Chapter Thirteen
Sarah was smiling from the deck, waving at him. She looked relaxed and comfortable in a white cotton maxi dress, her black hair open and flying in the breeze. He had just come out of the water and was walking toward her.
She moved down the deck stairs and when she reached the garden, she lifted the dress to reveal electric blue painted bare toes. She said nothing as she stopped and just looked at him, a small smile on her face. She slowly lifted her hand up and blew him a kiss, making him laugh; he pretended to catch it and blew her a kiss back. Her body jerked as if someone had pushed her from the back.
The next thing he knew there was a dark red stain spreading on the front of her beautiful white dress. Sarah looked down and touched it as her smile faded, tears filled her eyes. She looked at him, "Steve?" and she collapsed.
-X-
"NO!" Steve jerked awake, he was panting, his chest hurt and it was wet with sweat. Next to him Sarah woke and sleepily asked him what happened. When he didn't reply, she moved behind him on the bed and took him in her arms.
"Shhh. You're sweating" She cradled his head on her chest and stoked his wet hair, crooning soothingly to him. "What's wrong?"
He buried his face in her throat and breathed in her scent. She smelt alive and he soaked in her warmth. "It was nothing baby. Just a bad dream". Steve pushed her down on the bed and kissed her hard.
Steve watched as Sarah slept. He just couldn't go back to sleep so he got up, got dressed in an old Naval Academy t – shirt, shorts and running shoes. It was time to go for a run; not a long one but long enough to clear his head.
He would often have dreams where he would envision his mother's car blowing up, or his father being shot. But he had never had a nightmare about a woman he was in a relationship with.
Granted he had never been in love before, but he had never expected this. For some reason he had this fear that he was about to lose her. He and Mary had lost their entire family, and he knew for a fact that she had not coped well. He wasn't sure if he could cope if he lost Sarah as well.
Before he had this dream, he had not thought of how serious they had become in so short a time. He was actually proud of how he had not freaked out. For a guy who had never been too serious about one woman in particular, he was doing quite well.
He looked at his watch as he ran. He came to one decision. He needed to keep Sarah safe like he did Mary. And the only way he could do that is if he could get her off the island and back home in New York. He also knew he would not be able to convince her; she was extremely stubborn. He would have to do something drastic to make her leave a life she had come to love.
-X-
Sarah was not sure how she was feeling. She was generally happy, but something was not right. And that had to do mostly with Steve's behavior. In the last week, he had become increasingly preoccupied, he worked late into the night and came to bed when she was asleep and got up to run before she woke up. They hardly spent any time with each other and she knew it was because of his work.
She never said anything because of that reason. He was worried about Wo Fat; he had already asked Mary to go back to the mainland, although not back to L.A. Because of all this stress, things were a little awkward between them. For one he had never mentioned anything about their night together, they had not even had sex again after that.
She was in the kitchen cutting up some veggies to go with the steaks Steve loved, while she had a glass of wine and finished correcting some essays. It was seven thirty and she knew he would be back soon. Just then she heard the front door open and in walked the man of her dreams.
"Hey there sailor" she came up to him, stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
"Hey", he didn't say anything more and moved into the kitchen toward the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water and drank the entire thing in a couple of gulps. She couldn't help but notice that he looked tired and stressed.
"Why don't you go have a shower? I have steaks ready to go on the grill and a couple bottles of beer chilling in the fridge. How does that sound?" she smiled at him.
He just gave her a half smile, grunted, "sounds fine" and headed up the stairs.
She started to feel uncomfortable. Had she done something? She was so new to this, she didn't know how to handle a situation like this. So she waited for him to come down and then she would ask him. It was best to be honest.
Fifteen minutes later Steve walked in the kitchen while she was reading an essay. He looked positively edible, dressed only in a pair of sweats. Again he did not say anything, just went to the fridge and pulled out a beer. He stood at the window and pensively looked out as he sipped from the bottle.
"Steve, is everything ok?" she asked him as she came up behind him. She touched his shoulder and kissed the middle of his back.
"Depends on your definition of okay".
"Oh God, its to do with Wo Fat isn't it? Is Mary alright?"
"Mary is fine".
"Steve, please tell me what's wrong" she hoped he would tell her soon because he was starting to scare her, "Is it me? Did I do something?"
His bark of laughter startled her, he had never behaved like this, "You could say that".
Oh gosh this wasn't good. It was not recommended for anyone to reach the age of twenty-four without having at least one relationship under their belt. Just so they could deal with situations like this.
