18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Emma
Matteo brings me to a church.
His men drag me from the car and carry me inside, throwing me onto the floor.
“Careful,” Matteo says. “I don’t need her body broken. She is to be mine.” He kneels down beside me and rips the duct tape off my mouth.
“I’m married to Leo,” I gasp out. “I can’t marry you.”
“But you will. Gabriel promised you to me and I am a man who doesn’t like people going back on their promises. Now, you’ll wait here for your mother to arrive. I’ve sent some men to retrieve her. It’s only fitting she gets to see her daughter married.”
“Are you going to kill her?” I’m not sure how I feel about that.
“She hid you from Alessandro your whole life. She needs to be punished for that.” Matteo stands up, stretching his body. He really is a handsome man. It’s a shame he’s evil.
My mind goes to Leo. He’s also a handsome man who hurt me but I know Leo’s changed. He has fought for me too many times now to be faking it. I know he’s a good man inside.
Matteo’s men place me in one of the pews, keeping their guns pointed at me.
“Will you always threaten my life?” I ask. “If I don’t do what you want?”
“You’ll come around eventually.”
“I love Leo. I’ve been intimate with him. You still want me after that?”
Matteo huffs. “I don’t care if you’re a virgin or not. It’s not about that. It’s the principle of the thing. Gabriel promised you to me and he went back on that. I don’t appreciate that.”
“I shouldn’t be used this way. I am not a pawn in anyone’s game and I’m tired of it.”
He leans over me, staring into my eyes with an intensity that leaves me breathless.
“You were born to be a pawn, Emma. All mafia women are. You are no exception. Why do you think your mother hid you away for all those years? It was so you wouldn’t be used.
But mafia women don’t get a say in their lives. You don’t get a say.”
“You’re horrible,” I hiss.
He only laughs and backs away from me.
The church is quiet. There’s no one else hear – not even a priest. And then suddenly, a loud commotion makes me turn to the large doors.
Two men drag my mother inside the church and throw her onto the floor.
Her eyes land on me right away. “Emma!” The fear in her voice is palpable.
I wince. Seeing my mother like this – on her knees, panic in her eyes – fills me with shame.
Shame because I don’t want to help her. After how she treated me, I don’t love her.
And yet, she’s still my mother and knowing she’s going to be hurt makes me conflicted.
Matteo stands over her. “You hid Alessandro’s daughter away from him. That wasn’t very nice.”
“She’s my daughter,” Mother growls. “Not his. I had every right.”
“You had no right!” he shouts, grabbing the back of her hair. She cries out when he yanks on it. “She belonged to her father.”
“She belongs to me.”
“I belong to no one,” I announce but neither Matteo nor my mother are listening.
“You need to be punished, Valentina.” Matteo lets her hair go and nods at one of his men.
They push my mother to her stomach and begin kicking her.
The sight of it makes me wince. She would kick me so many times until I had bruises all over my ribs.
All over my body. Until I couldn’t breathe. She deserves this.
But it’s still hard to watch because despite it all, my mother is still my mother. I both hate her and love her.
Matteo holds his hand up to stop his men and kneels down before Valentina. “How does that feel?”
“Fuck you,” she hisses. My mother never cussed. Said it was sinful. She really is a hypocrite.
“I’ve heard that many times. Now, Valentina, I have the perfect punishment for you.” Matteo walks over to me and makes me stand. He brings me over to my mother and places a gun in my hands. “Shoot her.”
I jerk back. “What?”
“Shoot her. She hid you away forever. It’s the perfect punishment. Death by her own daughter.”
“Emma, please,” Mother sobs. Her face is bloody. Her body is bent. “Emma. Please!”
“I can’t kill her,” I whisper. With Alessandro it was different. He was still a stranger to me. He wanted me dead. He was going to hurt me if Leo hadn’t saved me from him.
But my mother, despite her abuse, always wanted to protect me. She wanted to control me. I know that. But there was still some love there. Some kindness.
“You have to kill her. She needs to be punished for what she did. So kill her, Emma.”
“What about what I want?” I ask.
Matteo huffs. “It doesn’t matter what you want. You’re mine now and I am telling you to kill your mother.”
“I am married to Leo.”
“That won’t last long. Not once he’s dead. And then you’ll be free to marry me. So kill your mother. Prove your loyalty.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I am tired of this. I will not be controlled. I will not kill her.”
I point the gun at Matteo instead but his men instantly have their guns on me. One of them presses his gun to my temple.
“I would be careful, Emma,” Matteo says. “You will not kill me.”
“I thought you wanted me. You can’t have me if I’m dead.”
