The Gambler (26 page)

Andros was scared and pissed
at once, but there was no outlet for his anger. Gramps kept insisting that she knew what she was doing, which might well be true; but he wasn’t the kind of man who could ever be okay with his woman taking the lead. Especially after he’d told her no. When he thought of who she was beneath all the espionage and bullshit it just scared the shit out of him. His flower was too gentle, too innocent…

They heard the explosion on their second circuit around the neighborhood. He’d decided to follow the map she’d left behind for him, hoping that she was going to come climbing up through a manhole.

“Stop him boys.” He heard gramps’ warning as he threw the car door open and started running. His shoes weren’t made for running and neither was the suit he was wearing but none of that mattered. All that mattered was getting to her. He didn’t doubt for one second that she had something to do with whatever that was that had just gone off behind the high walls that surrounded the presidential residence.

He could hear voices raised in alarm and men running beyond those walls. He didn’t know where the fuck he was going, he just knew he couldn’t sit in that car and wait for her to show up.

Garrett and Jameson were hot on his heels, they were the ones who pulled him back just as he was about to scale the wall. He had reached the point where he didn’t care what happened to him. He had to get her the fuck out of there.

He saw the man first in the distance. He didn’t let himself believe, until he saw the much smaller shadow next to the seemingly injured man. He was running towards her in the dark as the night sky lit up with orange flames.

When he reached them he dragged her away from her dad and into his arms. “Let’s go boss we gotta get outta here.” The guys helped the old man as he pulled her back to the car with him. He didn’t trust himself to speak, didn’t think he could.

He pulled her into the car with him as the others got in and they drove off at high speed, back to the villa. It was a bit cramped back there so she had to sit on his lap. She started rubbing his hand as soon as they were settled. He knew what she was doing, but it wouldn’t work this time.

His fear turned to pure anger as he felt his heart finally settle. No one said anything as they made their way through the darkened streets. Sirens blared going hard in the other direction and he held his breath until they cleared the gates.

“He needs care, it looks like they worked him over pretty good.” Garrett imparted that little tidbit as soon as they left the car. “Too fucking bad w
e’re not hanging around here call ahead and make sure the plane is ready to leave as soon as we get there.”

They only went inside long enough to collect their stuff, which wasn’t much,
before they were headed back out. He’d sent one of the planes back so there was only the one left.

They
couldn’t appear too suspicious as they made their way, so they had to drive at an almost sedate pace while the rest of the island seemed to have come alive. News of the explosion had already spread and he had no doubt that the army or someone might call for a lockdown soon and he wanted to be in the air before that happened.

“Angel.” He didn’t answer her, neither did he look at her, he couldn’t. He was afraid that if he did
, he would lose his shit and do, or say something that would hurt her. He was going to need some time here; time to put everything he’d learned in the last few days in perspective. He knew now that what he’d believed in the beginning isn’t what really was. Along with her innocence and beauty was this other being that was capable and strong. Strong enough to do whatever it was that she’d done here tonight.

The others were talking in hushed tones as they sensed his mood and knew to steer clear. Her old man had tried talking to her, until Andros turned such a look of hatred on the other man, that he’d limped back to his seat and dropped into it as if all the air had been knocked out of him. he’s lucky the younger man hadn’t chucked his ass out a window already.

He guessed Garrett was right and the man needed medical attention, but he couldn’t find it in him to give a fuck. Had they taken more care with her, none of this would’ve happened. She wouldn’t have had to put her life in danger and scare twenty fucking years off of his.
She tried once more to get his attention but he kept his head turned to the window. He was holding her hand, let that be enough for her for now. There was no way he was going to let her off that easily, no fucking way.

When they finally made it back to American soil hours later, they were a tired group of people who walked to the waiting car that would take them back to the estate. Andros still hadn’t said a word to anyone in all this time. He was very well aware that she’d cried herself to sleep on his shoulder the second time he’d rebuffed her. She was too exhausted from her little escapade to feel it when he kissed her hair, or to hear his softly whispered promises of love.

