Love and Sacrifice (2 page)

"Hi
," I say to him.

"Hello, Ms. Pierce."

Ms. Pierce? Really? That's funny
.

"I'm sorry if I scared you."

I raise my hand. "No, it's fine. I wasn't scared."

"Good."

I smile at his stiff posture. "Good."

We continue staring at each other in silence
, leaving me satisfied, but him uncomfortable. It’s obvious, I can see right through his blank stare.

"Ella." We look
down the hallway to see my best friend, Dina, walking towards us. "Your mom is waiting." She looks at the waiter. "Oh, who's the hottie?"

I laugh
at her and give him a sorry look for my friend.

“Excuse us,” I tell the cutie and grab Dina by the arm, dragging her to the living room where everyone is waiting.

Walking through the crowd, I stand between my mother and father, their wine glasses already in hand. My mother passes me a glass and gets everyone’s attention.

“I just want to thank you all for coming tonight,” she says, wrapping her arm around my shoulder. “This is a proud moment for our family. Most of you know our children are everything to us. Ella, being the youngest, has always been special. She’s our baby girl.” Oh God, her eyes are getting watery, here come the tears. “I’m just so overwhelmed with joy. After everything that has happened in our family, I will always cherish the good. And today is good. To Ella.” She raises her glass and everyone follows, sipping our drinks. My mom kisses my forehead.

“So proud of you, Ella,” she tells me.

“Thanks Mom.”

“Come on Roman, make a speech!” Uncle Leo tells my dad. He’s my mom’s younger brother.

My dad isn’t big on speeches. He’s the quiet type.

“All I have to say is that my little girl is going to take this world by storm,” he declares, raising his glass.

“That’s right.” My Uncle Leo fist pumps the air. Uncle Leo is a very interesting person. He calls himself a traveler of the world… but he’s never been outside of the United States. I don’t think he’s even been out of the East Coast region. Turns out he’s afraid of flying, but the women he hooks up with don’t know that. He always comes up with a good lie for each one. Right now, he has a tall blonde with great
big
assets on his arm. She thinks he’s a humanitarian that has worked in refugee camps in Cambodia and Africa. He told us the lie before the woman even got through the door.

Everyone claps and continues to drink and converse while I scan the room looking for Donovan and Claudia. They said they would be late because today is the last day of exams for them.

Speaking of the devils
.

I’m delighted to see my brother and Claudia step into the room with their friends Jade and Emile. I jump into my brother’s arms and he spins me around.

“Congratulations, ugly.” Donovan sets me back down on my feet.

I punch him in the shoulder. “Thanks, jackass.”

“Hey,” Claudia says, hugging me. I hug Jade and Emile too.

“Finally happy to be out of high school hell?” Jade asks me.

“Of course. I’m ready to come join you guys. Hopefully, college is better.”

“Yeah, how are the guys?” Dina asks.

“Hot,” Jade says. “Still immature, but hot. It’s like a human buffet there.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ve had a lot of guys coming in and out,” Emile says.

“Emile, I will literally stab you.” Jade glares at him.

“Guys, come on.” Claudia puts her hand up. “You’ve been fighting all the way here in the car.”

“Donovan, please tell your midget friend over here to stay 100 feet away from me tonight,” Jade tells my brother.

“Whatever,” Emile says.

Jade and Emile are funny. Around the time my brother and Claudia started sneaking around with each other, Jade and Emile did too. When they got to college they stopped because of their pride and egos. It’s obvious to all of us that there’s built-up sexual tension between them. We’re just waiting for them to snap.

“I’m going to find Mom and Dad,” Donovan says, kissing Claudia’s temple.

Secretly, I am in awe of my brother and Claudia’s relationship. They’ve been through so much and they just love each other like there is no one else in the world. They love each other like my parents. I want that someday, not the way Donovan and Claudia got it, but the same feelings. Yeah, I can’t go through the whole, I’ve fallen in love with the son of my father’s enemy thing. I saw what that did to Donovan and Claudia.

You see, Claudia’s dad was the assistant U.S attorney and my father’s sworn enemy. He hated our family with so much passion that our brother Christian died because of it and Claudia almost died too. Donovan and Claudia’s battle for their relationship nearly killed both of them really. I couldn’t go through something like that. It’s too much. My whole life, being the daughter of Roman Pierce, the most notorious gangster in New York, is enough intensity for me. All I need is something simple and true.

