AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A towel hovers over my head, and I look up to see a maid handing it to me. There are staff lined up against the wall waiting for the fight to end and clean up. I take it and stand.
“You better get your boss some ice,” I say to the woman turning to see Abel and Miya eating popcorn.
“Fucking seriously?” Miya shrugs and points at Abel.
“Snitch. Are we ready to finish now, or do you need a doctor, Hiro?” Fuck, there’s more?
“Let me make this quicker, Cher. I took care of his boss until he died. For this, I was granted a favor of my choosing when I called on it. Which I did when I found your father cheating.” A look of shame I have never seen on my mama fills her face.
“What was it?” I’m so afraid to hear the answer I know is coming that I clutch my chest, hoping to keep my heart from shattering.
“She requests for Josephine Mellon to disappear. So she did.” Akihiro gives me a wide berth as he walks to his chair, righting it and sitting down with an ice pack on his left cheek.
“So you see. I started this chain of events. You did nothing wrong.” My mama put a hit out on Anton’s mother.
Fucking hell.
“But wait, there’s more,” Abel says with flair tossing the empty bag of popcorn into the trash can.
What could be worse than my mama having another woman killed?
A picture of Josephine Mellon fills the screen. Why does she look so familiar? The lights come on, and Miya gasps. I turn in time to see my mama faint. I look up and watch Akihiro hug, Josephine Mellon.
“I know you.” She nods.
Abel helps my mama, and Miya steps up behind me as I rack my brain trying to place her. I shake my head, not remembering, and go to check my mama.
“Why aren’t you dead?” I hear Miya ask.
“I do not hurt women or children,” Akihiro states, but I snort because didn’t we just deal with his fucking docks?
“Just your daughter then? Good to know.” Asshole.
To stand and claim any type of innocence in any of this is ludicrous and screams of privilege I don’t want to even imagine. I kneel at my mama’s feet and look up at her. She’s looking at Josephine as if she’s a ghost. Under the circumstances, I guess she’s not far off.
Abel taps my shoulder and whispers a word to me, but I can’t hear him. So since he’s so subtle, he coughs louder.
“Church.” I frown and shake my head.
No, she’s never been to the clubhouse, I’m sure. My mama pats my hand on her knee.
“Sister Melanie,” Mama says and nods at the woman.
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
It’s one of the nuns from St. Louis Cathedral, my mother’s church. Akihiro hid her where my mother would have to see her. I glance at the evil motherfucker and realize he’s a fucking genius.
I guess Karma got her name from her daddy too.
21
ABEL
“The church has been used to hide women away for years. I figured if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So when Hiro here needed somewhere to stash dear sister Melanie, I knew just where to put her.” I press my palms together as if praying and bow in her direction.
“You are a heathen, Abel Brooks. To use the house of God in that manner. To allow her to wear the title of nun when she’s a sinner at heart.” Josette is pissed and has a stone in her hand that she’s rolling between her fingers.
“I’ve been called worse. And Sinner? Now, now, Josie, you called for this woman’s murder. Let’s not start throwing stones just yet. Clarence is the one who deceived both of you. The Admiral was a great sailor and military leader, and I would have followed him into any battle needed, but a good man, he was not. Let’s keep the blame where it should be.” The stone in her hand falls, and her hand clutches the mother of pearl rosary around her neck.
