Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 49: 8 million Euro

Sleeping was not an option.

Mackenzie felt sick to her stomach. Her head was pounding like she had a jackhammer trying to crack her skull from the inside. She had tried everything, drinking water, painkillers, sugar and salt, nothing made it ease up.

At the back of her mind she already knew it would not go away that way. It was not a physical headache, it was brought on by a guilty conscience, accepting that and doing something about it was probably the only cure.

She needed to tell Gareth she was sorry. She needed him to forgive her. How could she have been so stupid?

So judgmental.

So ungrateful.

So cruel.

Gareth had been so unfathomably hurt; Mackenzie had seen it in his eyes. Though he had tried to mask it with anger the hurt had been the driving force in what he had said and done. And she had deserved every harsh word, every uncontrolled action and a lot more than he was capable of towards her. Not once had Gareth hurt her like she had hurt him.

Yes, he had ghosted her and broken her heart. Her heart had mended with everything he had done since. She, like the ultimate bitch she apparently was, had bypassed the chance to only hurt his heart and gone after his sense of self, and successfully wounded that.

What had Gareth ever done to deserve her treating him like that? He had been nothing but good and patient with her. He had paid Marco's debt to protect her. Fuck it, he had told her he wanted a relationship with her, and she had repaid all that by calling him a self-serving rapist.

She deserved her misery.

Mackenzie's phone was mocking her from the coffee table. Shining in the soft light from the morning sun through the windows in the living room. She had been sitting on the sofa all night hoping Gareth would be back.

Picking up the phone she braced herself and clicked the number when she had found it in her contacts.

Ringing...

Waiting...

"Angel? It's 5.30 in the morning, are you ok?"
"Papà," Mackenzie sobbed into the phone.
"Mackenzie! What's wrong?" Vittorio's rumbling voice was laced with worry.
"I need to talk. I've messed up."
"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" There was no mafia boss on the other end, no controlled businessman, no calculated killer. Just a deeply concerned father hanging on by a thread waiting for his daughter to give him any indication that she was alright.

"I'm not hurt, papà."

The relieved sigh from the other end made her feel even more guilty. Not only had she hurt Gareth she had almost given her father a heart attack too.

"Mackenzie, talk to me. What's going on?"
"I've met someone. I'm in love with him and I've hurt him. I don't think he'll forgive me this time."

Vittorio sighed.

"Angel, of course he'll forgive you, if he loves you too, he'll forgive you."
"I'm not sure if he can love me after what I did."
"It can't be that bad," Vittorio tried to reason like any protective father.

"I said some things that are unforgivable. I accused him of horrible things after he did something nobody else would have done for me, and he did it selflessly. He's been nothing but sweet and caring when I was in the hospital and then I go and..."
"Hospital?" Vittorio yelled. "When the hell were you in the hospital and why wasn't I informed?"
"Papà..."
"No bullshit, Mackenzie, why were you in the hospital?"