Wounded Redemption by Brook Wilder
Chapter 14
Rory
I sat back in the chair and scrolled through the final product, feeling a catch in my throat as I did so. It was by far the best article I had written, taking Angelica’s words and crafting them into words that showed the emotion she had been feeling. It was what Harper would have called an exposé of the heart, meant to tug at the heartstrings from the first line.
It was heartbreaking. While I should have felt a sense of pride in what I was about to do, there was also a sense of loss in the words. Angelica had lost everything: her innocence, her family, her future. There was nothing in the article that wasn’t about loss, and I had every arrow I could point to Carmine D’Agostino.
I had toyed with the idea of having Nico be interviewed to corroborate the story but decided against it. The last thing he needed was for his father to turn the blame on him and have the police start to sniff around us again. The problem was, I didn’t know who his father had in the police that was still on Carmine’s payroll now that Elias was gone, and he could still turn the tables.
The best part about it was that I owned the paper that was going to print the story. There was no worry that it would be scrapped at the last minute or that it wouldn’t run on the front page as I had planned. It was my baby, all of it, and I was going to take full advantage.
I just wished I had someone else to validate the story other than my husband.
I saved the copy on the file share and stood, stretching my back. Angelica hardly had said a word after speaking with me, not leaving her room to even see her son. I hated it. I didn’t know how to help her move past this terrible tragedy in her life, and since years had passed, I was afraid that she might be too far gone. It wasn’t hard for me to see why. A lesser person would have ended her life.
Still, I had given some thought to her one comment about Elias. Had she really loved him? That was what I was gathering from her words, that she had fallen in love with her torturer. It wasn’t uncommon for that to happen. After all, sometimes the only warmth that a person who had been traumatized like Angelica received was from those that had caused it.
Now Elias was dead, and she really didn’t have anyone save a few strangers in us. Once this was all over, I wondered what we would do for her. She needed therapy, but I also thought that she just needed peace and quiet. Based on what I saw, she wouldn’t be able to care for Lorenzo now, not in the state that she was in.
Which posed another question that I hadn’t broached with Nico yet. I honestly didn’t know how to. Lorenzo clearly needed a loving family, but could we be that family for him while Angelica healed? Could Nico look at the boy that had the man’s face that had caused a good bit of this and not hold it against him? I wanted to believe he could, but I also could understand if he couldn’t.
My cell rang and I picked up it, seeing it was Emilia. “I have nothing for you,” she stated the moment I answered her call. “I’ve tried, seriously, but the names that Nico supplied are complete dead ends. Even my father can’t get to some of them.”
The names she was referring to were the others that had been there that night that Angelica had been raped. Nico had written down all the ones he had recognized, which was a mixture of his father’s minions and the ones that had been there at the party that might have known what was about to happen. “It’s okay,” I sighed, brushing my hand through my hair. “I figured it was a long shot.” We couldn’t let Nico reach out, so Emilia was disguising herself so that she could see if they would talk to a beautiful woman instead.
Clearly it wasn’t working. “I will keep trying,” she said sadly. “I know this means a lot.”
“I still have the article,” I reminded her. “And he can’t stop me from publishing it.”
“Just be careful, Rory,” she cautioned. “Carmine’s not going to be happy about what you have to say, and though the fucker deserves it, I don’t want to lose my best friend in the process.”
We ended the call and I walked out of the office, crossing the living room to look out over the city. I knew I was about to start an even bigger war, but what choice did I have? I needed to draw Carmine out of his hole, poke the bear with the stick until he slipped up.
Words were the best way to do it. He wouldn’t see them coming. He would think that I wouldn’t be brave enough to go up against him, but that was Carmine’s problem. He thought he ruled everything and everyone.
What he didn’t know was that I would rather die than have him continue to hurt his son like he had. Nico’s life, his entire life, had been nothing but a ball of hurt, and I wanted to help him get away from it. I wanted Nico to know that there was so much more to his life, to our future, than what his father was trying to do.
I wanted him to know that he was worth fighting for, and since he had been fighting this battle alone, I was going to show him that he didn’t have to any longer.
I had his back.
**
The next few days were tense. While I finalized the article for publishing, Nico continued to pound his father’s investments, destroy his holdings, and take the empire down. Every night he came home weary from watching yet another business fall at his hands, and I knew that he didn’t like doing it. Because of this war, there were innocent people that were losing their businesses, their way of life, but Nico couldn’t have it both ways.
This was his only course.
One night, while I was tucking Anthony in, Nico came to the doorway and I knew something was wrong immediately. “What is it?” I asked, crossing the nursery quickly. “What happened?”
He drew in a breath, shoving his hand through his hair. “We have to go. I’ve got Vincent getting Angelica, and someone is handling Lorenzo, but I need for you to get Anthony.”
My heart stuck in my throat. “What happened?”
He didn’t look like he wanted to tell me, but in the end he leaned against the doorframe, his body deflating. “He killed two of the fucking guards around the building today and labeled them by number. The rest were able to hold off the attack, but we aren’t safe here any longer.”
There was worry in his voice, worry I hadn’t heard before, and I forced my own emotions down, compacting them for later. “All right,” I said, framing his face with my hands. “All right. We are in this together.”
He pressed his lips to mine, and I could feel the desperation in his kiss. Nico had never been this worried before, and he was scared for us. When he pulled away, I gave him a wobbly smile. “I have bags ready to go. I will get Anthony.”
