Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (11 page)

Tess rushed forward, determined to ease her mind as quickly as possible.

“Mr. and Mrs. Castile?” she asked.

The woman stared at her a moment, then smiled. “Are you Tess?”

She nodded, surprised she knew that.

“How is Alistair?”

“He’s been removed from the ICU and put in a room with Dan.”

“I asked for a private room,” Mr. Castile complained.

“Dan was his secret service agent. He was injured as well.”

Mr. Castile opened his mouth, but Mrs. Castile’s hand on his arm silenced him. “Can we see our son?”

“Yes, I’ll take you there.”

“I’d like to speak to the doctor in charge first,” Mr. Castile said.

“Let me lead you to the third floor, and ask a nurse there to find the doctor. Steel is no longer considered an emergency patient, so I’m not sure they could help you here.”

“Steel?” he asked.

“Darling, I’ve told you he calls himself Steel when abroad.”

“Yes, of course. I just…never mind, it doesn’t matter. As long as he’s fine, he can call himself whatever he likes.”

“He’s not quite fine.”

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Castile asked.

“Maybe the doctor should tell you. Honestly, I would like to hear what he thinks as well.”

Steel’s mother gripped her arm. “Tess, tell me what’s wrong?”

Tess stopped and faced her. “He’s not waking up.”

“Let’s talk to the doctor,” Mr. Castile said and charged down the hall. Tess had to pick up her speed to get in front of him and indicate the elevator before he passed it.

Once at the nurse’s station on the third floor, the nurse assured them the doctor would speak to them as soon as he came out of surgery.

“Would you like to see Steel while we wait?” Tess asked.

They nodded and followed her to the room with two men in dark blue suits standing on each side of the door. The men knew Tess, but the Castiles had to provide their passports.

Tess tried to soften the request. “They’re just protecting Steel and Dan.”

“Then he’s still in danger? What the bloody hell happened? We spoke to him not three days ago and he sounded happier than I’ve ever heard him.”

“I’ll explain what happened once you see your son. Maybe he’ll wake up for you. I haven’t had any luck.” Tears welled in her eyes and focused on her shoes.

Mrs. Castile rubbed her back. “No tears. Al…Steel wouldn’t approve.”

Tess nodded and led them inside. They went immediately to their son, one on each side, holding both his hands and they took turns speaking to him. Mrs. Castile offered words of love while Mr. Castile admonished him for sleeping when they’d ‘jumped the pond’ to see him.

Still he said nothing.

When their efforts proved futile, they turned their attention to Dan.

“Al…Steel spoke highly of you,” Mrs. Castile said and offered her hand to Dan. He shook hers and then nodded at Mr. Castile.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Mr. Castile asked.

“Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to, since I am no longer lead agent. I can give you the name of the agent who became agent-in-charge after the fact, or you could go around the official paths and just ask Tess.”

They both turned to Tess.

“It’s a long story. There’s a private lounge next door where we can sit while I explain what happened.”

They followed her to the lounge and sat together on the couch as she pulled up a chair so she could face them.

“Did Steel tell you about my less than proud family lineage?”

Mrs. Castile frowned and tilted her head. “No. He said you were the finest young woman he has ever met.”

“And he is the finest man I’ve ever met. I think we both wanted to ignore my lineage.”

“And what is this lineage?” Mr. Castile asked.

“My father is…was a mafia don.”

***

By the time the doctor arrived, Steel’s parents were both fully informed and horrified. When Mr. Castile suggested they speak to the doctor in private, Tess felt the door of rejection hit her in the face.

Despite wanting to hear what the doctor said, she left the room, returning to Steel. She pressed her cheek to his forehead.

“I don’t think your parents approve of you loving a mafia princess, and honestly, given all that’s happened, I don’t blame them in the least. I should have foreseen this and taken better care of you.” She sighed. “I just wanted to pretend the danger away, and I almost got you and Dan killed.”

“Don’t let those assholes get to you,” Dan said from his bed.

She turned and stared at him in shock. “Don’t call them that! They are very nice people. Steel loves his parents. They have every reason to disapprove of me and the harm I’ve caused their son.”

“What about me?” he asked.

She approached him. “You have reason to blame me both for the harm I’ve done to you and your career.”

“So I should overlook the fact that had you not cut me down, I’d be dead now, and had you not sacrificed yourself, I’d be dead now?”

“Yes, you should overlook it. If I had only seen the danger, that you saw at once, Steel would have returned to England.”

“That’s not true. He told me flat out that you weren’t what held him here. I didn’t believe that until I watched him work on those mounds. There was no way to get him to leave.”

“But you told me he’d leave if I asked him.”

“…to take you away because you feared for both of your lives.” Dan shook his head. “If he had loved you half as much as I…thought he did, then common sense said he would have agreed to leave. But honestly, I still thought it a long shot.”

He gripped her hand. “In the end, it didn’t matter. We all acted too late. And I’m the one who suggested that you ask him in the morning.”

“Your logic was good,” Tess said.

“But my timing was poor. So stop blaming yourself. There’s enough blame to go around. We just need to pick up our lives and go from here.”

“You’re right.” Blaming herself wasn’t going to help anyone.

Mr. and Mrs. Castile entered the room and frowned at Tess. Mr. Castile stepped forward. “Tess, I just spoke to Agent Grimes of the FBI. He fervently believes you should be kept far away from my son.”

Had he bludgeoned her with a club, he couldn’t have hurt her more.

“Grimes is an idiot,” Dan said.