“So, how is everything?” Claudia asks me as we sit outside on the back patio. While Donovan and Emile sat with my dad in his office, we girls decided to chill outside as the sun went down and the sky turned dark.

“Everything is cool. I’m just ready for what’s next,” I answer.

“I’m ready to move away from my mother,” Dina says.

“New York City is only two hours away. Trust me, it does not matter, your mother will still be around,” Jade informs her.

“Great.” Dina rolls her eyes. “You guys are lucky you’re getting an apartment.”

“Oh, yeah.” I give Claudia a high five.

“Can you guys believe this? I would have never thought that the four of us would be friends like this, let alone Claudia and Ella getting an apartment together.”

“Yeah, it is still strange.” Claudia smiled. “But a good strange.”

“Yeah,” I agree.

It is a good strange. My life is good. I have a great family and great friends. My life is awesome.

Tommy

I messed up. I froze. I don’t freeze.

Once Ella saw me through the mirror, it’s like I was in a trance. Her charm got to me when she said hi. How can that happen? A girl can stop me from doing my job with a mere look through a mirror and a simple ‘Hi’? Somehow, those few simple moments did something to me.

The party is over now and we’re packing up the catering van. That goofy guy, Russell, continued to hassle me with questions all night and it has taken everything in me to keep bashing his head in with a fruit tray. I’m not a people person.

“Alright, HK.” Russell smacks me on the back. “I’ll be seeing ya.”

I give him a blank expression. He puts his hands up in surrender and walks to his car. I take out my pack of Marlboros to have a smoke. I light it up and stare
at the sky, admiring the view. It is nice out here at night. Quiet, compared to the city.

I look back at the Pierce house behind me and see Ella Pierce gazing at the same set of stars I’m looking at. She’s leaning on the rail of the balcony, resting her chin on her hand while stargazing.

Still staring, I take another pull of the cigarette and without me expecting it, she rubs the back of her neck and glances down. To her surprise, I am looking at her. She folds her arms over the balcony rail and continues staring at me. I feel uncomfortable so I drop my cigarette to the ground and step on it. Before I head to my car, I can’t help but to take one last look at the Pierce girl as she stares at me curiously.

Chapter 2

“Presuming Innocence”

Ella

Dina drags
me to the mall for some retail therapy. She's having guy problems and the only way to heal her is with a new pair of Jimmy Choos. After watching her try on about fifty pairs, I decide to ditch her and head to the record store.

I'm kind of a purist when it comes to music. I still like listen
ing to records while I create designs for my future clothing line. That's what I want to do, design clothes. I’ve loved fashion ever since I was a little girl. I’m going to the Art Institute of New York to closer to my dreams.

After buying two records, ASAP
Rocky and the Stones, I head back to Dina. I notice too late that I’m walking in the same direction as Eric Anderson, son of the U.S. Attorney and Claudia's ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, he is also the guy I lost my virginity to.

"Ella," he says
with a smug smile on his face.

"Eric
," I say in a not-too-polite way.

"You look good. You graduate?
"

"Yep."
I want to make this a very short and bitter reunion.

"I go to Harvard. Pre Law."

"Why doesn't that shock me?"

"Is Claudia
still a part of your family of thugs?"

"Yes,
Eric, she is. And she’s still very much in love with my brother. The mere thought of you never crosses her mind."

"I can't believe after every
thing he put her through, she’s still with him." Now I know I should walk away, but I just can’t let this debate go.

"Are you kidding me? Um
, in case you forgot, Henry Stonem  and Judge Barnes were the reason Claudia got shot. I don't even know why I'm talking to you about this."

"Let me just ask you something. How does Donovan feel about the fact that I not only took his girlfriend
’s virginity but his whore of a sister’s too?"

Son of a bitch.

I punch Eric in the face without a second thought. Not a slap, not a yell, I just simply ball up my fist and swing. I shake the pain away from my right hand.

He
stares at me wide-eyed and wipes the blood from his lip, probably from the rings on my right hand. "You bitch."

I'm re
ady for Eric to lunge at me, but someone yanks him away, pinning his arm against his back and bending his hand.

