Page 39 of Condemned to You

“What are you gonna to do? Raise this child on your own? Let me make an honest woman outta you.”

“I don’t want to force you to marry me. I want you to want to marry me.”

She thinks my feelings for her aren’t genuine.

“You think I don’t have feelings for you?” I question.

She places her hand on my shoulder. “It’s better this way. You need to go to California and make a name for yourself. If I’m there pregnant, you’ll be distracted. It won’t do you any good.”

Rachel had Sonny while I was in California and by the time I got back, Sonny was 7 years old. The top half of his face was all me minus the scar across the left brow. His manners were the same as mine. Although I was not listed on the birth certificate, ever since the first day I met him, I’d been around as Uncle E.

“You ever going to tell him?” I wondered out loud.

“Doesn’t really matter at this point. You’ve been a father figure to him for so long now. But if you want him to know one day, that’s okay by me.”

“I think that would get complicated.”

Shaking her head, “It’s never complicated. Not with us.”

There was a time I had deep feelings for Rachel but when she broke things off with me, I moved on. Throughout the years, she’d been more of a friend, one where the lines blurred at times. I took the moment to tell her where I’d been, what I’d been up to, and how I ended up back here in Chicago.

“We got married.”

“You and the barbie?” Rachel’s mouth dropped open. She always referred to Bethany as Barbie but she didn’t mean anything bad by it. Rachel shook her head as she joked, “Always a sucker for big tits.”

A laugh escaped my mouth in what felt like a lifetime. My tone remained serious, “I love her.”

“I know,” she replied.

“How did you know?”

“The way you look at her. The night on the boat – that fourth of July where you dragged me to watch fireworks. You were glancing in her direction the whole night every time no one was watching.”

I took a deep breath. “You’re a good catch Rach. I hate you wasted your years on me.”

“Who said I’ve been waiting on you?” Rachel laughed as she got to her feet placing her dish in the sink. “It’s a bit hard dating when everyone knows you still hang around. No one wants to think about what could happen if they spoke to someone so close to Emilio Pugliese.”

“You deserve happiness Rach.”

Rachel began washing dishes, “We both deserve to be happy.”

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed a pen out of a drawer with a notepad. Writing down private information, I gave it to Rachel.

“If anything happens, this is for you and Sonny.”

“E...”

“It was going to Sonny anyway,” I cut in. “Just in case he needs it sooner.”

Rachel looked at the notepad and nodded. I pulled her in and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“I am going to need a favor.” I looked at her. “I need some guns.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The hustle and bustle of the city gave me a strange nostalgic moment. Did I miss this more than I admitted to myself? Watching a Ferrari pass by, my heart sank a bit. The little town of Mosfellsbær in Iceland was peaceful and humbling which was a nice change, but standing back in my city awakened something in my soul. It wasn’t enough to come back though, so I shook off the feeling and kept walking.

This area used to be a no man’s land before Luca got his hands on it. He turned it into Chicago’s wealthiest area. At face value, you’d think it operated by the booming businesses but in reality, it was what happened underground that had the good money flow. It was like an underground bunk where shipments that contained questionable items were transported out of the public eye from one part of the city to the other. If this MC guy knew about this or even had access getting in, it would ruin Luca. Even with the D.A. on his payroll, if there was ever evidence that would stick and came to light the D.A. would be forced to press charges in his due diligence. The standing deal was to keep it out of sight and there would be no reason to investigate as long as the D.A. got a cut. Luca gave him pennies compared to what he was making but only I knew that.