Russo: His Untold Story (Blacklisted #3) (5 page)

“Oh, Brie.” I couldn’t hold it together. I could barely look at her. ”What did he do to you?”

“He didn’t rape me, if that’s what you’re asking.” I could still hear the attitude in her voice, but it wasn’t the same. She sounded smaller; there wasn’t as much vibrato to her voice.

“Brie, I’m so so sorry.” I pulled her to me, not wanting to look at her eyes anymore. How could I tell her the truth? How could I explain it?

“It’s okay. You couldn’t have known he would do this.” Fuck. There was no way out of this.

“Brie…I…”

“You didn’t know this would happen, right? Michael?” Her voice was teetering on the edge of insanity, and picking up speed fast. She was putting two and two together, and there was nothing I could do.

“Gabriella, I told you I’d do whatever it takes…” Fucking cop out. I’m a shit head, there wasn’t a fucking excuse in the world that could change that. She was screaming now, and every word that came out of my mouth sounded more pathetic than the last. She had every right to hate me. I tried to hold her to me, but she was pulling away.

“No. Don’t fucking touch me. I’m going to clean up and you are going to take me home. I want you out of my life, for good.” There it was. The one thing I had dreaded. She wanted me gone, and who the fuck could blame her.

“I bet your parents are turning in their graves at how disgusting a son they have.” She was saying it to hurt me, but I knew she was probably right. My parents would’ve never condoned this shit. What had I done? I didn’t care that the fucker was dead, I kill him ten times over without a drop of remorse—but what I had done to her… fuck I was no better than him. I left the bathroom and closed the door behind me, knowing there was no point in arguing the truth.

I had to let her go. I had to let her live a life outside of what I had given her. I let my body perform on autopilot again as I pulled a black duffel from my closet. I packed jeans for her, sweatpants, t-shirts, hoodies—I had been hanging onto them for when I hoped we would start our new carefree life… but that wouldn’t be happening. Back when she had first “moved in” I knew that Genovese was tracking her through her bank account, so I had made her a new one. I had always meant to tell her but there was never much point while she was with me. It only seemed fair now that I make sure she has everything she needs. I needed her to be able to live a life better than the one she had—I needed her to be happy.

When I finished packing the duffel I left it on my bed and closed the door behind me. Unfortunately for me I still had plenty of work to do. This part of the plan had been had been the easiest part—I just had to deliver the bodies. Probably the only good thing about Genovese’s…”affiliates”; they would cover this all up for me. None of them would want the word out that their boss was murdered, let along with two guys protecting him. This would somehow get turned into a heart attack, an accident… something that didn’t raise questions. All it took was a medical examiner that needed a pay bump, and a funeral home that didn’t ask questions. I just had to get the bodies to the vehicle, clean up the apartment and let the chips fall on their own from there.

As I drove from the warehouse back to the loft I tried to keep my head on straight, though Brie’s anger resided strongly in the forefront. I would get back and it would be the last time I saw her. She was going to remove herself from my life as quickly as she got into it.

I backed my truck up to the security door in back of the building. I moved quickly to the back and opened the hatch. I pulled a thick sheet of plastic from the duffel and laid it across everything, not wanting to find any drops of blood unexpectedly later on. Once I was satisfied I used the keys I stole out of the guards pocket earlier and let myself in.

The bodies were in the same pile I left them in—I don’t know why I was expecting something else. Apparently I was losing my mind. Before I worked on them I decided to clean up the other rooms, removing any evidence that a woman had ever stepped foot in here. I bagged up everything he had gotten for Brie, but left the few clothes that he had put in the closet—they wouldn’t be my problem. Chances were his guys would come clear it out anyway. They would think Genovese never got this far, and that Brie was still in the wind. They wouldn’t bother her—they didn’t need to implicate themselves.

Once I felt confident that there wasn’t any blood in any room other than the kitchen and all of the traces of a female being here were gone I made my way to the kitchen. With their hearts no longer pumping the bodies didn’t continue to bleed so I didn’t have to worry about them bleeding all over the hall. A speck here and there wouldn’t be something for me to worry about; no one would pay it any mind if they didn’t know what to be looking for.

