Trapped in his End Game (Series)

MELANIE

Waiting is hell.

It’s not just the physical act that drives me insane. It’s the expectation that I’m supposed to do nothing. To just sit here and take it. Tommy wouldn’t stand for it-not for a second.

I lean next to Vincent’s impressive wall of glass in his high-rise apartment. The city looks beautiful from here. It’s blanketed in white and I feel the cold from the outdoors through my palms.

“Do you mind? We just had the windows washed.”

I snatch my hand back and look around at Adriana, who stands in the living room with her arms crossed, looking very severe. “I’m sorry.”

She keeps staring at me until the vein popping from her neck looks as if it’s going to blow. My cheeks flush under her stare, and I look away. I get it. She hates me.

“Now that we’re stuck here together, maybe you can explain to me why you tried to get my husband in jail.”

My back muscles tense as I stare down at the city, trying to focus on the beauty of the streets and ignore the anger burning my stomach from the rudeness in her tone.

“You don’t know anything about me, so just back off.”

“Excuse me?”

I wince from the shrill tone of her voice. Heart hammering, I turn around to face her. Her arms are still tightly wound around her waist.

“I think you owe me an explanation.”

The stress from the events tonight makes me burst out. “Fine! Your asshole of a husband-”

“Careful.” Her eyes flash.

“He and the rest of the guys in the family bullied my family for months. My dad made a deal he should’ve never made with Jack, and they turned our family business into club where they could sell coke to any kid dumb enough to buy from them. When I didn’t make payments, Vincent was the one who slapped me around. So, no, I don’t have any fucking moral regrets about turning him in. It was a chance for me to save myself.”

A blazing feeling fills my chest and I take great satisfaction from the shocked look on her face.

Serves you right, you uppity bitch.

Adriana swallows hard and moves back, uncrossing her arms. Then her face twists in pain and she gasps.

“I-I didn’t know.”

Remorse shines from her eyes, and I believe her. I don’t think Vince and the others are really that open with their wives about what they do for a living. It’s probably best for everyone involved.

A strangled sob leaves her throat and she collapses on the coach, looking miserable. I breathe out a long sigh.

“Hey, it wasn’t-don’t get upset, please.”

“I know he’s not a good man, but I love him. He’s always been…amazing to me. I just hate hearing about this-”

I’m bewildered as she covers her face with her hands and lets out a long sob. I always thought the wives must’ve been greedy or stupid, or perhaps both, like caricatures of the wives on The Sopranos. I guess I never really thought of them as human beings.

Then I think of my relationship with Tommy. My love for him. The way he turned me from an adversary to a devotee in that dungeon of his. I still can’t understand it.

“He’s not that bad, really,” I say, feeling guilty for the pain on her face. “He stood up for Tommy when Jack wanted him dead, which really is the only reason I’m alive. I’m not angry anymore.”

As I say it and look into her hopeful eyes, I realize it’s true. I just want him to come back to me. Please come back to me. She nudges the tissue box on the table toward me, and I feel a wave of gratitude toward her as I grab a couple tissues to stem the flow of tears.

Waiting is a bitch.

Adriana makes a few halfhearted suggestions to watch TV, but I shake my head. There’s nothing I can do but strain my ears against the silence and listen for a pair of footsteps. Then Adriana’s phone suddenly rings and she drops it in her excitement.

“Vince, what’s going on?” She listens, her mouth widening in a soundless circle. Her sorrowful gaze looks right at me.

He doesn’t move. I touch his hand, which feels like ice, I kiss his cheek, and I beg him to wake up-even though I know he hates it. He still doesn’t move. I’ve never seen him look so peaceful. Dark eyelashes fan over his pale cheeks and his face is smoothed of wrinkles. There’s nothing furrowing his brow. He almost looks innocent.

It’s beautiful.

A low cough reminds me that I’m not alone, and I look across from Tommy to a man who I loathed weeks ago, and now I owe him everything for getting Tommy back to safety. His wife is asleep on his shoulder.

Now’s my chance.

“Listen, I-”

“I don’t need to hear it,” he says abruptly, his eyes colder than ever.

“Thank you.”

Dark eyes glower at me. “I told you I didn’t need to hear it.”

“Well, maybe I needed to say it.”

The heat from his gaze smolders into cool indifference. He nods his head and looks away, and I turn back toward Tommy. He just looks so lost, and the doctor’s don’t even know if there will be nerve damage.

The nurse knocks on the door and startles Adriana from her sleep. “Sorry,” she says, looking ’round at us, “but there can only be one person at a time.”

Adriana stands to her feet and tugs Vince’s arm. “Let’s leave them alone.”

My lips pull upward into a smile, silently thanking her for letting me stay with him. I’ll be here all night-it doesn’t matter.

I’ll never leave him.

My hand intertwines with his, and every so often I bring it to my lips and I pray to whatever god there is that Tommy will wake up. And then, like magic, I feel his hand twitch in mine.

“Tommy?”

Slowly his lids flutter and I collapse into relief as heavily-lidded hazel eyes seek mine out. “Mel.”

Oh God. All of the worries building up in my chest suddenly expel from my lips, shaking. “You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake!”

His mouth twitches. “I promised.”

My hand smoothes the hair from his face as joy electrifies every surface of my skin. I kiss him, eager to feel that passionate heat between us that I took for granted, and when I pull back he doesn’t look away from me, not even when Vince’s voice calls out for him.