Sinner’s Redemption by Rebecca Joyce
Chapter Thirty-One
Montana
“I’ve put her into a medically induced comma…” I barely heard August say, as he continued to rattle on about the damage that motherfucker did to her beautiful body. I didn’t need a rundown. I could see the damage clearly. There wasn’t a fucking spot on her body that wasn’t bruised, cut or broken. How she survived, I would never know. The pain she must have felt would have brought down the strongest of men, but my woman endured.
She survived.
A fighter till the end.
Hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks. Through it all, I never left her side. I couldn’t. She was lying in that bed because of me. The least I could do was sit with her and wait for her condemnation.
I stayed with her the whole time, even with the paramedics rushing her to the hospital. People came and went, but I stayed.
I couldn’t leave her.
I trusted no one.
Not even my club brothers.
All I ever wanted was to love her.
Instead, I broke her.
My hands shook as images of her on that fucking cross filtered into my head. My constant nightmare. I couldn’t shake it.
Getting to my feet, I walked over to the window in her private room and watched the city I loved so much and wondered if it was all worth it. Everything I’ve ever done, I did with one thing in mind. How would it benefit me? What gains could I achieve? I never cared about the ramifications of my actions. Then Tessa showed up and shit I never cared about before, now mattered. I didn’t know how to be anything but the man I was.
A criminal.
I lived by a strict set of rules. Rules created that swayed in my favor. She never balked. She accepted those rules and did her best to live by them until she couldn’t anymore. And instead of giving an inch, I demanded her obedience until she said no more.
That should have been the end of it.
I should have known better.
The only end in my line of work was death.
Looking down on my city, I sighed as my phone buzzed. Grabbing it, intending to turn it off, I saw the text icon. Remembering the missed texts, I walked back over to the chair next to her bed and sat.
Opening the app, I read:
Friday, June 2nd @ 10:17am: Montana, we need to talk. I know the truth. Please call me back.
Friday, June 2nd @ 10:45am: If you don’t want to call, then text me. I need to talk to you.
Friday, June 2nd @ 2:37pm: Okay. I get you are mad, but I have some questions that I need answered. Please text me.
Friday, June 2nd @ 7:52pm: You can’t ignore me forever, you stubborn ass.
Saturday, June 3rd @ 6:12am: … … …
Sunday, June 4th @ 3:16 am: I’m sorry. Please forgive me.
Closing the app, I clicked into my voice messages, quickly deleting those I didn’t give a damn about. When I heard…you have one message received on June 4th at 3:20am.
Hitting the speaker button, I listened as her voice simply said…
“I love you.”
That was all she said.
Three simple words.
Words that gutted me so deep I felt as if someone had stuck their hand in my chest, trying to rip out my heart. Leaning forward, I gasped, sucking in deep breaths of air as tears fell down my face.
It was then I fucking knew I couldn’t do this without her. Not anymore. There was no Montana without Tessa. I refused to live in a world without her anymore. She was in my blood, my very breath, the very heart that beat in my chest.
I didn’t care if we fought like cats and dogs. None of that mattered anymore. All I cared about was her and our son.
Fuck everything else.
“Montana?” a soft female voice said. Looking up, I saw Illyria Valentinetti standing in the doorway, holding a vase full of long white stem roses, my mother standing beside her. “I apologize for intruding, but I came to say sorry to Tess.”
Wiping my eyes, I sat up. “What do you have to apologize for?”
Illyria shut the door behind her before talking a few steps deeper into the room. “Tessa visited the club the Friday before everything happened. She wanted her old job back, and I said some things I shouldn’t haven’t.”
Looking at my phone, I muttered, “She sent me several texts that Friday. She said she knew the truth.”
Illyria solemnly nodded. “Yes.”
Narrowing my eyes, I growled. “What the fuck did you tell her?”
“Everything.”
“What do you mean, everything?”
“I was still butt hurt after the way she treated me at the Gala. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get my revenge. So, I told her the truth. Everything you’ve kept from her. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. She knows about Barney Graves, who her father is. I left nothing out.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “That’s why she texted and called. Why, Illyria? She was out. She wanted nothing to do with me anymore. She was going to take that job in West Virginia. She was going to be free.”
“No, she wasn’t,” my mother spoke up cautiously as my dad and Maxim entered the room. “She wasn’t going anywhere.”
Grinning, I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. “You fucking meddled again. Didn’t you? After I explicitly told you to stay the fuck out of my personal life, you couldn’t help yourself. What? What the fuck did you do now?”
Mom looked back at Dad, who firmly stood behind her, angry, waiting for her to speak.
“After Tessa broke it off with you, I remembered the offer at Charleston Memorial was still on the table. I knew she would take it and leave with York. When I called the director, he told me that Tessa accepted the position and would start Saturday, June 3rd. So, I had her served.”
“Excuse me?” I growled, sitting up. “Served with that?”
“Custody paperwork stating that she wasn’t allowed to leave the state until York was eighteen. That you wanted full custody if she took her son out of state. That if she stayed, you would share joint custody with York. I knew she wouldn’t fight it. She was broke, had no job and no family.”
“You BITCH!” I roared, jumping to my feet. “She would have been gone. She would have been safe!”
My mom nodded, crying. “I’m so sorry Montana.”
“Get out,” I growled. “The both of you get the fuck out.”
Dad wasted no time, taking mom by the hand and removing her from my sight. Illyria bowed her head before turning to leave. Standing with his arms crossed over his chest, Maxim glared at me. “What they did was wrong, but their hearts were in the right place.”
“Go away, Max. I don’t want to hear it.”
“You know I’m right, my friend.”
