Finding Gary (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 4) (12 page)

So she kept her eyes on the table.  She could feel his gaze burning into the hairs at the top of her head even then, but she refused to look up. 

Next to her, the attorney Jessica had set her up with, spoke.  From where her eyes were staring into the table, Zoey could only see the white tips of her attorney’s manicured nails. 

“Your Honor, my client currently has a temporary restraining order against Valentin Romanovsky, pending the investigation into his involvement in the death of her parents ten years ago…”

The tips of Val’s nails appeared in Zoey’s vision.  He was reaching across the table, so desperate for her gaze that he was, literally, clawing for it.  Zoey pushed her eyes closed.

“Your honor,” Val’s attorney chimed in.  Zoey could sense his exasperation without even looking at him.  She could hear it in his voice.  “My client has taken a court ordered DNA test and, regardless what the birth certificate says, and regardless what Zoey Black says, he is Marcus’ biological father, and he has the right to see his son.”

“Even when his son’s mother feels unsafe?  Would you subject a woman and her children to a man who was beating her?  How is this any different?”

“Your Honor, my client is not a wife beater.  He has not been convicted of any crime.  He’s never laid a hand on Ms. Black, nor has he given any indication that he would.  He is simply a man who wants to meet his son.  Meet, not see, because he has, quite literally, never laid eyes on him.  He has never laid eyes on his own son.”

“For good reason, Your Honor…”

When silence fell, Zoey shot a look at the judge sitting at the head of the table, just in time to see him lowering the hands he’d raised to call for peace.

“That’s enough,” the judge said, appearing exasperated himself.  “I’ve made a decision…”

***

Huffing so violently she caught the eyes of every soul in the courthouse hallway, Zoey stomped toward the exit; fighting to swallow back the heartfelt expletives on the tip of her tongue.  She’d barely barked a goodbye to her lawyer before flying out of the meeting room, still short of breath as she jammed her finger into the button for the elevator.

“Zoey…”

Tears stung her eyes.  It was easy to avoid Val’s gaze, his presence, his very existence… but that voice.  It was the first time she’d heard his voice in four weeks.

Her stomach tightened, and she pounded the elevator button, sucking in a breath.  “The restraining order says 500 feet,” she croaked, ashamed at how much her voice was shaking. 

“A restraining order the judge just overturned…”

His voice was closer.  Right in her ear.  It rendered her motionless, but she still refused to bite.

“Zoey, will you please just look at me?”

“The order is still in effect until midnight tonight.  So, until midnight tonight, I suggest you stay the fuck away from me.  Unless you’d like to spend the night in the same cell you bailed your murderous brother out of.”

When she felt his hand clap around her arm, she finally shot her eyes to him, wide with fire.  Her heart exploded with fury, and with all her might, she attempted to pull her arm back, clenching her teeth.  She instantly regretted insisting that Taj wait for her downstairs, in the main lobby.  If he were there right now, he’d have already had Val in a chokehold.

“Let go of me,” she spat. The moment she met his eyes, all the bass left her voice.  The tremble in her bones went into overdrive, and the tears were no longer surmountable.  She sobbed from deep in her throat; her voice lowered to a desperate whisper as she made a halfhearted attempt to reclaim her arm.  “Val, let go of me right now.”

He tightened his hold, pulling her across the hallway and into a quiet corner that led to the bathrooms.  He used his size and strength to push her against the wall, clutching both of her arms and searching her eyes.

She breathed in deep when she saw the same moisture gleaming in his eyes that she felt building in hers, and she turned away from the sight, bringing her fists under her chin as she tried to pull away.

“I don’t know how to do that,” Val gasped.  “I don’t know how to let you go.”

Zoey’s chest heaved, and she craned her neck, looking out into the main hallway as people passed by.  She contemplated screaming.

“I’m sorry it had to happen like this.  Lawyers.  Subpoenas.  Courtrooms.”  He tightened his hold when she squirmed.  “I didn’t know what else to do, baby.”

“Don’t call me that,” she spat, meeting his eyes.  “I’m not yours, Val.  I will never be yours again.”

“Don’t say that, Zo…”

“You knew…” Her mouth curled.

His head fell, and he released her arms.  She didn’t run.  He pressed his hands on the wall on either side of her head, keeping his head down as he attempted to collect his breath. 