He turned to her and leaned on the counter, took another sip of his beer, "You've just taken over my life. Cooking in the kitchen, living in my house", the smile he gave her was one she had never seen. "You know, I never thought you were one of those women who would insinuate yourself into a guys life and then he gets so blinded, marriage follows. Probably following a pregnancy scare".
She couldn't believe the words coming out his mouth, "Are you hearing yourself?" she moved backwards, "You really think I am like that?"
"Why not? All women are pretty much the same" he followed her at a slower pace, and when he spoke he had a sardonic half smile on his face, his eyes glinting hard and his expression was one of deep suspicion. One she imagined him using on one of his suspects while questioning, "Don't think that just because I was the first man to sleep with you, I'm not going to recognize what you're been doing. Shame on you Sarah, I expected better of you".
"Steven what are you talking about?" she could hear her voice quivering and her eyes sting with tears. She immediately recognized that if she cried in front of him, she would become weaker than she already was in his eyes.
He kept coming closer, as if stalking her, "So the little meeting at the club wasn't planned?"
"No! I never knew who you were. I had never seen you in my life. The only reason I approached you was because of that stupid dare from Natalie".
"Stop with the innocent act. The only thing innocent about you is that you had never f – " She couldn't take it anymore and she slapped him across the face.
"You stop it. What the hell has gotten into you?"
"Common sense!" he shouted at her. It was as if the slap had never happened. Damn it her hand hurt from hitting him. "I should be kicking myself for trusting you the way I did, when all the while you have been connected to Wo Fat!"
"Are you listening to yourself?" this time she refused to cower and she shouted back at him.
"Sarah Morrissey. Daughter of Salvatore Morrissey, a.k.a Moretti".
"My father is Salvatore Morrissey, but he has no a.k.a attached to his name".
He moved away from her and walked to where he had dropped a manila envelope, "Oh really?" he opened the envelope and pulled out a file, which he threw on the table. "After seeing this you expect me to believe a word that comes out of your deceiving mouth?"
She tried to blank out his insane, hateful words and looked at the file. It was a collection of police and intelligence reports on a man named Moretti. That was all he was known as. According to the words in the file, he was a hit man for one of the Jersey mobs, was small time but only by choice. He had a family, a wife, son and a daughter. And right there was a faded picture of her father, looking about twenty – five, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans leaving a shady looking bar and in tow was a slickly dressed man who could very well be recognized as the head of the Gaucci mob. They were famous in New York and Jersey, and Sarah knew the daughter, Nicolette. They had been in school together but had never been close.
"This cannot be right. If my father were a criminal he would have been arrested by now. We would have known" she looked up at Steve and his expression was closed.
"Oh he was arrested, princess. The only reason he was never convicted was because there was never enough evidence against him" he paused to see her reaction, which was stunned disbelief, "And guess what? The Gaucci's are directly tied to Wo Fat. They do all his dirty work in New York".
"And you think I was sent to trap you?" she asked as the entire situation settled on her. Her chest hurt with immense pain and sadness.
"You really think I'm stupid enough to believe anything else?" he asked her sarcastically.
"Yes!" she shouted back at him, "For a man who is supposed to be so intelligent, you are a big idiot. Do you think I planned to get myself shot and have the lives of my roommates ruined?"
Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone. "I can arrest you right now. The only thing stopping me is that I have no evidence against you to confirm anything other than you are Moretti's daughter". Steve's voice was cold, and his eyes were like ice chips.
She had wanted to be strong, but she could feel the tears falling from her eyes. "So all these weeks have meant nothing to you?" she whispered. She had not actually meant for him to hear it, but he had. Her legs weakened and she had to sit down on one of the dining room chairs.
"Well apart from the fact that I had fun. It was different". The pain in her chest grew almost unbearable. She closed her eyes.
"So you lied when you said you loved me" her voice was barely more than a whisper, "How long have you known about this?" she asked pointing to the file on the table.
"I've known about this for a long time baby" he looked smug as he folded his arms in front of him. He looked big and scary. She wanted her Steve back. The one who would tease her and kiss her. The Steve who would never look at her, as if she were an insect under his shoe.
She wanted to defend herself, but she knew she was no match to him. She was still trying to get her head around the information about her father. It was all there in black and white. She wanted to ignore it, but she couldn't.
"What do you want me to say?" she asked him helplessly, "I don't know what all this is about".
"How about you start with the truth?"
She laughed, "The truth? I don't know what that is anymore. My father is a fucking mobster, the man I am in love with has been lying to me all along" she stopped and looked at him. "You see Steven, unlike you I cannot turn my feelings on and off" she paused to take a breath, "I'm going upstairs to pack and then I am leaving". Without another word she left the room, her heart breaking and her vision blurred from the tears she had been trying hard to fight.