Harmony (30 page)

“
Of course I stayed. I had to make sure you were okay. Doctor says if you don’t get a fever then you’ll heal. I’ll be able to take you home.”

“
Even after… now that you know, what I am? What I’ve done?”

“
We’ll talk about that later. Right now I just want you alive. And God heard my prayer. You need to rest, get your strength back.”

“
Doctor?” Willie scanned the modest furnished room he’d been taken to. “Where am I?”

“
Nevermind that…” she shushed him.

He turned his gaze to her, unable to move his head. “This doctor have a look at you Harmony, your face?”

“
I’m fine.” she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his brow and masked the discomfort she felt.

“
Mony, I’m sorry,” he said. “Forgive me. I wasn’t going to hurt you, never you. Maybe I was trying to hurt myself. I should have never trusted Antonio. Can you really forgive me? ”

She closed her eyes and nodded. “I will, give me time and I will.”

***

After the third shot of whiskey Romano heard the door behind him open. He poured another glass and swallowed down the contents before the door closed again. “Where have you been?” he asked.

“
I was with the men near the barn. We got some major problems. Those coming in say Pier 7, 6 and 4 are cleaned out. While we mobilized and moved in on Collins he had us wiped out. He turned the tables. The men aren’t sure you can bring them out of it. And what happened to Antonio? Mickey Collins do that too?”

He rolled the tension from his neck and cut his gaze over to the man he once called friend. Leftie stood before him with the side of his face bandaged from brow to cheek. Though Mabel had tried to patch him up he saw the evidence of his fight with Harmony reaching grotesquely to his lower jaw. “I want to know what happened to your face. What happened here with Harmony?”

Leftie shoved his hands down in his pockets and stepped forward. “Sorry to tell you she flew the coop. I caught her down at the barn trying to steal Mabel’s car. When I tried to stop her she went fucking nuts. Tried to attack me.”

“
Attacked you did she?”

“
Look at my face. She stole my gun and Mabel’s car. I couldn’t…”

Romano drew on Leftie, dropped the pen on the revolver and fired. The first bullet hit his friend in the chest and the second nearly took off his arm. Leftie crashed backward to the floor kicking his feet from under him and spitting up his own blood. Romano walked over and aimed the gun directly at him. He pressed his foot down on Leftie’s throat and the man’s eyes stretched to the point of bulging, but gurgling choking noises were cut off. Leftie’s nostrils flared to the size of quarters as he struggled hard to breathe.“ I told you not to touch her. No one is to ever fucking touch her. You should have listened to me.”

Leftie kicked his feet and clawed at his throat with his good hand.

“
I’ll make it quick. Tell Antonio I’ll see you both in hell, soon.” Romano fired the kill shot and Leftie went still. He turned easing the gun into the back of his pants and walked away as men that worked for him rushed in. “Bury him, and clean up the blood. I don’t want Mabel to see him like this. I’m going to clean up. Can’t move Harmony’s brother this far. Will have him taken to my place in the Bronx.”

“
Not wise, Mickey’s men might try to get to you.”

“
Let them try,” he said bitterly. “Tell Gio to see me in the morning.”

With that said he stepped over the man he’d trusted as a brother and walked up the stairs.

***

The night’s events had drained the fight out of her. Harmony didn’t object when Vinnie arrived to collect them. The men removed her brother gingerly from the doctor’s house, and they drove only ten minutes to Vinnie’s place. Harmony stood outside of it watching them carry Willie in. She glanced up to the brownstone and remembered the first time he had brought her there. In less than a week the woman who thought she could control it all had vanished. Nothing would be the same for them.

“
It’s cold out.” Vinnie said. He stepped behind her and draped her shoulders with his trench coat. She dropped her lashes quickly to hide her deep hurt. Earlier she had tried to take his life. Before that she had gone after him with a knife. How could she explain her lack of faith in him when deep down she needed him still?

“
Are you okay?” he asked. She managed to nod, though a heaviness centered in her chest. “Let’s get you inside.” He held her close, his arm locked around her waist as he walked her up the steps. Her trembling limbs welcomed the warmth and strength his embrace always provided.

Vinnie had Willie placed in his spare room. She wanted to thank him but she turned to find he had gone. She didn’t know what to do or say. She joined her brother and stayed at his bedside.

An hour passed and he didn’t return. Harmony began to believe he’d left when the door opened and he stood there staring at her. His face was cast in shadows. The light spilled in from behind him and his profile spoke of inner control and self-restraint. After all he’d killed his own brother and hadn’t said a word against hers since the ordeal began. Harmony slowly rose from her chair. It was time they said the things they needed to. Her life had become one bitter battle after another. However, with Vinnie it was different, from the first day to this moment, it had always been different.

Vinnie walked over and took her hand in his. She allowed him to lead her out of the room and up the stairs toward what she thought would be his bedroom. At some point during the silent climb she found her voice but when she opened her mouth to speak she decided against it. There were no words to express all the pain and raw hurt that weighed heavy on her heart.

“
Does it hurt?” he drew her closer and inspected her face, particularly her swollen eye. Shame curled in her breast and she recalled the nasty things Leftie said to her when he attacked her. Should she tell Vinnie the gory details? They were in the bathroom outside of his bedroom. He flicked on the light and stiffened visibly when the glare revealed the horror of her ordeal. He cursed under his breath, then softened his gaze and brushed his lips over her left swollen eyelid. Vinnie rolled up his sleeve. He went to the cabinet and removed a small tin box. He dug out a tube of some kind of ointment and she leaned back against the sink, bracing her hands there for support. She knew it would sting. His touch, however, was gentle. Yet everywhere his finger grazed burned. She tried not to cry, or show weakness. The loss of trust between them was beyond tears.