“When you laid down next to me, every night, you knew.  When you held me while I cried, you knew.  Every time you told me you loved me—”

“I do love you—”

“—
you knew
.  When I offered to carry your son, you knew.  You knew the entire time, Val.”

“I was protecting you.”

“Shove it up your ass.”  She slammed her fists into his chest and went to walk off, but he caught her arms again.  She fought him, and they scuffled until he had his arms around her from behind, whispering into her ear.

“Why do you think Jessica Borgia has an agent on you and Marcus?” he begged, shaking her.  “Huh?”

Zoey felt herself going weak at the warmth of his breath in her ear, and the strength of his body molded to hers.  She tried to blink away the many nights he’d curled his body into hers the way he was right then, and how she would never feel the same way about those nights again.  Nights she’d once cherished, with a belly full of butterflies, every time she looked back on them.  Now all she could see, all she could feel when she looked back on those nights, was sick.

“Jessica has you under federal protection because she knows what we always have—that the truth puts you and Marcus in danger.  Real danger.  Not the kind you read about in books and see on TV.  The kind that doesn’t feel fear, or regret, or empathy.”

“And, yet, here I am, still alive and kicking.  You make me sick, Val.” She couldn’t even force herself to say the words with conviction.  She wiggled in his arms, trying to move away.

This time, he released her, but she didn’t run.  She turned to him with teary eyes, arms crossed tight.

His suit was rumpled, hair a few inches longer than the last time she’d seen him.  A strand of it fell in his eye.  Once upon a time, it would’ve been impossible to resist pushing it back, but now she wanted nothing more than to rip it straight from his skull.  Just to cause him a tiny shred of the pain he’d caused her.

As she considered the million different ways she’d enjoy decapitating him, he seemed to take her unwavering eye contact as a good sign.

“Do you have everything you need?” he whispered, his breathing picking up.  “Do you need money?”

“I don’t need anything from you, Val, but for you to stay the fuck away from me.  You wanted to see your son; you got it.  When you come by, Taj will be there; I won’t.  He’ll understand that you’re not to be left alone with Marcus under any circumstances and that once your hour is up, it’s up. Then you’ll need to get the fuck off my property until the next time I’m forced to subject my son to you.”

“Zo…” Val’s eyes grew wounded.  “Please…”

She held a hand up.  “That’s it.”

With a sniffle, she turned and left the corner, stepping back into the hallway.  This time, when she crossed the room and pressed the button for the elevator, he didn’t follow her.  Just as it dinged open, she tossed a look over her shoulder and caught sight of him with his forehead pressed to the wall.  His hands hung lifelessly at his sides, and his eyes were closed tight.

Zoey stepped into the elevator and didn’t dare look at him again.

When the elevator dinged open on the bottom floor, she immediately smiled at Taj, who was bent over on a bench across from the elevator with Marcus curled in his big arm, fast asleep.  Naturally, every woman who breezed by threw him an adoring smile, defenseless at the sight of that bulky man with a baby.   Taj returned their smiles with vigor.

Zoey paused at the elevator and raised an eyebrow, waiting until his eyes met hers to laugh.

He dropped his head sheepishly.

“I should’ve known you’d be down here flirting with anything in a skirt while I was upstairs watching my life go up in flames.”

He curled his lip.  “That bad, huh?”

“The judge granted Val visitation.  Starting next month, he gets to see Marcus once a week, under your supervision, until this thing goes to trial.”

Taj stood.

As usual, Zoey had to break her neck to get a good look at him.

“I’m sorry, Zoey.”

“Me too,” she whispered.  “It has to be just you.  I’m going to go to a different room when he comes for his hour with Marcus.  I can’t be around him.”

“I understand.”  He clapped a hand on her shoulder.  “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

She thanked him and, after sharing another easy smile, Taj threw his arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the exit.

When they were a few feet from the doors, Zoey froze in mid-step, causing Taj to trip over his feet.  He shot her a curious, amused look, but when he saw the horror in her eyes, his smile vanished. He shot his gaze towards the doors.

Leo and Roman had been in the midst of entering the building.  Just as shocked at the sight of Zoey as she was at the sight of them, it seemed they were frozen in place.  Leo had made it through the doors before he’d turned to a block of ice, but Roman was still in the doorway, gaping at Zoey.

Zoey couldn’t speak.

Leo was the first to break, the corner of his mouth lifting, and lighting his eyes.  “Hey, Sis.”

