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Two figures come into view, and the room fills with people who begin surrounding us, too many faces to count. The woman at the center of it all, my mother, continues to applaud us.
A tall man stands next to her. His hair is black and shaved on the side. He wears a dark navy suit that matches Valentina’s full length tight ball gown.
My mind flashes back with memories of her. Her hateful words and the way she treated me and my brother like we were the scum of the earth. That is, until my brother became a piano prodigy. He was amazing. I remember when I was scared at night he would play just for us.
Our rooms were right by each other and opened into a play room of sorts. It was a great set up, but I realize now it was just a way to keep us as far away from my mother as possible. Our father loved us, but he wasn’t ever home. Especially after Amor died, he wouldn’t so much as look at me. I remember Ma telling me he had died, and I couldn’t even recall his face. I never really mourned him because there was no one left to mourn. Just my brother, and the life he deserved.
I think back to the day he got into a fight with our aunt. I had wanted to play a game instead of the piano, and my brother encouraged me. He had just started taking a stand whenever our aunt would try to hurt us. But when she tried to hit me with herruler that day, he snatched it from her hand and smacked her with it.
She was furious. Neither of us expected her to grab him by the throat and take him to the ground. He was just a little boy.
But she kept her hands around his neck while I screamed. Then when I knew it was too late, I hid and cried. When I finally left my hiding spot, I went looking for him, hoping that he was recovering in his bed.
I remember seeing the cartoons on the TV when I went into his room, and I got excited that the two of us could maybe hangout for a while before I had to go back to my room. But when I reached out and touched him, I already knew. He was too cold, too still.
A shiver races down my spine as I think about the scream that left me, alerting my parents. At first, they thought I had done it. But then they found out it was our aunt, and that she was planning to run after she put my brother in bed to pretend he was asleep.
When my father caught her, he dragged her into the room and held a gun to her head. My mother tried to interject and reason with him, saying it had to have been me. Even if it wasn’t me, it was still my fault, and I deserved to be the one he killed, not her sister.
Then, he shot her. He didn’t even blink. My mother lost two of her loves that day. Not to say she loved my brother, but she loved the attention he brought her for being so talented. And she lost her twisted sister.
I remember sitting in the corner, scared and crying when my father came to me. He hugged me then shook his head as he said I should have fought harder.
It was the one day a week Klara had off, and I prayed my mother would let her come back to see me. She was the only one who ever cared. She was a constant. But when she never came,I started to accept that maybe life was better alone. If I was by myself, then no one could hurt me.
The cold in the winter didn’t even touch the constant ache in my heart. In the beginning, I would pretend Amor was locked up with me and talk to him often. Even as an adult, I still miss him and the life we should have had.
My mother gains my attention as she sneers at me. Somehow, she still looks young, but there’s an evil behind her eyes I know is unmatched. Her blue dress sways at the bottom as she turns to take in my family. I have no idea why she looks ready to walk into a ballroom and dance the night away.
“What do you think?” Valentina asks as she twirls. “We dressed up just for the occasion.”
Great, my mother is insane.
“It’s hard to dress up shit,” Havoc says without missing a beat.
The man at Valentina’s side immediately punches him in the gut, and a grunt of pain fills the room.
“Is that all you’ve got, big guy?” Havoc shakes his head.
“Aren’t you all supposed to be mercenaries,” he asks, the crowd gathering around us.
The man freezes with his fist in the air as I try not to fight the bindings to get to him. I hate seeing someone lay their hands on what’s mine.
“I’ll take that as confirmation. I have a bone to pick with the lot of you. Who trained you? There were at least twelve attempts on my life and not a single one of you even left a scratch.”
The room stays silent in response as I rest my head back because this is going to be a while. He’s been preparing this speech for when he met the people trying to take us out, and now he has a whole ass audience.
“Okay, the car bomb was a good one, that did leave a bruise. But come on, you can’t attach the live wire to the accelerator. It takes too long. You have to connect it to the starter so I don’thave time to question the ticking sound that comes when the accelerator starts up.”
He looks around the room, and I swear some of them actually begin to take notes as he talks about the flaws in all of their murder attempts.
Eventually, my mother has had enough and signals for the man at her side to shut him up. Before he can keep running it, a gag is being shoved into his mouth and taped shut.
I put money on him having that off in five minutes. They should have tied it behind his head, that takes him longer to get out of.
“Now that you got that out of your system, it’s time for me to tell you why you’re all here.”
Chapter 35
