Page 88 of Deceitful Oath
Once the fire dies out, there will be no evidence of any of this.
I squeeze my eyes shut when I spot Rob propped up against the doorframe on the back porch, a bullet wound in his forehead.He tried to help me. He may have been the enemy, but he tried to help me.
A fresh round of tears spills down my face as Rocco gently slides me into the backseat of Rafael’s SUV. Rafael slips in beside me, resting his head on my shoulder.
“I love you,” he whispers, squeezing my hand three times.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rafael
I hold Lux the entire ride back to my apartment.
Eventually she stops crying, but her body shakes from the shock of everything that’s happened. My insides clench with every sniffle, every tremble of her body.
It’s my fault. I pulled her into this world and put her in danger. If it wasn’t for me, she would be safe. She would be happily floating through the world, a smile on her face, getting herself into wholesome trouble.
I haven’t seen her smile in far too long and the thought destroys me.Mylife,mychoices are what got us here. Because I believed Vince. Because I didn’t need proof that someone was guilty. All that mattered to me was the word of my men.
It wasguilty until proven innocentin my books, and it caused Lux’s entire world to come crashing down. The guilt ate away at me, gnawing a hole through my heart until I couldn’t handle it anymore.
“I’m so sorry, Luxy,” I whisper into her hair, rocking her back and forth in the backseat. “So, so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she sniffles out, her voice muffled by my jacket. We’re both covered in blood and bruises. Her ankles are still bound.What a fucking mess.
“It’s not okay,” I correct her gently. “But I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. You’re safe now.”
Except she isn’t, a little voice reminded me. With all the chaos of the fire and the ambush, Vince must have slipped away without anyone noticing him. Or he was never there to begin with.
Vince, I’m quickly realizing, is much smarter than I ever gave him credit for.
For years, he’s blended into the background, acting as my father’s biggest yes man.
He never proposed any crazy schemes or strayed too far from what was expected of him. He never tried to pull the spotlight onto himself like some of the younger guys try to do.
He was a perfect wallflower, until he wasn’t. That calculating smile, the dead eyes—I need to destroy him before he can cause any more harm. But catching him seems to be impossible, even with half the city after him.
Uncle Rocco drops us off in the parking garage and helps me unbind Lux’s ankles. He gives me a look of concern when I wish him a good night and wrap an arm around her exhausted frame. She leans on me heavily, barely keeping her eyes open.
“We should call Dr. Wisen,” he says gruffly, eyeing our bloody appearances. “Maybe I should hang around a bit longer.”
“We’re fine,” I assure him, already dragging Lux toward the elevators. “I’ll call Wisen. Thanks for everything, Uncle Rocco.”
He nods begrudgingly and hangs around until the elevator doors close. I know he’s worried. As the next oldest Romano after my father, he feels some paternal duty toward me now.
While I appreciate the concern, all I want is to crawl into bed with Lux’s warm body tucked against mine.
“Who is Dr. Wisen?” she asks when we get into the entryway. I start peeling off my dirty, bloody clothes, and she follows suit until we’re both naked and shivering in the marble hall. I tug her toward the master bathroom.
“He’s my personal doctor,” I say, turning on the shower to piping hot. “He makes house calls and doesn’t report what he encounters. It’s a safety precaution.”
“I see,” she says, her eyes widening. I know she doesn’t understand my life, and maybe doesn’t want to, but she’s also trying not to judge.That’s more than I could have ever asked for.
We take the world’s fastest shower, soaping up enough to get most of the blood and dirt off. I examine Lux’s head wound as I gently shampoo her hair. She’s curled up on the marble bench, her knees pressed to her chest.
The head wound isn’t as bad as I feared, but her eyes are haunted. I can almost see her near-death ordeal playing out like a horror movie behind that empty gaze.
Death and destruction never truly leave someone unaffected unless they’re a sociopath, but it’s easier for me to handle—for someone in this world to handle.