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Charlie
“Dante,” I said, rushing to the door as soon as I heard the keys jangling. He was back. He was safe.
I undid the lock and reached for the doorknob, barely setting my fingertips on it before it burst open. I almost threw myself in his arms before I realized it wasn’t Dante.
Hadn’t he told me never to open the door? To always, always let him or Bull open it. Just in case. The warning ping-ponged in my head as I jumped back.
A man filled the doorway, a man I’d seen before who looked very much like Dante except that his eyes were topaz, and his hair was longer and wilder. His shoulders were squared around his neck; the fabric of his shirt pulled taut over his flexing muscles.
The street kid in me recognized the posture for what it was: attack.
I twisted around and got out of the way as Stefan threw a punch. The blow caught me high up on my shoulder and a dull pain exploded outward through my body. I gasped and stumbled, trying to run.
He grabbed onto my shirt and yanked me back. I fell against his body.
His hard muscles pushed on me in all the wrong ways, the smell of his body rancid and sour. Disgust mingled with my fear, and all at once I was nauseous. I retched.
Stefan wrapped his arm around my throat. His hot breath singed my ear as he spoke. “The kid’s not treating you well, huh, Charlie?”
I couldn’t speak, could hardly suck in enough air to breathe as he tightened his arm around me. Questions raced through my mind. How did he know I might be pregnant? Why did he obviously hate the idea so much?
Stefan dragged me back towards the door, kicking it shut. Then he pushed me ahead of him a few steps. I stumbled and almost fell, my hands on my throbbing throat willing myself to breathe.
“I bet you’re wondering how I know,” he breathed.
Talk to him; make him see you as a human being. That’s what those crime shows said.
“How you know what?” I coughed out.
“Don’t play me for a fool Charlie. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“No I don’t,” I said. “I’m kinda trying to breathe,” I said. Nothing made you more human than humor, I thought.
Stall.
Stall.
Stall.
Was all I could think. Every second was precious.
“A sense of humor. Dante don’t usually go for women like that.”
“Bout time he switched it up, dont’cha think?” I said.
Overlooking my attempt at continuing to humor him, he plodded on. “Let me spell something out for you, sweet Charlie,” he said, mimicking what Dante often called me. “You’re wondering how I know that you’re probably carrying my brother’s baby.”
“So,” cough, cough, “so how do you know?” I asked. The coughing was not a stall tactic. I didn’t think I could stand another choking. I looked at his hands. They were massive, and strong.
“Well since you want to get into internet security, one of the things it’s too bad you won’t have time to learn more about is how one’s webcam can be hacked. Or how easily an office and car can be bugged. How do you think I stayed one step ahead of my brother? I’m surprised he didn’t think of it. And yet, he thinks he should run things. I’m light-years ahead of him, and it’s about time he found that out.”
“Dante loves you. He would never think you would betray him,” I said.
“My brother loves what he thinks of as his company. That’s it. And you would have found that out the hard way – if you were going to be around,” Stefan grinned, a sliver of white that passed for a smile creasing his features.
My stomach roiled again.
“Wh-what—why Stefan? You don’t have to hurt me. I don’t know anything.”
“You know sweet Charlie,” he said sickeningly, “I might buy that if I didn’t know that you did,” he said, reaching out to grab me. He slammed my back into the wall of his chest, wrapping his forearm against my throat.
I couldn’t breathe. My vision went hazy.
“But it doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I’m going to be the only Grimaldi who matters after tonight. Not Dante. Not your unborn brat.”
As I started to fade to black, I remember another attack, being backed into a corner, having everything that was important to me threatened. Sixteen. Scared. Alone. Something in me fought the blackness. No! I refused to give up, just when I might have more than I’d ever dreamed to live for – a child by a man I loved.
I struggled, scratching at the massive forearm cutting off my air, yanking my body around just enough to free an airway, to suck in another life-saving breath.
