Fragile Truths (30 page)

“And how do you figure that, Francesca. How do you figure you win if you’re dead?”

I twisted the dial on the safe slowly, relishing each click my dad had programmed it with before I pulled open the door. I grabbed what I needed and turned to him, holding the USB up in my fingers as he smiled smugly, “Because I’m going to heaven Don, much better than where you’re going.”

He scoffed and shook his head, “Bubba, you honestly think my life will end just cos’ you made it your life’s vocation to send me to prison? You underestimate me, my dear. I have just as many men on the inside as I do on the outside.” He shrugged at me as he tilted his head in contemplation, “Also quite a few screws on my payroll. I’m sure I’ll be able to persuade the judge to give me a reduced sentence in exchange for some info I have about certain high class greedy fuckers… one of those your father.” He widened his eyes mockingly and tutted, “Oh, but he’s out now he’s in hell keeping your momma warm, oops!”

I sighed as an eerie serenity rolled over me and I slowly clicked the safety on the gun by my side, the item hidden by the hefty wooden desk. I chuckled and smiled as he lifted his gun and shrugged to me, “I really am gonna miss you, my dear. It’s been fun and credit where it’s due, you are one strong woman.”

He smirked at me as I lifted my own gun and trained it on his head. “Oh why did you have to go and spoil it, Francesca?”

I mirrored his smirk and lifted a brow, “How about we do it together, end this once and for all.”

He shook his head as the other three men in the room all lifted their own weapons and marked their target.

I chuckled as Don’s face paled. Huge Dude, whose name I’d found out to be Bruno, levelled his gun to the side of Yard’s head as he pointed his at me and Jack, the other guy, pointed his at Bruno. “Ooh, now we’re a little more even wouldn’t you say?”

“What the fuck, Bruno?” Yard scoffed as he remained ramrod still, the only sign of movement was his lips.

“Don’t tell me you never expected one of us to finally blast that big mouth of yours into hell, Yard. I’ve fucking waited a long time for this.” Bruno laughed.

I kept my eyes directed on Don, watching for the slightest twitch of his finger. I knew I was going down; there was no way out of there, not with three men in the room whose only objective was burying me. I wouldn’t be leaving this house again, but it felt right to start the next journey in the same place momma had. But I was determined Don would be leaving in a duplicate black bag. I was just worried Bruno would need one too and I hung back as much as I could to let things play out to his advantage. I was Bruno’s minion right then. He was Angelo Nardini’s right hand man and I trusted him.

Luckily on the journey here, Don had placed Bruno in the back with me and I’d frowned when he stared straight ahead in the car but his mouth seemed to be twitching. It was after about two minutes I realised he was talking to me.

“If you’re reading me, scratch your nose.” He’d mouthed. Although I was suspicious, I did as he’d asked as my curious side overtook. “I’m Bruno Larkin. I’m a Shadow. I work for Angelo Nardini, Jude and Tate’s father. You need to trust me now and when we get there, give him the evidence then back off and shadow me.”

That’s all he had said, and I couldn’t describe why I had trusted him but I did. However, I had dismissed his demand to shadow him. I needed to end this man, I’d spent most of my life working towards this and there was no way I would back down. But I was ready now. I’d found love, my heart had touched another’s and I would now die with an inflated heart.

It had been true when I had told Tate I had never forgotten him. The memory of that night in the dandelions had kept me going throughout life. Every night when I had looked up to the stars I’d heard his words, ‘Stars can’t shine without darkness’, touching my fingers to my neck as I remembered the way he’d called me after a star, Capella. His comfort had helped me survive the early days after my mother’s death and for that I had loved him with every breath I’d taken until he found me again.

And here I was, his words once more giving me solace as I prepared to join my mother in the stars.

I frowned as I watched a small red dot hover over Don’s forehead. What the hell?

My eyes widened when I realised what it was and my stomach dropped. “No,” I whispered. This was my obligation, my mission to take him out. It always had been.

Don frowned as many things happened next. His eyes narrowed before his chest puffed out. Time and life slowed as we both squeezed our finger on the trigger. Don started to drop after a tiny hole appeared in his forehead. I wasn’t sure if it was from my gun or the marksman. I saw Bruno go down from the corner of my eye and then Jack.

