AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fear keeps me frozen as I watch him try to hit his father. His intent gets me moving. “Stop, stop,” I scream.
He doesn’t, so I grab him around the waist. “Please, don’t hurt your father. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t him. Please.”
I hold on tight. Finally, he calms down. His arms are around me. “Talk to me. What’s going on? Why are you crying?”
Now that it’s safe. I let him go. He wipes my tears away. The frown in his forehead deepens as I fight for words.
“Tell him, whatever it is,” Joe pleads.
“You can’t kill her,” comes out in a garbled mess.
“Who?” they say in unison.
I shake my head. “Not until you promise not to kill her.”
His jaw hardens, and his grip on my chin tightens. “Talk.” One word that falls like a stone between us.
“Helena, Eddie’s sister, is blackmailing me…because I killed him.”
I wipe my tears away with the handkerchief Joe hands me to see them look at each other. “I honestly didn’t have a problem with him being gay. Even though my father was adamant no man in the Outfit was gay—while making it clear it would be a death sentence — I also knew there had to be. I didn’t have a problem with it. I would have married him.”
Manuel’s hand tightens around my arm as though a punishment for saying I would have married Eddie.
“I thought… I don’t know what I thought. All I cared about was having a family. Three children was my dream, but I would have settled for one. Being gay has never been a problem for having kids. And I told him that. But he…” I close my eyes against the memory.
“He was cruel. The things he said. There would be no kids. No family. I’d live the life of a good mob wife, keep my mouth shut except when I was filling it with food. And no man would question why he didn’t want me.” I shake my head, hating the tears that fall. He doesn’t deserve them.
“I tried to talk to him again. Fine. I’ll find another way to have the children. He refused. No kids. Ever. I had no idea what to do. My mother was only a few weeks gone to Colombia. Talking to her about it felt selfish. By a weird luck, Carina Parker, Carlo’s daughter, called me asking if I knew where to get some Xanax. Since my mom ate them like candy, there were some in the house. Carina had mentioned before how her nonna taught her and her sister about poison to take care of a husband who might hurt them.” My hands are sweating. I rub them over my legs.
“So we traded. She gave me the instructions on how to make cyanide at home. I made some up and put it in an apricot jam. He loved it on these Danish things his mom made. It worked. But when I went back to get the jam to dump it, it was gone. I had no idea where it went and thought I got lucky. Since Eddie was sick with the flu, my hope was someone tossed it. Helena found it.”
“They did an autopsy and didn’t discover the cyanide?” Joe is surprised.
I shake my head. “He had some kind of heart murmur. They blamed his death on that and the flu. I’m sorry. I am so sorry I didn’t tell you. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep you from killing her. And you can’t, Manuel. Her marriage is what I would have endured, but worse. Her husband is evil. I understand why she’s doing it. She’s trying to protect her daughter from a man who called her too old for him when she was seventeen. She wanted five million to run, but now she wants me to have you kill him. Or she’ll tell her father.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Joe tells Manuel. “You take care of her.”
“You’re going to make her pay,” Manuel demands.
Joe chuckles. “Don’t you remember who taught you to kill,mijo?” is his answer as he walks away.
My heart sinks. Please let him be talking about Brandon.
CHAPTER22
Manuel
Looking down at my wife after my father leaves. My guts are churning seeing her beautiful face swollen and red from tears. I want to take her in my arms, except another part of me doesn’t trust the violence within me.
She lied to me. Not once. Not twice. Again and again, she lied. She told me she loved me and while she did, she was lying.
I walk away before I do something I can’t take back. She calls out to me. I keep walking.
There’s no plan. I have no idea where I’m going. The urge to get on a plane and put several thousand miles between us is strong. At least until this anger cools. But if I do that, I have a feeling it will build again on my way back to her.
The answer finds me without me looking for it. My phone is ringing. I answer, thinking it’s my father. It’s not. Thomas is certain they have Richie. I tell him to grab him. I’m on my way.
Perfect. I can take out this rage on Richie. Because I sure as fuck can’t do it to my wife.
