thirty-three
“Kill me?”- Leo
“Altieri,” I repeat. I didn’t even mean to say it the first time, but the shock in my brain has me repeating it.
Altieri stands right in front of me, and Callisto called him ‘dad’. My brain cannot process this right now. Altieri is Callisto’s father? What? How? How did Callisto not know this? How did I not know this?
I never thought to look up pictures of Giuseppe Santos. I never would have put the pieces together. Evan and Fletcher probably wouldn’t even know what Altieri looks like. He stays hidden, running his empire from the shadows.
“Wait outside. Guard the door. It doesn’t matter what you hear, do not open the door unless you hear my command,” Peadar orders, looking at the rest of his men.
I stay rooted to the spot, my gun still trained on Callisto’s temple.
Callisto. Fuck. He must be so confused. I chance a glance at him, and what I find breaks my heart.
Callisto looks at me, his green eyes pleading.
He probably thinks that I knew all along.
That I had been keeping this information from him, but I didn’t.
It all makes sense now. Why De Luca worked for Giuseppe Santos. Why no one in our organization knew what Altieri looked like. Why Peadar sent us to Callisto’s house in the first place. Did he have this planned all along? Did he want us to kidnap Callisto?
“How did you get your hands on my son?” Altieri asks, looking at Callisto then back to Peadar. Callisto isn’t paying him any attention though, eyes still on me.
I swallow, attempting to pretend I’m fine, that the look on Callisto’s face isn’t slowly eating me alive from the inside out.
Betrayal stains his beautiful features. Callisto feels betrayed by his own father, and I can relate so much to that.
I want to grab Callisto and hold him, tell him it’s okay.
That his father’s actions in no way reflect the world we live in.
I can’t, though. I have to play the part.
“Leo here will blow his brains out on my command, then I have a bomb vest strapped to him for extra security. One wrong move, and he’s dead. I don’t care if I take all of us with him.” Peadar ignores his question, holding up the detonation device and wiggling it, as if to taunt Altieri.
The shock recedes, and the breath dies in my throat.
The live bomb strapped to Callisto’s chest is still ticking.
Recalling the exact way, they buckled the harness onto him, my hands twitch; the release mechanism isn't complex.
It can come off. It is secured with a simple lock, but the only issue is the fact that Peadar has the key.
It’s in the breast pocket of his jacket.
I wish I could have done more to help comfort Callisto during all of this, but I couldn’t.
Not without giving away my feelings, which Peadar has probably already figured out.
No. I had to pretend that strapping that bomb to Callisto didn’t make me physically ill.
I had to pretend I didn’t have tears in my eyes because of how terrified Callisto looked at that moment.
I am great at pretending, but my heart is shattered.
“What do you want?” Altieri asks, his eyes dark and angry, his mouth drawn into a thin line. Callisto resembles him a little, but not enough for me to have noticed that he’s his son.
“I want your sex trafficking operation,” Peadar responds, his voice low and even. My head snaps to Peadar at his words, but he’s ignoring me, his black eyes trained on Altieri with a Grinch-like smirk on his face.
No. Peadar doesn't want that operation. He wouldn’t want to get into something as disgusting as sex trafficking. I don’t want to believe it, but the admission came straight from Peadar’s mouth. Any amount of respect I had left for Peadar has disappeared.
“You will have to kill me before I give you the business that brings in the most money.”
Altieri finally pours some of the brandy he’s still holding into a glass.
He sits the bottle down on the table, taking a sip as if they are discussing a simple business deal, like buying a company or the introduction of new merchandise, not fucking sex trafficking.
The whole thing is so nonchalant, and it’s horrifying. It’s normal to them. It’s a business deal. They don’t care about the people’s lives it destroys. All they see are dollar signs. I want to scream and punch something. The person I looked up to as a hero became a villain in my own story.
“I was already planning to kill you anyway, but I will let your son live if you give me your sex trafficking operation. It's one small thing in exchange for his life. You will die knowing that you saved him. Your business will be left mostly intact, ready for him to take over. If you don’t,
then I will kill him and torture you until you do as I ask. This is the least harmful scenario. I’m trying to be nice to an old friend.” Peadar’s smile is syrupy sweet.
“Kill him. I don’t care. He is useless to me anyway. He doesn't want the business.” Altieri gestures toward Callisto as if he is nothing more than a wart that needs to be removed.