The bullet Don had intended for my chest went off target as he fell and blasted a hole straight through my stomach.

As my lungs deflated for the very last time a smile guided my lips.

As my heart slowed and pumped for the final time, serenity swathed me.

As my brain crashed, it finally accepted the darkness without terror.

And as I died, as my momma held out her hand for me to take, I at long last watched my nemesis’ life end.

Tate

The coffee in this place was fucking sludge but after five days of limited amounts of water it was pure nectar. It’s a shame I couldn’t taste it due to the bitter taste my grief was producing but the caffeine was keeping me from falling where I stood.

I’d had my injuries cleaned and stitched; the nurse had taken far longer than she should have done over a few stitches to my back, the silly bitch fluttering her eyelashes at me. Why the fuck would I even look at another woman after tasting Frankie? Frankie was mine now and I was hers.

The docs had started me on a course of antibiotics due to an infection beginning in the lacerations and it felt good to finally put on some clean clothes.

But I couldn’t appreciate any of it.

Frankie was currently in surgery and every single one of us in that dingy fucking waiting room was slowly going insane with the wait for news.

She’d died. My beautiful star had stopped shining, her passionate light fading right before my eyes. She’d just dropped to the floor before me after we had stormed the room, but I’d been too late. We’d managed to get her heart going again, but she’d died again in the ambulance en route to hospital and I’d nearly smashed the paramedics head in before he managed to get her back.

Don had destroyed her only kidney; the congenital abnormality she’d been born with had left her with one tiny kidney that had aggravated her childhood, leaving the doctor’s no option but to remove it when she was eight. They’d taken samples from Frankie’s dad to match him as a donor, and I wouldn’t allow myself to think about the consequences if he wasn’t accepted.

She’d also suffered so much loss of blood her heart had struggled to sustain her body. Fuck, if Frankie hadn’t taken Don out I would have relished in his torture for hours, days even. But she had done what she needed to and I knew she had exchanged her own life for mine but the respect I had for her was over-shadowed with fury at her actions.

Yard was currently in lockdown somewhere, waiting for me to deal with him. We’d lost Bruno and Keith. Apparently Bruno had worked for my Father, but I hadn’t had a clue. Pop had sent him in about six months ago when Don had been granted bail and he’d known he would go after Frankie.

Something wasn’t sitting right with Pop’s interest in Frankie. He’s sent Bella into her office to observe her; he’d placed Bruno in the middle of the Knight’s Guards as a cover and Nik, he’d been a surprise.

Jude and Nik, who was also our cousin, had been best of friends since they were small children. When Jude disowned my father and me and left the Shadow’s to join the Knight’s in some twisted idea of revenge, Pop had sent Nik in after him. This had been a few years ago and unbeknown to Jude and the Knight’s, Nik had reported back to Pop about Jude’s wellbeing the whole time.

It turns out it had been Nik that had obtained and sent the CCTV footage to Frankie on my father’s instruction, hoping it would give her the ammunition she needed to finally lay her demon’s to rest. But Don had started to question where Nik’s loyalties lay so he’d sent him to kill Frankie’s dad. Luckily Harry owned a bullet-proof vest and with the aid of a simple pocket of blood, his death had been faked.

I’d been angry with them all at first. Frankie and I had been there for days and I couldn’t grasp why they hadn’t stormed the place and got us out but the old hospital had been heavily protected, not just by men but highly sophisticated alarm systems and surveillance making their chances of penetrating or even escaping the building impossible, so they’d had to sit back and pray something would give them an opportunity.

It turned out that Pop and Harry had been best friends since their childhood, but as they both stood pacing the waiting room, the atmosphere between them was suffocating the rest of us, but they were doing their best to push their differences aside for the sake of being there for my Capella.

“Come and sit with me,” Mom smiled sadly at me as she patted the space on the couch beside her.

“I can’t, I can’t sit… not while Frankie’s…”

Pop tilted his head and studied me with narrow eyes. His face was pale and full of something I couldn’t quite distinguish as he watched me curiously. He opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut when Harry shot upright and stared over my shoulder.

I turned to find the Doc stood in the doorway, his hands shoved inside his coat pockets as his pitying eyes found Harry. “Mr Wilde, may we speak?”

