AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Eleanna,” He says but my name sounds like a question. “I’ve put my life in your hands. The whole operation, my brothers, my mission. If you decide to send a text, leave in the night, one word to your family, even ahintof the truth, and it’s over. They’ll kill me, hunt Robbie down, everyone. We all die. The end. I know you don’t trust me yet, but I trust you. Give me some more time to explain before you make any decisions, okay?”
I gulp. I also feel in my pockets of this romper I should’ve changed out of a long time ago. Sure enough, my phone is in my pocket. He really is handing me his life. I don’t know if I can take it, if I can handle all of this. He seems to think I can. But do I even want to? Give up everything for a lie with a man who has barely tolerated me for months? I don’t know.
But I’m not deciding tonight.
I nod at him and move toward the hall. I stop and look down at the note.
Arlo, R’s Second.
S.A. my wife.
Take him down immediately or I will.
“Will you, will you kill him?”
He scoffs. “Death is too merciful. That’s not how we do things. He’ll be ruined. Then when he gets to prison, he’ll be haunted, threatened and tortured for the rest of his life. Still, that’s not enough. Fuck, Ellie, I wish I could torture him myself. Avenge you with my bare hands. Strangle his fucking neck and see howhelikes it. Watch the life drain from his miserable eyes.”
I laugh. It comes out of nowhere. A delirious set of giggles, probably a release of the trauma of the day. Or my body’s way of processing something my mind can’t.
“Are…are you having a breakdown? Did I break you?” Mark steps to me, half smiling.
“You don’t get mad! You don’t want to get your suits wrinkled! Don’t want to get your stupid perfect gorgeous hair messed up.”
The smirk is back with force, “You like my hair?”
“You don’t take action, you’re not passionate, you don’t care!”
“I do.” He steps right up to me, as close as he can get without our toes touching, our chests almost brushing. “I am a passionate man, but more than that I’m patient. The picture of self control. Untilyou.You know how much shit I got for punching that Russian? I’m not supposed to know how to fight like that. And I wanted to kill him, Eleanna. Tokill him.” He moves a hand to touch me, but stops himself. “I’ve never cared about anything in my life more than revenge.No hasta ahora.”
Not until now.
CHAPTER 36
Mark
It’s painful to watch her walk away. It’s also strange, to be this close to someone and yet so far away at the same time. I’ve never let anyone in like this who wasn’t from the Cave. And even those few, my fellow soldiers in this mission, they haven’t been close to me in a decade, save Robbie. And we just text.
She is probably the only person who’s seen all of me. Metaphorically, anyway. It’s uncomfortable, being this exposed. I hate it, but at the same time, I want it. For her. With her.
What the hell does that even mean? Can I really be with her? A real relationship? Am I capable? Now that she knows who and what I really am, is the risk of all of us dying higher or lower? I don’t know.
I hear her door close upstairs and I’m snapped back to what she just told me. Little Ellie, just fifteen, having to fight off one of her Papá’s thugs.
Fuck!
I really, really want to kill Arlo. Not just that, I want to maim. To brutalize. Feelings I’ve tried to suppress. I don’t want to become exactly like the monsters I fight against. And yet here I am, thinking in my mind how I could sneak out of this house through the underground tunnels, find Arlo and just—
Buzz buzz buzz
Great. Now it’s time for the lectures and the teasing. I’m about to get ripped a new asshole or two. I pull out my phone.
Robbie: Conference Call 11:00
Robbie: You have 30 minutes to get your act together
Robbie: Confirm
Mark: Confirmed
