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Birds fly from the trees outside, and Arnold’s body lies limp.
I drop the gun on the fresh corpse’s chest and turn to Alessia. Seeing her crumpled on the floor tugging at her hair makes my chest wrench. The innocent house cat takes her first taste of flesh. She doesn’t like it.
“We’re so different, you and I.” My eyes scan her pitifully. “But you don’t have to worry anymore. I’ll protect you.”
“Leandro.” Alessia sobs, holding her belly. “What did you make me do? Why?” She wipes her face. “Why didn’t you just kill him if you knew? Why didn’t you kill both of us?”
That one feels like a stab to the gut. She wants to die?
“I’m not a killer.” She shakes her head in dismay. “I’m not!”
One look over to Arnold’s limp body proves otherwise. It wasn’t self-defense, nor righteous. It was a choice.
“It’s alright, Sia.” I bend into a crouch to comfort her. Now that the air clears, I have remorse for the divine scenario I’ve created.
“It’s not, Leandro. You’re a bastard.” She hits my chest to push me away. “Fucking bastard.”
I wrap my arms around her as she sobs harder. “His intentions weren’t pure,” I attempt to comfort. “The way he looked at you…”
“I know how he looked at me!” She’s hysterical. “But that doesn’t mean he deserved to die.”
I nod in agreement. It’s true.
The chains are broken. My code is unfollowed. Yet another crossroads where I don’t know what to do. It might be time to let all of this go, and let the pieces fall where they may.
One look up to the decrepit ceiling makes me wonder what it’s all for.
“Leandro, I’m—”
“It’s alright, Sia. Just breathe.” I hold her head close to my chest. She’s a wet mess as she clings onto my arms.
“I’m pregnant.”
I stop petting her. A hundred thoughts and emotions run through me, and there’s one that screams the loudest, surprising me at how natural it feels – the pure joy of hearing I’m going to be a father. I didn’t imagine it, did I? “What did you just say?”
“Don’t send me back down there, wolf. Get me away from that body. This is no place for someone carrying your child.”
Chapter 26
Leandro
A month goes by in a flash. Ridding Arnold’s remains was complicated. Not the body – that was easy. But the car. In fear he had a GPS feature added, I had to drive out of state with Sia following me close behind. We had to wait a few days at an undisclosed location – so no one would suspect foul play in upstate New York – then I drove the damn thing into a river.
I’m careful in my work.
Some call me paranoid.
But now I have more to protect than myself. Much more.
I twirl a stick between my palms, in between a small bed of sticks. Call me old-fashioned for starting a campfire this way, I don’t care. I was born in the wrong time.
Alessia waits directly behind me, in an RV I bought for her. I can hear her puttering around inside, cleaning pots and pans. We live about a hundred feet away from my shack now, in the woods. She told me the whole story – how Anabel is the one who confirmed her pregnancy, how half the girls hate her, and the other half aren’t quite sure. Obviously, there’s no way I’m leaving her down there as shark bait.
I have purpose again. She gave that to me. With that, however, I’ve lost something dear. My code. It went out the window with Arnold Frick, and now I’m lost in another way. I no longer value the Cosa Nostra’s ways. I’m a true rogue. No more enforcing the fringes of the shadow world. No more keeping balance. Instead, I found someone worth leaving it all behind for.
Still, there’s the problem of the four widows.
If I let them free, me and my new love will be found out. Our life would be on the run. It cannot be that way.
