Take the Money and Come

Chapter 12: Where Angels Fear to Tread

Chapter 12: Where Angels Fear to Tread“What are we going to do with her?!?” Sarah silently mouthed the dangerous-looking stranger's ominous question.

She couldn't believe this was happening. The man she'd been sleeping with, spending nearly every hour of the day with for weeks, turns out to be some bigwig in the mob, and his brother wants to know what to do with her. Was he going to make her swim with the fishes, she wondered hysterically. An image of herself anchored to the bottom of the ocean flashed through her mind. Her stomach roiled and at the same time, she nearly laughed aloud in panic. This just couldn't be happening! No one woman could possibly have this much bad luck with relationships.

“There's nothing to 'do' with 'her',” Sarah exclaimed, feeling the panic welling within her bubbling to the surface. “I have to leave right now, Nico.”

She turned to grab her clothes from the floor and then started toward the door, still clothed in Nico's blanket. Lorenzo moved to block her exit, his hands reaching out to stop her.

“Don't touch her, Lorenzo.” Nico's tone was vicious, the expression on his face was lethal and his hand hovered above his Glock.

He knew that if Sarah hadn't realized the full weight of what he really was, the murderous look on his face must have spoke volumes in that moment. But there was no way in hell he was going to let his brother harm her, even to protect his Family...even if that meant he burned for it. And given the tactics used by some Families, that wasn't an entirely impossible consequence.

But, he didn't need to take out his brother to save Sarah; if Lorenzo made a move, he only needed to immobilize him long enough to get her to safety.

Lorenzo looked at him, his hands returning to his sides but he remained in front of the door. “Think about this Nico,” he warned but his eyes looked deeper, no doubt trying to figure out why his brother was defending this woman so adamantly.

“Wow...” Lorenzo whispered in exclamation. Quite quickly, his brother seemed to find something there that he hadn't been expecting and he physically took a step back. “Ah hell. Now what then?”

“Just let her go,” Nico said quietly, his body still poised to respond. He trusted his brother more than anyone else in the world, but he wouldn't stake Sarah's life on that trust.

Slowly, Lorenzo stepped out of the way, his eyes now on Sarah. She could feel him watching her, assessing her, but she couldn't stop looking at Nico. Even in her panic and heartbreak, she knew she was stalling, committing every inch of him to memory, knowing she could never see the man she'd fallen in love with again. Sarah's mouth fell open, only just then realizing that she'd been stupid enough to fall in love with him. “What's wrong with me?!?” she chastised herself vehemently. Still, she couldn't force her legs to move.

“Your secret is safe,” she whispered to him, already certain that she could never bring herself to rat him out, even if it made her evil.

He didn't speak, but she could see surprise in his eyes. Did he really think she could so easily hand him over? Call up those FBI agents and turn him in? She tore her gaze away then, darting out of the room. She turned back just once as she opened the door to the suite. Nico wasn't looking at her and his hand was no longer hovering above his weapon; he held the gun in his hand, his eyes fixed on his brother. He looked like a lion, poised to strike, and Lorenzo seemed to be doing his best to diffuse the situation, standing at ease with his arms casually at his sides as he watched her retreat, an appreciative look on his face.

“I believe her,” Lorenzo told Nico as Sarah closed the door behind her.

Nico exhaled hard, dropping his gun on the bed and running his fingers through his hair in frustration. This was never supposed to happen; he should have ended this weeks ago. “Yeah, I believe her, too.” He could see through the hurt and panic in her eyes that Sarah hadn't been lying, though he couldn't imagine what in the world would possess her to keep quiet.

“Then go get her,” his brother insisted.

“You've got to be kidding, right? What the hell's wrong with you, Lorenzo? You saw her, right?”

“f**k, ya, I saw her.” Lorenzo's eyes were suddenly bright with desire and Nico growled, the feral sound of an angry animal. “Calm down. I get it—I'm to keep my hands off. But, you don't have to, so...go get her.”

