Chapter 14

Carina

When I woke up the next morning, the window was open. A light breeze blew the curtains, causing them to flutter over the window. Harrison had already gotten out of bed and after a few minutes went by, I got up, slid on my jeans pants and his t-shirt, then went downstairs. Harrison was in the kitchen making breakfast. I could smell the bacon in the air as soon as I walked into the room.

“So, I get sex and breakfast? Wow. I think I may have hit the jackpot with you.” I walked behind him and kissed him on the neck.

“Babe, I need to talk to you.”

“Oh? About?”

He turned off the stove, then removed the bacon from the skillet and placed them onto a plate on the counter. “Just have a seat. I’ll tell you.”

“This sounds serious.” He didn’t respond and with that, I pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table. He sat down next to me and reclined back in his chair. I tapped my fingers against the table top and fought back at the butterflies that had started to course through my stomach.

“Come on, Harrison, the suspense is killing me. What is it?”

He exhaled and looked towards the kitchen window. By his facial expressions, I could tell that this was something serious. Is he really married? Engaged? Does he have some illegal shit going on, too? A thousand things went through my head as I waited for him to tell me what was going on.

“Harrison?”

Finally, he looked my way. A solemn expression shot from his countenance and as he leaned forward, he spoke.

“I’ve got to come clean with you about some shit.” My heartbeat stopped until he continued. “Because I haven’t been honest.” He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. He was antsy. “I’m not a businessman and I am not working with the government.”

“Well, I figured that much,” I said as my brows wrinkled together. I shook my head, expecting the worst.

“I am an undercover cop for the Chicago Police Department.” The moment he said those words, I felt as if the floor had fallen out from under me. Before I could even could form words in my mouth, he continued.

“I have been assigned to investigate your family and find out what they have going on. I have been an undercover cop here for about four years.”

I watched him closely, hoping that he would burst into laughter and tell me that he was just joking about everything. As I waited for it to happen, it never did. He just dug a deeper hole into my heart with each word he spoke.

“I didn’t know who you were before I met you. I didn’t know you were connected to the Dellucci family. I didn’t put everything together until you told me your last name and my boss showed me your picture. Even then, I just hoped that it was a mistake. I hoped that, somewhere along the line, there was a mistake and you were wrongly grouped with the Dellucci family. But, as time passed, I realized that wasn’t the case.”

An uncomfortable silence flooded between us as we sat at the kitchen table. The bright rays of sunlight hadn’t reached their brightest level as it slowly lifted above the horizon. I looked away from Harrison, still trying to process what he said. I was at a complete loss of words.

“Listen, Carina, like I said, I didn’t know who you were before I met you. That night I saw you at Luzano’s. I didn’t know you were connected to them and when my boss found out that I had already been in contact with you, he said that you were my way in.”

I glared up at Harrison as anger started to bubble in my stomach. “Wait,” my mouth finally able to form words. “So, that is why you’ve been so interested in my family? That’s what that bullshit was about?”

“Yeah.”

“You have to be fucking kidding me!” I said as I stood to my feet as the bubbling anger coursed through my body.

“This is a joke, right? Please tell me that this is a fucking joke!” I said, still in disbelief. “You’re not really a fucking undercover cop?”

He shook his head no and suddenly, the blood drained from my face and transformed into a deadly rage. How could I be so stupid to fall for a man so fast?! To let my guard down, especially when I knew what my family was involved in.

“You fucking bastard!” I yelled, as I charged towards him.

He quickly stood to his feet and caught my fist before I could send it crashing into this face.

“Carina! Carina, calm the fuck down, alright?! I told you for a reason!”

“Let me go, Harrison! Let me go you fucking LIAR!”

I jerked my hands out of his grasp and out of mercy, he let me go. Tears fell from my eyes relentlessly as I processed everything that was said. The room started to spin, so I put my hand out and held onto the counter to keep myself upright.

“I can’t believe you lied to me!” I cried as he stood near the table with his hands in his pockets. He started to walk closer to me, but I moved away from him.

“Don’t come close to me!”

He stopped in his tracks. “Listen, I know you’re upset, Carina. I told you because I couldn’t go through with the shit. I couldn’t risk–”

“What do you know?!” I said, cutting him off as I gripped the counter in my hand. Even though I wasn’t involved in family business, I still would do anything I could to protect them. “What the fuck do you know about my family?!”

He sighed. “I don’t know much, alright? I was battling whether or not to go through with this, so I didn’t get far.”

“But you still got somewhere?”

“Yeah.”

Tears started to stream down my face. I felt as though I had been punched in the chest. “God, how could I have been so stupid? How could I be so dumb to believe that someone could fall in love so fast! This was all a fucking game!”

“Carina, it was not a game,” as he walked slowly towards me. “The way I feel for you? It is real. I felt this way beforehand, that’s why I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t put you in danger.”

He stepped closer to me, but I quickly moved my body away from him. “No! You already lied about who you were. I don’t think I could ever trust you now.”

“Carina, just listen!”

“No! No, I will not listen! Fuck you, Harrison! You played me from the beginning and I was stupid enough to fall for it”

“Carina please just listen…”

Tears streamed down my face and blurred my vision as he stood a few away from me. I breathed heavily, still trying to gather myself as I stood in front of a man that was now a complete stranger to me.

“I never want to see you or talk to you again and if I do, I will tell my family and trust me, they are not someone you want to piss off.”

“Carina…”

I left his house in a storm, climbed into my car and sped away as a river of tears continued to fall from my eyes. I couldn’t believe that I allowed myself to get into such a fucking mess. I believed him, I thought as I slammed my hands into the steering wheel. I can’t believe I fucking believed him! I had almost lost my family because of my stupid heart.