Power and manipulation from the grave feels worse than when the person does it straight to your face.
I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand the choices my father made in his life or why he was such an evil man, but I do understand my mother a little better.
Seeing how broken Ruby is after everything that happened at the hand of my enemy because of my family feels unforgiveable. She might not care what happens to Ricco now, but I sure as hell do.
Leaving the hospital, I go straight back to the house and down to that room. Stopping in front of Ricco, I look at his sad and pathetic face as he hangs slumped from where he’s been bleeding for hours.
Grabbing a fistful of hair, I pull his head back to look at me, and his dull eyes meet mine. “You didn’t win. I’m still getting my happy life. Ruby will still have a happy life. Dez, my mother, we’ll move on and live the lives we want. Happy lives.” I let his head fall, putting my gun under his chin. “Enjoy hell, motherfucker.”
Turning to leave his lifeless body hanging there, I call for my clean-up crew as I walk up to my bathroom.
Turning on the shower and stepping out of my clothes, I throw them into the trash. Steam fills the room as I look at my reflection in the mirror, blood-covered hands, blood splattered across my face and neck, dark circles under my eyes from not sleeping for months.
“Wash your hands of this, and make it right,” I tell myself before turning away from the man I don’t want to be anymore.
28
Ruby
A nurse woke me sometime after the sun had gone down and told me I needed to go back to my own bed. I asked if I could stay in the same room as Dez, and surprisingly, they allowed me to.
Roisin told me the next day that Sonny was making changes to the house for us before we came home, and that was why he wasn’t here. I wasn’t sure if she was lying to me or telling the truth, but either way, it still stung that he wasn’t here.
Dez woke up more and more with each day that followed, and soon, we both started physical therapy. He needed to learn to walk without certain toes, and I had to work up strength that my body lost from lack of movement for so long.
That’s how we spent our days, therapy and laughing at the soap operas that played on TV. At night, after the nurses did their final rounds, I would crawl in bed with Dez and he would hold me and we’d fall asleep like we had every day we were held captive. We were each other’s safety net and comfort.
A week later, Sonny finally showed up again.
It was early morning, and I was in bed with Dez like I was every morning.
“The fuck is this?” he asked, waking us both with a start.
“Sonny, it’s not what you think,” I say, trying to defend myself at the same time Dez asks, “Finally decided to show your face ‘round here, huh?”
“Looks like the two of you are pretty cozy.”
“We are. Wanna join?” Dez says with a smirk.
“Desmond!” I chide. “Stop it!” I get out of bed and walk to where Sonny is standing, working his tense jaw. “I missed you.” I smile up at him.
“Did you?” he asks with a raised brow.
My face pulls in hurt. “Why are you being an ass? You’re the one who stayed away.” I turn to go to my own bed, but he stops me, pulling on my hand.
Taking in a deep breath, he runs a hand over my head and through my hair. “I’m sorry, Tink.” He kisses me on the head. “You’re right.”
“Why the cold shoulder?” Dez asks Sonny. It’s then that I realize Sonny’s absence in the days since he found us didn’t just hurt me, but him too.
Walking to my bed, he sits back and pulls me down to lie against him. That’s when I notice he isn’t in a suit; he’s in joggers and a Henley. I smile, liking this more casual dress on him.
“I had some things to take care of and some changes to make,” Sonny says cryptically.
“Like…” Dez pushes.
“I had to bury some things from our past,” he says, making me tense from the meaning in his words.
I turn to look up at him. “You mean it? He’s gone?”
He looks deep into my eyes and nods. “He can never hurt you again.”
Tears immediately burn my eyes, and I press my lips to his. “Thank you.”
“Wish I coulda done it,” Dez says from next to us, looking down at his hands in his lap. I can see him clenching his teeth together.
“I also tore down the house,” Sonny says.
“You what?!” I shriek, making him smile.
“It was nothing but bad memories. Filled the fucking bottom with concrete to lay a new foundation. Let some other fucker live there,” he says before adding, “I bought us a new place. One where we can all start fresh.”
“We?” I ask.
He smiles at me and rolls his eyes. “Yes, we. Dez included.”
“I knew you weren’t mad,” Dez says.
“You better learn to keep your hands off my wife, or you’re going to lose fingers to match your lost toes.” Sonny points at him, making Dez laugh.
A couple days later, we were both discharged from the hospital, and Sonny drove us to our new home. It seemed just as large as the other one from the outside, but he was right; this one didn’t feel as weighed down by the past and bad memories.
The main part of the house is open and airy with lots of natural light, such a contrast from the old house. It’s beautiful. Sonny got loaner furniture to use until we can go shopping. I kissed him good and hard when he said I could get anything I wanted.
The in-law suite off the side is perfect for Roisin, who’s already made herself at home and decorated her part of the house.
Out back, we still have a pool and patio and a huge BBQ and fire pit area. There’s also a small guest cottage for Dez. It’s perfect for him in that it keeps him close but also gives him a space to make his own.
When Sonny takes me upstairs, he picks me up and carries me. At the top, I tell him to put me down so I can look at everything. There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms lining the hallway that leads back to the master suite.
I stop at the bedroom closest to the master and look inside. Biting my lips nervously, I decide now is a good a time as any to tell him about the baby.
“What?” he asks, looking at me nervously. “Do you not like the house? We can find something else. Anything you want, Tink.”
I shake my head. “It’s not that. This is perfect. All of it.”
“Then why are you looking like that? You look nervous or like you’re about to cry.”
Walking to him, I take his hands in mine. “What do you think of making this into a nursery?” I ask, looking up at him and waiting for him to understand.
“A nursery?”
I nod. “Yeah, because in about six months we’re going to need to have a place for our baby to sleep.”
“You’re pregnant?”
I nod again, and a tear spills down my cheek as I smile. “I found out not long before…” I trial off.
“It’s mine,” he says on a whisper.
I nod again, cupping his face in my hands. “Of course it’s yours.”