Break My Heart (The Heart Series Book 2) (24 page)

“It’s a computer, now pay attention. I’m going to show you how to search for information.”

“That’s truly amazing, everything is.” He eyes the computer again. “Your car is just swell. American machinery has come a long way.”

“Right.” I don’t have the heart to tell him my car is German. And my computer was made in China. I don’t think he could take it.

“You’re welcome to use my laptop computer. I’ll give you a quick crash course on how. I’ll also pick you up a disposable cell phone, depending on how long it’s gonna take us to get you back, so you can have your own.” I raise my phone to show him.

Will rushes straight for my iPhone. “It’s just like the small mirror you had, you said it was a telephone but it didn’t light up like this.” His eyes are full of curiosity as he examines the device closely. “It’s not plugged into the wall. You said before it worked with a safetite or spaceship? That’s why it wouldn’t work in 1944?”

“Satellite, and yes. Towers send a signal to the satellite….” I stop there, because, I’ll be damned, I don’t know the specifics of how cell phones work. “I mean, well, the signal that was transmitted through the cable that used to be plugged into the wall? It’s now transmitted wirelessly.”

Will’s dumbfounded look is amusing as hell. He eyes me warily. “Are you making this up?”

“No!” I welcome the change of topic with relief. “We just don’t need wires anymore. That’s all you really need to know.”

He watches me skeptically, narrowing his eyes in mock suspicion. My chest lightens and I let out a chuckle.

“I’ll show you how to use it as well, but first, I want to go for a run.”

I need to think things through, and running always does the trick. I change into my running clothes and by the time I come back, Will is somber and pensive.

“We’ll figure it out, Will.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“If I had known what he was up to, you know I would have tried to stop him, right? I
should
have known. Dad didn’t want anything to do with his brother, for as long as I can remember. We used to fight about it because it meant Wayne and I were not allowed to play together.” He’s still holding my iPhone, looking at it while he speaks. “I didn’t understand then, but I do now. I think my dad knew...
something
wasn’t right.”

My chest tightens. “I’m so sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. For how I reacted, I just didn’t want to believe the worst about him. He was my family.”

“I know,” I respond quietly. And the FBI will know as well, as soon as his DNA results come back. I have to get him home before that happens.

Wayne. All because of him. Had I not been chasing him out there that morning, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. At the same time, who knows how many girls would have died if I hadn’t gone after him; if I hadn’t stopped him.

I grab my running gear. “I won’t be gone long.”

He gives me a reassuring nod, and with that, I’m out the door.

CHAPTER 21

Tommy

“Do you have to go?”

I’m so pissed off I could scream. Of course, I can’t because I’m at work. I’m out with Victoria. Her whining is driving me crazy. Every time she doesn’t get her way, this grown ass woman pulls out the baby talk.

“Yeah, sorry, babe. Something came up.” That something is walking free out there in the city with Lil. Who knows who this guy is, let alone what he’s up to.

“I’ll miss you,” she coos, and it’s like nails on a chalkboard, yet she thinks she’s being seductive or some shit.

The second she slips her arms around me, I want to recoil. Instead, I smile and place a soft kiss on her pasty cheek. Good thing she wears so much makeup, I don’t even know what her face feels like.

I stow my cell in my inside pocket and head down to the elevator lift. Victoria has one of those trendy warehouse lofts where everything in the place is visible from anywhere. So, if you’re in the bed, you can see the kitchen, as well as someone taking a dump in the toilet. I try not to move around too much when I’m there and avoid that bed of hers like the fucking plague. Actually, I avoid her place as much as I can. I’ve tried my best to keep things slow with Vic, but I can only stall so much.

I close the lift door and press one. This investigation is eating up way too much of my time as it is. Now, with this new development in Lil’s missing person case, I need to cut back. My instincts are to bail on the undercover work, but I have too much time invested.