“
I want your forgiveness,” he began.

She blinked up at him surprised. “You do?”

He continued to clean away dried blood and add a cooling ointment to her bruise that made the tightness on the side of her face lessen.

“
I do.”

“
Okay,” she said.

“
I’ll have to earn it. My brother acted alone Harmony. I had no idea he was… what he’d done. I don’t blame your brother for going along with him. Antonio can be quite convincing when he wants to be. He certainly had me fooled.”

“
I’m sorry your brother is dead.”

Vinnie stopped tending to her face. His gaze lowered to hers. “Don’t be. I know he wanted me to kill him, just as I know most of what he said about me tonight was true.”

“
No, Vinnie.”

“
It was. But not anymore Songbird, I’m not that man anymore. How can I be? Too much blood has been spilled in my name. I’m not my father.”

“
You’re better than him, all of them.”

“
Shhh. Tonight… neither of us could have known how far things would go. It happened. I accept it, I can’t change it.”

She nodded that she understood. Who they were, what their brothers’ had become wouldn’t change.

“
Can I bathe? I… I have Willie’s blood on me.” She said.

His hand fell away. He stepped back at her request and she turned over her hands. Blood ringed her fingernails and was caked beneath. Her hands were stained pink with it.

“
I’ll get you some towels.”

Harmony breathed easier when he left. She shed her dress and underwear, then ran water in the tub. When he returned she stood nude. He glanced at her body and the frozen look of concern made her gaze lower as well. Leftie had hit her with his belt and though she ached all over the red scarring of welts across her breasts, abdomen, and thighs shocked her.

“
The fucking bastard!” Vinnie said through clenched teeth. She was so embarrassed, so stricken with shame and disbelief she broke down. Her hands went up to her face and she sobbed hard. Before she knew what was happening his arms were around her and she was pressed against his chest. She clung to him so tight she thought they were joined as one. She wailed against the injustice of it all until the fear and frustration eased her into small whimpers of acceptance. Vinnie never let her go. He kissed her brow and stroked her tenderly.

“
Stay, Vinnie. Don’t leave me, I don’t want to be alone,” Harmony pleaded.

Compassion softened his granite like composure and she knew he understood what she needed. His fingers clamped her trembling chin. “I had no intention of leaving you, Songbird. I love you.”

“
You do?”

“
I do. And I’m going to take care of you, for as long as I can,” he said.

Her heart fluttered at the ominous note in his voice. What did he mean? Was he leaving? She couldn’t stand a night alone with all the memories of the day. She wouldn’t let him go. “Can we get in the bath together? You and me.”

“
Yes.” He reluctantly let her go to stop the running water. When he turned toward her she reached for his shirt and began to unbutton it. He pulled it off when it fell open and she undid the belt to his pants. He shed his clothes and she stepped into the tub making room for him. When they were seated with her back resting against his chest she felt safe. Harmony closed her eyes and let his arms fold around her. It hurt less when she was in his arms. After awhile he began to bathe her. He scrubbed her hands then lowered them under the water to rub the bar of soap over her wounds and scars gently. She cupped water in her curled palms and poured it back over her face, over her hair letting the rinse take away every reminder of the night.

“
You said you love me.” Harmony spoke. She could feel his erection grow stronger against her spine. Vinnie didn’t answer. She didn’t expect him to. She closed her eyes to the circular massage of the soap over her tender abdomen. “I love you too Vinnie.”

He inhaled sharply and released a deep sigh behind her and she managed a smile. Vinnie let go of the soap and once again folded his arms around her. She sank against his broad chest and sucked down deep calming breaths of her own. Together they floated on a soothing silence and his closeness felt so male and protective. Harmony wanted to stay this way forever.

“
Tonight was my fault. All of it. I should have known not to trust Leftie with you. I should have worked harder to protect you. And Antonio.” His voice broke. Harmony waited and listened. “He had problems, and I never cared. I was too focused on training him, grooming him, just like my father did me.”

“
Antonio’s issues were his own. I should have trusted you too Vinnie. I wouldn’t have shot you. I’m sorry I pulled a gun on you.”

“
Do you know how to fire one?”

“
A gun? No.”

“
I’ll teach you. Soon.”

“
Uh, alright.”

He turned her face so she could look back at him. “I’m sorry Leftie hurt you. He won’t ever again. I swear it.”

Harmony turned in the tub and water sloshed over the side to the linoleum floor. She eased on his lap forcing his legs closed and her knees to the outside of his thighs. She gripped the back of the tub over his shoulders, her face close, drawing closer. He kissed her first and it was such a relief. But the action stung through her bottom lip all the way to the left side of her face. She winced.

He wrapped his arms around her and sighed against her lips. “You sure about this, Songbird? Does it hurt?” Vinnie asked, his tone soft with concern.

“
Not any more,” she said settling on top of him, her arms locked around his neck and her sex grooving in slow sexy swirls over his hard cock. His thickness pressed between her inner folds. The water was cool now but the blood boiling her veins had her warm and tingly all over.