Cut Too Deep (55 page)

T
wo weeks after the ordeal ended, Hadley packed up her things after rehearsal. She finally felt a sense of normal returning to her life. Her phone vibrated and she saw a text from Mac.

Mac: Have you heard the news? Duwatski’s dead. Killed in prison.

Hadley stared at her phone. A strange feeling swept through her body. Her skin broke out in itchy goose bumps. She opened the web browser on her phone and read the story.

Harold Duwatski, recently sentenced to seventy-five years in prison for sexually assaulting one of his wards, has been murdered in prison. Authorities from the Department of Corrections are reporting that a fellow inmate, Sergio Pegliasco, who was due to be released in a couple of months, murdered Duwatski because he didn’t want to return to the outside world. Apparently Pegliasco told one of the guards on scene that he didn’t know how to function on the outside and it was the only way he knew to stay in. Questions remain as to why Pegliasco chose Duwatski, rather than his cell mate, but the early speculation is because of Duwatski’s crimes, he was not well liked, and Pegliasco would not suffer retaliation from other inmates.

Hadley knew immediately from the rich Italian name of Duwatski’s attacker exactly why he chose Harold Duwatski and she was fuming mad. Miller was in a meeting, but she tried his phone anyway. It went to voicemail and she hung up. She then made another call to the only man in the Lorino family with the authority to order a hit on her former guardian.

“I need to see you… Good… I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Hadley walked into a dive bar in Brooklyn, the room a cloud of smoke. She glanced around but didn’t see who she came looking for. Two old men seated at the bar turned to look at her. You could squeeze a quart of gin out of their red noses.

“Can I help you, darlin’?” One of them asked. “I think youse might be lost.”

“She’s with me,” Vito announced, walking toward her from the back of the bar. He kissed her on both cheeks. “This is my niece, Hadley. This is the fellas. The one with the hat, we call Hats, cuz he’s got a million of em’. The other guy we call Smalls, well…cuz he’s short.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Hadley smiled. The men nodded and went back to their drinks.

“Come on into my office.” Hadley followed Vito to a room in the back. With a card table, large reclining chairs, and several flat screens, Hadley imagined most men would love to have Vito’s office as a man-cave.

He sat behind a large wood desk against the back wall and put his feet up before lighting a cigar. “Have a seat.” Hadley sat down, not feeling near as courageous as she did on the ride over. “I know why you’re here, but I don’t know why you’re so upset?”

Hadley squared her shoulders and crossed her legs, latching her fingers in front of her knee.

“I’m upset because you carried out a hit on Duwatski when I specifically asked you not to.”

“No, you asked me to let the police apprehend him so he could suffer through a public arrest and be made an example of in the press. All of which happened.”

“I didn’t think I had to specify not to kill him ever!”

“I like you, and I think you’re perfect for my nephew, but you gotta understand how these things work.”

“It’s not what I wanted.”

“These situations aren’t generally what anyone wants to see happen, but I got a reputation to uphold, the greatest of which is that nobody, and I’m mean
nobody
, fucks with one of our own. La Famiglia, doll.”

“We aren’t blood, and I think I proved that he couldn’t mess with me all on my own.”

“And youse did a good job, but this is about La Famiglia and makin’ amends for my past failures where you were concerned. I carry a lot of guilt. You see, doll, it was me who left you alone that night for that rat to have the opportunity he had. I knew your grandparents. I coulda taken you to them. I didn’t because the clean-up at your parents woulda been messier, but I thought you were safe. When he crossed a line with you, he crossed one with me too, and Vito Lorino always settles a score, especially when it involves family. It’s the way. Somethin’ you’re gonna have to accept as a member of this family.”

Miller had mentioned ‘the way’ before, but none of it sat well with Hadley. “You mean something I have to live with. Jesus, Vito, I’m an accessory.”

“To what? Some pervert no one’s gonna miss gettin’ whacked by a fellow inmate who’s clearly unstable. Relax, doll. When the Lorinos take care of their own, they do it cleanly. This ain’t gonna come back on us, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Only on my conscience.”

“You have to work that out, but you should sleep soundly. He got what was comin’ to him. And my guy made sure that scum knew he fucked with the wrong girl and the wrong family before his last breath.”

Hadley felt alarmingly at odds with Vito’s confession. A small part of her felt satisfaction Harold Duwatski was taken out because of what he did to her and coveted by the Lorino family for defending her. The other part of her wanted to run screaming. Miller’s family was not the normal she always craved.

“Did Miller know?”

It was an important question and one that would decide if Miller was still her future.

“No. I made all the arrangements. I told you, this was personal. That fuck thought he could cross me, that he could fucking run from Vito Stephano Lorino! Nobody makes me look like a fool!”

It suddenly clicked for Hadley. There was more. That unsettling feeling from the court room she couldn’t put her finger on. The way Duwatski suddenly changed. The hit wasn’t solely about what Duwatski did to her. It was about knowledge Harold Duwatski could share concerning the inner workings of both Vasilievich and Lorino operations, particularly in the gambling arena.

“He was going to make a deal wasn’t he?”

Vito showed off a smug grin. He puffed his cigar, releasing smoke rings into the air.

“Youse are a smart one. He started talkin’ with the Feds a few days before the trial.”

