Chapter 12

Syzygy

(n.) an alignment of celestial bodies.

Willow’s POV

“Just because you helped me with that stupid idiot it doesn’t mean you can act as you f**king please!”

“Diego!” his aunt shouted at him but he ignored her, eyes red with anger, veins on his forehead almost popping.

“What are you on about, Don?” I asked innocently and that seemed to anger him even more. That made me a little confident, the pain I was feeling in my body was long forgotten. I stared at Diego with raised eyebrows.

“How dare you fucking-” I cut him off and he didn’t like that, but I didn’t care.

“Watch your language,” I said and he scoffed before grabbing me by my collar, which seemed to cause more pain to my entire body. It felt like my bones were going to collapse with me in them.

“You better listen to me,” he said lowering his voice, I pushed his hands away with the strength I had, ignoring the pain I was feeling, i held onto his hands for support.

“There is a kid in the room with you, the least you could do is show her some respect even if you don’t respect her,” I said with my normal calm voice, and he looked at me then at Mariah. I walked out and to my bedroom.

I grabbed the chair and before I could throw it across the room, the door opened and granny walked in. I slowly placed the chair down innocently.

“Daughter-in-law,” she said inviting herself in. She was holding a box of cookies in her hand with the juice jar in the other.

“Mrs. Bernardo,” I said and she chuckled, placing the tray on the bed before sitting herself. She placed the juice jar on the bedside table and looked at me with a loving smile.

“Call me granny, I am your granny after all,” she said and I laughed. She is a nice woman. Unlike her oldest daughter, evil queen I tell you.

“Of course,” I said and sat next to her, she handed me the box of cookies and looked into my eyes.

“I am sorry for how that stupid boy spoke to you,” she said and I shook my head, knowing Diego speaks his mind without a care in the world.

“It’s okay, you can’t control Diego.”

“I will teach him how to behave, I won’t have him misbehaving in front of his wife,” I laughed. Granny and I had a chat until it was time for her to go to bed.

I went to the kitchen with my gun and went to the fridge. I took out an apple but before I could take a bite, a gunshot was heard upstairs. I ran to the stairs and down the corridor to where the gun was heard. Another one rang, much louder, they were coming from Diego's office.

I ran inside and a heavy body fell on top of me. Looking into the man’s eyes, the eyes that once made me feel safe were now the eyes that made me fear for my life. The man got up and stumbled back, looking at me before running out of the office. Diego's men came running into the office and looked at me in shock. I looked behind me and found Diego glaring at me too.

“Why are you in here?” he asked, his one hand gripping his forearm and blood passing through his fingers and down to his elbow.

“I heard gunshots, so I thought-”

“Leave,” he ordered, and I stared at him, still not getting up from the floor.

“Let me check your wound at least,” I said, and he glared at me, going back to his table.

“Leave,” he repeated, more sternly this time. The door opened and granny walked in with a pistol in her hand. That made her look bad-assy.

“Oh my God, Willow honey, are you okay? Was he shooting at you? Are you hurt?” I shook my head and looked at Diego as granny helped me up.

“Who was he?” he asked the men who looked at each other before looking at Diego.

“We lost him,” Darius said and Diego pulled out a cigarette. I wish I could smoke too but then it would make me an awful wife.

“Not Mallory.”

“Yeah, he never misses,” Diego agreed with Bradley, and I looked at them.

“Let’s leave them, dear,” granny said and I nodded my head pulling her hand from hers.

“I have to talk to Diego first, I will see you tomorrow,” she nodded and walked out of the office. I turned to the men who were raking their heads about the hitman. Or the wanna-be hitman.

“It was Dante,” they all looked at me as I invited myself to their meeting.

“Excuse me?” Diego asked and I went to his side. I went to YouTube on his laptop and typed, Dante Ruben The Killer.

“He is a learning killer. Not an expert just yet, tried to kill Steven multiple times before.”

“And you know him because?” Bradley asked and I stared at him.

“He used to be my best friend until he tried to kidnap me and sell me to Steven’s enemy,” I told him and he nodded his head.

“Or maybe, you sent him here,” Darius said and I stared at him. I shrugged and walked to the door.

“Have a safe night,” I said and walked out. I went to my bedroom and a scream left my lips when someone grabbed me from behind, the warm substance being felt on my back, they locked the door and gave me time to throw my head ta their face, causing them to let me free. I turned around and pointed the gun at him.

The lights went on and I rolled my eyes at the hooded figure in front of me.

“You are fast, aren’t you?” he asked moving his hood and sitting on the bed. He had blood on his torso, I looked at where his hand was pressing and saw nothing since he was wearing his normal black attire.

