K A I

Chapter |14| Romano Matchmakers

E M E R Y ' S P. O. V

Day 17 without him.

Again I feel like I'm drowning.

It takes all my effort just to get out bed. The same bed I spent five years sleeping in alone, now feels utterly desolate and lonely without him.

He didn't even spend a year within my life yet the imprint he's left is too deep to recover from.

I shower, dress, make a coffee and drive to work. The same boring routine is killing me now. My job is slowly destroying any little life I have left and my anchor has gone.

He respected my wishes, after the twentieth phone call went ignored I finally picked up nine days ago.

"How are you?" I broke down immediately at the sound of his voice, stifling sobs through the speaker. "f**k, Emery...god all I want to do is hold you."

"That's making it worse." Because he can't. No matter I can't give in that easily. He doesn't forgiveness right now.

"What can I do?"

"I don't know." I answer honestly. He broke my trust, something that was hard enough to give him anyways and now...I'm just terrified that if I give him a second chance he'll break my heart again.

"Can I see you? Please,"

"It's too soon for that right now. Seeing you...it hurts too much to even think about."

"I'm really sorry, if I could take it all back..."

"But you can't. You lied to me, my own mother was proven right which I f*****g hate and you made me fall in love with you under really false pretences. Being a criminal is a big thing Kai, and for me as a human to just accept that is...so f****d up. I hate myself for considering a future with you still, knowing that you've killed..."

I can't help but break down again. All my principles, my beliefs are tarnished in knowing I've fallen in with love with a murderer.

Kai was the greatest man I've known. He was everything to me, and the fact he's done such horrible stuff, and I still love him, means there's something wrong with me.

Something severely f****d up.

"Just give me space and time and...we'll see." I ended the call. I couldn't hear his voice again.

All it brought was pain and more tears.

I finish up with my last appointment before lunch. I plaster on fake smiles, laugh at jokes that aren't even funny. There's no life behind my life's anymore. I've become the version of Kai he used to hide behind.

My phone rings incessantly and I reach to press decline since the only people who call me these days are my parents that I'm yet to face.

They'll be supportive but my mother's narcissism is too much for me to handle right now. She'll tell me how sorry she was that she was right and how if I had listened to her none of this would have happened.

Yeah, I f*****g know that mom! But guess what, I loved and I laughed and I felt things I haven't ever felt before. Kai was an experience not a mistake because without him I doubt I would ever know what true love feels like.

My mind spurs me to press yes this time, but the caller isn't Kai at all. It's his sister.

I answer hesitantly. "Hello?"

"Emery, thank god. My daughter Calista, she's been sick all night and is still running a fever. Our usual doctor is out of commission and I don't trust anybody else. Please would you come over?"

"Yes of course. I'll be there in ten."

Grabbing my medical bag, I drive over to the Romano mansion. It's quieter in the day time, not as many guards or laughter.

They're just a regular family, I try to enforce in my mind, but they're not, are they? They've killed and stolen and destroyed lives. How do you ignore all that?

"Thank you so much for coming," Gabi answers the door, giving me a hug. I'd thought she hate me or at least show some sort of passing resentment but she's nothing kind to me.

We make small talk about work as we walk up to the room, ignoring every subject that broaches the topic of Kai.

Calista's room is elegant in its soft pink tones and white trimmings. Papers dusted in paint and crayons and chalk is stuck to almost every inch of the walls, whilst an easel is set up in the corner of the room.

Kiara smiles at me but her anxiety shows. "It's Emery. Remember Emery, Calista? She's going to help you get better."

"She'll make the hurt go away." Calista can barely finish her sentence before letting out a painful cough. Kiara pushes a glass of water to her daughter's lips so she can take small sips.

"Hey Calista, you want to show me where it hurts?" She points to her throat, and then her chest.

I go through the regular checks, note down anything I see and then diagnose her with a chest infection. "It's common right now, especially with the weather and should clear up in a few weeks on its own but I can prescribe some antibiotics that can help."

"What do they taste like?" Calista asks, struggling to keep her eyes open.

I gently dab her forehead with a damp towel, and stroke her hair in a way that relaxes the sinuses. "It's yellow so it taste like bananas."

"Ewwww," Her disgust fades off as she dozes off to sleep.

Calista has most of her mother's features, even inheriting her grandmother's light brown hair. She's a Romano through and through.

I can't help but envision what our child would be like. Fiery red hair with his full lips and gentle eyes, or would they possess darkened features like his.

"I have to admit calling you because Calista is sick wasn't my only motive." Kiara admits as we quietly leave the room.

"I had feeling." We share a smile and she invites me into the living room.

"You know, even thought Kai's older than me I've always felt responsible for him. We've always banded together, even in childhood and I guess that's extended to now too. I got married and I had kids at a young age. It made me grow up a lot, but Kai has never really had those experiences that force you into adulthood. Until now."

I take the cup of coffee she hands me, despite my mind screaming she's probably killed people too. She knew Kai was lying and she lied to you too.

"Losing you was...hard for him. I've never seen him so broken. Even when he was hurting, he always managed to put on a brave face, make everyone else laugh. My brother needs you Emery. I don't know how to get him back and trust me I've tried."

"He lied to me Kiara. It isn't as easy as just forgiving him, I have to rebuild that trust and come to terms with the fact that you're all..."

I break off, terrified I'm about to offend her.

"Criminals. Murderers. Billionaires. I run one of the largest business operations within America, and I'm also the head of the largest mafia organisation within the Northern Hemisphere. It's hard to understand, I guess I've always grown up knowing the truth of my family so it's all just normal to me."

"Well I grew up with right and wrong. I grew up understanding that there are bad people and those bad people deserve to be in prison, locked up."

