I threw myself from the backseat and sprinted up the cracked path to the front door without ever glancing back. I pushed inside and slammed it closed behind me, simultaneously snapping the lock into place, sealing myself up in the only place I’d ever felt safe.
I knew no one should be home, not for hours still. Part of me prayed they would be; I’d never needed my mom more than I did at that moment but, at the same time, I prayed they would be nowhere near the house while that monster was close.
A shadow shifted in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. I knew immediately it wasn’t either of my parents based on the sheer size alone, the width of the shoulders, the cruel chunk of metal glinting in their hand.
“Nero?”
The gun vanished into the waistband of his pants. Then he was storming towards me. In seconds, I was engulfed in his arms and held with a ferocity that cut off my air.
“Mia,” he breathed into my ear. “Did he hurt you? Mia?” His hand raked up my back and stiffened at the brush of skin where the zipper of my dress gapped in a V. He pulled back to look into my face. “Did he hurt you?”
I hadn’t realized I was crying until droplets rained from my chin. They stained the front of my uniform, leaving little, dark circles in the fabric. I heaved a heavy inhale that caught in my chest in a sob. Then another, each one a fist tightening around my throat, suffocating me.
Nero bent at the knees and scooped me up into his arms, lifting me against his chest. In two strides, he carried me to the sofa and sat with me in his lap.
“Talk to me,” he murmured into my temple.
I swallowed, trying to get past the knot in my throat. “He … he knew my name,” I rasped. “He knew where I lived and … my mom. He … he had a gun…”
I told him everything in between broken hiccups. He held me, still and silent until I mentioned the star.
He shifted back just enough to tug my collar down over the stamp.
“Fucker!” he snarled.
I sniffled. “What does it mean?”
“That he’s a prick.” At my weary frown, he sighed and adjusted my collar back into place. “It’s a warning to me and Davien for being careless.”
“He said he wouldn’t forgive you twice. What did you do?”
The coarse pad of his thumb brushed at my tears, sweeping back bits of hair clinging to my cheek.
“For the other night. For telling you about Ernie. I never should have brought you with me. I put you at risk. This is my fault.”
“But I didn’t tell anyone anything,” I protested.
“I know.”
Without further explanation, he rose to his feet, pulling me with him. I peered up at him questioningly but he only took my hand and led me upstairs.
It was on the fifth step that I thanked my blessings that my parents were still at work, blissfully unaware of the mess I’d created. It was a small miracle in the scheme of things. I had no idea how I would explain this to them if they had been home. All I could do was thank God for that small favor.
At the top, Nero guided me to the bathroom. He nudged me onto the toilet seat with a gentle push on my shoulders.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, inexplicably exhausted.
“You’re going to take a bath,” he said, turning to the tub.
I didn’t bother trying to argue as the faucet was flipped on, filling the room with the rush of water. I watched him, a bear of a man, move effortlessly around my thumb sized bathroom. Occasionally, he held up bottles, silently asking my opinion before tipping them into the crashing stream, creating a healthy mountain of lavender scented bubbles in the basin.
My terror had dissolved into an odd numbness that echoed between my ears, flowing nicely with the roar of water. I could have sat there for days just watching the water rise.
“Mia?” Fabric rustled and one knee popped as he knelt in front of me. His large hands settled on my hips, warm weights holding me in place. “He won’t come near you again.”
I shook my head. “No one can stop him.”
“I will.” Four long fingers tucked beneath my chin and gently twisted my face to this. “I promise you. I’ll fix this.”
It was impossible not to believe him when the fierce determination was as clear as a sheet of glass in his eyes, but I wasn’t new to his world. I wasn’t naïve. I knew the hierarchy and, while Nero and Davien were frightening and strong, and held power on the streets, Alejandro was a whole other beast. He was the boogieman, the monster in the shadows. He was untouchable, unstoppable. He would not be subdued by Nero, or anyone.
I didn’t tell Nero that. I let him believe his own promise while I questioned what the hell I was doing, questioned my loyalties to my family; what kind of daughter was I if I continued to let Davien and Nero into my life after this? A normal, rational woman would see the red flags and tell them to fuck off, to stay far away, but I looked up into Nero’s face and I knew I couldn’t and that made me the worst kind of person.
“Mia?”
I rose when he tugged on my hand and stood quietly while he removed my dress and shoes. Both were tossed carelessly into the corner. I watched his eyes harden when glancing at the mark on my skin, the scar I knew would be there long after the ink had washed away.
“Come on.”
He helped me into the scalding water. The sweet pain made me hiss as it prickled up my skin, littering goosebumps and lifting faint hairs all across my body.
“Too hot?”
I shook my head, sinking into the steam. “It’s perfect.”
He said nothing else as I went the rest of the way to my chin. He remained tight lipped while reaching for a rag. I watched him soak a corner, lather it with soap and bring it to my shoulder and the star rippling under the water.
It came off with five hard scrubs. I knew he’d tried to be gentle, but the thing had only faded, becoming a faint outline before it was gone entirely.
“Why are you here?” I asked once he was satisfied he’d erased the whole thing. “I thought you had a meeting.”
The ruined rag was tossed into the sink with a squelching plop. He dried his hands on the towel hanging on the rack, sat himself down on the covered toilet seat and sighed.
“We needed to make sure you got home,” he murmured. “We had to make sure you were safe.”
I studied his beautiful face. “You told him I was a prostitute.”
His eyebrows immediately furrowed. “We told him what he needed to hear.” He must have seen the annoyed disbelief on my face because he exhaled and slid his body forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You can’t care about people in our line of work, Mia. You can’t…” he broke off to examine the hands clasped between his knees. “Those people become collateral damage. They become a weakness, a mark for people to use against you.”
“But you have Davien,” I pointed out. “You’ve been best friends forever.”
“And there isn’t a day I don’t live in fear of something happening to him, or worse, Eduardo deciding to put a hit on him. He’s more than my best friend. He’s my brother. I would die for him.
I thought of Laine. We may have grown up in different cities, but I loved her with the ferocity of a sister, a twin. She was my best friend. I would kill for her without question. Yet his reasoning only left more questions.