Chapter 125 126

Chapter 125 126
“That’s not saying much, Hazel.” I pull my hand away and walk across the room, because if I don’t, I might just pull her into my arms instead. I might just kiss her. I might just wipe those tears from her cheeks. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“I betrayed you like Jasmine did.”

“Then you do know. And you did it anyway. Which is worse.”

I hear her sit down at my desk, poking around with the letter opener. The tap-tap-tap seems oddly loud in the quiet room. She’s just betrayed me and yet here I am with my back turned to her when she’s got a knife in her hand. I still trust her, on some warped level. But I’ve been too weak. I love her, though. I fucking love her.

What a mess.

“He said Mom’s death was my fault. She died giving birth to me, so he always had an excuse for the things he did to me. He said that Mom was a quiet, obedient woman and losing her for a disobedient slut like me was the worst trick God could ever have played on him.”

“Bullshit. He didn’t call you that,” I growl. “Your own father didn’t call you that.”

She just sighs. I stare stubbornly out the window. I won’t look at her. Her father killed my little brother and my father, crippled Emily, scarred Mother, scarred Nario, scarred me. Her fucking father.

“I bet you were laughing when I told you about the attack,” I snarl. “I bet you could hardly stop yourself from smiling.”

“You’re joking,” she hisses. “I didn’t know about it until you told me.”

“You said you were an only child. You said you came from the Midwest. You lied to my face. And that’s why …” Cogs click into place. I rest my knuckles against the cool glass so hard it almost breaks. “The Irish, that night at the rec center, the reason they left right when I got you inside… It was because they were after you. Not me, not Nario.”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I heard that Dad put a hit out on me. I’m not sure.”

“The Elephant never forgets,” I whisper. “You got his hand amputated.”

“Yeah.” She laughs strangely. “Don’t blame me if I don’t feel too guilty about it. Are you even going to look at me?”

I turn slowly, letting my fists fall to my sides. She sits in my oversized chair with her knees drawn up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her knees. Her bare legs and bare feet make her look oddly vulnerable. Her curled hair makes her look younger. Her freckles shine through despite the makeup Mother applied. She’s gorgeous.

She’s a gorgeous, beautiful woman who stabbed me in the back. I misjudged her. I thought I loved her. Maybe I still do.

“What a mess,” I whisper.

“I know you have to banish me now, or worse—I know you have to punish me—so if this is the last time we’re going to see each other, you need to know something: I’m pregnant, Carlo.”

I reel back, collapsing against the glass. I think of how my own father was smiling when the bullet tore through him, how the Elephant’s laugh rang out over the lake as the Irishmen—Hazel’s fucking kin—came running from the trees. I think about Hazel at home, waiting for Fergal and Benjamin to return.

And now she’s pregnant with my child. I’ve gotten the Irish princess pregnant.

“You’re lying.”

She leaps to her feet, walks around the desk, and slaps me on the chest. “Fuck you, Carlo!” she yells. “Do you really think I’d lie about that? Emily knows. Ask her. Fuck you. I’m not telling you this to try and guilt you into keeping me safe. Do what you need to do. I just thought you deserved to know.”

“Keeping you safe?”

What the hell does she think I’m going to do to her?

I reach out and touch her belly for a moment. She closes her hand over mine, pressing my palm hard against her skin. I can feel it through the fabric of the dress. My child is in there. My blood. My heir.

I snatch my hand away and return to the window, ignoring the glistening of her emerald eyes. I take out my cell phone and text Nario: Set Hazel up in the penthouse with armed guards. I want her kept safe. But I don’t want to see her. Do it now and send a man for her.

I walk around to the desk and drop into my seat.

“What are you doing?” Hazel asks, hovering on the other side.

“I’m waiting,” I say coldly.

“For what?”

“Don’t worry. You won’t be harmed. But I can’t stand to look at you for one more fucking second.”

She grabs a calculator at hand and throws it against the wall. It shatters into a thousand pieces.

The elevator opens moments later and Nario walks in, Ubert trailing him.

“Take her to the penthouse, Ubert,” I instruct. “Carefully. She’s liable to throw a temper tantrum. Oh, and keep her away from sharp objects unless you want a knife between the shoulder blades.”

“Fuck you, Carlo,” she says with wild eyes.

“You’re so creative with your insults, Colleen.”

“Do not call me that!”

I rise at once and stab the letter opener so firmly into the desk it lodges up to the hilt with a dull thud. “You’re the traitor here. Maybe I should ask Ubert to explain what normally happens to traitors in this business. Consider yourself lucky and keep your goddamn mouth shut.”

She flips me the bird and then walks over to Ubert. “Come on, Ubert. Let’s go before he tries to hit me or something. I don’t want to be around him when he’s like this.”

Ubert looks to me for permission. I give a subtle nod. It’s only when they’ve disappeared into the elevator—Hazel flipping me the bird again as the doors close—that I turn to Nario. “Make sure they transport her intelligently,” I tell him. “Just … just keep her safe. And out of my fucking sight.”

I turn and, a sudden surge of white rage moving through me, grab the edge of the desk and flip it. The computer and the keyboard and the stationery go flying. I grab the letter opener from the mess and start stabbing the desk, hacking it to pieces, one stab for every bullet the Elephant fired on that fateful fucking day, every bullet Hazel’s goddamn father fired.

I keep stabbing until the wound on my forearm reopens and Nario places his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he says, a tremble in his voice. He’s never seen me like this. “Carlo, it’s over. Relax, man. Relax.”

I sit back, heaving in breaths, as blood drips down my arm.

Everything around me is ruined.