He struck the side of my face with something hard and heat raced through my head, a blossoming of scarlet pain. I bucked against him, slamming my ass right into his crotch, scratching anything I could get my nails on like a cornered alley cat.
His grip loosened and I stuck my leg around behind his. His mass tumbled to the floor.
Miraculously, I was still on my feet, spots of oxygen deprivation dancing in front of my eyes.
I started to run to Bull’s room – the panic room. But if he somehow got in that confined space, I knew I’d never get out.
“Fucking bitch!” Stefan swore, struggling to rise to his feet. I reached for the marble candle holder on the coffee table and struck him in the back, sending him crashing back to the floor.
“You’re dead! You’re dead, you hear me,” he roared as she struggled to make his way to his feet. For a split second, I thought to run out the front door. But that meant I’d have to leap over him, and he was almost up.
I needed distance between us. Somewhere I could barricade myself that he couldn’t get in. Dante’s room! I headed for the stairs, which were right in front of me.
With Stefan’s footsteps rumbling behind me, I slammed the bedroom door shut and hit the lock. My fingers shook as I fumbled with it, not sure if it was locked or unlocked.
I jumped back as the doorknob rattled.
It was locked. ... For now.
The doorknob rattled again.
I grabbed a chair to force under the knob. As I struggled with its weight, I cursed Dante’s wealth. I could pick up all the chairs in my dumpy little apartment with one hand. Every piece of furniture in his place seemed to weigh a ton.
Stefan pounded against the door; the only thing between me and his unbridled fury. With a surge of adrenaline, I finally got the chair under the knob of the door.
Stefan started attacking the door, ramming it. It bounced in the frame, and the chair shook. Knowing my makeshift barricade wouldn’t hold forever, I looked around in a panic, desperately searching for Plan B.
The closet.
The master bath.
Under the bed.
I quickly realized that no place was safe in this massive room.
A sticky redness slid down my terrified face.
There was one other option. My only way out.
I turned to face the balcony door, set against the wall of windows. It had a lock. The glass wouldn’t hold, but maybe I could lower myself to another balcony below. Or...
Stefan rammed the door again. I heard wood cracking.
I turned the fear in my brain off and ran over to the balcony door, yanking the window open. I closed my eyes, said a quick prayer, swallowed and stepped outside. The wind struck me, fierce and cold.
Everything inside me seemed to freeze, the blood in my veins turning into slush. The drop before me lunged up, a spiraling and formless darkness that threatened to drag me down to its terrifying bottom. I’d shatter apart on the concrete like a busted watermelon.
I... I can’t...
The bedroom door cracked again as Stefan attacked. Something heavy hit the floor, and I knew it had to be the chair.
It was now or never.
My very life depended on it.
I turned back and grabbed the balcony door and shut it. I locked it in one try.
The bedroom door finally lost the battle against Stefan’s massiveness. He lurched inside, his gaze immediately locking on my terrified form on the balcony. He grinned and started walking towards me; an almost leisurely gait, seemingly enjoying my paralyzing fear.
I stepped back, pushing myself beyond the realm of fear into survival.
This must be the feeling that allowed mothers the strength to lift cars off their children. I felt strong. I felt ready for battle. If I was going to die today, Stefan was damned well coming with me, I decided, my heart breaking for Dante.
“Say goodbye Charlie,” Stefan said, reaching for the handle of the window.
Movement burst through the bedroom doorway, a dark blur of a form thrusting its way through.
Stefan turned, his powerful fist landing into his brother’s gut.
“Dante!” I cried out, as he absorbed the blow.
They tumbled to the floor in a tangle of flailing limbs; their movements too frenzied for me to keep track of what was happening.
I’d be damned if I was going to hide out here while they duked it out.
I unlocked and opened the balcony door again. “Hey!” I screamed, putting every ounce of strength and every bit of air I possessed into the yell. The entire apartment building seemed to shake, or maybe that was just me as I staggered, breathless and dizzy in the aftermath.
Or maybe it was the gunshot.