Zoey took a step closer to Taj, keeping her eyes on Leo’s for as long as she could before moving them to Roman.

The sunlight that had been hitting his blue eyes, making them almost gray, disappeared as Roman finally stepped inside, making them darker.  “Zoey—”

“We miss you.” Leo interrupted Roman.  They both shared a look before looking back at her.

“Zoey, I’m sorry,” Roman said.  “I’m so sorry.  About all of it.”

“We didn’t know,” Leo shook his head.  “Ma didn’t, either.”

Zoey breathed in through her nostrils, ignoring the pain in her heart that showed in her eyes before whispering,  “Stay the hell away from me.”

Leo’s jaw went slack, but Roman didn’t appear the least bit surprised.

“Baby,” Leo’s eyebrows pulled.  “We didn’t
know
.”

Sensing her vibe, as he often did, Taj offered Zoey his free arm and waited until she took it to begin towards the doors.

As Zoey passed Roman and Leo, she looked them both in the eyes.  “Stay the hell away…”

10

The following evening, flipping absently through the channels, unable to control the urge to lick his split lip every two seconds, the remote control flew out of Gary’s hand when a knock rang out at the door of his loft.  He shot to his feet, wide green eyes zooming to the door, his heartbeat tripling, sending his every bone into an uncontrollable, trembling mess.  Another knock, louder this time, jolted him out of his stupor and drove him to snatch up the Louisville Slugger he’d leaned on the arm of the couch.  He primed the bat on his shoulder as if he were at home plate ready to swing, taking ginger steps toward the door.  Another knock rang out, and he froze in the middle of the floor, bare toes digging into the concrete as he clawed for the courage to move forward.

Soon the anger overrode the fear, and he was hurrying to the door, squinting through the peephole.  He let the bat fall and took a moment before pulling the door open.

Reggie’s eyes were lowered as the door slid open to reveal him.  He looked up from under his lids, biting his bottom lip while holding up a bottle of champagne and a single red rose. 

When he got a look at Gary, however, the bottle plummeted from his hand.  It hit the ground but didn’t break, making a dull thud a few inches from Gary’s bare toes before rolling into the loft.

Reggie zeroed in on him and cupped his face.  “Jesus, Gary, what the fuck happened to you?”

Gary’s chest heaved.  Evidence of the emotion that refused to show itself in his eyes.  He squinted as Reggie gingerly brushed his bruises and welts under the beds of his fingers.  His squint moved into a cringe, and Gary snatched his head away. 

“Why don’t you tell me what the fuck happened to me?” Gary moved away from the door, still throwing Reggie a look of death over his shoulder.

Reggie stepped inside, sliding the door closed behind him.  He held his hands out, letting Gary see how badly they were shaking.

Gary stopped in mid-step, infuriated by the dumbfounded look on Reggie’s face.  He pointed toward the door.  “It won’t be like before, right?”  His bottom lip trembled.  “It won’t be the same as it was, right?”

“Gary? Gary!” Reggie raised his voice when it became clear that Gary was hysterical, and he moved towards him with wounded eyes.  When Gary took two steps back for every step he took forward, Reggie finally froze in the middle of the dining room, paralyzed by the way he was looking at him.  “Hear me…  Whoever did this to you… I had nothing to do with it.”

Gary cocked his lip.  “Right.  You just happened to leave, in the middle of the night, right before some lunatic waiting in the shadows took me around the throat and warned me not to rat on King.  I’m sure you had no fucking idea.  I’m sure you didn’t leave the door unlocked on your way out so that piece of shit could get in while I was sleeping.”

“I didn’t,” Reggie said, his chest rising and falling rapidly.  “Gary, I would never do that to you.”

Gary’s body shook with much more ferocity than Reggie’s. He bent forward at the hip, eyes going manic, teeth bared so wide it split open the cut on his lip.  “Get out of my house,” he growled.

“Fuck no.  Ten years…  Ten years I been waiting for this…” Reggie fumbled, his eyes falling to the floor, digging deep for the courage to say what was truly in his heart.  “Ten years I’ve been waiting for you,” he finally managed, meeting Gary’s eyes.  “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You think I don’t know you’ve been balls deep in every woman willing to spread her thighs for the last ten years?  You think I don’t know you slept with Zoey? All to get closer to my family?”