"So you're saying that one day my daughter should be in prison for association with crimes? Or how about my mother? My father?" Hell, half my family."

"You know that's not what I mean,"

"I understand, it's not fair and it's scary knowing people like us are the ones that benefit the most whilst good honest people like you suffer because of the system. My family beat the system, and everything is morally grey in this world. There is not right or wrong but to be with Kai, you have to accept that. Eventually."

"I love him." I admit to her. She passes me the tissue box as tears stream down my cheeks. "Is loving him worth sacrificing everything?"

"It doesn't have to be. Loving Kai and being with him means you're apart my family too. And my family is...big and loud but they love fiercely. You would always be protected with us and you could work for us too."

"I don't know if I could spend my life sewing up bullet wounds and wondering if my husband was the one that pulled the trigger."

"Being our family doctor would mean you would work on call, you would treat everything really, unless you felt you couldn't. We have other doctors too but you would lead the team."

"I hate nepotism, I want a job I've earned."

"You're more than qualified and frankly, one of the best candidates I have."

I can't help but smile. "I didn't say I was interested."

"But you are. I see it in your eyes. Take a week or two, then come talk to me about the job. If you really don't want it, don't worry."

"And Kai?" It feels like their job and Kai are interlinked. Like declining one would mean losing the other, and I am interested in the position.

It's better pay, I would have flexible hours, and I would be valued, respected, a leader. No more crap managers or supervisors to take s**t from. I would be my own boss and with time, save up enough money to run my own clinic.

"You have to talk to him about your relationship. I'm strictly impartial on the matter. Anything I said was a fact, and that's it."

I nod, anxiety easing as the fog of the future clears away. "Do you mind telling me the truth now? I want to know everything. How it works, your role in it, Kai's..."

"I'll tell you everything but hold on...its a lot."

***

I walk out of the house with Kiara's stories still reeling in my mind. She really did tell me everything and the more she spoke about the logistics, the more settled I was becoming with it all.

Her love story was probably the most shocking. It wasn't much different from what she told me before but just with a lot more attempted murderer, guns and kidnappings.

The only thing she wouldn't tell me is how Kalen died. She said Kai needed to tell me that one.

I'm half way to my car when I hear someone screaming my name. Gabi walks briskly towards me, a warm smile still gracing her face.

"Emery, I just wanted to say I'm sorry but also that...I understand."

"You do?"

She nods, sighing heavily. "I didn't know about my family's involvement with crime either. I was whisked away, forced to marry Ryder as soon as it all came out. I didn't have a choice to escape this world and it's been tough, I can't lie to you but I also know I wouldn't choose any other path because without it I wouldn't have the great love I share with my husband, or the powerful love that I harbour for my children and my grandchildren. You're tough sweetheart, more tough than I was when I was dealing with all this. Just know...I believe in you. If you want Kai, and you choose this life, I believe you'll be able to handle it as well as any of us, and when you struggle to...I will be there to help you up."

I can't barely speak, so overcome with emotion. Gabi is so different from my mother, so warm and inviting it's hard to picture her associated with the cold truth.

"Thank you," I say sincerely. She nods and gestures for the guard to open up the gate.

I wave at her as I drive away, heading back to work even thought I'm an hour late.

Her words stay in my mind all day.

You're tough. You can handle it.

Is he worth it though?

Because without him I envision a lonely bleak future where I'm barely hanging onto life. With him the future is always filled with happiness and laughter.

There's never dark clouds above me and if there is then he's standing underneath them with me, shielding me from the impending downpour.

I watch the clock strike nine. The moon hands lonely in the sky and I'm solidified with the choice to call him tomorrow morning. For now, I finish up my case writing and prepare to pack away.

All the lights are off and I'm about to leave when I remember that my phone is still in my office. Sighing, I head back quickly, finding it wedged beneath the cushion of my chair.

The wind is howling outside but it suddenly grows louder, the rustle of leaves echoing, and then there's slam. The door.

I inch towards my office door, peering around the edge. No-one is there.

Maybe it was just my imagination? Or maybe it really was the wind? f**k Emery, just get out of there. It's fine. It's nothing.

Or this place is haunted and a ghost is exacting it's revenge on me? Stupid thought. Why would a ghost be angry at me? I'm also not that exciting to be at odds with the supernatural.

I clutch my bag a little tighter and decide to make a break for, walking faster than usual but not fast enough that my heels create an echo.

I glance over my shoulder as I reach reception. Nothing but darkness. Okay, you're fine. You're nearly out.

I reach the door, the very same door I'm terrified is possessed and push on it.

It doesn't budge.

I didn't lock it. It's never locked until it's time to lock up...which is now.

Fuck, someone's here, and I'm alone and it's dark and I...

I meet his eyes in the window reflection.

There's a callousness in them which is haunting, like there is no-one there but an empty void.

My body becomes stagnant, and I tremble visibly unable to shake the feeling of extreme fear.

I'm suddenly back in my apartment.

I can still feel his hands on my chin, so close to my neck, his fingers over my bare skin, his eyes menacing cold on mine.

He lifts something up in the air. My eyes grow wide but I'm frozen. It whacks into my head, the impact forcing me onto the floor is blinding.

I feel blood trickle down my forehead as I struggle to get back up. My body is rolled over so I'm on my back. Pain blinds me so all I see is a dark figure straddling my body.

"All mine." I see Jason grin, the white of his teeth like a wolf's in the dark.

I fumble in the dark, desperately reaching for anything...my fingers curl around something hard and I thrust it at his head with everything I have.

"f**k you b***h!" The weight on top of me disappears. I cling onto the phone in my hand like it's my lifeline and sprint.

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A/N: Ahh!! Kai's pov up next!!

What do you think Jason will do??