He took her up to bed, after leaving her old man in the care of Willie. The senator and her husband were still in residence and had been asking questions before they’d retired for the night. He’d almost forgotten that they were here and had to remind himself to find out in the morning from his men what had gone down with the would be assassin. He was too tired to deal with much of anything else now though, so he just took her upstairs to bed.

She watched him with sad eyes as he silently undressed her for bed. He was finally able to check her over for injuries, finally able to reassure himself that she really had survived the night unscathed. “Angel.” This time she turned his face to hers. He could still see the evidence of her tears and it hurt his heart just a little that he was the cause of them. He never wanted to bring her pain or sorrow, but she’d put him in a tough position.

He realized as he knelt at her feet looking up at him that he was more upset that she hadn’t needed him
, than anything else, and that was fucked up thinking. Alice had been vulnerable; she’d needed him at every turn. He’d fought her dragons and kept her safe until he wasn’t here and she’d been destroyed.

Jenna didn’t need him to fight her dragons; she was probably more equipped than him. He no longer felt the need to lash out at her, to rant and rave until she promised to never do anything like this again. Instead he just felt tired all of a sudden. “Let’s get some sleep little flower, we’ll talk about it in the morning.” He kissed her forehead and helped her under the covers before heading to the shower.

The dream started out like so many others he’d had over the years. She was running through a field of flowers and he followed, calling out for her to wait, to not enter the woods where he knew danger awaited. Like always she kept going and he felt the fear hit him in the bowels like it always did as he tried to catch up. No matter how fast he went, he could never make up the distance between them.

This time the dream changed though and she waited for him at the edge of the woods. She looked…different, somehow. Her face no longer carried the soft roundness of youth; instead he was staring down at an older even more beautiful version of the little sister that he’d lost. He looked down between them as she reached out and took his hand. It felt so real in his, that little hand that he remembered so well.

“Stefano.” He was taken aback by how real that sounded, how real everything appeared. He knew he was asleep, and that this was a dream, what else could it be after all? but it felt so completely different from all the others that had come before.

She led him away from the woods and to a meadow hidden on the other side. There was a garden there, with stone benches and those little fountain statues. Butterflies of every color flew around and he could hear birds chirping in the branches of the trees. He could even smell the sweet scent of the flowers, and feel the sun on his face.

“Alice…what?”

“Shh.” She held her finger up to her lips as she pulled him down next to her on one of those benches. There was a stream there unlike any he’d ever seen before. He watched the water as it flowed calmly and waited for her to begin. A part of him knew what this was, knew that it was a little more than a dream, yet he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He never was any good at the hoo doo shit.

“I’ve missed you Stefano, all these years I’ve been wanting to come to you, but it wasn’t the time.” She smiled and squeezed his hand as he looked down at her. “She’s something isn’t she?” He knew who she was talking about, his Jenna, so he just nodded his head.

“You mustn’t stay mad at her you know, your anger can hurt her more than any bullet ever could.”

“What am I supposed to do? She doesn’t listen, and she’s gonna get herself killed. I thought she needed me, but she doesn’t does she? She can take care of herself well enough without me…”

“Is that what you think? Nothing can be farther from the truth; she needs you more than ever. It’s hard to explain but I’ll try. You see; your Jenna has no real understanding of the things she’s capable of. It’s almost like being programmed, only no one programmed her, it’s just the way her brain works.”

“She sucks up information like a sponge and she watches everything
around her, then she implements it. But she has no real understanding of the way this world works. She compartmentalizes things, like this last thing here. She knew her dad was in trouble and that he was scared. In her way of doing things, she worked out the dynamics and did what she thought she needed to do. That’s how her mind works, like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together, very methodical.”

“She senses things, and there have been times when I’ve given her a little nudge here and there, like when that pig had her hacking into places. But in essence, she really is just the innocent you thought her to be when you first met.”

“How do you know that?” she took a while to answer, and when she did all she would say is ‘I know you both’.

“Do you know how they say that there is someone made for everyone? Well in this case it’s true. She was made for you and you her. The day you were dying, she came to me, not I her. Your pain was so great that day that it reached out to her, she was too young to understand what was really going on I think, but she found you in that moment.” She smiled in fond memory.