Well, well, it's the hot waiter,
from my party. "Now is that a way to speak to a woman?" he asks Eric politely but with an intimidating stare. Releasing his hold on him, he pushes Eric away. Eric steps toward him, but pauses when he sizes up the waiter. I’m doing the same. He’s wearing a black Henley t-shirt that shows his muscles perfectly, blue jeans tucked into black and scruffy combat boots, and two tattoos on his right arm.

Looking
back at me then at the waiter, Eric shakes his head, realizing he has no chance because he’s the punk that he’s always been and always will be.

“Whatever,” he spits as he walks away, rubbing his shoulder.

The hot waiter faces me and I see another tattoo peeking out of his shirt on his left arm and a small scar traveling from the top of his eyelid to his eyebrow. He's a pretty boy, with an edge. His hazel eyes are also a big distraction, and I wonder how I didn’t notice any of this when I first saw him.

"Thank you
," I finally get out after awkwardly staring at him.

"No problem. You got a nice right hook." He points to my hand that is still stinging from the punch.

"I've had practice on my brothers.” I point to him. “You’re the waiter from my party."

"Yes
, Ms. Pierce."

I snicker at him referring to m
e so formally. "Ella." I stick my hand out. “My name is Ella.”

He looks down at it and seems hesitant to shake it
, which is strange. I mean, it's not like I have a disease or something.

He finally grabs it
and I expect his hands to be rough, but surprisingly, they’re smooth.

"Tommy."

Finally, a name to put with the face that overwhelmed me the other night when I caught him staring at me on the balcony. I remember thinking two things when I saw him below me: “Wow, he’s sexy,” and “Eww, he smokes cigarettes.”

"Huh, so let me ask you
, Tommy." I release my hand from his. "Ex-military? Or ex-convict?"

His eyes flicker at my question.
"What makes you think I'm either?"

"Well
, it's not the tattoos, it's the way you handled that guy. I've only seen men that work for my father do that. I'm sure you know who my father is, especially with your thick New York accent."

"Wow
, are you usually this presumptuous?"

I smile. “
Yeah, I'm kind of working on it."

"Well,
you need to work harder."

Most people would be offended by my rude comments and his equally rude response, but we both know this is simply flirtatious banter. 

"I suppose you’re right."

We continue sizing each other up. I can’t really get a good read on this guy. Wait a minute; I’ve never seen this guy around before my party. What if he’s some type of psycho stalker?

“What are you doing here?” I ask him.

He looks around. “What do people that come to the mall normally do?”

Smartass, I like that.

“Well, some come to stalk or lead little children to their cars. So which one are you?”

He snickers and licks his lips and that right there is a turn-on. “Neither. I was just on my way to the record store.”

“You listen to records?”

He looks at my bag from the record store than back at me. “Now I do.” He smirks.

“Nice try,” I say, trying not to smile.

“Nice smile,” he throws back.

Wow. This guy is something.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” I ask him.

“No. I’m here housesitting for my aunt.”

“Who’s your aunt?”

“She’s not rich, you wouldn’t know her.”

“So, why would you be housesitting for a woman who isn’t rich? Most of the people here live in mansions.” He bites his lip and I can tell he’s trying to figure out a lie to tell me.

He squints his eyes and nods. “Okay, you want the truth?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Sure.”

“I am an ex-convict. I was released two years ago. I live over in West Point in an apartment. I moved out here to get away from the city. It was a lot of bad influences over there. I didn’t have enough money to move out of state so instead of being poor in the city I might as well be poor in the suburbs.”

“Okay.”

He’s taken aback by my answer. “Okay? That’s it? You’re not
gonna get scared and run away?”

“Why would you think that?”

“I guess, I thought − ”

“That because I’m a rich girl, I would think you’re below me or something? Now who’s being presumptuous?”

              “Maybe I was hoping you were.” The slight uncertainty in that sentence makes me believe he does wish I was like that.

             
“You’re strange,” I say to him with a smile.

             
“I know. You’re pretty.”

             
“I know.” We’re pausing again, and I feel it, a good feeling conjuring up inside of me due to our flirtatious banter.

             
“Yo, bitch.” Dina comes up behind me and spoils the moment. “You were supposed to come back. I needed your opinion on these red pumps.” She stops talking when she notices my new friend. “Hello.” She smiles at him.

             
“Dina, this is Tommy. Tommy, Dina.” I introduce them.