“Thanks, Rory,” he said softly, his eyes searching mine. “I couldn’t do this without you. I hope you understand that.”
I knew that, but I was still scared as hell about what was to come. “Let’s get this moving.”
So, we did. Nico ushered us into an SUV, and I tried not to panic as I saw the guns that were drawn as we did so. Nico followed us with his own gun in his hand.
Whatever had happened was serious.
We drove through the night until we reached a cabin in the middle of nowhere, the guards roaming the woods while we climbed out. “This is off the grid,” Nico explained as he ushered me into the small four-bedroom cabin. “My uncle owned it, and when he died, I bought it.”
“Wouldn’t your father know that?” I asked, shifting a sleeping Anthony in my arms.
Nico shook his head. “Paid cash. The title is in a dummy name. He thinks it burned down years ago.”
Some of the anxiety did ease from my shoulders as Nico showed me one of the bedrooms. “You can put him in here,” he stated.
I laid our son down on the bed and put some pillows around him to keep him from rolling. “What about Lorenzo?”
“He’s in one of the other bedrooms,” Nico explained. “And Angelica is in one by herself.”
Straightening, I looked at him. “I want to see him.”
Nico took my hand and led me to Lorenzo’s bedroom, where the little boy was seated on the bed with his nanny. “Lorenzo,” I said softly as I approached the bed. “Are you okay?”
He turned those sad eyes to mine, and my heart wrenched in my chest. I was unable to stop myself from reaching out and pulling him into a hug. We had been trying out hugs since that night in the hallway, and tonight when his little body relaxed against mine immediately, I felt the dampness in my eyes. He was starting to trust me, and I couldn’t even describe what that meant to me.
I don’t know how long I held him, but finally I had to let him go, tucking the covers around him and handing him the stuffed animal that Emilia had brought for him. “There’s no reason to be scared,” I whispered against his forehead. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
“I will stay with him,” the nanny stated, giving me a small smile. “Since it’s a bit tight here.”
“Thank you,” I told her before walking out of the bedroom.
Nico was waiting outside of the room, his hands in his pockets. “Do you want to check on Angelica as well?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Nico. I can’t get through to her.” No matter how much I tried to engage her in conversation again, she never uttered a word, and I felt ridiculous trying to force her to talk.
He drew me into his arms, rubbing my back. “It’s okay. You have done all you can, Rory. I mean, look at what you have done with that little boy in there. He trusts you.”
“I just wish I could do more,” I murmured against his shoulder. “We have to stop Carmine.”
“And we will,” Nico replied, pulling me back to meet his gaze. “I’m fucking sorry I had to uproot you like this.”
I shrugged, trying to keep the mood light. “It’s like the vacation we haven’t ever taken.”
He grinned, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Trust me. When we take a vacation, it’s going to be without my fucking guards and somewhere where you are naked all the time.”
I drew in a breath. “I have to go to the Midtown offices tomorrow,” I said, seeing the change of emotions on his face.
“Fuck, no,” he replied, shaking his head immediately. “I’m not going to let you do that.”
I clutched his arms. “I have to, Nico. I have to go and put the article on the press.”
“Give it to someone else.”
“I can’t,” I cried out, frustrated that he wasn’t listening to me. “Everyone is at home, and I can’t risk their lives.”
He leaned in. “I can’t fucking risk yours, Rory. My father wants to hurt me, and if he took you away from me…” He didn’t finish, but I felt the tremor go through his body.
“Nico,” I said softly, meeting his angry gaze. “I can’t let him win. This article is everything, and you know just as well as I do that it’s going to be the only way that we defeat him. Let me go. Send a dozen guards with me, but don’t let him win.”
My husband released a ragged breath, looking away. “You will just go, won’t you?”
“You know I will,” I answered softly. “We can’t be more than a few hours from the city, can we?”
“I will go with you,” he ground out, refusing to meet my gaze.
I couldn’t let him do that. Without me here to protect Anthony and the guards he was likely going to send with us, that would leave the children and Angelica with a skeleton crew. “Anthony is our number one concern,” I reminded him. “I need for you to stay behind and make sure that your father doesn’t touch him. You know he’s going to come after him.” Carmine wanted our baby so he could raise him to be just as evil as he was in some sick, twisted way to overthrow Nico. He had tried with Lorenzo, but now that the truth was out about who his father truly was, Carmine couldn’t use the little boy any longer.
“Fine,” Nico replied, sounding not at all excited about it. “Fine. You will take guards, Rory, and go straight there and straight back.” He drew in a breath. “You’re right. Anthony is our top priority.”
My heart twisted at the thought of leaving Nico here, but it was the right thing to do. He could protect our baby boy, and I could handle myself if something happened. Besides, I would rather it be me than our son any day. “We have to do this,” I said softly. “I have to make sure that this is successful.”
“I need a fucking drink,” he muttered, pushing away from the wall and walking away. I let him go, knowing that I was likely tearing him in two with this decision, but it was the right one. He knew it, and I knew it. I probably should have never left the city to begin with.
Instead of following my husband, I walked into the bedroom where we had left Anthony and sat on the bed, brushing my son’s forehead with my fingers as he slept. This was my heart, my life, him and Nico. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to breathe. There would be no going forward for me, but if I could take down Carmine and my life was forfeit, then I would do it so that Nico could be free.
It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but if the time came, I would gladly do it.
