Sempre (Forever) (47 page)

“I wasn’t feeling up to it this morning.”

“Well, stay out of trouble. It’s been a lot less stressful these days without dealing with you.”

Carmine was grinding his teeth. Without even thinking, Haven reached across the table and grabbed his hand. He cut his eyes at her, surprised, but his posture relaxed. “I have a reason to be good now.”

Haven smiled at his words as the officer shifted his attention to her. “Well, that’s wonderful. And you are…?”

She started to answer, but Nicholas beat her to it. “Her name’s Haven.”

Carmine tensed again at the sound of his voice.

“Ah, right, their houseguest. How are you acquainted with the DeMarco family?”

She had no idea what to say, but thankfully Carmine interjected. “From Chicago. Our fathers are friends.”

The officer nodded. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Haven.”

“You, too, sir,” she said quietly as he walked away. Nicholas lingered, though, and glared at their joined hands.

“Is there something you want?” Carmine asked sharply.

Nicholas narrowed his eyes but said nothing as he stalked away.

The waitress returned with their food, and they ate in silence. Haven couldn’t explain it, but there was a shift in the air around them, a connection that hadn’t existed before last night.

But no matter how strong those feelings were, they couldn’t subdue another sensation wafting across her skin. It was one she was used to, something she’d felt her entire life.

It was the feeling of being watched.

Chapter 30

The weeks that followed their stay in the cabin flew by rapidly, half a year having elapsed since Haven had been forced to leave her mama behind. She was starting to adapt to the world outside of the desert, little things that once intimidated her now a regular part of her life. She still kept up with her work, cooking and cleaning every day, but there was always time left over for herself. She’d never had time to do things leisurely, and the more she indulged, the more she couldn’t imagine ever going back.

Free time
, Carmine called it. His choice of words made her laugh.

Drawing and painting, reading and crafts—her days were a flurry of unrestrained creativity. She’d taken some notebooks from Carmine and started filling pages with words, scribbling down everything that was on her mind. It was disjointed, riddled with errors, but it wasn’t meant for others eyes. It was good practice, though, and she found it cathartic, the pressure inside of her releasing as she got it out on paper.

The nightmares came less often after that, like she’d chased away the monsters with the power of her words. It made her finally feel in control, despite the fact that she was anything but.

She started to grow more comfortable being outside of the house too. Carmine took her wherever he went, giving her cash so she could count it out and pay. She ordered her own food, picked out her own things, and spoke for herself whenever the opportunity arose.

Life hadn’t only changed for Haven—it shifted for all of them. Dr. DeMarco was gone a lot more, spending nearly every weekend in Chicago. Dominic was busy preparing for college, since he was graduating in a few short months and heading across the country with Tess for college. Even Dia was graduating, but she was staying close by in Charlotte.

Haven was in the kitchen early one Saturday morning, the day before Easter Sunday, cleaning up from breakfast as Carmine leaned against the counter. As usual, he was watching her. “So, what do you wanna do today?”

She shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, Carmine.”

“If I knew what I wanted to do, do you think I’d bother asking?”

“Yes,” she said, laughing. “You always ask my opinion.”

“Well, do you have an opinion this time?”

“We can just hang out here.”

“We spend too much time in this shithole.” He paused. “So, what do you wanna do today?”

She shook her head. “Whatever you want to do.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the downstairs office. He punched in the code to unlock the door and stepped inside, but she dug her heels in, refusing to follow. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I’m not supposed to go in there.”

“Why?”

“Your father said some doors stay locked for a reason.”

“It is locked for a reason, just like I have a code for a reason.”

“Why do you have one?”

“Because my father isn’t always home and sometimes we need shit in here. That’s not the point, though. Come on.”

She stared at him, contemplating his words, before hesitantly stepping inside the room. Carmine placed his hand on her hip, kissing the nape of her neck. “See, that wasn’t scary.”

“It’s not the room I’m afraid of,” she said. “Why are we in here?”

“I’m gonna teach you how to use my gun.”