“A lot of what she does now is to protect you, I told her once in a dream that your heart was broken. I don’t know exactly what she made of that, but from then on she’s gotten it into her head that she has to protect you. She’s fiercely protective of those she loves.”

“What you’re afraid of though is no longer necessary, everything has been taken care of, and unless she finds herself in that position again, you have no worry of her running off and getting into danger again. I’m sure you’ll protect her from such things in the future. Besides, the children will keep her too occupied for much else.” She laughed loud and long as if at some private joke.

He felt his heart jump at the mention of children, and before he could form the words she answered him. “Yes, your flower is with child, it’s early days yet but your son will be here before you know it.” He wanted to stay and talk with her like this forever, but he wanted even more to get back to his Jenna. Then he felt guilty for the thought.

“There’s no need to feel guilty Stefano, I’m your past she and your children are your future. I’m happy for you, happy that we had this.”

“Will I see you again?”

“Who knows, I’ll be around some, but who’s to tell if we’ll need to do this again? Go my brother, go and be happy. You no longer have to worry about me, and remember, you didn’t fail me; those men were at fault, never you. I never held you responsible, for any of it. You were and will always be, my perfect big brother.”

“Angel?” she awakened when his lips touched the soft skin of her tummy. With her hand behind his head, she held him in place as he peppered her with kisses. He was no longer angry, that feeling that had been dogging his heels for the last twenty-four hours was no longer there.

When he climbed up her body and slipped into her, he felt whole again.
He held her as close as it were possible to, as he moved inside her, his face buried in her neck; before he lifted his head to whisper words of love and admiration in her ear.

Their lives are somewhat settled these days, nothing at all like in the beginning. For one, there’re no gunmen hunting them down and they’re a little freer in their movements; though he still kept her heavily guarded twenty four seven. He could leave and go to the office once in a while as the need arose, and always on those days, his greatest joy was hearing her laughter when he walked through the door on his return.

It still sent shockwaves through him
. Like tinkering bells in an open field on a hot summer day. Alice had been right, with the absence of anything resembling danger or any of the other shit she’d been exposed to, she was just a sweet, innocent girl. She never talked about what had happened and as far as he could tell, she’d put it all out of her head.

He’d learned what had happened that night from news reports, so there still remained a mystery as to how she’d pulled it off. Of the men who’d been there that night, none had survived; she’d leveled the place with C4. He didn’t even want to know where the fuck she’d got her hands on it.

Her grandmother had done the expose` and her ex assistant was now spending life in prison for his part in the plot to kill her. The men behind the hit had been brought to justice and their dealings behind the scenes had been laid bare for all the world to see. Andros had gotten recognition because the damn senator couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut and would tell everyone who would listen about her new grandson in law’s work with the special children as they called them.

He’d learned to live with all the hoopla until it started to get on his damn nerves and he’d threatened bodily harm to the next asshole that got in his face with a camera. Now their lives were nothing but peaceful and calm. Well not entirely, but close. Gramps had taken it upon himself to move onto the estate and Andros was always putting out the old man’s fires, when he wasn’t standing over the two of them to make sure they weren’t getting up to shit that would land them all in a holding cell.

Jenna was just as Alice had said, her days were spent looking after him and the kids, and since he kept anything even resembling danger away from her, he hadn’t seen a return of his little criminal. He’d set up a game room downstairs, where she spent most weekend nights after the kids had been bedded down, skinning him and his men out of their money. The only thing he hadn’t been able to break her out of was the chocolate kick.

As for that he’d let her parents live, but he still had a strained relationship with them almost four years later. He was never going to forgive them for being so fucking stupid, but Jenna loved the two idiots, so he tolerated them at his dinner table on Sundays.

The kids are a handful but they kept them grounded. Little Alice is her mother’s spitting image but she’s got gramps’ attitude down pat. She’s gonna be trouble. Two years old and already she gives him orders. She also seems to have her mother’s penchant for getting into shit so Andros was constantly on his toes. All in all he was happier than he ever thought possible and his life was fuller than any one man could expect.

Right now he stood in the doorway of the conservatory and watched as his wife tried to teach their daughter about butterflies. The ray of sunlight that shone down on them was a little brighter than the day outside, and he said a silent thanks to his sister as he walked into the room to join them.