Callisto looks crestfallen, tears welling in his eyes at his father’s words.
He takes a deep breath, looking down at his feet, the tear on his cheek falling to pool on the hardwood floor.
Oxygen turns to glass in my lungs. Callisto fights like hell for control, but raw, unfiltered betrayal mars every sharp line of his face.
“You’re bluffing,” Peadar says, but I’m not so sure.
I hope he is. I hope for Callisto’s sake his father isn’t prepared to let him die to keep his disgusting business alive.
How could someone be so evil that they choose their money over their child?
I suppose my own father chose something even more worthless over his own child, his pride.
I understand how Callisto feels. This is his version of the door slamming in his face. I itch to comfort him.
“I’m not. Go ahead and shoot him. It doesn’t matter to me. His mom will be upset, but why do I care? I’ll be dead, according to you. My business will go to her, and she will plan accordingly.”
Altieri finally looks at Callisto, but there is no love in his gaze, disappointment.
At his look, familiar white hot flames lick at my skin.
What a horrible fucking human. Both of them are.
Any person would be lucky to have someone as pure as Callisto as a son.
“Leo. Shoot him,” Peadar commands, not taking his eyes from Altieri, like they are in a staring contest. Then the order sinks into my consciousness. Fuck. No. No. No. I can’t. I won’t.
When he doesn't hear a gunshot following his demand, Peadar’s head snaps to me, his dark eyes squinted in anger. “I told you to shoot him.”
“Can’t we come to some other agreement?” I ask, my voice weak even to my own ears. There are no other agreements. Peadar wants what he wants, and Altieri will continue to refuse to give it to him. One will eventually win, but the whole world will be taken down with them.
“Shoot him, Leo. That is an order.” The demand comes out sharp, cutting me to the bone. I am frozen to the spot. Callisto shakes beside me. His subtle sniffs cut through the quiet, a fragile defense against the tears he’s fighting to hold back. No. I can’t do this. I need Callisto to survive. Fuck.
“I knew you were developing a soft spot for him. I knew you were going soft on me in general. I thought I taught you better than that,” Peadar tsks, and I try not to allow the disappointment in Peadar’s voice to affect me.
I try not to feel bad for displeasing Peadar after I had looked up to him for so long and did everything I could to make him proud.
I tell myself I don't care that Peadar is disappointed.
I do, though. I still care somewhere deep inside of me.
“If you knew, then why did you even bring me along?” I ask, the question leaving my lips before I even have a chance to stop it. I can’t take it back, though; it’s out there for all to hear.
“I wanted to give you a chance to redeem yourself. You’ve always been like a son to me, and I didn’t want to have to kill you.”
Peadar actually sounds hurt. A chill runs up my spine.
I almost choke on the word ‘son’. It feels like it stabs me in the chest.
I’m not anyone’s son. Not anymore. I never have been, it seems.
Peadar doesn’t care for me. He probably never did.
Peadar only ever cared about himself, that much is clear to me now.
“Kill me? Kill me for what?” I ask, even though I know the answer. I want Peadar to say it, though. I want to hear the words that I know to be true.
“Your betrayal to me and the organization.”
“What betrayal?” I try to feign confusion. Act like I have no idea what Peadar is talking about. I crease my brows, getting ready to say that before Peadar rolls his eyes.
“Don’t lie to me, Leo. I know you didn’t kill your sister like I ordered. I know you jeopardized the entire organization because you couldn’t kill a fucking girl that means nothing to you. A girl who didn’t even look for you after you were gone.
I brought you here in hopes that you could redeem yourself. Show me your loyalty once more. Kill him right now. I’ll even find your sister and offer her a care package of sorts. She will never need anything again. I can offer her safety and money. All you have to do is kill him.”
My finger trembles against the cold metal of the trigger. I have never trembled holding a gun. My gun no longer feels like a part of me, but a foreign object my body wants to reject.
Violet. My sweet sister, safe and taken care of forever. Something I wasn’t able to do for her. A clean slate for the only real family I have left.
But to buy her life, I have to pay with his.
I look at Callisto, finding that he has turned to face me, the barrel of the gun now pressed to his forehead.
Unlike the first time I had my gun to his head, his eyes are closed, and tears are streaming down his face.
He’s waiting for me to pull the trigger.
He’s not fighting me. He’s accepting it. And that breaks me completely.