“I’m at the penthouse. Alone.” It was lonely when he wasn’t here, so I couldn’t be closer to the truth.
“Good.” I could hear the smile in his voice and it made me shiver. My uncle wasn’t an archetypical evil person, at least not in my opinion, but I was starting to get a more and more negative view of him. “What information do you have for me?”
“Information?”
“About the family. What can you tell me about their weaknesses? The way they operate.”
I sighed. I knew he wanted this from me, but I just wasn’t ready to start giving him information. To begin with, I didn’t really have anything of value, but it also just felt wrong.
“I don’t-“
“The only way this little arrangement is going to work is if you give me the information I need, Jo.”
“I don’t even want this arrangement,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. The emotion of the forced wedding, of my feelings for Greyson. It was all too much. I couldn’t control the tears that were falling from my face any more than I could control my fate. “I don’t know anything.”
“No matter how small, it could prove helpful.”
“I dunno. His parents fight, his sisters are quiet. One of them never even came home for dinner. Then there is his half-brother.”
“Half-brother?”
“David. He came and offered to marry me, said I would be able to stay at UMBC. But he’s… I don’t trust him. It sounds like he wants power for himself.”
“Very good. See. Anything at all could be helpful, Jo. Now calm down, do some yoga or meditation or whatever you girls do. I’ll be in contact soon.” Click. Just like that he was gone. Off the phone.
And I was alone crying into my hands on the couch.
As soon as I heard the door open I sat up and wiped my eyes, but it was obvious. I’d been crying all afternoon, my nose red and runny, my eyes puffy. I was a mess.
“What’s wrong, Jo?” Greyson asked. He looked like he could kill someone the second he came in.
“It’s nothing,” I said, swallowing and waving him away. How could I tell him that my uncle was a slimeball, my wedding was terrifying me, and I was more afraid than anything else that I was falling for him.
How could I love him when I barely knew him?
“Clearly it isn’t ‘nothing’. Tell me what’s going on.” He sat down next to me and tilted my chin up so that I could look him in the eyes.
It was the last place I wanted to look. I knew when he saw into mine he would see the fraud I really was. A pawn for my uncle and nothing more.
“It’s just, the wedding. It’s all happening so fast and-“
“I know. I’m sorry. This whole thing is my fault.” He bent down and kissed me softly. It wasn’t something I was used to from him and judging by the way he pulled back he wasn’t ready for it either.
“Look, I have to ask you something,” he said.
“What is it?” I asked finally calm enough to stop crying. I sucked in each breath long and slow, letting them calm me until no more pain remained. He was here. He was leaving, again, but he always came back.
“It’s about your uncle,” he explained. I could tell by the look in his eyes that it was serious.
Fuck. Did he know the truth?
“You don’t know anything about his plans, do you?” he asked. I couldn’t believe he was asking me this. Was it a test?
“What do you mean?” I asked honestly.
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He shook his head. “Look, I’ve got somewhere to be, but I want you here tonight when I get home. Can you do that?” he asked.
Why the hell did he make my heart skip a beat? I was so close to this, to him. I didn’t want him to go.
“I’ll try.” I had some last minute work to do, including sending that letter of resignation to the school.
“I’ll be home soon, baby girl. Wait for me.” He kissed me, hard. With every single moment of the kiss I felt the truth overwhelming me. I loved him.
He was half monster and half tortured soul and I loved him.
“Be careful, Greyson.” I said. I wanted to tell him what a horrible man my uncle was, but it wasn’t something he didn’t already know. He was well aware of the inner-workings of the mob. He knew what he was fighting.
“I always am.”
Greyson
I knocked not once, but twice. I knew Dennis O’Brien was there. I had eyes on him and they’d told me beyond a doubt that he was hiding in his mistress’s apartment.
“I’m not going away, O’Brien.” I said finally, knocking one last time.
“Are you serious?” he said as he opened the door. “What the fuck do you want?”