Two weeks later, I'm still at Billy's side most of the day. We just get back from a business trip to Italy, and he decides we should take a few days off to truly relax.
We spend all day in bed, talking and making love. The day we go back to work is almost torture. He has several private meetings that I can't be in, so I go out for lunch, thinking it'll get my mind off of the longing I feel.
It doesn't.
My thoughts distract me so badly that I don't realize someone comes up behind me in the parking garage. I barely feel the blow to the head before I black out.
I wake up in a warehouse. Probably down by the docks. I hear water from where I'm tied to a chair.
"Rise and shine, little Miss Desiree."
The woman's voice sounds familiar, but I can't quite get my eyes open. I struggle to lift my lids, and the fluorescent light shoots a pain through my skull.
The woman leans down in front of me, and I'm able to open my eyes enough that her face makes me groan. Dinah.
"What did you do?" I ask.
"I'm getting what I want."
"Yeah. I take it that means Billy?"
"It does."
"Right. And what does that have to do with me?"
She scoffs. "I've been watching Billy since I found out I didn't kill him. I thought I hit him dead on."
"I'm glad you're disappointed."
"You can imagine my surprise when I see you two looking very intimate in a restaurant. I worked my way to a table nearby, and I heard the most unbelievable thing."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" I roll my neck to relieve some of the tension in my shoulders. This bitch is nuts.
"You told Billy Russo that you love him."
"So?"
"So… he's still with you."
"Sooo?"
She laughs. "I didn't even tell Billy that I loved him, and he dumped me for getting too serious. Why is he still with you?"
I shrug. I don't want to piss her off more than she is, and I don't know which answer will do more damage - that Billy loves me too, or that he stayed with me despite my confession of love.
She puts a strip of tape over my mouth, and pulls out my cell phone.
"Guess we'll find out soon enough."
—
Billy smiles when he sees the text from Desiree. He's been in meetings all day, and he can't wait to talk to her. The text says "call me," so he does it right away.
"Hello, Billy."
His entire body tightens. "Who is this?"
"Don't remember my voice?"
The invitation for video pops up and Billy accepts. Dinah's face fills his screen.
"Where's Desiree?"
"She's right here. Mostly unharmed."
The camera pans to Desiree, tied to a chair with tape on her mouth. Her eyes look dazed.
"If you hurt her—"
"Don't worry. My problem isn't with her. You recognize this place?"
She pans the camera around a warehouse.
"Yeah, I know it."
"Good. Meet me here in ten minutes. Any longer and I'll know you're bringing help. We'll be gone."
"I'll be there."
Billy hangs up and runs down the hall to Frank's office.
"Dinah has Desiree."
"Shit. I knew your womanizing would get you in trouble some day."
"You helpin' or what?"
"Yeah, I'm helpin'."
Billy speeds through back streets and alleys. He pities any poor bastard who gets in his way, because he isn't slowing down.
"I want you to shift now."
"Now? Why?" Frank raises a brow.
"Because Dinah wants me alone. She could hurt Desiree just for you walking in."
"Shit. I hate doing this in a confined space."
"You got a better idea?"
Frank growls, then closes his eyes.
—
I start to think Dinah hit me harder than I realized, because when Billy walks in there's a huge brown wolf-dog at his side.
"What the hell is that?"
Oh, good. Dinah sees it, too.
"Let her go, Dinah."
Dinah hefts me out of the chair and rips the tape from my mouth.
"Tell Billy why you're here, Desiree."
I lick at my sticky lips. "Because I love you, and you didn't dump me."
Billy rolls his eyes. "Seriously. Dinah? You already tried to kill me. Isn't that enough?"
"I don't know. Are you dead?"
Billy chuckles, and if I didn't have the muzzle of Dinah's gun pressed into my lower back I might laugh, too.
"Not dead," Billy says.
"Not dead. So, no… trying to kill you wasn't enough. If I couldn't keep you, then she can't keep you."
Dinah points the gun around me, straight at Billy, and fires. The dog runs for us, and I have a moment of panic as Billy bares his fangs and runs toward us. I know the bullet hit him, but I don't know where.
I try to brace myself for impact as the dog flies through the air. Just before it crashes into me, it turns into Frank! It's that moment that I feel something rip into my side. Frank wraps me in his arms and we roll across the floor.
"Frank?"
"Yeah."
"What in the—"
"Later, ok?"
He pulls his hand from my side.
"Ugh, shit. You're bleeding."
"I think Dinah hit me."
Frank lays me on my side, and I stare at Billy. He's got Dinah pinned to the ground, and she looks terrified. Good.
"What the hell are you?"
"What does that matter to a dead woman?"
Billy leans down and rips into her throat, and I have to turn my head. Her screams turn to gurgles, then disappear.
Billy comes over, and his face is covered in blood. The bullet hole in the shoulder of his coat tells me where he was hit. It doesn't look like it phased him.
"Hang on, sweetheart."
He pulls the coat off and presses it into my side. I scream. The pain is finally sinking in now that the shock is gone.
"It hurts!"
"Good. If it stops hurting, that's bad."
"Heal me… like you do my neck."
"It doesn't work that way. We have to get you to a hospital."
"You're covered in blood, man," Frank says. "You can't go into the hospital like that."
"Ok. You take her. I'll clean up here and change."
"Billy…"
He takes my hand. "It's ok, sweetheart. I'll be there soon."