Silence filled the room when we all realised this wasn’t going to be good news. Maggie, Frankie’s best friend, grabbed onto Harry’s arm to support both her and Harry, “No, they all deserve to hear this. They saved my daughter, and they love her as much as me. Tell me.”

Doc rolled his lips and took a step into the room, closing the door softly behind him. I narrowed my eyes as my temper flared; sure he was prolonging the moment to give himself some prominence. “We’ve managed to stop the internal bleeding but we couldn’t save her kidney. The bullet fragmented too much and destroyed it as you know. I tried my best to extract all the splinters but the kidney was too damaged.”

“We know all this,” Harry sighed as he rubbed his temples wearily. “Tell us what you came here to say.”

The Doc sighed and took another step towards Harry. “I’m very sorry Mr Wilde, but you aren’t a match for a transplant and with no other family members, Francesca will have to go on the list for another match to become available.”

“What? I’m her father; I have to be a match.”

“It doesn’t always work out like that I’m afraid. But she’s stable for the moment, and I’ll do everything I can for her right now.”

“No,” Harry snapped. He took the final step needed for him to reach the Doctor, “Do you have any idea what my daughter has been through her entire life? Do you? No, and now when she finally puts to rest the demons that have haunted her, you’re telling me she’ll never be healthy enough to enjoy life. No…” He pulled away from Maggie and stormed from the room, his anger and grief as heavy as my own.

The doctor looked around the room, his eyes sorry and sad as he pitied the lot of us. “I’m sorry,” he repeated as he turned to leave.

“Wait!”

I turned to look at Pop. He dropped his face to the ground as my mother stood from where she was sat, “Angelo?”

He lifted his face and turned to her. Mom’s eyes widened on him as she shook her head slowly from side to side, “No, Angelo. Don’t…”

“I’m sorry but I need to say this for Francesca, Elena. I’m so very sorry.”

My jaw fell as I stared at him. My whole body tensed as I waited for him to say what I hoped he wasn’t going to say.

“I’d like to be put forward for testing. Francesca… Frannie may be my daughter.”

I stumbled backwards as my legs buckled and my whole body shook in horror. “No! NO!”

Pop turned to me, his face pale and full of guilt, “I’m sorry, Tate. Things happened and…”

He was suddenly on the floor, blood pouring from his nose as I stood over him with fisted hands ready to deposit him into hell. “You…”

“No, Tate.” Mom cried as I leant over my father until I was an inch from his face, “You don’t understand!”

“Like fuck I don’t!”

I hissed as her palm slapped my cheek. “Don’t you dare take that tone with me. You don’t know…” She swallowed as her eyes flicked to Jude but then came back to me. My rage and heartache brushed her aside as I spat on the only person I had ever respected.

“You don’t understand!” I cried as I shook my head, trying to free the restriction in my throat.

“Tate…” Jude spoke so softly I nearly didn’t catch him but I couldn’t be dealing with him either.

“Fuck off Jude, you know. You know why.” I couldn’t hold back the sob that wrenched up my throat and left my mouth with a grief-stricken cry. “That makes her my sister. I fucking love her, I’ve
made love
to her, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, and now...” I lifted my hands to tell them all to back off when my father scrambled to his feet. “Now you’ve turned something so pure and perfect into something sickening and sordid. I will never fucking forgive you for this.”

“Tate…”

I heard Jude shout my name but I didn’t acknowledge him as I ran.

I fucking ran and left the woman I loved fighting for her life.

But now, now she would fight alone because I couldn’t stay there.

It was wrong.

It was all so very wrong.

Jude

“Jesus Christ. What are you both? What a bloody mess...” I ran my hands through my hair, the sweat on my fingers slicking my hair back perfectly. “Jesus Christ.”

“Did you know about Tate and Francesca’s relationship?” He asked me with a lifted brow.

“Yes, but I didn’t see a problem with it, if I’d have known then I would have put a stop to it immediately. They fell in love,” I scoffed at him. “A love that I have watched fucking flourish over the years that finally burst into something, even I’ll admit, into something quite fucking beautiful. But now…” I shook my head and stared in disbelief. “What was it, a twisted fucking love triangle?”