AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smirk at her ridiculousness. “Oh? You have all the facts on that one?” I challenge.
She stares daggers into me. “What justification do you have? Hm? Tell me, how are you going to gaslight me into thinking the hell I’ve endured is justified?”
I’m taken aback, but she’s right about one thing. Even though I was ordered to off Marco… she didn’t deserve to pick up the pieces.
She’s soft, I remind myself. My rabbit.
I take a deep breath to defuse all this tension. “I’m sorry, Ellie. You didn’t deserve to find him.”
She only ramps up harder. “The cops didn’t find a single trace of anything. No weapon, no fingerprints, not a fucking hair. The way they described it, it’s like a ghost killed him. You’re a fucking monster, Donny!” She sobs and holds her belly.
“I am,” I admit. “But I’m a monster who lives by a code.”
“Oh, your fucking code. Tell me, what the fuck did Marco do that fell into your code?”
“Do you really want to know?” I take a seat and show her my palms.
Her lips are shaking. She seems unsure.
“Well?” I ask.
Silence.
“I know what I am, Ellie. But usually, you accept it too. I’m your monster, you’ve said so yourself. The one who will put a bullet in someone else’s head if they even think to threaten you.”
She gulps, and a twinkle of the old her comes back for a moment. “Tell me.”
I tap the seat beside me for her to sit.
She does, wiping her cheek.
“Are you sure?”
“Tell me, Donny. Right now.”
“Marco frequented one of the Valentino brothels. He got too involved with one of my father’s birds. In fact, he and his cousin did. The birds were sisters, and both decided to start seeing them outside of work. It got serious.”
Ellie bites her lip, her face full of pain. “I always knew.”
“I’m not done.” I shift in my seat. “Turns out these two sisters tried to blackmail the Catone cousins. Said they would ruin their lives. Tell their girlfriends, tell the pimp they owed money to for all the extra outings. The girls had an agenda to squeeze low-level mobsters, thinking the Valentino’s would stand by them.”
Ellie fidgeted as she listened.
“Marco liked you so much that he killed my father’s bird in order to keep his secret safe. His cousins killed the other sister, so we knew it was premeditated. Even caught one of them. He snitched where the bodies were buried and all the details checked out. Turns out my father hates to lose birds. He ordered me to take out Marco as a message, while Scar took out the other two.”
Ellie shakes her head. “Marco, a killer? I don’t buy it. Not for a second.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“Fuck, you are, Donny.” She stands up. “That man didn’t have it in him!”
“Then you bought into his façade.” I stand over her. “I may be a beast in your eyes, Ellie. But I don’t hide it. And I’m a beast with a code.”
She backs away. “No. No. I need to get out of here, now.”
“Ellie.” I take a step forward, but she backs up.
“You stabbed him six times in the back and just left him there! I don’t want that to be our story. I want to be normal.”
