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It’s the reason I pretend to be a good man. For her. Anything for her. She doesn’t need to see the cold monster I am beneath this.
“Sweetheart, it’s going to be okay. I just need you to listen to me. Meet me outside the house. I’m just around the corner.” I keep my tone calm, despite the fear running through my veins.
Her rapid breathing grows quieter. “Girls, I need you to come inside!” she yells.
“One second,” I hear my niece, Rosa, call back. I wish I could take her with us.
“Now, Rosa. Inside. I am not asking again,” Leila shouts like an angry mom. She is going to make the best mother for our children.
I turn onto Marco’s road. “Leila, baby, I’m pulling down the driveway.”
“Okay. I’m just coming to the front door. The girls are walking towards the back.”
Marco’s mansion, coming into view, lightens the load on my chest.
“I love you, Frankie.”
I smile, entering the code to his gates. “I love you, too. Both of you.”
The heavy iron barricades slowly open. I rub my hand over my short beard in frustration. Fuck waiting until tomorrow for a flight. We’re going tonight. Marco can figure his own mess out. I am done babysitting his ass.
Racing down the long tree-lined lane, gravel flies as I skid to a stop before the wide marble steps as the front door swings inward.
A loud boom has me jolting back in my seat. I brace forward, covering my head with my hands on the steering wheel as the vibrations rock through the car, shattering my windows around me, piercing into my hands.
It falls silent, so I slowly look up towards the house.
“No. No. No.”
Before I can register what is happening, another bang goes off, flames dancing in my vision.
This can’t be fucking real.
Wiping my trembling hands over my face, I can barely see as the shock consumes me.
Leila.
I have to help her.
I race out of the vehicle, towards the rubble and smoke. My heart feels like it’s been ripped from my chest.
Only half of the house is standing. The thick air makes my eyes sting. I only have one thing running through my mind: my girls.
Without thinking, I launch myself towards the rubble, pushing chunks of it out of the way frantically.
“Leila!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
Moving forwards, past the remains of the sofa and the sink, I can’t find any trace of her. Fuck.
“Come on, baby. Where are you?”
I keep going on my hands and knees, tossing the debris out of my way. With every second that passes in silence, my hope fades.
There is no coming back from this. It isn’t possible.
It’s my fault. I told her to stay in the house.
My palm lands on something soft.Tugging on it, blood drips over my wrist. Looking down, my stomach rolls as I look at the severed hand in mine.