“So, this was truthfully about protecting yourself?”

“No, doll.” Vito sat up and leaned forward on the desk. His dark stare chilled her. “This was always about you. Duwatski has nothing on me that would interest the Feds. They’re after a much bigger collar than gambling. My source told me he had the goods on Vasilievich to nail him for trafficking young girls. In exchange for his testimony, Duwatski would serve less than five years in some health spa, and then be moved into witness protection.” The idea he would only spend five years in prison for the atrocities committed against her made her stomach sour. “I can see by the look on your face, you don’t like that idea too much.” Hadley shook her head faintly. “So, you see, takin’ him out does help me, because, it takes care of you. This is a lot, I know. You didn’t grow up with us, but you are family now. Would you honestly want that sicko outta prison and freely walking the streets soon?”

“You’re right, it is a lot.”

He chewed on the cigar while he spoke.

“Vasilievich’s crew would’ve got to him if we didn’t. There was never a question he was going to hell. I preferred he knew it was us that fucking sent him there.”

Hadley couldn’t deny how she felt. As it was, she had been worried Duwatski would live to be a hundred and twenty, so he could get out and seek his revenge. She felt conflicted though. If Duwatski had been able to testify against Vasilievich, perhaps a few young girls would have been saved. She remembered Don telling her arresting Vasilievich wouldn’t put a dent in the trafficking business and realized how much larger the problem was than New York, or the US. And as Vito said, Vasilievich wouldn’t have allowed him to live long enough to testify anyway. All her anxiety was moot now. Her former guardian was dead. Now her biggest concern was if Vito considered the act a favor, and what did he expect in return?

“What do you want from me?”

Vito pounded the tip of his cigar into a glass ashtray.

“Please, don’t insult me, doll. When the Lorinos help their own, there is no price. The only things I ask, is don’t mistreat my nephew, uh. That bitch he was with before was no good for him. But, you are. Don’t hurt him.”

That was easy enough. Hadley had no plans of ever letting Miller go, and though his family participated in shady activities, they also loved hard. She didn’t have to be involved with the Lorinos to be good to Miller.

Miller and Hadley spent the early part of that evening passionately discussing the Lorino way, which led to an intense argument, followed by heated make-up sex.

Hadley looked up into her lover’s eyes, out of breath, and still descending from her third orgasm of the night. She wiped a light sheen of sweat from his brow and smiled, thinking they should argue more often.

Miller planted a quick peck on her lips before leaning over to the night stand drawer. He sat up, and held out his hand. Her eyes fell on a new charm for her bracelet, a miniature platinum ring with a round diamond. He gave her three recently, a small-scale skyscraper, a peace sign, and a tiny gavel, but this one’s significance wasn’t immediately clear until he said, “I was hoping you’d wear its match on your left ring finger.”

He uncurled his fingers, a diamond ring exactly like the charm, only larger, rested on his palm. Hadley smiled, holding her right hand over her mouth and extending her trembling left hand. Miller slid the ring up her finger, overwhelmed with emotions.

“Hadley Walker, you fill a void in my heart, complete me, and you would make me the happiest man alive if you agreed to join my family and be my wife.”

If not for the part where Miller asked her to
join his family
, Hadley wouldn’t have given the proposal a second thought.

Was she truly prepared to accept
the way
of his family, even if she loved them?

It was the first time, since they’d been together that her old fears threatened to choke her.  The Lorino
way
was controlling, relentless, and potentially as ugly as her past.

Miller hated her doubt, but knew she would always carry a small amount with her. He leaned over and trailed kisses along her jaw. His lips skimmed her ear. “Your hesitating hurts me, but I won’t allow you to close me out. Talk to me.”

Hadley bowed her head, battling her thoughts. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m scared.”

Miller frowned.

“Of belonging to my family?” She nodded. “But they adore you.”

“It’s their
way
of doing things that scares me.”

Miller understood. His family generally meant well, but telling her he would never allow them to hurt her would be a promise easily broken. “I can’t change my family, but I can promise you that I will always put you first. You’re the most important person in my life, and if I have to choose, then I choose you.”

A strong ache in her chest brought tears to her eyes. “I would never ask you to choose.”

Miller held her left hand, toying with the ring on her finger. “If you agree to be my wife, you’ll never have to ask. It will be the way.”

Hadley lifted her head, her gaze meeting the sincerity in Miller’s eyes. She suddenly loved the idea of
the way
, his
way
; the delicate, nurturing and tender
way
he always handled her with.

“Oh, Miller. I would love to be your wife. Yes! I’ll marry you!”

She leaped toward him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him furiously. Miller flipped her onto her back and took his time showing her how much he loved her and how happy he planned to make her.

H
adley stomped through the slushy snow to the back doors of the New York City Ballet for Opening Night. Miller kissed her softly and wished her luck before she went inside. The night felt like a dream, one she had frequently since she first began dancing. Earning a solo in the production of the Nutcracker had been the pinnacle of everything she ever wanted to achieve in dance. She toyed with the tulle fabric on one of her costumes as tears formed in her eyes. She did it, leaped over every hurdle in her life. The feeling was indescribable.  Laura entered her dressing room and hugged her. The newly reunited friends exchanged wishes of luck before heading backstage.