“Because of those two women, my Tessa was in the city for Petrovitch to grab. If they had just stayed out of my business, she would have been in West Virginia, safe.”
Maxim shook his head. “No, she wouldn’t have. Petrovitch would have found her and used her to get to you anyway, and you know it. Be angry at them all you want, Montana, but the truth of the matter is Tessa stayed. She stayed for you.”
“They coerced her.”
“Then explain the messages. I saw them. I even know what the voice mail said. You are not the only one with people, Montana. The fact is, Tessa stayed to fix things with you. The ball is now in your court. What you do next will decide your fate.”
I said nothing as Maxim turned and left.
I just wanted to be alone.
Two women that I trusted the most had gone behind my back and deceived me. It was a hard pill to swallow, but deep down, way down, I knew Maxim was right. As fucked up as it all was, I knew Illyria and my mom only meant to help.
I just wished they hadn’t.
“He’s gone underground. We’ve called all our contacts and they will call as soon as he pops back up on someone’s radar,” Mercy said, standing at the foot of her bed three days later. “Also, Malice is gone. He left a message saying he had a lead and would be back when he knew more.”
“What was the lead?” I muttered, holding Tessa’s hand. She still hadn’t woken from the coma August put her in. He had given her the drugs to bring her out of it two days ago, but so far nothing.
“Just said he had a lead.”
Shaking my head, I sighed.
After the Gala, I learned that Malice took a bullet to the back in the crossfire. While Silver wasn’t shot, she had a nasty head wound that caused a lot of brain swelling. The doctors weren’t sure the swelling would ever go down. Or if it did what cognitive deficiency she would have. Malice took the news the hardest, demanding he share a room with her, which shocked all of us. The brother never gave two shits about Silver and yet, he was the one who spotted her right away at the Gala.
To add to the confusion, none of us knew why Silver was even there. When I asked Kali if she invited Silver, my sister-in-law informed me that Silver wasn’t even on the guest list.
After the hospital released Malice, he parked his ass beside her bed and never left. Then one day, while he was taking a leak in the bathroom, he walked out to find the bed empty.
Silver had vanished.
No one had seen her since.
Malice lost his shit and tore up the room, along with taking down three orderlies and two security officers. It took a lot of talking and bribery to get my brother out of jail. When I did, that fucker stayed locked up tight in the mailroom, refusing to come out for days.
“If you are worried, activate his tracker. I don’t see a problem here.”
“I wouldn’t be bothering you if I hadn’t already thought of that. The stubborn fuck removed it. We found it in Silver’s bedroom on top of her dresser.”
“Jesus Christ,” I moaned, rubbing my face. “Okay, call Father Dominick at Saint Agatha’s and tell him Malice has gone off the reservation. Then put in a call to all our clubs. Let them know to keep an eye out. Tell all of them not to approach. Just call with a location.”
Mercy nodded, typing what I said into his phone.
“Then I want his room and Silver’s scoured with a fine-tooth comb. Go through everything, and I want the rooms dusted for prints. They left something out from that story they told me, and I want to know what it is.”
“What story?” Mercy asked, looking at me.
Waving him off, I shook my head. “Not my story to tell. Just find me something. Is that all?”
“One more thing,” Mercy stated. “Your mom has formally requested an appointment with you at your earliest convenience.”
“No,” I said firmly, turning away from my V.P. just as my phone started ringing. Seeing the unknown caller, I picked it up and asked, “How’s my son?”
“Is that how you greet me after everything I’ve done?”
Growling, I asked again, “How’s my son?”
“The perfect gentleman with wonderful manners. So, unlike you.”
“Layla isn’t overwhelmed?”
“No Montana,” Giovanni laughed. After the clusterfuck went down with Tessa, I wasn’t taking any chances when it came to York. I called in a favor and had my son whisked away under the cover of night. No one knew where my son was. Not even my parents and I planned on keeping it that way. With Petrovitch hellbent on destroying me, I wanted my son out of the line of fire.
“We are perfectly fine. No one suspects a thing. Even if they did, there would be no way they could find me. My island is uncharted. Only the family knows about it, and the only one who knows we are here is you.”
“Thank you for this, Giovanni. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t be there for York and Tessa at the same time.”
“I understand. You take care of your woman. Your bambino is having fun in the sun with my daughter. All is well here.”
“Thank you.”
“How is your woman?”
“Still sleeping. The doctors gave her the medication to come out of the coma three days ago, but so far, nothing yet.”
“Trauma is tricky. The more she can rest unobstructed, the faster she will heal. She will wake, Montana. Of that, I am sure. When she does, have you decided what you are going to do?”
Sighing, I got up and walked over to the window. Leaning my head against it, I replied, “No. Thanks to my mother and your annoying sister, they interfered in my relationship.”
Giovanni chuckled. “That sounds like my sister. What did she do?”
“She told Tessa everything. Every good and bad detail from the moment she returned to the city. Instead of leaving well enough alone, your sister opened a can of worms. And my mother blew the fucking lid off. Tessa was going to take the job in West Virginia, but my mother stopped that dead in the tracks when she had Tessa served with custody papers on my behalf. Only, she failed to tell me. So instead of Tessa being safe in West Virginia, she was here in the city. Easy for Petrovitch to take her.”
“You know that would have happened no matter where she went. Men like Petrovitch will always get what they want. Remember what happened to Layla and her father? I thought she was safe, and he still took her.”
“I remember. You and Maxim blew one of my docks sky high.”
“And I would again for the love of my life.”
“She knows the truth, Giovanni. About everything. I’m pretty damn sure she will never want to see me again.”
“No, I won’t.”