Five of Hearts

Chapter 17

When I woke up the next day, it felt as though I had been asleep for days. My entire body hurt, not just the stab wounds. Before bed, Atticus had given me some kind of painkillers and something else, but they had obviously worn off.

I checked the clock on the bedside table and saw that it was almost 11 in the morning. Atticus was long gone. I sighed and slid out of his bed, careful not to bump my leg on anything. I still couldn't really walk on it. The bathroom had been cleaned at some point, the bloodied towels and gauze put away. My lips were incredibly chapped and my throat felt completely parched. I took two painkillers and what I discovered was antibiotics from the bottles sitting on the otherwise empty bathroom counter and limped downstairs.

The house was dead quiet and bright as the sunlight streamed in. I swung open the refrigerator door and grabbed the water pitcher and a glass from the cabinet. I chugged the entire glass in four seconds and immediately filled it again.

I couldn't quite believe that the night before had actually happened. Surely it was a dream. But the throbbing pain in my leg and the bandage on my arm wouldn't allow me to live in a delusion. No. I was living with the Mafia. And I was stabbed in a bathroom last night.

A crazed giggle left my lips.

What the hell am I thinking?

However, I couldn't ignore the fact that it had been thrilling. And at the end of the day, when I let myself fall asleep, I didn't care. I didn't care that I had been attacked. That my living with the guys put me in danger. That I basically worked for the Mafia now. None of it mattered to me.

Only two things ran through my mind before I had fallen asleep.

I wasn't going to chicken out now.

And I was going to kill Mario.

I had realized exactly what he did to me as I laid in Atticus' bed. He attacked me in a bathroom, knowing I couldn't retaliate. He came for me. He came for Atticus. He came for all of us. He hurt me.

I wanted nothing more than to make him pay.

As I stood on one leg in the kitchen, sipping my third glass of water, the front doorbell rang. I looked down at myself, only wearing Atticus' large, old t-shirt and my undergarments, and shrugged. It was probably one of the guys and they forgot their garage key.

I set down my water and shuffled my feet toward the door as it rang again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I groaned, limping heavily.

My hand grasped the doorknob while the other turned the lock.

"Don't-" I heard behind me, but it was too late.

I swung open the front door and found myself looking at Ciro. He wore a black suit the color of midnight and the sun shone off of his shiny black shoes. His black hair was fashioned in a sort of pompadour and he looked down at me, surprised. Very quickly, his surprise morphed into a smile and Atticus came up behind me, placing a hand on my lower back.

"My dear Hattie. I've been looking for you, sweetheart. How...amusing it is to find you here," Ciro's smile turned deadly as he stepped into the house. Atticus pulled me back to let him in. "Especially considering all of the boys claimed that they hadn't seen you."

Ciro sauntered into the house like he'd lived there forever and sat down on one of the couches in the living room. Atticus kept me behind him and stood in the large doorway of the living area.

"You know why we lied, Ciro. She's with Cash," Atticus spoke through gritted teeth. He turned and looked back at me with hard eyes. "Go back upstairs please, Hattie."