             
“Hot waiter guy, nice to finally meet you,” she says.

             
“Funny friend, nice to finally meet you,” he says with that gorgeous and mysterious smirk of his.

             
“So, you live here?” Dina asks him.

             
“West Point.”

             
“Cool.”

             
We’re back to awkward silence now, except Dina keeps looking back and forth between us. She starts smiling wide and I already know she is up to something.

             
“So, Tommy, there is a carnival tomorrow night in the Capital park. You should come. Ella will be there.”

             
I glare at Dina and she winks at me.

             
“I have something to do tomorrow so I doubt I’ll make it,” Tommy answers and I’m kind of disappointed. “I’ll see you around.”

             
And like that, he’s gone.

             
“What the hell! Why didn’t you ask for his number? He was painfully gorgeous,” Dina nudges me.

             
“I don’t know,” I say and I really don’t know. “Well, I probably won’t see him again anyway.”

Tommy

              Things have not been going the way they’re supposed to. They told me to hurt the girl, but I froze. I follow her for a week and end up saving her at the mall from an idiot. She catches me in my poor excuse for a lie so I tell her half the truth. I am an ex-convict and I do live in West Point… for now. But I’m not here to get away from the city. I miss the city. I’m here to help Mickey get revenge on Roman Pierce. By any means necessary, we are here to avenge Eddie Valentine.

             
I pull up to Mickey’s warehouse in the city and walk to the side door. .

             
“What up, kid?” says Mike, one of Mickey’s guards, who’s 6’5 and fat as hell.

             
“What up, Mike?” I walk past him into the warehouse, full of About thirty poker tables with a poker game at each one. Men come here to lose their money, and they literally do lose their money, because the games are rigged. Some come out with money if they’re smart. The card dealer will let them win the first couple of hands to build their confidence, but if they stay at the table, they’ll lose their money. We hold these games every Saturday. We also supply escorts to keep them company.

             
“Hey Tommy,” says Venus, speaking of escorts. She’s tall, slim and knows every trick in the book. She and I fooled around a couple times.

When I was fifteen, Mickey gave me an escort as a birthday gift so I could lose my virginity. Her name was Marina. She was ten years older than me and I fell in love with her that night. A year later, Mickey had her killed when he found out she was a narc. He slit her throat in front of all of us so we could know how serious he was. I remember being sad about Marina and Mickey patting me on my back, telling me that Marina made the wrong sacrifices, her loyalty and her life.

“Hey, Venus.” She kisses me on the lips, which taste like chocolate and mints. “Meet me after the meeting?” she asks me.

“Sure.” I tell her and head to Mickey’s office.

Another guard, Donnell, is waiting at the door. He gives me a nod and opens Mickey’s door for me.

Mickey looks up from his desk and flashes a smile at the sight of me.

He gets out of his seat and walks toward me. “My boy.” He clasps his hands around my head and pulls me in for a hug.

“Hey Mickey.” I look around the room and see Terry and Chris. Terry is a piece of shit. Chris is okay, but he can be annoying too.

“Hey Tommy,” Chris says to me while Terry smiles at me. The only time Terry smiles at me is when he thinks I’m in trouble.

“Have a seat, Tommy.” Mickey gestures to the seat in front of his desk. I sit down and give Mickey my full attention.

“So, how is everything going with the Pierces?” he asks.

“Fine.”

“How come you didn’t hurt the Pierce girl?” I hear Terry ask behind me.

“I couldn’t get her alone. She was around people the whole time. It was
her
party.”

“I can’t believe it. The big bad Tommy Dumas couldn’t do his job.”

“You want to handle it, Terry?” I turn my head and challenge him.

“Enough,” Mickey says as he lights his cigarette. “Enough of this bullshit.”

“I say we just go to the house and kill them all, Mick,” Terry proposes. I’m a little bit bothered by it.

“We can’t do that, idiot. Not while Mickey is under investigation,” I tell him. With a meth lab and a few homicides now linked to Mickey, they have evidence, but not enough. One slip could change that, which is why we haven’t gone after the Pierces yet. Also, I think Mickey is trying to figure out a way to make Roman Pierce really suffer.

“Tommy is right, Terry. We can’t do anything, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun.” Mickey smiles. “Terry, you’re still watching his son here in the city, right?”