Undercover or no, this isn’t something I’m hashing out over the phone. This is the guy whose name leaves her lips at night. The guy that haunts her dreams. He’s real, and he’s here. I’ll be damned if I’m just going to carry on with work as if it’s no big deal.

I race across town to get to Lil’s as soon as possible.

Nelson’s phone call rattled my world big time. Lil got him out of the hospital
yesterday
. She sprung him! I about shit bricks when Nelson told me. And I bet his DNA matches that sicko who stabbed her and killed all those girls.

I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I’m about to find out.

First, I’m going home to talk to Lil. She’d texted me about meeting up. I thought because she wanted me to go with her to the hospital, since she’d promised me she wouldn’t go talk to him alone. She broke her promise! We’re hashing this out whether she wants to or not. How did things get so fucked up between us? I was such a dumbass. I thought that as long as we were a couple, everything would be fine.

I’m almost to Lil’s so I need to calm the fuck down. I can’t afford to lose my cool, not anymore. I pull into our parking lot, climb out of the car, and storm inside. Once in the elevator, I take a quick second to compose myself.
Breathe, Colton.

I’m sure Lil has a logical explanation as to why she busted Nelson’s balls and vouched for a possible suspect to her kidnapping.

The ding announcing the elevator arriving at our floor is like a boxing bell signaling the start of the next round. I’m ready for a fight. Every muscle in my body is tense and wound up, ready to spring out and strike. Deep breaths.

“Relax, Colton,” I murmur, as I march down the hall to our apartment.

I put my key in the lock. Turn the knob. I’m not even through the doorway when I hear a noise in the kitchen. Before my brain can process what is happening, the prick stands up from the counter stool and faces me.

That son of a bitch is standing in
my
kitchen.

My hand is gripping the door handle so tightly I have to make an effort to let go. Every single muscle in my six-foot-two-inch frame wants to jump his fucking Sasquatch ass and pound him into the ground.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growl through clenched teeth.

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he walks over to me and extends his hand in greeting. “Good morning. You must be Tom.” 

Are you fucking kidding me right now?

I glare at his hand without moving an inch. “Put that motherfucking hand away before I rip it out of the socket.” I’m seething.

Sensing my hostility and I-wanna-kill-you vibe, he slowly puts his hand down and steps back.

“Ileana went out,” he says, giving me a dismissive once-over. He goes back to the laptop and fiddles with the mouse.

He just eyeballed me like I’m fucking nobody. The guy is standing in Lil’s kitchen, and has the balls to turn his back to me.

What are my options here? I run scenarios through my head.

Kill him? Lil will kill me in return.

Shoot him? Too messy.

Give him a beat-down? Sounds like a plan.

“Why isn’t it working?” he mumbles, waving the mouse in the air and pointing it at the laptop screen.

Is he talking to me? I’m still standing by the door, watching him as he examines the computer like it’s the engine of a 747, and he’s trying to figure out how to fix it. He’s pressing buttons randomly, waving the mouse, touching the screen, even scratching his head. Fucking weirdo.

“What did you do to Lil?” I ask calmly, no ripples on my surface. I won’t let this fucking guy use me to skip stones and get me all roiled up.

“Lil?” He sighs as he turns to me, shoulders dropping in resignation as if I’m pulling him away from something important.

“Lily. Ileana to you, dumbass. You heard me.”

He pushes away from the counter and stares me down. He’s got a few inches on me; either way, he’s going down hard. I just have to make him take the first swing.

“I haven’t done anything other than help her when she needed help.” He shakes his head. “And I would appreciate you not using that kind of language around her.”

An incredulous chuckle burst out of my chest.
Is this guy for real?

“What?” Maybe I misheard him.

“Your language. Doesn’t belong around the lady.”

He brings his hands to his hips, squares his shoulders.

“What the fuck do you even know about the
lady
and what she wants or needs.” I kick the door closed with my boot and stomp into the kitchen. My hands land on my hips, and now we’re toe-to-toe.

“I know
I
was there for her when
you
weren’t.”

