light. Groggily, I tried to
remember at what point I’d fallen asleep. I squinted at my watch: ten o’clock.
I slipped my shoes back on and decided
instead to grab the back-up flats from my desk drawer. I threw the heels in my
purse and headed for the elevator.
Bill
must be worried
, I thought in my sleepy state.
Why didn’t he call the office?
I closed my eyes and leaned against
the elevator wall, eager to climb back into bed when it hit me that he was in
New York.

Unhurriedly,
I passed an empty security desk. I pushed out of the building and into an
eerily quiet night. It wasn’t uncommon for me to work late, but I was never in
the Loop at this time. It was a different area than it was during the day.
Aside from a sporadic office light, it was dark and calm, I noticed, still
feeling somewhat bleary.

I
headed to the curb to flag a cab when something caught my eye across the
street. A man casually leaned against a street lamp and although I couldn’t
place him, something about him felt familiar. Peering closer, I watched him
peel himself from the pole, and I had an acute sense of
déjà vu
.
Mark Alvarez
. My mind shuffled through our last meeting,
identifying his short stature and inflated chest. I thought his lips curled
into an amused smile.

I
halted at once, retreating a few steps. Panic froze my feet, and the man
languidly began to move toward me.
No
,
I thought.
It’s my imagination
. I
turned casually and started down Adams in the opposite direction.
I’m overreacting
, I told myself over and
over. When I found myself peering down an empty road, I decided to head for the
train instead. An elderly woman passed, bundled in her coat, wobbling with
weighty groceries. She smiled at me.

Dread
filled me as I confirmed with a backward glance that the man was following me.
I broke into a sprint without warning, pushing through a surprised couple,
propelled forward by fear. My heart pounded in my chest, and my feet beat the
pavement as I flew across State Street, narrowly avoiding a passing car. I
mentally surveyed the area as I fled, my thoughts jumbling in a panicked mess.
My face burned against the cool night, and his heavy footsteps bore down on me
as if he realized we were nearing the train. I physically felt the space
between us closing.

“Olivia!”
he cried.

Oh my God - it’s not my imagination.
At the
realization, I fumbled for my purse, pulling at my skirt as it inched up,
reached for my purse again but it wasn’t there –
where is my cell?
- and, led by some supernatural force, turned a
sharp corner toward Jackson instead of the train. Panic struck as I ran
headlong into an alley.
This is it,
I
thought.
I’ll never make it to the other
side.

“Olivia!
Stop!”

A
sudden burst of energy thrust me forward, but it was too late. His surprisingly
strong hands caught my shoulders and lifted me from the ground.

CHAPTER 17

I SCREAMED WITH EVERYTHING I HAD
, thrashing
against the hands that held me in the air. He set me down but detained me,
thwarting my escape.

“Olivia!”
exclaimed a familiar voice. He relaxed his grip and whirled me around. I
blinked my eyes in disbelief as I realized it wasn’t Mark Alvarez’s arms that
had captured me. “Olivia?” I was looking into David Dylan’s wide eyes. He
reached out suddenly to yank down the hem of my skirt that was halfway up my
thighs. “Olivia. What is it? I’ve been behind you since State.”

I
was speechless with shock and confusion, furiously looking past his shoulders.
He turned his head, but I could see with my own eyes that nothing was there. “Someone
. . . I thought – Mark . . . He was following me,” I managed to get out
between breaths.
Oh,
have
I become completely paranoid?

“Stay
here,” he commanded, retreating to Adams.

“No,
David!” I called, still fighting my rational side. “It’s dangerous!”

I
watched him exit the alley and struggled with whether or not to follow him
despite his instruction. In the same moment that I heard a noise behind me, a
coarse hand clamped over my mouth and the smell of alcohol burned my nostrils.
I attempted to scream but the fingers dug into my face, and I reared back.

“You’re
fast,” a low voice said into my ear.

“Let
go!” I muffled into his hand and hurled my elbow into his ribs. He withdrew for
a moment before throwing me angrily me onto the concrete ground. Standing over
me, Mark Alvarez lifted his shirt to reveal the handle of a small gun.

“Don’t
scream,” he hissed, glancing at it in warning. A car whizzed by, and he jerked
his head over his shoulder.

I
broke into a cold sweat as I realized that I needed to escape, and fast. It
became clear that he was not going to let me go like last time. I clambered to
get to my feet and seemingly without effort, he shoved me deeper into the
alley. The brick wall connected hard and fast with my head, and I cried out in
pain. I fought to remain upright as my body slid down the wall.

My
courage mounted as I focused on escape, and I used the wall to push back onto
my feet. When he came at me, I raised my fist, but he caught my arm and started
laughing.

“Cute
when you’re mad,” he slurred, tightening his grip. For a man only slightly
taller than myself, he was wildly strong, and my knees threatened to give. I
struggled to free my wrist from his grasp.

“I’m
not afraid of you!” I yelled and spit a sorry wad that landed just below his
collarbone.

The
wicked grin slid from his face, and the look that replaced it was far more
terrifying. He raised his arm and hit me swiftly across the cheek. “Just shut up,”
he growled, releasing my arm.

