“Sweetheart, listen to me. Ali is fine. We got her a few streets away. Lucio was getting away on foot. The tires on the car out front were slashed. He was never going to get far. Roamyn has Ali. She’s okay. Elias has been shot and Lucio still escaped, but we got her, Linds. We got her.”
I frown back at him, trying to process his words as he stares down at me with nothing but truth in his eyes.
“Wh-what?” I stammer.
“We got her, sweetheart. You’re safe. Ali’s safe. Right now, that’s a win in my book.”
I stand in shock, unmoving. “Ali’s okay? Where is she?” I swing my head around searching for her through the mass of law enforcement and emergency vehicles scattered through the street.
“She’s being checked over by the paramedics. Roamyn is with her and he isn’t leaving her. That I can promise you. Come on, I’ll take you to her.”
I nod at Mason and allow relief to slowly take hold of me as his words echo in my head. Ali’s safe. I’m safe.
My hands dig into my dad’s dog tags as they hang down the front of my tank top. There are men and women everywhere watching me as I search for the familiar face of my little sister, while I’m clutching onto their colleague’s hand. I don’t care that they’re staring at the two of us. I don’t care I’m only in my cotton pajama shorts and a tiny tank top. My focus is on one person and one person only.
My heart leaps into my throat. I drop Mason’s hold on me and bring my hand up to cover my mouth. “Ali.”
I pound the pavement all the way to my sister, who sits in the back of an ambulance talking to a paramedic.
Her head jolts up at my voice, eyes shining. “Lindsey.”
She reaches out to comfort me as I stop in front of her and I embrace her tiny body into a long hug.
Her shoulders bounce as she sobs into my shoulder. I soothe her with whispers and kind words as I breathe in fresh air and turn my head around to find Mason. He’s already staring at me when I catch sight of him through the thick of the commotion, the criminals, and the cops. He glances around then back at me and a smirk appears on his gorgeous face, warming me up on the inside. My lips curve up into a bright smile and I don’t know how long we stand smiling at one another, but the silence passing between us says so much more than any words are capable of. We fell in love despite corruption. We lost each other in spite of treachery. We found each other again within the chaos.
I want nothing more than to pull Mason’s lips to mine and kiss away the past. I want to close my eyes and dream of our future while he holds me close. But I can’t do either of those things. I can’t erase what I’ve done. I can only accept responsibility and let go of who I was so I can become who I want to be. And maybe if I can forgive myself for all the bad choices that led to this day, Mason might be able to forgive me too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Mason
Chaos. Anarchy. Hostility. When will it all end?
How many kings will fall before they realize only one can rule? One falls, another one rises. Lucio Marino will now take his place upon his throne built on the sins of his father and his father’s before him. But the boy won’t know what hits him. He should run, and run far.
Lorenzo Baccarelli is back from the dead. Misery’s Angels want Marino turf. It’s thanks to them we found the location of the warehouse where the girls were held. And now, Lucio has a threat worse than the rest, a family seeking vengeance. Our family.
It will be bloody.
It will be dirty.
It will be one hell of a war.
Lindsey
It’s the little things in life we take for granted, like the smooth ride into dreamland when sliding into freshly washed sheets with clean-shaven legs. Good hair days that require little to no effort, or the simplistic feeling of contentment. All small delights I yearned for once I thought I may never have them again. Slipping my top over my head, I breathe in the material smelling of my floral washing powder. Now clean and refreshed after being released from the hospital, I want to hibernate in my loft within the comfort of my bed, or confined in Mason’s arms.
I push my damp hair away from my face and take in the view by my window while my skin catches the heat of the afternoon sun. Warmth fills me and murmurs of familiar voices echo down the hall. Roamyn, Alison, Cassidy, Oliver, and Mason are sitting in my living room appreciating the bittersweet end to the day. Life still courses through our veins. We’re safe and alive, but it came at a price. Lucio shot Elias in the spine and his legs gave way, the blow rendering him partially paralyzed. A shudder ripples over my skin as I picture him lying in the hospital bed I saw him in earlier.
A hand comes to rest on my lower back and I turn into the man I’ve grown to love, who despite everything I held back, grew to care for me in a way no one else ever had. We haven’t spoken about us. There’s been no appropriate time and in the grand scheme of things, our relationship status is not of highest priority given the events of the day. But now we’re alone in my bedroom and away from danger, unfortunately my heart has yet to escape to the safety zone.
Heaviness weighs down my tired limbs and I fall into Mason’s embrace.
“Hi,” I mumble into his chest.
“Hi. That’s all you got for me?” His voice is teasing and sweet, music to my ears as I lift my head up so I can look at him. God, I’ve missed him.
“I don’t know what you want from me, Mason.”
His hands slide around the base of my neck, one up each side so his thumbs have access to caress my cheeks. I tilt my head to the side, basking in the feel of his hands on me.
“These past few months I’ve been trying to move forward with my life, for my sake and for Charlotte’s. But I can’t seem to go one day without you springing back up in my mind and sending me straight back to the past. I have to let go of what happened or I’ll never be able to move on, Lindsey.”
Every second, every word my hope disintegrates, but instead of blocking the waves of heartbreak with a wall of deception, I let it crash and wash away the pieces of my heart.
I pull back from him and wipe away the tear about to fall down my cheek. I stare him right in the eyes so he can see my desolation, feel my pain. I can no longer mask it, and never again will I hide. I’m done keeping secrets. I’m done lying my way through life and I want him to see that. So here it is. The truth trickles down my cheeks. It roars from my eyes and it slips past my lips.
“I understand that. Moving forward is the best thing for all of us.”
“It is. I’m ready to let go. I’m letting go of what happened between us, the accident in the park, all of it. Because Charlotte and I talked. We decided we aren’t moving forward without you. So right here, right now, we put everything behind us and move forward together. No bullshit from here on in. We’re gonna sit and let our demons out, sweetheart, because I don’t plan on letting any of them come between us again.”
My eyes widen and I shake my head. “Why? How can you both forgive me after everything I’ve done?”
He stands, gaze unfocused, and a slight smile on his handsome face. “You know, every now and again, when Roamyn would be trying to hook me up with some random woman, or I’d visit my parents and see the way they looked at one another, I’d wonder why I hadn’t met someone I could see myself falling in love with. And now I know why. Not one of the women in my past was anything like you, Lindsey. You’re one of a kind and when I met you, I realized why it never worked with anyone else.”
A smirk tugs at my lips and my heart soars. “You can be incredibly sweet sometimes, Detective Cole.”