When He Takes: A Dark Mafia Romance (Fallen God Book 2)
When He Takes: Chapter 28

The next morning, I’ve got our bags packed before Blake wakes up. Last night, I called Alessio and asked for a few days off work, which the bastard gave me after some grumbling. If Maksim contacts me, we’ll have to drive back, but I have a feeling it’s going to take him some time to work up the courage to talk to the pakhan.

Around ten, I walk into Blake’s room and take a seat on the edge of her bed.

She looks peaceful. Free from worry. The way she should look when she’s awake. I smooth her hair away from her forehead and tuck it behind her ear.

“Hey, baby. Time to get out of bed.”

A few moments go by before she stirs and blinks sleepily at me.

“Wake up, Sunshine.”

She scrunches her nose, looking so fucking adorable I want to take a bite out of her. “Why?”

“We’re going out of town. We talked about it, remember?”

She slides up against the headboard and yawns. “That was before Maksim called.”

“Well, we’re not gonna just sit around twiddling our thumbs while we wait for him to grow a pair and talk to the pakhan. Who knows how long that’ll take.”

Blake stretches her arms above her head, and the sheet puddles around her waist, giving me a view of her silky tank top. I distinctly remember peeling it off her at one point last night. She must have woken up and put it back on.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I have a place on the coast in Westhampton. I haven’t been there in two years, but hopefully, it’s still standing. I want to show it to you.” It’ll be cold, but being near water always makes me feel better. I hope it’ll make her feel better too. I hope it will make her see how our days don’t have to be filled with political drama and carefully constructed lies.

We can simply be us.

I press a kiss to the tip of her nose. “Just for two days. There’s a beach there. Long and sandy. We can light a fire, make mulled wine, and read. You’ll love it.”

I should have known that “read” is the magic word. Her eyes light up. “That sounds nice.”

I cup her face with my palms. “Then get your fine ass out of bed and get dressed.”

For once, there’s only light traffic leaving the city, so it takes us just under two hours to get to the seafront property on Dune Road.

“Rafe and I would come here in the summer for a few weekends each year,” I tell her as we get out of the car. “He liked to get away when he had something on his mind that he couldn’t figure out. It’s a good place to think.”

The air swirls with the distinct scent of salt and sand as we walk toward the weathered wooden porch.

I had a cleaning crew to come by before we arrived, and when I crack open the door, I see they did a great job. The place looks pristine.

Inside, the entryway is bathed in natural sunlight streaming through large windows that offer a panoramic view of the shimmering Atlantic.

That view is why I bought this house. The first time I saw it, it tugged on something deep inside me.

I didn’t renovate the place after I bought it five years ago—it was never a priority given how little use it got—so it bears the taste of the previous owner, who had a thing for whites and pastel hues.

Maybe Blake would like to change some things in here. The thought of her putting her own personal touch on the space spreads warmth through my chest.

Fuck. I want to build a life with her. I want everything that’s mine to be hers too.

I lead Blake farther inside. The soothing sound of waves crashing against the shore fills the open living space. A plush, white sofa faces the ocean. I’ve always found it easy to lose myself in the horizon.

I glance sideways at her. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful.”

There’s a hint of a smile on her face that makes me relax a little. I hadn’t even realized I was nervous to see her reaction.

We drift toward the wide deck that extends from the living area, and the wooden planks creak under our feet. The deck overlooks a stretch of pristine beach. I lean on the railing, taking in the expansive view. The beach is quiet and serene, dotted occasionally with walkers and playful dogs.

Blake leans on the railing beside me. “This is a world away from New York. It’s so peaceful.”

“Yeah. Perfect for an introvert like you.”

She arches a brow. “You think I’m an introvert?”

“Aren’t you? Back in Darkwater Hollow, your favorite hobby was to sit at home and read.”

“No need to call me out like that.”

“Just stating facts.”

She huffs a laugh. “You’re definitely an extrovert. You always light up around other people.”

“I’m not going to argue with that. I don’t like to be alone.”

“Have you always been that way?”

“I think so.” I can’t remember ever being comfortable being alone. If Rafe didn’t send Sandro with me to Darkwater Hollow, I wouldn’t have lasted a week.

Shit. Is that why he did it? Did he somehow understand that I really fucking needed someone with me to have a chance at making it?

An ache appears inside my chest. I miss that stronzo.

I miss Sandro even more.

“Rafe’s an introvert too. I guess I’m drawn to you people.”

Blake crosses her feet at the ankles. “You said you’d come here together?”

I chuckle. “Yeah. He’s really not big on the sand, though. He refused to walk up to the water. We’d sit out here on the deck and watch the waves while smoking cigars.”

“Do you miss working with him?”

“I do. We spent a decade working side by side, and during that time, he was my closest friend. We were a good team.”

I don’t want to let my sudden nostalgia sour the mood, so I slide my arm around Blake and lead her back inside. “Let’s unpack and grab a snack. I want to take you on a walk.”

We put our supplies away in the kitchen and then venture out to stroll along the shore.

Blake yelps when a frothy wave races across the sand and reaches the tips of her sneakers. The water is painfully cold, and the air isn’t much better.

Good thing I brought a blanket with me, because even in her thick hoodie, Blake’s teeth start chattering.

I wrap the blanket around her and tuck her under my arm. “Do you want to go back?”