I’d
never been so much as slapped, and the sheer force of it shocked me into
silence. I held my cheek gingerly, and shrank into the wall behind me. “You’re
mine now, mami. Bill fucked with my family and now, he gonna suffer. Lou’s in
jail ‘cause of him.”

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” I pleaded. “Bill didn’t do anything!”

“No?
Why Lou went away for ten years when we both in the same gang? Sell the same
drugs?” He moved in closer, inches from my face. “Your husband fucked us. Yeah,
we gonna have fun, you and me. And maybe if you act good, I let you go home to
Bill after.”

“Bill’s
not home,” I said stupidly.

“I
didn’t say it would be
tonight
,” he
said and reached out suddenly, causing me to flinch. A slow smile spread across
his face as his fingers gently brushed a strand of hair from my forehead.

“I’ll
go to the police,” I said defiantly.

“Baby,
you think I’m some sorta rookie bitch? Those puto pigs can’t touch me,
jamás
.”

“Lou
wasn’t so lucky though.”

His
eyes fixated on me with menacing focus. He quickly grabbed my shoulders and in
one movement, flipped me into the brick wall. He pushed me so my injured cheek
was flush against it. “We gonna go down the street here,” he whispered in my ear,
pressing his groin against my backside. “Act natural. Put up a fight, and you
gonna regret it, I promise.”

He
locked my arms behind me in an iron grip, and I whimpered. “Please, stop,” I
pleaded, tears pricking my eyes. “I won’t go to the police, just let me go.”

“Relax,
guapa. You gonna like it, I promise,
I
promise
,” he hissed. “Soon you gonna be begging for it.” I shuddered at his
hot breath on my neck. “But one wrong move and baby, you done. And then I find
your bitch husband and - ”

He
spun around at the sound of footsteps and relief flooded over me knowing David had
returned. But as soon as the relief hit, it was gone and fear resurfaced, only
this time it was for his safety.

I
turned in time to see Mark fumble for the gun and David lunge at him. Mark fell
backward as David tackled him, and I flushed against the wall, narrowly
avoiding their entangled bodies. In the dark, David wrested Mark to the ground
while I frantically searched for the gun. The clang of metal hitting the ground
startled me into action. I scrambled for it and just as I was within reach, a
hand shot out and snatched it from the ground.

CHAPTER 18

“
GET BACK, OLIVIA
.”
David was on his feet in a flash. “Get back,” he
said again, aiming the gun steadily at my attacker. The self-possessed David I
knew had returned, his posture straight but at ease with the gun, as though
he’d done this a million times before. His suit hung magically untouched, and
the only thing that gave him away was his wayward hair and heavy breathing.

“Who
the fuck are you?” Mark asked, struggling to his feet.

“David,
please,” I implored with halted breath, suppressing my sobs. “Be careful!”

“Get
back!” he yelled angrily. I moved obediently, never taking my eyes off the back
of his head. Just then I heard the reassuring wail of police sirens in the
distance.

Mark
retreated toward the other end of the alley holding his hands up in surrender. “Hey,
man,” he said to David, looking around nervously. “I don’t want any trouble. I
promise to leave the bitch alone, just let me go before the cops get here.”

David
took two massive steps toward him, backing him into the wall and wielding the
gun assuredly. I gasped as he shoved it into Mark’s neck.

“You
go near her again,” he hissed, “and you’re dead, you hear me?”

“I
got deals with the cops,” Mark said, changing his tune. He stared David down
much more confidently than someone at gunpoint should. I strained to catch
their conversation over the noise. “I’ll be there for tonight, maybe. Then, I
come back for both yous.” Even in the night, I could see the hatred radiating
from his face, and I was relieved to hear the sirens howling down State.

The
gun clicked when he cocked it and pushed it into the skin of Mark’s neck. Although
I couldn’t see David’s face, his rage was palpable.

“David,”
I said as calmly as I could manage. “Stop. The police are here.”

I
saw his body relax and back away slightly. With his free hand, he grabbed
Mark’s shoulder and turned him against the brick wall as I had just been. He
stuck the gun in the waist of Mark’s pants and leaned his forearm across his
back. He held him there while three policemen ran up, guns drawn. Following
them was a heavyset man dressed in an ill-fitting suit.

My
body slackened slightly, and I steadied myself against the wall as the
immensity of what was happening washed over me. My cheek smarted and I winced
as I touched it, surprised to find blood on my fingertips. The metallic smell
rushed into my nose and my head thundered with the pounding of my heart.
Blood.

“You
good, David?” I heard someone ask. I felt behind me for something to hold on to
while I tried to expel the smell from my nostrils.

“Yeah,
Cooper,” he replied, releasing Mark to another cop. “He’s armed.” They
exchanged hushed words briefly until David started in my direction, loosening
his tie.

“Well,
well, Mark Alvarez!” the man called Cooper said gruffly. “Lou’s gonna love that
you’re coming for a visit.” Four boisterous laughs filled the alley as one of
them cuffed him.