She gaped at him. “You’re joking.”

“Do I look like I’m joking? There’s nothing else to do, and I feel like blowing off some steam. Besides, do you know how sexy you’re gonna be shooting something?”

She wasn’t so sure about it. “I don’t think your father would want me to touch a gun after I touched his.”

“You touched Nunzio’s,” Carmine said, matter-of-fact. “He didn’t get mad about that, did he?”

“I was protecting myself.”

“Well, this is the same thing,” he said. “You never know when you might need to know how to shoot to protect yourself.”

She just stared at him, so he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Hey, I’m taking Haven with me shooting. You told me to tell you if I ever did anything like it, so this is me telling you.”

He hung up, and she sighed, resigned.
So persistent
. “Okay, but why are we in here?”

Carmine pulled the rug out of the way and opened the trap door in the floor. “Targets. Ammunition. Safety shit, like ear protectors and glasses. Depending on your mood, maybe a bulletproof vest for me.”

She gaped at him. “I’d never shoot you.”

“I know. Not intentionally, anyway.”

She cautiously walked over to the entrance to the basement, and Carmine held her hand as they started down the narrow steps. “
Terra di contrabbando
,” he said when they reached the bottom. “Welcome to the land of contraband.”

Her eyes swept across the large concrete room, taking in the massive crates. “Everything down here is illegal?”

“Not all of it is illegal, but it’s all pretty fucking unsavory,” he said, glancing around. “The front ones are mainly alcohol.”

“What about the ones in the back?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

She followed behind him for a bit, coming to a halt when the guns came into view. Nearly a hundred of them hung on the wall in neat rows. “Whoa.”

Carmine sighed, digging through some boxes behind her as she gaped at the weapons. Her heart rate spiked, her skin crawling. Carmine pulled out supplies and tried to hand them to her, but she wasn’t paying him a bit of attention.

“What can I say? My father loves his weapons.” Carmine opened a cabinet and pulled out a box of bullets. “But you already knew that.”

She tore her eyes away from them. “Yeah.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of guns, though,” he said. “It’s the dumbasses with their fingers on the triggers that you have to worry about. As long as you stay away from them, there’s no problem.”

She glanced back at the wall of weapons, mulling over his words. He made it seem so simple. “What else is down here?”

“More guns, a shitload of casino chips, the dungeon…”

She turned back to him, her eyes wide.
Dungeon
? “Uh, okay, then. Are we done now?”

*  *  *  *

It took the two of them nearly an hour to reach their destination, a wide open space tucked into the woods. The ground was covered in an array of purple, yellow, and red wildflowers, a line of tall pine trees surrounding it like nature had deliberately made a fence.

Carmine dropped his backpack to the ground and stood there as Haven scanned the area, a look of awe on her face. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it’s nice,” he said as he pulled out the stuff and set up a target. Standing behind Haven, Carmine positioned her body and grabbed his pistol. He put his arms around her and held the gun, explaining the safety and that she had seven rounds plus one in the chamber. He told her to keep it steady and use her foresight to focus on the target, blocking everything out and going into a trance.

Once she seemed to get it, he handed her the earmuffs and safety glasses to put on. Taking a step away, he watched her aim, her hands shaking as she squeezed the trigger. He flinched as she popped off her first round, the recoil and expelled cartridge startling her. She screamed and nearly dropped the gun, while he stared at the target—she hadn’t even come close.

He put his arms around her again, holding the pistol firmly with her hands on top of his. They fired off the rest of the rounds that way and she seemed to relax. After reloading, he handed her the gun and gave her some room. The first shot breezed by the target, closer that time, but her hands still shook.

She glanced at him, and he smiled, silently urging her on.

He ended up reloading the gun twice, not a single bullet hitting its intended spot. She was coming close, though, her eyes twinkling with excitement every time she squeezed the trigger. He tried to imagine how she felt wielding something so powerful, the adrenaline that had to be surging through her veins making his heart jolt.

