AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’s not a myth.
“I think I’m smart enough to guess.” I’m not even surprised. In some small way, I think I’ve known all along. I was just never brave enough to say it out loud.
I cradle his face in my hand. He locks his fingers in my hair, holding my head steady while his eyes search mine.
“You save lives, angel. I take them.” He narrows his gaze. “Do you understand what I’m telling you? Do you understand how fucked up this is?”
I can’t hear anymore. I can’t let him keep pounding himself into the ground. How can a person so beautiful have so much self-hate? I’ve seen him interact with people at the restaurant, even asking about their children. I’ve seen him bring leftovers to the veteran’s shelters when he could have just thrown them away. I’ve seen the beauty that’s inside his heart. He’s wrong. The darkness hasn’t overcome him.
“I love you,” I say with all the conviction I can muster.
That seems to be enough for him right now, because he brings his lips to mine and tugs on my hair, prompting my mouth open and pushing his tongue inside. His kiss is deep and warm, and I am once again lost in him.
* * *
To me, the mafia has always been a myth, a legend, the plot of a story told to pique the interest of curious children. To Callisto, it’s the only life he’s ever known. I learned he’s what’s known as anenforcer, meaning when someone breaks the rules, he is their consequence. He also offers protection to several local business owners, ensuring the overflow of crime that makes the city’s headlines doesn’t affect them.
We’re back at his loft. He’s in the corner of his sectional, and I’m lying between his legs with my back on his chest. I have to be at work in a few hours, but I need this. We need this.
His fingertips mindlessly roam my body, stopping to circle my nipples through the t-shirt I’m wearing.
He tells me he’s responsible for ridding the world of Nathan Kress. I don’t ask for details. I don’t need to know.
“He signed his death warrant when he put that shit in your car.”
I can’t say I think less of him for it. Nathan was a piece of shit.
“I only hurt people who hurt other people. I need you to know that. Rapists, murderers, child molesters. People that slip through the cracks of the law. There has never been a single drop of innocent blood on my hands.”
“So, you’re like the Punisher.”
His chest rumbles against my back when he laughs. “Yeah, baby. Just like the Punisher.”
24
Makenna
Two weeks later, I’m hanging out at the end of the bar at Suppato’s while I wait for Callisto to get back from a meeting. Jaxon is mixing me a lemon drop martini, my first drink in weeks.
Unlike the last time I was here, I’m not intimidated by the way the servers glance at me when they walk by. I don’t care what types of things they whisper to each other in the bathroom.
There won’t be any other women waiting at the end of this bar for Callisto.
He’s mine.
And I might be normal in their eyes but I’m an angel in his. I’m not perfect, not even close. But an angel with broken wings is still an angel.
He loves me.
My thumb nervously runs across the indented circle on my phone. 6:45. Callisto is uncharacteristically late. He’s never late.
We’re supposed to be meeting Brynn and her flavor of the week at a new wine bar in the warehouse district. When she’d first mentioned a wine bar, my breath froze, hoping it wasn’t the same one Eva took me to. Thankfully, it isn’t.
The cordless phone rings, and Jaxon’s gaze stays focused on me as he listens to the voice on the other end.
“Carlos needs you in his office,” he says. “Now.”
My first thought is about his heart, so I move as quickly as I can to get back there. As soon as I open the door, my stomach drops. Callisto is covered in blood, standing in front of Carlos’s desk.