Reggie opened his mouth to refute, then frowned.  “Look.  That was different.  I really liked Zoey.”  He struggled to say his next words.  “I like men, Gary.  But I like women, too.  And I really did care for her.  But… with you…”

“You’re full of shit.”  Gary’s teeth chattered.  “There’s really nothing you won’t do for him, is there?  Even suck a man’s dick.”

Reggie’s fists tightened.  “I’m in love with you.”

Gary scoffed and turned away, moving into the living room.

Reggie closed in and took his arms from behind.

Gary reared away, faced him, and swung with all his might.

Reggie ducked in the nick of time, dodging the fist, clawing at Gary’s biceps before he could come in for round two.  “Damn it, Gary, I did not do this to you.  Do you hear me?  I’m in love with you!  I would never hurt you like this.”

“Because you never have before right?”  Gary reclaimed his arms with a violent yank before seizing the collar of Reggie’s shirt under tight fists, dragging him to the door.  “Get the fuck out of my house.”

Reggie planted his feet, and the bottoms of his leather shoes squeaked against the concrete when that wasn’t enough to overpower Gary.  He turned his back while wrapping his arm around Gary’s wrists, angling his body and breaking the hold Gary had on his collar.  He stumbled forward once he was free, gasping when he felt Gary’s arm come around his neck from behind and tighten, his large bicep cutting into Reggie’s esophagus.

“You set me up,” Gary breathed.

“I didn’t,” Reggie wheezed, his eyes widening when Gary’s arm tightened.  “Please…”

Gary locked the chokehold tight, flexing.  He waited until Reggie’s pleas became whispers, until his pants grew faint, until he was seconds from passing out, and then something raced through him.  Something so strong it made his bones ache; debilitating him.  He removed his arm from around Reggie’s neck, stepping away as Reggie dropped to his knees on the floor.

Gary stumbled away until his back hit the wall behind him, and he dug his nails into it.

Still on his knees, bent forward, Reggie looked over his shoulder, holding his throat.

“You set me up,” Gary whispered.

“Set you up?” Reggie rebounded, turning to face Gary on his knees, his voice still hoarse from the trauma to his throat.  “Set you up? I been blowing up your phone since the moment I landed in D.C.  I just gave up everything for you.”

Gary frowned.

His face falling in disbelief, Reggie’s spine straightened, and he planted his knees more solidly on the floor.  He ripped open his shirt.  The buttons flew at all angles, bouncing audibly on the floor as he exposed his swelling chest.

As each button bopped to a quiet stop, Gary’s eyes widened at the black tape stuck to the middle of Reggie’s chest, and the wire that raced out of it, disappearing around his waist.  Confused, Gary tried to shake his head, but was only able to do it halfway.

“Gary,” Reggie begged, yanking at the flaps of his open shirt.  “I left in the middle of the night to tell Jessica I was ready to testify.  She flew me out to DC an hour later to speak to my father.” Reggie panted, abs tightening.  “I got every vile word he said on tape.  Every word, Gary.  Jessica says they’ll have him indicted for corruption before the month is out.”

Gary collapsed onto the wall and slid down, cringing against the confusing flurry of emotions taking over his body while tangling his fingers in his hair.

“I did it for you,” Reggie whispered.  For the first time, his chest relaxed. 

With a sniffle, Gary lifted his head and met Reggie’s eyes, cradling his elbows on his bent knees.  He clenched his fists and pressed them against his lips.  Slamming his eyes shut, he was lost for several moments, so gone that, when he reopened them, Reggie was right in front of him.  So close, Gary could feel his warm breath on his hands.  They held each other’s eyes, and then Reggie leaned in, pressing his lips to the swelling on Gary’s knuckles.

Sucking in a sudden gasp, Gary took Reggie’s jaw in a tight hold, whispering, “I don’t believe you.”

As if a flip had been switched, Gary was on his feet again, the collar of Reggie’s shirt back in his hands.  This time, when Gary dragged him to the door, Reggie was too stunned to fight back.

Gary got him to the front door, slid it open, and threw Reggie into the hallway with all his might.

Reggie tripped over his feet before he plowed into the hallway wall, tumbling to his ass on the floor.  His glimmering eyes lifted and connected with Gary’s.

Gary clawed his fingers into his front door, his body visibly shaking from head to toe.  “I don’t trust you,” he spat.  “I don’t fucking trust you.”

