AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shoves away from the wall and slips in her own blood, crashing to the floor with a grunt. But she’s desperate, rushing on her hands and knees as she bounds into the elevator and smacks the buttons to get the doors to close.
“We’ll wait for the next one.” Felix relaxes beside me when the doors shut and the numbers above the elevator descend. But then he looks to Pastore and steps closer to his remaining target, unraveling his arm from over my shoulder and leaving me to stand on my own.
Micah’s captive weeps. He trembles, seemingly unable to hold his own weight up without Micah’s help. And when the stench of urine permeates the hall, I peer down to find a dark yellow puddle emanating from the coward’s shiny black shoes.
“You hurt my brother, Pastore.” Felix reaches into his pocket, his movements slow and calm as he brings out a shiny switchblade, flicking it open so the smallschwoopmakes me jump. “You poured poison into Savannah Towers’ already unwell mind.” He grabs Pastore’s hand, his muscles growing thicker when he’s forced to hold on tight and combat the man’s panicked instincts. Then he places the knife at the side of Pastore’s pinky finger and grins. “You got poor Clarke into hot water by giving out bad business advice.”
He slices with the knife with seemingly no effort, then Pastore screams, blood spurting to the floor a mere second before a finger follows.
My stomach heaves when my mind catches up to what my eyes are already witnessing.
“Worst of all,” Felix continues, bringing the blade up. “You hurt my girl.” He slides the edge of the blade across Pastore’s ruddy cheek. Teasing. Taunting, as the tip comes dangerously close to the man’s eye. “I’m gonna kill you, Emilio. Tonight.”
“No. No, no, no, no.”
“Yes.” Then he slips the blade ever so gently beneath the puffy skin under Pastore’s eye. “But first, I’m gonna show you what happens to assholes who just can’t take a fuckin hint. Take one last look at her, Emilio. She’s the most beautiful… and thelast,thing you’ll ever see.”
“No—”
EPILOGUE
A FEW WEEKS LATER
Iwalk the orchard surrounding the Malone home and look up at the beautiful apple trees that grow here.
I don’t know if Charlotte is in the ground beneath my feet. And if she is, I don’t know which tree watches over her.
But I do know the entire grounds are beautiful, and I like to think it’s because of the women who gave up their lives for good men.
It’s horribly tragic. All of it. But the man responsible for so much pain is already dead.
Timothy Malone, the cause of insurmountable hurt, enjoys his permanent slumber without ever having truly paid for the crimes he committed against others.
Against innocents. Against children.
He’s gone, though. Unable to harm anyone else.
That has to be good enough.
To search for more closure than that would be to actively search for insanity. And honestly, I prefer my reality just fine.
“How’s your dad?” Felix wanders beside me, his hand wrapped around mine, and his delicious cologne battling with the scent of fresh air and ripe apples swirling in my lungs. “He okay?”
“Yeah.” I hug his arm and rest my cheek on the ball of his shoulder. “He smiled today.” And of course, my lips do the same. “We talked about Charlotte, but only the good stuff.”
“What good stuff?”
His phone trills, business demanding his attention like always. But I’ve grown accustomed to the pressures everyone else places upon him. The way they depend on him for stability. For income. For certainty. And, in the case of his brothers, for support, as they each work through the bombshell of finding out my truths.
My connection to the family. My motives. My role in Cato’s life, now that I’m here and don’t intend to leave ever again.
Archer may have been the most difficult to convince of my loyalties, though that might just be the cop in him. Or perhaps it’s theMalonein him—the unwavering need to protect those he loves.
Cato is spending time here in New York, for this week at least, while Minka and Archer travel, which means the detective has time on his hands and an innate need to know everyone is safe.
But that’s what these brothers do. They fight. They argue. They kill, if necessary. But they protect each other before anything else.
And that’s a family legacy I can support.