“She left, Lorenzo. She left because she finally found out that I'm a monster. Everything she thought about me was a lie. Sarah isn't like the others; she's not a gold digger who will take her fortune any way she can get it. She's a nurse. And do you know why? Because she wants to help people. Do you know what she does in her spare time? She volunteers at a children's center, investing her time and money into those kids. She's been hurt over and over again, and this thing wasn't supposed to last. She was just supposed to be a good fuck.” Nico felt disgusted with himself for even saying it. “But I couldn't end it; I was selfish and I didn't want her to go.”

“You're wrong, Nico. She left because she was scared. Give her a reason to stay...”

“She left because she was scared of me. And besides, I don't want her to stay. I don't want her to become a part of this life. It would destroy her—I would destroy her. She deserves so much better.”

Lorenzo was silent and Nico knew his brother couldn't argue. It was one thing to be stuck here, but it was something else entirely to drag someone into it. As much as he wanted Sarah, it was better this way. It was time to let her go like he'd intended to do weeks ago.

Sarah made it back to her suite relatively unnoticed, taking the elevator straight to her floor and making a mad dash past the two doors to her own. Once behind the closed door, she searched the suite for Callie, but she wasn't there. Callie had hooked up with a guy shortly after Sarah had met Nico, and she hadn't seen much of her since. That was OK with Sarah. She wanted to be alone right now. She'd been such a fool, thinking she could carry on like she'd been doing with Nico and not end up burned. But it was so much worse this time. Of all the scumbags she'd wound up with in the past, she'd never come to feel for them what she already felt for Nico. Sarah didn't even know how it was possible. She'd only known the guy a few weeks.

Sarah's head was so full, she couldn't think. And it was only when she tried to force herself to stop sorting through it that she realized tears were streaming down her cheeks. At some point since she'd returned to the suite, she'd slid down against the living room wall to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees. And there she remained, staring at the back of the sofa as her tears continued to fall unchecked. Finally, after a long while she forced herself to her feet, walking determinedly to her room, demanding her tears to stop. She pulled out her suitcase, stuffing it full of her belongings Today was the last full day of their trip, and tomorrow afternoon she'd be on a plane back to Chicago, back to ordinary life.

She'd tell Callie that her fling with Nico had run its course, both of them already aware that it was a temporary thing. That would be the end of it because nobody else knew that Nico existed. It was strange though; she had always run to Callie whenever something in her life went bad, but this time she couldn't—not only because she'd promised to keep Nico's dark secret, but because it was just too painful to talk about.

She had tried to tell herself there had been a mix up, that she'd misunderstood what he and his brother had been talking about—any excuse to go running back into his arms. But no matter how hard she tried, Sarah knew she'd understood perfectly. And as much as what he did upset her, the real reason she couldn't go running back to him was the thought of standing by, waiting for something horrible to happen to him. She just wasn't strong enough for that so, at precisely four in the afternoon the next day, she boarded the plane, her heart aching a little more with every mile the flight put between them. By the time she landed, it felt as if her heart had been torn in two, but she plastered a smile on her face for Callie and made it through the cab ride back to her apartment. Once there, Callie waved goodbye, walking the short distance to her apartment three buildings down.

Collapsing on her sofa the moment she walked in the door, she was too exhausted to even make it to the bedroom. It was odd that she felt so tired given her tumultuous emotions, but her eyes had drifted closed before she could think about it any longer. She slept fitfully the entire night, tossing and turning. She'd become so accustomed to sleeping pressed up close to Nico's body that the couch simply wasn't an adequate substitute. By the time she awoke in the morning, she felt no more rested, and now nauseas from the emotional upheaval of the past few days.

Sarah needed a distraction. She didn't have to return to work for two more days, having left plenty of time in case there were any complications with her return trip. But she knew she'd be welcome at the children's center any time, even if they weren't expecting her back just yet. Splashing water on her face, she did her best to mentally quell her churning stomach, and when she'd finally succeeded, she dressed and headed downstairs, opting to walk the few short blocks to the center.