“No. But then no one else can have you. So it’s still a win in my book.”
“I thought you wanted peace. Doing all of this is going to bring war to your doorstep.”
Matteo crosses his arms, looking smug. “I did want peace. Gabriel was going to give you to me until he went back on his word. I am not a man who appreciates that. So fuck peace. For now. Emma, you are not getting out of this. Kill your mother.”
With no other choice, I turn the gun back onto my mother’s crying face. Her sobs are killing me. This woman who abused me all my life. This woman who just wanted to protect me from mafia men who would use me.
If she were to die, I wouldn’t have to worry about her ever again. If she were to live, she’d always come for me. But Leo might be dead and I’ll be married to Matteo soon. Does it matter if she’s alive or not?
My hands shake.
“You can do this,” Matteo says. “For us to have a fresh start. You have to do this.”
I have to kill her. I can’t kill her. I have to kill her. I can’t kill her. It repeats in my head like a mantra.
My mother looks into my eyes, sobbing.
The church doors burst open and Leo storms inside followed by Gabriel and Rocco and other men I have never met. They open fire on Matteo’s men.
I dive behind a pew to avoid getting shot.
Matteo shoots at Leo and Gabriel before running away. He’s shot in the arm and lets out a cry but that doesn’t slow him down. I watch in horror as he runs out the back door.
“Follow him,” Gabriel orders. Two of his men run after Matteo.
Then everything is quiet.
“Emma?” It’s Leo. He reaches out for me. “You’re ok now. You’re ok.”
Everything happened so fast in the blink of an eye. “It’s really over?”
“It’s over.” Leo helps me to my feet. That’s when I see Matteo’s men dead on the floor. They didn’t stand a chance against the number of Gabriel’s men.
“I promised I’d always save you,” Leo says, pulling me into his arms. “You’re safe now, baby.”
“What about Matteo?”
“Hopefully he’ll be killed,” Gabriel explains as he steps over a dead body. “But if not, we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. You’re safe now, Emma.”
“I’m really safe?” I whisper. Tears well up in my eyes.
“Oh, baby,” Leo murmurs. “You’re safe.” He wipes my tears away but they just keep coming. “I promise. You’re safe.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“Matteo tried. The house… he burned it. I don’t even know what’s left. All I could think about was getting back to you. That’s all that mattered.”
“You chose me.”
Leo’s smile is warm and open. “I chose you. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. You’re mine, Emma. I love you.”
His admission makes my breath catch. Before I can tell him I love him in return, I hear a sound that draws my attention.
The sound of a cough and a whine.
Looking to my right, I see my mother, lying on the ground. Her stomach is bleeding. She gasps and cries out.
“Mother,” I gasp, running to her side. I kneel down next to her, ignoring the blood on the floor. The way it stains my clothes. “Mother? She was shot! How did she get shot?”
“A stray bullet,” Gabriel explains. “We were aiming for Matteo’s men and she was caught in the crosshairs. I am sorry.”
“Shouldn’t we get her to the hospital? We have to get her to the hospital!”
“Emma,” Mother says in a weak voice. She grabs my hand but there’s no strength to her touch. “Emma.”
“Mom,” I sob. “You can’t die. You’re all I’ve ever known.”
“I just wanted to keep… you safe,” she gasps out. “That was all I wanted.”
“You can’t die. Someone get her help! Help her!”
Leo places his hand on my shoulder. “There’s no helping her, Emma. I’m sorry, baby.”
My mother offers me a smile before the light leaves her eyes. Her hand goes limp in mine. She takes her last breath. And then she’s gone.
It takes me a long moment to realize that she’s truly dead. My mother. The woman who abused me. The woman who protected me. The woman who loved me and hated me.
All I can do is sob. I bury my face against my mother’s neck and cry out everything inside of me. I remember the way she’d hold me when I was scared at night. I remember the way she’d laugh with me as we made pancakes every Sunday morning.
I also remember the way she would lock me in my room. I remember the way she’d slap me when she thought I was speaking out of turn.
All of it – the pain and good times – hits me and I cry.
I can hear Gabriel speaking to his men about cleaning the bodies up before anyone arrives at the church. I can sense the men moving around me.
And lastly, I can feel Leo standing right beside me, his hand on my shoulder, offering me some sort of strength, even though I’m not sure if it’s enough.
The woman who was my everything for all of my life is gone. The woman I fought so hard to leave.
She’s just… gone.
“Emma,” Leo murmurs after a long time. “We have to move her body. We need to leave before anyone shows up. I am sorry, baby. But we have to go.”
I stand up on shaky legs and watch as one of Gabriel’s men picks my mother up and carries her outside.