I pulled Genovese’s body up slowly, standing him against the fridge as I gave him a once over. His shirt was covered in blood; I couldn’t carry him around like this. I searched the room until I found an overcoat, then took the next ten minutes getting it onto his body and buttoning it. I cleaned the little bit of blood that had gotten on his face, then tucked a pair of sunglasses I had snagged from my truck onto his eyes. Once I felt satisfied I pulled his arm around my shoulder and walked him to the door. It was incredibly difficult to carry someone this way, similar to carrying a tall, 200-LB sack of potatoes with the side of your body. I pulled the door open and peeked out, glad to see no one around. I pulled him as quickly as I could to the staircase, his feet dragging across the plush carpet of the hall. Once we made it into the stairs I pulled him down each flight. From the back door into the truck was a quick maneuver and within half an hour all three of them were loaded. I closed the hatch and ran back upstairs to get the kitchen back in order.

After twenty minutes of tidying I did a once over on the apartment and considered it clean enough. I double checked for any last minute items and locked up the apartment. If I had let myself consider what was going on I might of realized just how fucked this whole situation was. I just spent the last hour cleaning up an apartment covered in blood and dragging bodies to my SUV. Who was I? I had spent so much of my life hating these thugs that took advantage of others, and murdered people—but how was I any different from them? I had gotten so far away from everything that mattered. I hadn’t seen any of my family since my parents’ death and I was sure they were ready to kill me. The one good woman that had somehow ended up in my life was ready to hightail it out as fast as she could. I’d go back to having nothing—and none of the things I did brought my parents back. They were just as dead now as they were before I did all of this. My restaurant was still gone… why couldn’t I see past it all?

I spent the next hour driving back to Genovese’s warehouse and dumping the bodies. I left them right in the middle of the shipping room, knowing it would only be a matter of hours before they were found. His men would think it was a sign, a warning from a rival—something that needed to be covered up. Within the next week the papers would report that Joseph Genovese, husband and entrepreneur had died and the city would mourn. His wife would take over his hotel, and be the model widow—no doubt she’d be wearing black for months. She was just as bad as he was; she knew exactly what her husband did and had even been involved herself a few times. Money laundering had been more her style but once she got that rock on her finger she stood by as a dutiful wife and watched her husband destroy countless lives. I had considered going after her too but perhaps the death of her husband was enough.

When I returned home I could see her sitting on the couch, her back to me. I hesitated going over to her—the sooner I did the sooner she’d be gone. After a few minutes I finally gave up and walked over, lowering my eyes when I made it close enough.

“Brie, I…” my words were cut off by a right hook to the chin. The force of her fist sent me back a step, but honestly I barely felt it. I was barely hanging on at this point and if anything I was more hurt that she just had to keep kicking me while I was down.

“You son of a bitch. I trusted you, just like you told me to. I didn’t put up a fight when you took those degrading pictures; I let you keep me down here. I shared myself with you. I wanted to help you. I wanted to help you out of this situation. I wanted to see you turn back into what I think was your former self. But no. You,” her finger jabbed roughly into my chest. ”You let him take me. You let him beat me, and touch me….” I could see the tears welling in her eyes and the thought of his hand on her was making me wish I was dead. Everything she said was true. I was the sick fuck that put her here.

“You are no better than him. Do you understand that? You’re just as vile, and terrible. You’re a monster.” Right again my sweet, sweet girl. I was a fucking monster, and she was the continuous victim of two completely vile creatures. I couldn’t handle that she felt this way about me, which she didn’t know I tried to take it back, that everything I did meant nothing.

I dropped to my knees and clung to her form, unable to stop the tears that fell from my eyes as I sobbed without an ounce of shame.

“Let go of me.” She was yelling and pushing me, but my grip was iron.

“Please. Let me explain, please don’t just leave.” I just wanted her to hear me out, just for a minute. I knew I was squeezing her too tight, I knew I had to let her go but I couldn’t. It wasn’t until I felt her knee against my throat that my arms fell from her body.

“You’ve lost your right to touch me. Since we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, obviously I can’t call a cab. And since you’ve kept me here for so damn long I’m sure I have no apartment to go back to. So you’re going to give me your car keys and I’m going to go to my parents.”

I had known this was coming, and I had prepared for it. Regardless of what she thought of me, I had done everything I could to secure the chance for her to have a good life from here on out.

“I already filled the tank for you—in case you wouldn’t want to stay.” I went and retrieved the duffel from the room and dropped it over by the door, before plopping back on the floor. ”There’s a cell phone, a bank card and fresh clothes in there—Genovese tossed your apartment a while back… when he realized you weren’t going there. It’s been locked up since then. I deposited $50,000 into the bank account—for your trouble… and help.”