“Gary,” Reggie begged.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”

Without another word, Gary slammed the door shut.

***

When Leo left his apartment the next afternoon, he hadn’t even made it to the bottom step before he was shaking his head and moving in the opposite direction he’d intended.  It was the fourth time that week this woman had forced him to take a different route. 

“Oh come on, Leo!” Jessica beamed from where she sat on the hood of her car.

Leo continued down the sidewalk, pretending he couldn’t hear her and rolling his eyes when he heard what was becoming a very familiar sound—the crunch of her boots behind him.

“I told you to stay away,” Leo mumbled.

“Well… I figured… since I’ve almost convinced Gary that rotting in prison is a terrible idea… and since Angie and Marcus are both out of the hospital… and since I’m so close to slaughtering King I can almost taste it…”

He’d been purposely walking fast to force her to jog after him and was satisfied as he heard her panting from the effort to keep up.

She picked up her pace, appearing in front of him, jogging backward.  Her long pigtail braid bounced along with her full breasts.  That was much harder for him to ignore.

“I’m not a terrible person, Leo.  I was just a woman trying to do my job and, for a moment, that job just happened to be your family.  But I was never out to hurt them.  And I never stop thinking about you, not for one second.  Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to wait outside your apartment every morning, begging for a minute of your time?  Do you know how desperate I look?  The men on the block have started to ask my going rate.  Please forgive me, Leo.  What is it going to take?  Do you want my pride?  It’s yours.  My dignity? 
Yours.
  My ego?  Been yours.  I’m stripped to the bone here.  I might as well be butt ass naked out here for you.  I have never been this naked with a man without ever taking my clothes off.”

Leo slowed to a stop, giving her an anguished look.

“I know you still love me,” she said.

He leaned down, golden eyes indignant, lips parting and primed with a rebuttal.  Then, he licked his lips and broke their gaze.

Jessica’s voice rose.  “I still love you.  You’re the only man I’ve ever loved.  Ever.  Even back when you called me Beer Belly Borgia in high school. I loved you even then.”

He shot her a look.

“And I’m not bringing up the Beer Belly Borgia thing to try and guilt you into forgiving me…” She frowned into the distance.  “Although, now that I think about it, I have no idea why I didn’t try that sooner.”

“I guess the corrupt, dishonest, manipulative chamber in your brain is finally maxed out.”

“Leo, I’m on your side.”  Her shoulders collapsed.  “And I’m working overtime to fix it.  If I can convince Gary to testify against King, then we can subpoena the rest of your family and sink him.  Then this will all be over.  No more fear.  No more lies.  No more looking over your shoulder.”  Her breathing finally caught up, and she placed her hands on her hips.  “Will you forgive me then?”

“I’ll tell you when I’ll forgive you, Jessica.” Leo leaned down.  “I’ll forgive you when you put my family back together.    I’ll forgive you when we can all sit across the table at Sunday dinner without fantasizing about all the fun ways we’d like to slaughter each other.  I’ll forgive you when I don’t have to see tears on my mother’s face every time I step foot inside her house.”  He held her eyes, and then swept past her.  “And don’t follow me,” he called over his shoulder.

As he turned the corner, Leo waited to hear those boots crunching behind him.  When he didn’t, he shot a look over his shoulder.  The Tribeca sidewalk was bustling that morning, but Jessica wasn’t behind him.  He slowed to a stop, wondering if she’d come around the corner.

She didn’t.

After several minutes, eyes still on the corner, Leo continued down the sidewalk, eventually facing forward and disappearing into the crowd.

***

“I’ve got to say, after stalking you obsessively for the last month, it was nice to be the one on the receiving end of a phone call for once—oh
fuck
…” Jessica couldn’t even finish the quip she’d been planning the entire drive to Gary’s apartment.  When she saw the state of his face the moment he slid open his apartment door, she lost her words.  He turned away from her with a roll of his eyes before she could survey the damage any further, but she’d seen enough.  Following him in, she slid the door to his apartment closed and locked it, her mouth still open.  “What the fuck happened to your face?  Val?  He’s the only member of your family angry enough to do that kind of damage.”

Gary came to a stop in the middle of his apartment and then faced her.

This time, he gave Jessica’s wide eyes free reign over every bruise and welt on his face. 

She cursed under her breath.  “This wasn’t Val,” she whispered.