“No, this is nice.” There’s a wistful expression on her face, like she’s somewhere far away.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“My mom. She always wanted to see the ocean. There were so many things she said she wanted to do, but it was hard to do them with two small kids and little money, and when we got older, she got sick.” The wind whips her golden hair around her face. “Sometimes at night, I’d sit by her side and think about the life she never lived. An alternate reality in which she never met my dad. Never had us. Where she could live only for herself.”

“You think she regretted it? Getting with your dad?”

“God, no. If I were in her position, I’d be full of regrets, but she had a way of…” Blake sighs. “She ignored people’s faults and saw silver linings.”

“Hmm. You didn’t like that.”

“No, I didn’t.”

I bite on the inside of my cheek. This is why Blake is the way she is, isn’t it? Why she’s quick to slap labels on people—good or bad. She’s rebelling against her mom’s perspective on life.

She looks up at me as we walk on the sand. “Were you close with your mom?”

“I was. When I was kid, it always felt like it was me and her against my dad. We were a team.”

“You’re talking about your biological father?”

“Yeah.” I sniff. “He treated her with resentment, and he was always annoyed with me. I’d do something kids just do sometimes—spill a drink, make a mess, break a toy—and he’d get so angry. I could tell he didn’t like me, even if I didn’t know why. And as I got older, I just started getting sick of being punished over nothing, so I decided I might as well earn it, you know?”

Blake nods. “Yeah, I get it.”

“I’d steal change out of his pocket so that I could buy pizza at the cafeteria at school. Every time he caught me, it was like I’d committed murder. He’d beat my ass raw. By that point, I’d realized what he was scared of all along. He was terrified I was going to end up like my grandpa and ruin his reputation.”

“Your mom’s dad? The guy who was in the mob?”

“That’s the one.”

“That sounds really hard, Nero,” she says in a quiet voice as we pass by a man walking his golden retriever.

I shrug. “It was, but it made me who I am. I have no idea who I’d be without that childhood.”

“Is he still around?”

“Nah. Died two years back. I went to his funeral and all, but by that point, he was a stranger to me. My real dad was my stepdad. I already told you about him.”

Blake gives me a sad smile. “He gave you the love and respect you always deserved.”

I suppose he did. My biological father’s death meant nothing to me, but I won’t ever forget the day I got the call about my stepdad and my mom being killed.

I wish I’d been there that day. Maybe I could have saved them. I’d nightmares for months after, imagining I was in that restaurant with them, my back to the window the gunmen shot through. I’d always wake up just as the bullets hit.

We start walking back to the house, and Blake tugs the blanket tighter around herself. “The day I quit my job, Brett told me my mom helped my dad rob people on the side of the road.” Her throat bobs on a hard swallow. “I told him he was a liar, but I think he was telling the truth.”

I clench my jaw.

I haven’t forgotten about that utter waste of space. Brett will get what’s coming to him. But there’s no rush.

He can live for now, glancing over his shoulder every time he sees a tall guy like me. When he thinks I’ve forgotten about him, when he believes the danger has passed, that’s when I’ll strike.

He will pay for everything he did.

“He wanted to upset you,” I tell her.

“Yeah. But it doesn’t change the facts. My mom wasn’t perfect. I never deluded myself into thinking that she was. I used to wish she was stronger, and that she’d tell my dad to stay away from us instead of welcoming him into our home whenever he felt like coming around. But I never thought she’d do something like that.”

The pain in her voice hits me right in the chest. “You don’t know what she was going through at the time. Maybe your dad didn’t leave her much of a choice.”

“Maybe. But why would she never tell me about that? I feel betrayed, I guess. Growing up, I had so many people lie to me. She lied to me for a few weeks after she got her diagnosis, and when I learned the truth, I felt betrayed about that too, but this feels different. Somehow, it feels worse.”

“I think in both instances, she was trying to protect you. Or maybe she was ashamed. She didn’t want her daughter to be even more disappointed in her. How would you have reacted if she’d told you?”

We scale the steps of the deck, and Blake turns to me. The tip of her nose is pink from the cold, and her eyes seem sad. “I don’t know. I probably would’ve gotten upset. From an early age, all I wanted was to have a normal family. To be like the rest of the kids in my class.”

I lean down and give her a kiss. “Normal is boring, Sunshine. There’s nothing boring about you.”

Her lips twitch, but the sadness in her gaze lingers. I wish I knew how to make it disappear. I’ll keep trying until I do.

“Is that how you felt when you first got to Darkwater Hollow?” she asks softly. “Bored?”

“I felt a lot of things. Boredom was one of them. Until I met you, that is.”

“Would you ever do it again?”

“Walk away from this life?”

She nods. “Yeah.”

I place my hand on the railing and look out toward the ocean. There are so many layers to that question.

“No one walks away from this because they want to. You either die, or you get forced out the way I was.” I let out a breath. “I learned many lessons in Darkwater Hollow and one of them is that this is who I am. There’s no getting away from it. No matter where I am or what my name is, this life will always replace a way to pull me back in.”

Blake bites down on her bottom lip, looking uneasy.

I wonder if she’s still holding out hope that there’s a way out of this for both of us eventually.

There isn’t. This is our life, and there’s no point in fighting it.

I take her hand in mine and pull her toward the house. “Let’s head in.”