24. Detavio
Chapter 24
Detavio
M onster placed his binoculars in his lap and practically growled in anger.
“It looks like we will kill two birds of the same flock tonight,” he gritted out from the driver seat.
“The fuck does that mean?” I asked with my grip tightening around my Glock.
“Emi’s men are surrounding the warehouse…something tells me she has no rank like she speaks of overseas. The longer I thought about it, the more everything makes sense. Thailand loved Tai; besides him being the sick monster that he was, folks turned a blind eye to it all since he was bringing in millions of dollars. Emi killed Tai. I’m pretty sure they will not back her out there. My men have been out there for a week now and no one knows of her. I sent them to Tai’s estate…his family is living there. Emi is using Impurity because of me, and whatever amount of money he has been promising her. Emi gathered men that she could trust in order to come out here in order to look like a big fuckin’ deal. I would have let her live, even gave her money. I don’t know what all she has said to my wife…all I know is…it got to her. I can see it in the way Natavi looks at me. I’m going to kill Emi, end all of this unnecessary bullshit. It’ll be what Octavio is looking for by coming here with us tonight to see the real us.” Monster smirked as he looked at Octavio through the mirror.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Closure…no more feeling guilty about not saving her when she never planned on saving herself,” Monster muttered as he started his truck.
“If you have any reservations when the time comes to look him in the eyes and pull the trigger, just look at me. No judgment, I understand,” Monster told me.
I nodded my head; this is what I was going to do.
“Stop the truck, let me step out real quick.” I swallowed down hard as Monster stopped the truck abruptly.
Soon as my boots planted down in the soil, I knelt down and scooped up dirt with my bare hands. I wanted to feel, I needed to feel the reality of it all. I clenched the dirt tighter than anything else I ever held; I considered it to be the last bit of love that I’d been carrying for Impurity. Memories and hope that I should have severed years ago.
I used to call what I had for him respect, used to tell myself he kept me when Jalissa didn’t want to. He fed me, taught me how to survive, he claimed to make me this was because the world was hard. He never loved me, and I still loved him in the midst of him grooming me to become the next him. Impurity had control over me for so many years wrapped in obedience and abuse disguised as legacy.
I watched women…so many women die at the hands of him. He didn’t raise a son; he shaped a weapon to do his dirty work. I was once addicted to cutting out organs, feeling those organs pump life in the palms of my hands as I put them on ice. Any time I bled or broke someone else to please him, he’d smile as if their pain and my internal pain was currency. My anger was a song he wrote.
I thought back to the time when I thought that he declared his love for me…
“ You filthy son of a bitch! Let me go! I’m not leaving here without my boys!” my mom tried her hardest to jerk out of the stronghold my father’s men had her in.
I screamed, feeling helpless while watching guards drag my mother by her frail limbs as if her body was worthless. They went down a flight of steps as if they weren’t holding her up by her arms. My father stood tall with a nonchalant pose as he watched my mother plead upon deaf ears before he spoke.
“You want to take your boys when you’re nothing but a drunk! Sleeping around and—” My father paused to look at me with a stern fixed eye twitching in anger.
“You’re crying, Detavio?” His voice dropped dangerously low, causing my stomach to churn. I quickly shook my head no, probably making it worse being that I lied to his face.
“No, sir.” I sniveled quickly, backhanding my tears away. I looked over at my mom.
She was drunk and probably high off of whatever she could get her hands on. I didn’t like that she did drugs and poisoned her body with liquor, but I started wondering what those substances did to her and how they would make me feel. I wanted an escape from all of the things that I was exposed to on a day-to-day basis. My father was now mayor of Arkville and the power that he possessed over the entire city seemed to make him spiral out of control.
“Now you lie to me?” he uttered in disbelief. Uncrossing his hands, he lifted his finger that was dipped in black ink. He pointed at my mother with accusing eyes.
“Look what you’re trying to turn my first born into! Selfish stupid bitch!” he gritted.
“He’s not your first born, Impurity! Detavio came second, you sick son of a bitch.” My mother cried out after him.
He stomped my way and backhanded the taste of beef stew off of my taste buds. The impact of his hit sent me flying backward. I held my face, shaking out of fear and pain. I sobbed lowly, letting everything out. My frustrations were at an all-time high. I was ten years old, and I struggled with figuring out which parent loved me most. Mom seemed to always focus on Octavio, she didn’t care about me much. Most days she didn’t utter more than a word to me.
She loved to remind me of how much I looked like my father. She even stated how I would end up just like him since I didn’t talk as much whenever she asked me questions. A lot of things that I witnessed around here, stunned me into silence. The smell of dead bodies, being taught to pull organs out of a body and help my father sell them without anyone stopping him to say that it was wrong. I hated that I started to feel an adrenaline, a high, whenever he made me work late nights with him. The sight of blood relaxed me in ways that I was sure wasn’t normal for the average kid.
