Present day…
Gina shook her head to clear her mind. Looking back at the picture she lifted it until she was gazing into Nina’s bright eyes.
“I will fix this Nina. I promise.”
Chapter 20
Alex knocked on the door and announced himself. When his security guard opened it, he was clear. “No one and I mean NO ONE gets through this door. If they try, shoot them. I want someone standing guard 24/7. If you’ve got to use the bathroom and there’s no one to relieve you…hold it.”
Braylee had been a nervous wreck. She climbed off of the bed the moment she heard the door opening. Cecily immediately ran to Braylee and wrapped her arms around her. Braylee held her and kissed the top of her head. “Thank God you’re alright.” She could finally take a breath. At least, until she looked up to see the blood all over Alex’s clothing. Nausea rose up in her throat as if it might choke her. After swallowing deeply a couple of times, Braylee managed to tamp down the feeling. She did her best not to sound frantic when she spoke even though she wanted to scream what in the world happened to you! She controlled herself instead, because there was a frazzled and scared little girl in her arms which prevented her from acting out. Instead, while slightly more breathless than she would have liked, she managed just to say. “Are you okay?”
Alex had aged at least ten years in one night. He walked over to her and wrapped them both in his arms. After a moment, Alex pulled back and went over to the box from where he’d taken his gun, returning and locking it.The exhaustion and fear of what could have happened took over. “Yeah. I'm okay. I just…Cecily why don’t you go and take a hot shower. It’ll make you feel better.”
Apprehensively, she looked from Braylee to him. “Will you be right here?”
His voice softened. “I promise. Braylee and I will be right here. We’re not going anywhere.”
Cecily stared at them for a long moment as if thinking it over. She came to a decision and grabbed her carry-on bag then headed to the bathroom. She turned around. “Please don’t go anywhere.”
This time, it was Braylee who responded. “We’ll be right here waiting for you. How about you leave the door slightly open. That way we can hear you, and you’ll know we haven’t left.”
Cecily nodded and went into the bathroom. Neither she nor Alex moved until they heard her get into the shower. As soon as the shower door closed Alex grabbed Braylee’s hand and pulled her body into his before wrapping her up in a tight embrace. She held his head in between both her hands and kissed him hard on the lips. “My God, Alex. There is blood all over your clothes. Cecily looks like she’s in shock. What happened? Are you okay?” The questions started tumbling from her lips one right after another.
He touched his forehead to hers. “I'm all right. Cecily probably is in shock. Joseph is here.”
Braylee pulled back to look into his eyes. “What? Joseph? He’s the one who took her?” Another thought struck her as she realized Alex was bloodied but didn’t seem hurt. She whispered, “Did you kill him?”
“I wanted to. You have no idea how much I wanted to kill him.” The pain cut him so deeply that Alex could barely speak. “What he did to Luciano….you. Cecily is the only reason he’s still breathing. If she hadn’t been there…”
“You did the right thing.” A moment passed between them in silence. Braylee stiffened in his arms. “Alex, there’s something I found out tonight that you should know.”
He sounded tired. “Braylee, can it wait? I really can’t take many more revelations tonight. I’ve already had quite a few.”
Gently, she pushed away from Alex and turned her back to him as she hugged herself. “Unfortunately, this is too important to wait. It could affect our future together.” Slowly, she turned around. Squaring her shoulders, Braylee decided to face whatever was going to happen head on. “Remember when you told me that Gina lied to you about who she was? That she was both Nina and Gina and had been sleeping with both you and Luciano? Well, I found out that wasn’t true. Gina had a twin sister. Her name was Nina.”
Alex watched Braylee intently as she gave him the information, but he didn’t say anything.
“I debated if I was going to tell you because there is a part of me that feels as if maybe there is some unfinished business between you and Gina. I can be an ass, but even I’m not that big of one. So, there was really only one choice for me. I had to tell you.”
Alex’s facial expression didn’t change. He didn’t look angry, or even shocked. “Why don’t you look the least bit surprised?” She asked.
He gave her a hard stare. “Who told you? The mysterious X-man?”
“If he’s mysterious it’s only because you’ve never asked me about him. Anyway, you’re changing the subject.”
Alex relaxed just a little as he folded his arms across his chest and expelled a breath. “I’m not surprised about your revelation because Cecily and I found out tonight. In Joseph’s attempt to rattle Gina, he told me a lot of things including the fact that Gina was a