After finally hitting the target after the third reload, Haven shouted and turned to face him. In her excitement, she forgot to lower the gun and aimed it at his forehead. Carmine ducked, throwing his hands up protectively. “Watch what you’re fucking doing!”

She lowered the gun. “I’m so sorry!”

Dropping his hands, he shook his head. “You never aim a loaded gun at anyone unless you’re willing to shoot that motherfucker.”

She nodded in understanding and turned away, firing a round that grazed the target. She smiled, trying to hold in her excitement. Sighing, Carmine walked up behind her and placed his hands on her hips. He pulled off the earmuffs and tossed them on the ground before lining her back up to the target. “You’re doing really good.”

She aimed with a look of determination on her face. He could feel her body tense in anticipation, her muscles firm and arms vibrating as she pulled the trigger.

He placed a light kiss on her earlobe without thinking, and she whimpered. Losing focus, she squeezed the trigger, and a round echoed through the trees.

“Oops,” she said as birds squawked in the distance.

He laughed and nuzzled into her neck. “I shouldn’t have distracted you, but better the birds than me.”

The walk home was a lot harder than Carmine ever remembered the walk to the clearing being. By the time the house came into view, the sun was starting to set and he was utterly exhausted. The two of them headed for the stairs, but he didn’t even make it to the second floor when there was a knock at the door.

Sighing, he turned to head back down. “I’ll be up in a minute.”

Haven continued upstairs as he disabled the alarm and opened the door to find Max standing there. “What’s up?”

“Hey, is your dad home?”

“No. He’s in Chicago until tomorrow.”

“Shit, I needed to give something to him,” he said, reaching into his pocket for an envelope.

“I can take it for you,” Carmine said, holding out his hand. He didn’t even want to know what type of business Max had with his father. Max only dealt to save money for school, which alleviated some of Carmine’s guilt when he got drugs from him. He felt like he was doing it for a good cause, like he was participating in a coke-a-thon to send a deserving kid to the Ivy League.

“Thanks, man. I told him I’d have it to him, and well, I don’t want to be late with shit for your father.”

“I’ll make sure he gets it.”

Carmine took the envelope and said goodbye to Max before closing the door. He went into the office under the stairs again and took the large painting off the wall, exposing the safe underneath. He pulled out his keys and stuck the small golden one into the lock, punching in the code as he turned it. The safe unlocked, and a folder slipped out as soon as he opened it. Papers spilled out onto the floor. Bending down to pick them up, the word Antonelli caught his eye on one of the papers. He froze, a coldness washing through him when he read ‘genetic testing’ written across the top.

His mind worked fast as he debated what to do. Time was ticking away, his opportunity dwindling with every second. Curiosity overrode his logic as he grabbed the test results and glanced through them.

Besides Haven’s, there were no names, but it indicated a conclusive mtDNA match from somewhere. Written along the side, in his father’s messy scrawl, were the words ‘CODIS partial match confirmed’. Carmine was kicking himself for not paying more attention in science class, scouring his brain for what that could mean.

He heard footsteps approaching as Haven called his name. He shoved the papers back into the folder. Placing the manila envelope in the safe, he locked it back up before walking out to meet her in the foyer.

Carmine woke up later that night to loud noises. He heard a door slam on the floor below, and the bed shifted as Haven sat up, wide-eyed. “What was that?”

“I have no fucking clue,” he said, glancing at the clock to see it was three in the morning. He kicked off the comforter and climbed out of the bed when he heard heavy footsteps outside in the library. Dread hit him at the core as the knob turned and the door flung open. Haven yelped as Vincent appeared in the doorway.

Even in the darkness, his rage was obvious.

“Go to your room, girl,” he said, not even bothering to look in Haven's direction. He didn’t take his eyes off Carmine as she bolted out of the room. “What's wrong with you? Do you have a death wish?”

No matter what answer Carmine gave, it would be wrong.

“I thought you were smarter than this. Did you honestly think what you did today was a good idea? You can’t be that dense!”