“Of course he tossed my apartment. So I have absolutely nothing at all. And excuse me, stay? Stay with you?! Are you crazy?” She moved around, her eyes moving from each surface until she spotted the keys.

“Thanks for the payment. I’ll go get a car, and then you can figure out how you’re going to pick your SUV up—without involving me. I’m sure you have some sort of tracking on it anyway. Good luck with everything.” She was right—I’d be able to track the SUV, but I knew what she was really saying was I’d be able to track her. I watched her hopelessly, wishing something would snap and she’d realize I cared about her.

“How am I supposed to get out of here?”

“I disabled everything, just go up the elevator and out the door at the top, its open. But Brie, please just give me a chance to talk to you.” She didn’t even bother to respond. The door closed and I was alone—just as I had been in the beginning.

After showering and throwing away the clothes I lie in bed, thinking of her. The second I’d fall asleep my dreams teased me with a beautiful, smiling girl. I tossed and turned until the morning came. Being in the space that I shared with her was hard. Every room shared some memory that I wanted to get as far away from as possible. I knew I’d have to move out of here soon, my sanity relied on it.

I made myself coffee and moved to the couch, my phone hanging from my fingers as I fought the urge to call her and beg her to see me. I couldn’t push her—and if anything I was in no state to do her any good. I settled for sending one “I’m sorry” text to the phone I gave her and put my phone down.

What was I going to do with myself? How did I get better after this? I thought back to my mother. She would always tell me that in times of crisis we had to be close to God, but I had forgotten how to do that. I briefly remembered praying in the twilight hours of my insanity but I couldn’t burden the Madonna, Jesus or the Lord himself with my complaints—I had only gotten what I deserved.

I fetched my laptop and opened it, knowing the first step was getting myself out of this apartment. When I opened my browser I cringed at the bookmarks Brie had left on there for me. They were all different restaurant buildings for sale. She had been so supportive of me. I missed her. It had been less than 24 hours and each thought I had was related to her. I couldn’t resist the urge to see what she was doing, and against my better judgment I decided to sign into her bank account. I had set everything up prior to this—not to snoop on her, but simply because it made it easier to send her money.

She had already bought a car it looks like, and I was familiar with the location of the dealer. She had a hotel room as well. Fuck, I was being such a lunatic. Leave her alone, you’ve done enough. But now that she had a car I did need to go get my SUV, right? That’s what she told me to do. I sighed and leaned back, rubbing at my eyes while I tried to gain some form of sense that would keep me from stalking her. It wasn’t working.

A few hours passed, and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t texted her more than a few times. She never answered—not that I really thought she would. Nothing held any interest. I didn’t want to eat, I was incapable of sleeping, and I was running out of ways to occupy my thoughts. I needed to get out of here.

I found myself dressed and driving around the city aimlessly in the dingy, rusty van I had used to pick up Gabriella in the beginning of all of this. My mind played the last few weeks over and over. I found myself recounting the things she said, the way she looked at me, the sound of her laughed—I didn’t know what I was experiencing. I didn’t know if this was infatuation or if I had somehow fallen in love with her in that short amount of time.

Could I love her? Was that why it was so hard to see her go? I thought of watching her in the kitchen, sleeping next to her, my fingers gliding over each inch of that skin I loved so much. How could I have not realized before what these feelings were? I really was a fucking idiot. I had to see her; I just needed one more chance to tell her how I felt.

It was only mid-day and I had no idea if she’d be at the hotel but I knew that’s where my SUV would be. I headed towards the hotel I saw on her bank statement and pulled into the lot, instantly spotting my SUV in the back. I parked the van next to it and shot off another text to her, though I had no idea why I was bothering. I made my way inside the hotel and up to the front desk, putting on my best smile before I approached the younger girl.

“Hey there, I booked a room for my sister Gabriella Cardosa earlier, but we really need two. Could you possibly see if you have a room available next to hers? The card we used for her room ends in 1988.” I said, trying not to think about how fucking weird I was for knowing that. I added a wink for good measure, and the girl melted.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have an adjoining room next to hers but I have one across the hall! Would that be okay?” She fluttered her eyelashes, but all I saw was Brie.

“Yeah, that’s perfect. Here put it on my card,” I said smoothly, handing it over. Within moments I had a room key for a room I didn’t need, but more importantly I knew where Brie’s room was.