Mr. Castile’s right eyebrow rose in challenge. “He’s in charge of this case, so I will follow his advice.” His brow furrowed as he turned to Tess. “I’m sorry. To all appearances, you seem to care for Alistair, but this relationship would have never worked out, so it’s best it ends now.” Then they turned their backs to her and attended to their son.

Tess couldn’t respond or move. She felt as if her whole world had just fallen apart.

Dan gripped her hand. “Tess, you can come visit me whenever you want.”

She squeezed his hand in appreciation but noticed Mrs. Castile frowning at Dan. “I should go,” she whispered and ran from the room.

She made it back to the private lounge and collapsed on the couch. Alone, she cried more tears than she’d ever shed before.

She was still crying when Sheriff Cobbs found her. By his pained expression, he had either heard of her dismissal or he was here to tell her the FBI intended to arrest her on some trumped up charges.

Honestly, more bad news couldn’t cut deeper.

“I need to get back to La Motte. Would you like a drive up to your cabin?”

She didn’t want to leave Steel, even if she couldn’t visit him. “No. I’ll stay here a little longer.”

He sighed and sat beside her. “Your visiting privileges have been revoked.”

“But Dan said I could visit him.”

“He was overruled. The security at the door will no longer let you in.”

“I wish they’d never come.”

He rubbed her back. “Well, one good thing came of it.”

“What?”

“Steel finally woke up.”

A joyous burst of energy shot through her and she ran past the guards and into his room.

His parents frowned at her presence, but she didn’t care. “You’re awake!”

Instead of smiling, he glared at her.

“I thought we made our wishes clear to you,” Mr. Castile snapped.

“Steel, tell them you want me here,” she pleaded.

He stared at her as if she were some crazy loon and shook his head. “I want nothing to do with you.”

“Steel…”

“Go away, Tess. We may have to work at the same park, but we are no longer friends.”

“Why?”

“You know why. I wasn’t as unconscious as everyone thought. I could hear and understand what was being said around me. I heard you tell the agents how you planned to file a sexual assault suit against me, knowing it would destroy my career forever.”

“Only as last resort…I had to get you to leave and go back to England.”

“Get out!” he screamed.

His father stepped forward and glared at Cobbs. “Get this woman away at once and if she steps foot in here again, I will file a complaint with your superiors.”

Cobbs didn’t inform him he didn’t have superiors; he just helped Tess from the room. He led her straight down to his pickup and helped her inside.

***

As Cobbs pulled up his pickup outside her cabin, he finally spoke. “Tess, I know you are in pain from a very deep loss. Grief like that can swallow a person up unless they have something to keep them going. In my case, I had a young son to raise. In yours, you have your beautiful forest to turn into a state park. My advice is to focus on that. It won’t remove the pain you feel, but it will distract you so you can go on with your life. Night times will be the hardest.”

Tess shook her head. Her grief was nothing compared to his, but honestly, she couldn’t imagine hurting more than she currently did.

Cobbs gripped her shoulder. “He’s in pain right now. He might come to his senses.”

A part of her wanted to believe that, but she knew it wasn’t true. “No. I planned to attack that which he loves most in life. He’ll never forgive nor forget.”

Cobbs sighed. “Perhaps not. But if he doesn’t, then he wasn’t nearly the man he seemed to be.”

She opened her mouth to object but realized that was true. If he were that unforgiving over something she planned but never did to try to save his life, then he was far from the perfect man she’d thought him.

“You’re right. I need to focus on my woods.” She grimaced. “Any chance any of your men still want to work for me?”

He smiled. “They all do.”

“Can I have them tomorrow…or do you still need them?”

“Nope. The FBI is convinced they can finish gathering up the stragglers without me.”

“Can they?”

“I doubt it, but my men gathered all the major problems, so I can wait and pick up the others if they are stupid enough to remain in Iowa once these idiots leave. My guess is the remaining trouble will return to Chicago. As long as they stay there, I’ll leave them be.” 

“Then will you ask my grounds crew to show up in two teams for 6:30 and 7:00 tomorrow morning?”

“I don’t think they’ll be there quite so early. The County Works Department is repairing the road to La Motte, so it’s out of commission, so they have to take the long way around to the Dubuque entrance. However, Malcolm has located a bus he thinks can make it up the Dubuque road.”

“But that’s a long drive.”

“It is, so I doubt they’ll show up before eight o’clock tomorrow. However, if you don’t mind having tents in your front yard, they can set up a camping area.”

“I don’t mind. I could try to squeeze them into my home.”

“No, they enjoy camping. However, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like Malcolm to join the other two occupants living in your house.”

“You still think I’m in danger?”

He sighed. “Probably not, but unless I catch every damn one of those rodents, I’ll feel safer with Malcolm watching over you.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand. “Then I’ll greatly appreciate his company.”

***

Once inside, she was greeted by Jack and Sonny. 

“Why aren’t you two working on the mounds?”

“Tom told us not to do anything without Steel’s approval.”

“You are welcome to work with my guys.”

“Can we think about that?” Jack asked.

“Sure. I’ll be going out to check on the woods in an hour. If you want to come with me, you’re invited.”

Tess went to her room and called Tom to update him on the situation.

He was pleased to know the grounds crew was working out and ready to return. “The sooner we can get that hill secure, the better I’ll sleep.”

“Me, too.” She then told him about Steel overhearing her FBI interrogation. “He told me to leave and said we might have to work together but he’d never trust me again.”