Alex Drakos: His Forbidden Love Read online

  The three remaining men took off after him, firing wildly. They ran through the kitchen, and then down the hall: the only outlet back there. They saw Alex run up the stairs, to the second floor.

  But once they got up there, there were two halls to take. Which one should they take? Until one of the men saw Alex run into a room at the end of the second hall. “There he is!” he shouted, as Alex slammed the door shut, and they took off after him.

  But when they got to the door of that room, they became cautious. They knew they were dealing with a pro, there was no doubt about that. But just how pro was he? That jury was still out.

  The capo in charge, because of seniority in the threesome, nodded at the least senior of the three, and that capo kicked the door in.

  All three had their guns drawn and were on guard, as they slowly entered the room, with the leader quickly turning and pointing his gun behind the door. But Alex wasn’t there.

  “Look!” the junior capo said, as he pointed to an open window.

  The three men took off running, to that window, and looked out.

  But they didn’t see Alex.

  Alex, unbeknownst to them, was on top of the file cabinet behind them, and jumped down. When they heard his feet touch ground, they turned quickly. But not quick enough.

  Alex shot one, but the other two dived across the room, away from the window, firing as they did.

  But Alex didn’t hide for cover, as they expected him to, but he dived in the opposite direction, firing as he did. But as he dived and fired his weapon with one hand, he put the grenade he held in his other hand between his teeth, pulled the pin with his teeth, and then tossed it toward the other capo. He killed the first one with his gun, and, to his shock, the grenade he tossed lodged, not near the second capo where he expected it to lodge, but directly into the capo’s big mouth.

  Everything stopped when that happened.

  Even Alex was shocked when that happened.

  But not as shocked as the man with the grenade in his mouth. His eyes stretched in disbelief. His brain would not allow him to believe it!

  And in his confusion, and lack of action, Alex got up, and ran for the window.

  It was Alex’s movement that woke up the capo, and he attempted to grab the grenade out of his mouth, to throw it away.

  But he grabbed too late. As Alex threw his own body out of the window, the grenade exploded while still lodged in the mouth of that capo, and took him, and that restaurant, with it.

  Alex fell down numerous stairs of the fire escape, as the explosion rocked the restaurant, but he escaped death.

  He got up, hurried down the remaining stairs, and then made his way swiftly, but careful to avoid detection, to his ride.

  A regular couple. That was all that could be said when the elevator doors opened onto the fifth floor, and they walked down the long corridor of the quiet hospital wing. Alex and Kari, holding hands, looked like your average couple in love.

  But when they arrived at the door in question, at room 1542, Alex peeped in, made sure all was clear, and then Kari walked in while he remained in the hall, guarding the door.

  According to the intel Alex had received, and this was received before he personally put Pataki out of commission himself, Pataki didn’t give a fuck anymore. Vito was no longer of any use to him, and it was for that reason, more than for Vito, did he want revenge. But now that Vito was permanently out of commission himself, by virtue of his paralysis, Pataki had not even bother to offer him protection. What was there to protect, was his reasoning.

  But it was enough for Alex and Kari. Alex was unorthodox. He did not do anything in a vacuum. And when he arrived back home, left Jordan in the hands of his best men, he told Kari to come with him. Vito’s crimes were against her. Vito’s decision to inject himself back into her life was the impetus for everything that followed. But there had been a relationship there. Alex wasn’t going to overlook that. He needed Kari to have closure. He needed her to let him know what she wanted him to do with her ex.

  When Kari walked into Vito’s hospital room, her heart was hammering. Not because she was still in love with that fool. Her heart left Vito years before her body did. But because of her anger. This man, and his selfish desires, caused everything to unravel. This man almost caused Jordan, herself, and Alex their lives.

  When Vito opened his eyes and saw Kari, he was in a state already. And the words that came out of his mouth weren’t about why she was there, and why she looked so angry. The words that came out of his mouth were nowhere near the words Kari expected to hear.

  “Kill me,” he said to her. “Do me this one favor, Kare, and kill me.”

  Kari stared at him. She couldn’t believe it. “Selfish until the end,” she said.

  “Just kill me,” he said, tears staining his eyes. “I can’t live like this!”

  “To avenge what happened to you, Danny ordered his goons to kill me, and Alex, and even Jordan.”

  “I don’t care!” Vito cried. “What the fuck I care about some snot-nosed kid? You loved him more than you ever loved me, and I hated him for that!”

  It was painful for Kari to hear. He had never verbalized such feelings during their entire time together. But it wasn’t shocking.

  But Vito, as usual, was too busy worrying about himself to give a twit what Kari was feeling. “Just kill me now,” he said. “What are you waiting for? Get your revenge. Take it all out on me. And kill me, bitch, kill me!”