My father’s heavy footsteps broke me out of the trance that I was in. He balled his fist and started beating me as my mother’s sobs echoed off the stone walls.
“Nooooo, don’t you hit him! Leave my son alone!!!!! Ahhhhhh!” She screeched out in pain.
I saw stars but dared not to count them. I felt pain but dared not to react to it. Something clicked in my brain, as numbness covered my body. Mommy would fight for me. She has to, she never fought hard enough for me. This time, she has to prove that she loves me. I thought to myself while looking in my father’s pitch-black eyes. It felt like I was looking into my own eyes as I saw all the rage behind his eyes.
“Decebal men don’t cry! You will fill my shoes soon, there’s no room to feel feelings that can make you weak!” He said the words and meant them.
He dropped his fists and turned toward my mother. He took deliberate steps toward her, causing my stomach to flip inside out. I prayed that he didn’t hurt her, he always aimed to crush her and that’s what made her turn to drugs and get drunk until she passed out.
“You want our boys, huh? Well, you can have and take Octavio. He’ll be a man lover before a woman lover. I see it in his walk.” My father chuckled.
“He’s only five years old! You don’t know that! Octavio is my baby, he’s pure and not evil like you and Detavio! You already sold one of my babies, he—he was beautiful and you—” She dropped her head in defeat; the guards held her body up, not letting her drop to the ground.
My heart stalled as I digested her words. Mom thought I was evil, maybe I was? I didn’t know who the fuck I was to be honest. I was sick of being controlled and confused by Impurity’s actions. None of what he did made sense to me, but since I was just a boy, I had no choice but to go along with everything.
“Listen, bitch, you either take Octavio or I’ll give him to someone else for a good penny. In Thailand, they’ll love his sweet ass. Our first-born son gave us a fortune when I got rid of him. Detavio is the only good kid your battered womb could produce! Our first born was burned to a crisp when he came out of that foul pussy of yours! Octavio is as sweet as candy! The only kid I love is Detavio! He's handsome and looks just like me,” My father stated proudly.
I loved my brothers, even the one that I never got to meet, but hearing my father state how he loves me took away the sting of my mother basically saying that she hated me. My heart iced over just like his when that statement left her dry, cracked lips. Mom didn’t deserve my love since she refused to even give me a chance to prove that I could be different and not like my father.
“Yes, I’ll take Octavio. I need money, Impurity, please.” This time when she talked, her words didn’t sound broken. She was less hurt, satisfied that she’d at least get her baby boy Octavio.
“You’ll be banned from Arkville. Never to return again. If you step foot anywhere near my jurisdiction, I’ll have your most sacred body parts chopped off and spread over your parent’s grave.” My father turned his back; he paused when another thought crossed his mind.
“I wouldn’t spread your organs; I’ll save them to put on ice and sell them. At least then, I’ll make a profit off of you. Maybe, I could sell you to one of my associates out in Thailand; you and Octavio. That would be good money, plus you would need to thank me for allowing you to reunite with that other boy I sold…Decisions, decisions,” he countered.
My father paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. He made reckless decisions whenever he paced.
I couldn’t believe that this was really happening. The gruesome process would began soon. I waited a couple of seconds to be sure I was seeing and hearing everything correctly. My father nodded to his guards as they released my mother abruptly. She crashed onto the marble floor then took in a deep breath. Crawling over to where I sat on the floor, my father cleared his throat, stopping her mid-crawl.
“I—I just want a word with Detavio before you hurt me and Octavio.” She talked above a whisper.
“I don’t want a word with you, you’re not my mom anymore,” I seethed through angry tears.
“Detavio, I love you! No matter how bad Impurity paints me out to be! I love you!” She cried out.
“Fuck you!” I yelled with all of the strength that I had inside of my weak body.
“Yes, son, fuck her! Never allow yourself to get weak over a worthless woman. I’m all you need to teach you how to become a man.” His words were directed to me, but he looked down at my mom, taunting her with his words.
“Julius, my cane.” He called out to his most trusted guard.
Julius moved with the speed of lightning attached to him in order to hand my father his diamond encrusted cane. Snatching the cane out of Julius’s hand, he raised it midair, licking his dry lips with a devious smile.
“Jalissa will return to the same city I found her in as a vagrant beautiful prostitute. She will be stripped of my last name, including that bastard boy upstairs. I want you to take her to the dungeon and scrape the back of her neck clean until the meat shows. That’ll serve as a reminder for who she’s fuckin’ with if she ever decides to step foot in Arkville again,” my father demanded, looking into Julius’ eyes.
“What about the boy, Mr. Decebal? What would you like us to do to Octavio?”
“Nothing, except let him watch his mother get skinned. He’s so soft, that it’ll be enough reminder for him to stay the fuck away.”