Chapter 51 – Liam
The night air tasted of iron. Death sang her keen song on the breeze. And I ran, eager to be her servant. Once again, on this beautiful summer night, I was the lucky bastard who got to carry out her wishes.
My boots struck the pavement hard, the vibration jarring through my bones and making my already tired muscles scream.
But the night was far from over. After the fight, I sent my beautiful, sleepy little bird home with Connor.
A dozen guards flanked their vehicle. Once she left, the beers began to pour and the craic was grand.
I paused the festivities to deliver a stern speech.
I warned the lads in no uncertain terms that things were going to be different now.
I laid out my plans for my reign, not deviating too far from the path my father walked, but just enough to make sure there was no room for misunderstanding.
Finally, I ended by repeating that there would be no forgiveness for rebellion in the ranks.
When that political shite was over, there was one more thing I had to do before going home to enjoy the blessings I didn’t deserve, but defied the devil and all his minions to take.
I smirked and ran faster.
Recent events had forced me to put this off long enough. Fate had given a soul an extension on his miserable life, and I was cutting that time short.
The frantic slap of footsteps was a joyful sound ahead of me.
Deluca—the sick bastard—was fast when fear drove him, but fear made men sloppy. My breath burned deliciously in my lungs.
The only thing I could see was the dark shape of the dead man ahead, stumbling through the weak glow of flickering streetlamps that burned like dying candles. I had thought the Morelli family no better than a pack of mice. I’d come to respect those mice, realizing lions could use little creatures.
But Deluca was a rat who didn’t even deserve to live in the gutter. A lion had no use for rats.
Gabriella’s father glanced back over his shoulder. His gaze met mine. I smiled as pure, unadulterated terror flashed across his face before he pitched forward, running harder.
“Run, rat, run,” I muttered, a smile playing on my lips.
There was a knife strapped to my side, a gun holstered against my ribs. If I wanted to, I could end this right now. One pull of the trigger. A simple shot.
But I wasn’t going to do that.
Gabriella’s smiling face glowed in my mind’s eye.
Her hands would never tremble again. The haunted look in her eyes when she talked about this man would forever be vanquished.
She already carried too many ghosts. She had to live without this toxic idea that her soul was stained.
And that garbage came from this pusillanimous piece of shit.
I had watched the fear twist through her. I had watched her struggle the entirety of our marriage between survival and the fragile faith she still clung to.
This was a small taste of the horrors this man had inflicted on his family.
He didn’t deserve an easy way out.
Deluca veered off the street, suddenly darting through a broken fence. A horn wailed through the night.
An idea sprang to mind.
Feck…that’s delicious.
This would make this death untraceable to my sweet little bird.
Metal screeched as the wheels of a freight train barreled forward. I followed Deluca without slowing. The ground shifted beneath my boots. Gravel crunched as we approached the tracks.
The steel rails gleamed under the glow of the moon, cutting through the darkness like the twin blades of justice.
Deluca stumbled. His shoe caught on a wooden tie, and he went down hard. It was as if Fate herself had finally submitted to her sister, Death.
I was there to make sure her will was carried out.
In two swift strides, I reached my father-in-law. A kick to his back sent him sprawling over the steel. The sound of his body hitting the gravel echoed sharply in the still night.
A desperate curse ripped from his throat as he scrambled to his knees.
The train horn sounded again, closer now, the vibration humming faintly through the ground beneath my boots.
Deluca looked up for a moment. We simply stared at each other. Sweat streaked his face. Blood dripped from a cut above his eyebrow.
“Liam! Listen,” Deluca begged.
I shook my head, taking a slow, deliberate step toward him. There was no need to hurry.
Justice roared in the distance. Gravel kicked up, vibrating in a frenzy around us, eager to drink in the blood that would soon be spilled.
“Please!” DeLuca whimpered, scrambling backward. “You don’t have to—”
I stopped just in front of him. The train’s lights burned down the track, a white glare slicing through the darkness. The wind picked up, howling off the steel dragon.
Deluca stood, trying to escape to the other side to avoid the monster of metal and fury, but I caught his boot, dragging him back.
His shoulder bit into the track.
I tugged him farther, right off the track. He whimpered, hope playing in this eyes. For one stupid second, he actually believed I would spare him.
Crouching, I hauled him up by the front of his jacket, getting right in his face.
A smirk curled over my lips.
His eyes went wide.
“This is the part where you say goodbye,” I said with a rough laugh.
My father-in-law tried to speak, but his threats were swallowed by the roar of the horn. He promised me money in the pause that followed as if that could save his miserable life. The ground trembled beneath us, knowing there was no sum high enough to make up for his evil.
Deluca’s gaze shifted past me, facing the oncoming light. His face drained of color.
A scream tore from his lips.
I had to shout to be heard above the noise. “I wonder…did your wife ever scream like this when you hit her?”
Deluca writhed, moving about, trying to escape the carnage to come.
“Did your daughter whimper in fear? Tell me, Daddy Darlin’. How does it taste?” I mocked him.
But Deluca was wild with fear, unable to answer.
And then… it was too late.
I shoved him hard. His back hit the track right as the train exploded past us.
The freight engine roared, loud enough to deafen me. The sound swallowed the night whole. Metal screamed against metal. The wind rushing off the beast pushed at me, and I took a careful step back, submitting to the apex predator in the night.
I didn’t look down at the destruction. I didn’t need to. There wouldn’t be enough pieces of him left to fill a casket. Perhaps a jar would do. Or maybe something would crawl out and eat him, and Deluca would finally serve a purpose.
As I continued walking away from the scene of sweet justice, the roar faded into an echo. Death had been satisfied. Her spectral presence rushed through me, sending a small shiver down my spine. It could have been me she came for tonight, if my cousin had been the better fighter.
But no, the carnivorous presence had been sated by my offering. As long as I fed her, maybe I could keep her at arm’s length until grey hairs turned white.
I never thought I’d live long. Most people in the underworld didn’t, especially those who danced so often with danger.
But now I had a double reason for keeping Death fed, happy, and far away.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the night into my lungs. It wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t hauntingly eerie. The air stank of oil and cold steel.
I wiped my hands against my coat, then my shirt, tucking them into my pockets as I sauntered down the street.
I had a queen and a little prince waiting for me.
A tune floated through my mind. The melody formed into a whistle, and before I knew it, I was humming one of my father’s favorite songs.
I wish you were here, Da.
The night breeze brushed against my back, and for a moment, something heavy lay on my shoulders.
Wish you could meet your grandson.
As the wind blew past, I shook off the insanity. I carried a piece of my father with me. And now that life had given me a second chance, I had him to think of as a role model. His memory would teach me how to be a good father.