  Now he was crying. “Take me out of my misery. Please Kari. I can’t move nothing but my fucking head! Kill me!”

  But Kari stared at him. “You’re truly suffering,” she said, as if it wasn’t obvious.

  Vito nodded his head. “Yes,” he said. “This is the worse thing that’s ever happened to me. And your boyfriend did it to me. And for what? Because I wanted you back? Because I kicked your ass for trying to slam that door in my face? I can’t live like this, Kari. You know me! Kill me now! This is the worse thing that’s ever happened to me!”

  But instead of showing sympathy, Kari nodded. “Good,” she said.

  Vito suddenly stopped his pity party, and looked at her. For the first time since her arrival, he actually looked at her. “Good?” he asked. Did she just say good?

  But Kari turned and walked away.

  “Kari!” Vito cried. “Kari! Kari, don’t leave me! Kari!”

  But she walked right back out of that door.

  Alex looked at her when she walked out. “You okay?” he asked her.

  “I’m just fine,” she said.

  “Your verdict?” he asked her.

  “Death,” Kari said, “will be easier for him. That’s what he wants. To die.”

  Alex studied her eyes. He knew where this was going. “But what do you want, Kari?” he asked her.

  Kari didn’t mince words. “Let him live,” she said, and looked at him.

  Alex nodded. She made the right call. Let the fucker suffer, was how he saw it, too. “I concur,” he said.

  And then they left that hospital, and Vito Visconni’s screams for mercy, with no thought of looking back.

  EPILOGUE

  Jordan grabbed his basketball and left the community pool in Alex’s subdivision after saying goodbye to his new friends. He could have stayed longer. He loved swimming and water sports. But he had to find out what happened.

  He bounced his ball along the treelined sidewalks of the pristine neighborhood and made his way to Whimble Street. Every day it seemed, since their return to Apple Valley from New York, he and his mother had been spending most of their free time at Alex’s house. Making phone calls. Sending out last minute flyers. Doing their part.

  And today was the day of decision.

  There were so many cars, and so many people at the house, that Jordan had to walk sideways just go get in the driveway, and sideways just to walk through the house.

  “Do we know yet?” he was asking anybody that would listen.

  “Not yet,” said Jim
Hines.

  “Pretty soon,” said Benny Church.

  Jordan noticed that some of the people, like the always hardworking Priska Rahm, were working the phones, but most of the people were drinking Alex’s liquor, partying, and having fun. They felt victory was in the air. But Jordan wasn’t counting any eggs until they hatched.

  He found his mother and Alex in the den, where the TVs were set up. Kari was standing in front of Alex, leaned against him, and he had his hands resting on her shoulder. Faye and Lucinda were also there, although Lucinda was chatting it up with some man, and Faye was laughing it up with a group of ladies. But Alex and Kari were standing in the middle of the den, glued to the television. They weren’t there for games. They were in it to win it.

  So was Jordan. If that referendum passed, Alex would spend so much more time in Apple Valley. He might even move there, although that was more of a hope of Jordan’s rather than any discussion that had ever taken place. But for Jordan, it was all about keeping the band together. And in Jordan’s eyes, he, his mother, and Alex, were a team now.

  “We have a projection,” the anchor on the local news, where the coverage was Live, said, and Kari shushed everybody in the room. Suddenly, everybody stood up and watched the huge TV screen.

  “We here at Channel 9 are ready to call the vote,” the anchor continued.

  Kari turned her head slightly, and looked up at Alex. He pulled her back closer against his front and placed both of his arms around her. Jordan got in front of his mother, and Kari placed her arms around him. His heart was pounding. Kari’s was hammering.

  “The amendment to allow Drakos Capital to build a hotel and casino in Apple Valley,” the news anchor said, “has passed ladies and gentlemen. The amendment carries!”

  And the room went crazy.

  Kari turned around and Alex, grinning grandly, pulled her into his arms. Kari was so happy that tears stained her eyes. Alex was going to be a part of Apple Valley too. He was going to have a stake in her world too!

  But Alex already had a stake. Kari and Jordan were his stake. And as he pulled Jordan into their embrace too, as a threesome, as his happiness wasn’t as much about winning that vote as it was about getting that second lease on life. He now had something to live for. And it was far more potent, and far more rewarding than work, golf, and sex combined.

  Although the sex, Alex was happy to note, remained a big part too.

  Kari and Jordan had that kind of happiness too. But they had a deeper happiness. The kind that let them know they weren’t alone anymore. The kind that let them know they could exhale, because their hearts were now safe in Alex’s hands.

  They were safe.

  At last.

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