“Are you okay?” he looked at me and then started taking off his shirt, it was a deep wound and I’m surprised he is still breathing.

“It was a minor. Probably sent by Paul,” he said and I rushed to the bathroom and took the medical kit.

“Why are you here?” I asked and he sighed looking into my eyes. Like I knew the answer to that, and I did. But I am married and not about to cheat even if he paid me a million bucks.

“You know why,” he said and looked me up and down then smirked. It was like he could see through the dress I had on.

“Enlighten me,” I said sarcastically getting on my knees in front of him. I started wiping the blood slowly so as not to hurt him. He didn’t flinch, and I saw the reason why. Or maybe the possible reasons why. He was having dirty thoughts about me, my proof being him staring at me like his eyes couldn’t leave my face. Or he was so used to the pain inflicted by all the weapons, the scars on his body said it all.

“Willow?” Diego called from behind the door and I rolled my eyes, ignoring it, I kept working on the wound.

“Willow?” Bradley called out and I sighed turning my attention to the door.

“What?”

“Are you okay? We heard you scream,” Darius said and I scoffed, applying the band-aid on the wound, and walked to the bathroom to wash my hands, ignoring the men just out of my door.

“Willow?” Diego said again and I walked to the door, opened it, and stepped out. I glared at them and crossed my hands over my chest.

“What do you all want? Can you kinda leave me alone?” I asked and Diego turned on his heel and left. Darius followed after him, but only Bradley stayed behind.

“What happened?”

“I thought I saw Mallory, leave me alone,” I said and went inside my room then locked it again. Mallory was staring out through the window at the men who surrounded the house, causing me to wonder how he got through them unnoticed.

“Why don’t you ask me that?” he said without turning to me.

“Ask you what?”

“How I got in?” he said turning around. He walked toward me and grabbed my hair, inhaling it. He stumbled back and stared into my eyes, playing with the strand of my hair between his fingers, he smiled.

“Now that you brought it up, how?”

“Diego has stupid guards at the gate. They were watching soccer, they are always watching soccer. The one at the door is fat and he is always sleeping. He won’t be able to catch a criminal with his weight,” he said and pulled me to the bed, l was sitting on his lap as he laid back and closed his eyes.

“You sound like you are fat shaming him,” I told him and he chuckled, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. I have wished to touch it but never had a guy who would let me.

“Is he thin?” he asked opening his eyes halfway to look at me.

“No, but-”

“Sometimes people get offended by stupid things, don’t you think?” he asked cutting me off, bringing his hand to my thigh that was exposed as the dress had ridden up.

“Such as?”

“If someone says, you have big eyes, you will get offended even though they are telling you the truth. But then if they say, your eyes are small, it is a lie, which everyone is wishing to hear.”

“When did you turn into a genius?” he chuckled and I brought my hand to touch his apple, he had stopped breathing for a second before he opened his eyes to remove my hand from his throat.

“You shouldn’t touch that like that,” he said and I chuckled before bringing my other hand to his throat, he flipped us over and pecked my lips.

“I’ll give you something to touch,” he brought my hands to his crotch and a gasp left my lips, I tried to pull my hands away but he stopped me by pressing his weight over me, pushing my hands harder on his crotch. He let out a throaty moan and started kissing my neck.

“This is awkward,” he chuckled and rolled off me. I smiled and stared at him, watching as he breathed in and out, then gulped his saliva.

“Why do you have a gun?” he asked and I chuckled before bringing my hand to his thigh, the way he did to me earlier.

“You know that my father was a criminal, don’t you?” he chuckled and closed his eyes.

“I know, he taught me half of what I know. Then he told me to protect you, never knew that time would come,” I smiled knowing my dad might have threatened him to protect me. But he caught feelings.

“And are you having fun?” I asked and he opened his eyes to look at me, he bit his lower lip and that made him look cute. When I do that, it makes me look like a dying goliath frog.

“This is pretty interesting,” he said looking at the ceiling.

“Entertained?” I pushed and he swallowed loudly.

“This,” he placed his hand on my thigh just close to my crotch before he squeezed and sighed.

“Can we take a short nap?”

“Sure,” I said and he wrapped his hands around my waist before pulling me up to the pillows and putting his head between my neck and shoulder. He sighed and pulled the blanket over us. I couldn’t sleep, he kept pulling me closer and his crotch rested perfectly on my ass crack.

“Sorry,” he whispered and pushed his hand between my thighs. His thumb swiftly brushed over my crotch either intentionally or by mistake but it felt nice.

“Are you asleep?” I asked and he hummed softly. I kept quiet and played with his hand that was resting on my belly.