Page 105 of Precious Legacy
“Breathe,” I plead again, begging her to snap out of this.
It’s like the world stops as I hear a raspy breath escape her lungs. Her eyes suddenly find mine as she blinks through the bloody water, and it’s like her soul has finally returned to her body.
I push away the wet strands from her face, swiping at the droplets that turn into pink whorls circling the drain and rubbing her back until the shivers subside.
“Are you real?” It’s a whisper, but it’s enough for me to let out a breath of relief and smile.
“I’m real, baby.” I can’t explain the relief I feel when she presses her forehead to mine and sighs. She’s back with me, safe and alive.
Stepping into the tub, I pull her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her shivering body.
She clutches at my chest like a lifeline. I’ve never seen Alanis like this before. We’ve grown up together, and she’s always been a force to be reckoned with, a defiant beauty with rough edges and sharp claws. But right now, she resembles a kitten; a scared little thing.
It feels like hours that we sit under the tumbling water, silence enveloping us. I don’t push her to talk until she’s ready. I think she needs that because she hasn’t let go of me yet, and even though she’s showing no emotion, I know she’s just sifting through her own thoughts. While she clings to my shirt, I grab a cloth from the shelf above me and start cleaning the blood from her face. Every now and then she lets out a sigh, but her expression is still unreadable.
By the time the water has gone cold, we’re both drenched, but at least we’re clean. I step out of the tub first to grab a towel from the rail and coax Lani out with the promise that everything will be okay. It will be. It has to be. But even I know it’s a long tunnel before the light starts to show.
Her vacant stare remains as she lets me undress her, something that’s a challenge in itself. When she’s dry and in warm clothes, I perch her on the end of the bed and start filling an overnight bag. My pulse is racing, thoughts blending and blurring. It’s not the first time I’ve killed someone—and it won’t be the last—but I sense it’s the first time Alanis has had to deal with something like this. I need to do damage control, but I don’t even know where to start with her. I just know I need to get Lani out of here. The only place I can think of to take her right now is to her mom and dad’s. It’s the one place I know she’ll be safe until I can get a cleanup crew here.
“Presh?” I whisper, crouching down in front of her.
Her gaze slowly moves to mine, like it pains her to do so.
Capturing her cheek, I stroke my thumb gently over the lump forming on her skin. I should definitely get some ice on that, but first…
“We need to go.”
With an almost imperceptible nod, she takes my hand and lets me guide her out of the bedroom and down the hallway. She stops short when we reach the living room, her hand tightening in mine. My heart lurches when my eyes land on hers. She stares down at Prescott, his lifeless body sprawled across the hardwood flooring.
I still need answers as to why the asshole was here in the first place. I thought I’d made it clear to him the last time we met that we’re not to be messed with. Obviously, I didn’t do a good enough job.
“You don’t need to see this,” I huff, sliding my arms underneath her legs and back and swooping her up to my chest.
It’s not an easy feat getting down a flight of stairs with a bag and a body, but I make it work. I walk us to the car, careful to place her in without hurting her—not that she’d make a sound even if I did. This blanket of indifference isn’t like Alanis at all,and it’s starting to worry me. I have to push those thoughts aside though and focus on getting her out of here so I can deal with the rest of this fucked up mess.
The drive feels longer than it actually is, probably because the silence that fills the car is morbid and macabre. Lani hasn’t uttered a single word to me, even when I told her where I was taking her. She just sat and stared out the window.
I called Axel on the way to alert him to what happened, and I can’t say I’m surprised by the unruptured calmness he responded with. He’s already waiting in the doorway when I step out of the car, still dressed in slacks and a shirt at three in the morning. It’s almost predictable that even after all this time, he can’t fall out of old habits. We all do it—the late nights, running ourselves into the ground. We wouldn’t have the success we do if we slept like normal people.
Axel has his hands in his pockets, leaning against the door as he watches me round the car to the passenger side.
I go to pick her up, but she shakes her head. It’s the first time she’s shown any kind of response, and as much as I don’t want to, I let her go. She walks up the steps, each movement slow and precise. When she finally reaches the top, Axel wraps her in his arms. A silent exchange flows between them, and when his eyes meet mine, he gives me a nod of acknowledgment.
Cassidy appears behind them, wrapped in a robe. Clearly, she’s been asleep; she doesn’t look her usual put-together self. Her arms open as Axel guides Lani into them, then she turns around and leads her up the staircase.
“We need to talk,” he says once Lani is out of earshot.
“Agreed.”
Stepping back into the house, I follow Axel into his office, heat crawling up the back of my neck because I can’t read him at all. Much like Alanis, he’s mastered the art of silent anger, letting it simmer just below the surface.
Stepping into his office is like going back in time. I’ve been inside this room a lot, especially as a kid when Varo and I would get into trouble. Our fathers were always meeting here, reprimanding us when we really fucked up. It’s mainly how I ended up having to leave the city, to help my father. It was time to grow up, andfuck, did I.
“Sit,” Axel commands with the power of a king. He gestures to the seat in front of his desk as he takes his own.
Ignoring the prickle of nerves, I lean back in the leather chair and clear my throat. He’s already aware that there’s a dead man in his daughter’s apartment, his blood staining the wooden floor. Hehadto be the first person I called, considering everything. He’s probably got men there now clearing the scene, but I’m presuming he hasn’t called me in here for that.
He clasps his hands together, glaring at me in the low light from his desk lamp. He exudes all the authority of a man who owns the city, and let’s be honest, he does.Hecreated this empire, not his father or grandfather. Axel Bonanno knew what he was doing when he approached the families of New York. Building a cohesive syndicate meant he had more loyalty; more men at his disposal. More power.
