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I didn’t get to say anything else before she fled our room like dogs were chasing her. I decided to give it a few minutes and cover myself before going to check on my girl. She was playing with the tea bag when I got to her.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” I said, keeping my distance.
“I had a bad dream.”
“Salvatrice,” I said coaxingly. She was sitting at the kitchen table, so I occupied the chair in front of her. “We’ve been together almost a year. You think I don’t know when you’re lying, amore? If you don’t want to tell me, it’s alright.”
“I want to, but…” She exhaled and covered her eyes with one hand. “I don’t want you to be tainted with that too, Roman.”
Of course she didn’t. In her eyes, I was still this average Joe, a nice guy who wore glasses when reading, who hadn’t seen too much hardship in life. Maybe one day I’d grow a pair of balls and tell her the truth about who I was and how my faith was forged in blood.
“You can talk to me about everything, Salva.” I wasn’t stupid, or blind. She was scared, and unfortunately, I knew all the reasons a woman would be scared like that.
“It’s a story from my foster care years. It’s not a pretty one.”
I felt like a stone dropped in my stomach. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d heard about the shit happening in the foster system, but this was the woman I loved. The thought of someone hurting her made me think about murder.
“I’m here to listen if you want me to.”
“My foster family, the Garrets, they were a mess. The mom was on meth, they lived off of foster children, all fifteen of us that were in the house, and the father was unbearable. He could make you feel uncomfortable with just one look. I got put into their house when I was about nine, and I was lucky that some of the kids were older. They were the one who took care of me.” She drank her tea in two big gulps. “Moses, that was the father’s name. Moses fucking Garret. A disgusting piece of white trash who spent most of his life drunk. He was also horny all the time.”
“Salvatrice.” My blood morphed into fire. Pure, destructive flames, coming straight from hell.
“I wasn’t raped, if that’s what you fear. He didn’t wanna go to jail, and he knew how to stay on the line. He never raped any of us, but he used to climb in bed with the girls and he would…climb into bed with us and rub himself…” She lost the trail of speaking, but got herself together quickly. “Anyways, I’m fine, Roman. When you got into bed, I had a weird flashback. Don’t think about it.”
Too late, I was fucking thinking about it. I couldn’t let this pass. That piece of shit used little girls for his kinks and there wasn’t enough mercy in this world to make me just not think about it.
I rose to my feet and took her chin in my hand.
“You should never be scared of me, amore mio. Never. And no one will ever get to you again as long as I live.”
“I know. Should we get to breakfast now?”
“The plan changed; I have to go meet my friend Gino. He called when you were sleeping and it’s important. Do you mind if I take you out to dinner instead?
“It’s ok, Roman, go meet your friend. He’s a guy, right.”
“Gino? I don’t think many people would doubt his masculinity.”
“I’m just asking because, you know, I’ve never met your friends. Gino might as well be your side piece.”
I leaned down and kissed her. I kept them away from Salvatrice only to protect her.
“You’re the only piece I need.”
She was the only one that mattered. My beautiful, precious girl that someone dared to hurt. I was going to make that scum pay for every second of fear Salvatrice has felt. Oh, he would pay plenty. There was no worse way to die than under Hugo’s fists, Gino’s gun, or my wrath.
I went from our apartment straight to my brothers and asked them to assist me on a visit to one Moses Garret. The motherfucker was way too easy to find; it was almost like he was asking me to come and end his misery.
One thing I knew for sure: today, the motherfucker would have his last confession before embarking his one-way trip to hell.