His words are the first swing, and I take it. Square in the jaw, because I know I deserve it.

But he’s not done.

“What are your intentions toward Ileana? Do you intend to make an honest woman out of her?”

His words are a bucket of ice-cold water over my head.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You’re staying here, sharing a room with her, but you won’t marry her.”

Direct hit to my kidneys. My ego is on its hands and knees begging for mercy. Crawling, hiding, running away from the beat-down that’s coming from a guy I barely know, and that apparently thinks he knows Lil better than I do.

“Obviously you know nothing about her, because if you did, you’d know Lil is not the marrying kind. She doesn’t need some
nobody
to run in and rescue her or act all macho defending her honor.” Trying to put on a brave face, I stumble over my words, like some teenage girl who can’t think of a good comeback when the mean girls gang up on her. I’m fucking pathetic. “So don’t pretend to know her, because you don’t.”

“And you do?”

“Fuck yeah, I do.”

He scoffs and turns back to the computer, like he’s contemplating what I just said.

Finally, he looks at me again, eyes narrowing. “Where was she all that time she was gone?”

My vision clouds, fury fogs my brain and every single rational bone in my body. I knew it. I knew he had something to do with her disappearance.

All I see is death and destruction.

Eliminate the threat, Colton
.

Advancing on my target, faces inches apart, I issue a final warning. “You so much as fucking look at her, touch her, or breathe on her, you’re dead.” Nothing else matters. Only Lil.

This fucker did something to her, and for some reason she’s protecting him. She won’t tell me, that’s fine. I’ll beat it out of him.

“I would never hurt her.
Ever
.” His eyes lock with mine in challenge.

I’ll be damned if I blink first.

But something is amiss. He means it, and I can tell. His face mirrors mine, his body oozing with indignation at the mere allegation that he would hurt Lil. If anything, I’d say he’s about to pound me for the same reason.

“Good. Then leave. I’ll give you two options. Go out on your own, or on a gurney.” I smirk. “Your choice.”

He frowns, scowling at me as he shakes his head. “Not until the lady asks me to leave. It’s her house, isn’t it? And you know what?” He points his finger at me, like a parent scolding an unruly kid. “I don’t like you, pal. You’re a bad influence. I don’t like you taking advantage of her, staying here when you won’t make an honest woman out o’ her—”

“Put that finger away before you lose it, and I’m not your fucking
pal
.”

“She deserves better,” he responds with certainty, as if he’s stating a fact.

K.O.
My ego is down for the count.

Of all the things this asshole motherfucker could have said to me, that’s the one thing I’ve known deep down is the truth, and nothing but. I’m not good enough for Lil. She deserves better. I know that, but for this stranger to figure it out in less than two minutes? Means the whole fucking world knows it, and I’m just fooling myself.

But I’m not giving her up. Fuck him, and the world.

“You know, maybe you’re right, but you know what? This isn’t about what she deserves. This is about what Lily wants. And she wants
me
.”

He flinches but it barely shows. His features are solid, secure, posture calm, as if he knows the secrets of the universe or something. He mulls over my response. Smugly, he shakes his head, like there’s something he knows that I don’t.

“Here’s the kicker, Tom.” He puffs out his chest, inching closer. “When I’m done here, your Lily won’t even remember your name.”

My ears split with a humming; all I see is red, rage, and I’m all instinct.

Before he can utter another sound, my fist crashes into his face, sending him back into the counter. My last conscious memory is Lil’s computer flying mid-air as I go in for the kill

CHAPTER 22

Ileana

As soon as the elevator doors open, I hear the ruckus.

Glass breaking, loud thumps and bangs. And it’s coming from the end of the hall. My place. I’ve barely stepped into the hall when Mrs. Nuncio comes out of her apartment, scared out of her wits, glancing toward my door.

“Hey, Mrs. N.”

She turns to me, eyes wide and hands trembling. “Oh lord, sweetheart, what is going on?”

“I don’t know, Tommy must be moving furniture or something.”