Chapter 29 #2
“This is for Ms. Greco!” I smash another hard blow into the back of his head.
“For Robby!” I hit him two more times, his skull giving way, pushing into his brain.
But I don’t stop. “For Matteo. For his family. For what those men did to me! For Ava! Ahhh!” A scream tears from the depths of my despair as I continue to rain down on him with the wrath that’s been building through the years, for the pain I endured when those men pulled me out of the cage and did what they wanted.
But I won’t let him hold me back from a life anymore.
I won’t allow him to claim my freedom too. He can’t have me anymore. I’m not his.
“He’s dead now.” Matteo clasps a hand to my shoulder and I slow my movements, my exhales rough as I stare at what I’ve done.
Agnelo is no longer recognizable, his skull caved in, blood and pieces of who he once was spread across the mattress.
The bat drops with a loud clank, and with heavy weeping, I shatter in Matteo’s loving arms.
“It’s over,” he says. “We’re finally free.”
MATTEO
We watch the house burn, embers greeting the midday sun as they echo into the air, drifting slowly onto the ground.
There are fragments of us in that home, things that weren’t all bad, like holding her hand as she lay beside me, talking about better days, imagining a future that now could very well be ours.
But most of all, it was nothing but a prison, and everything in it was a nightmare masked in the slightest of dreams.
He’s finally dead. His flesh and bones set ablaze. There’s some semblance of comfort knowing he can’t hurt us anymore, can’t hurt anyone.
After she beat him to death, we untied him, grabbing matches from the kitchen before setting the house on fire. We left a gun beside his body, along with a box with the rest of the matches, hoping it’s enough proof for the fire department to think he did it.
Holding her beside me, her eyes are transfixed to the fiery flames that remind me of her madness as she killed him.
Fuck, it was hard to watch. Not because I gave a shit about the gore, but I got a true glimpse of all the trauma she was holding on to.
We didn’t talk about it after. I just held her. Let her cry. And I think that was enough for her to know she wasn’t alone. That she’ll never be again. I’m not chained anymore. I’ll always be right by her side. No one will keep us apart again.
Tires squeal against the pavement and instantly my hand is on the gun, removing it from my waistband. “Find cover,” I tell her. “It’s Agnelo’s men, and they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
“I can fight them,” she tells me.
“I know you can, but I’d fight better, knowing you’re safe.”
She nods, kissing me quickly as the cars get closer, running to hide behind one of the columns on the far right of the house.
Retrieving another weapon from my ankle, I face the incoming vehicles, ready to take them all on.
Three black SUVs rush up the driveway, and I shoot a warning shot into the front of one, taking out a headlight. They pause, just sitting there, the windows tinted so I can’t see who the hell is inside.
“Whoa,” one of the guys says, rolling down the window enough for me to hear him, but not see him. “We aren’t here to kill you, baby bro.”
I shudder back a step, my heart rate kicking up.
When I don’t say anything, he continues, “So like, can we come out now or are you still not sure if you’re gonna ice us?”
With a shaky hand, I lower my weapon, and doors open. One by one, they shuffle out, the guys from the warehouse.
My brothers.
My lungs grow heavy with the breaths I can’t seem to take, not believing that I’m seeing them again.
Why did they come?
“I like what you did there.” Enzo lifts his chin toward the burning house, and I realize it was him talking to me from the car. “But we probably should get you both out of here before someone sees the fire and calls the po-po.”
Dom and Dante are right next to him, their faces grim.
Aida comes out, stepping almost silently until she’s holding my hand, sticking out her free one to them. “I’m Aida,” she tells Enzo. “You’re Matteo’s brothers I hear.”
“Wow, the famous Aida,” Dante says. “Raquel and Chiara are really worried about you. They’re waiting for you at the house.”
“Is Robby with you?” Aida’s tone swells with hope.
“Yeah,” Enzo tells her. “He’s with Jade, his mom. He’s safe.”
She lets out a huge sigh of relief, her body practically sagging. “Thank God. I was worried he lied about that too.”
“Nah.” Enzo smirks. “We found him before that son of a bitch could hurt him.”
She peers up at me with a radiant smile. “He’s safe,” she trembles out. “We did it.”
“Yeah.” I brush her cheek with my knuckles. “We did.”
“Look,” Dante throws in. “The girls hope you can come back to the house with us.” He stares at me now. “Both of you.” There’s a pause in his words. “Matteo…I’m so damn sorry. Fuck,” he strains, turning away, clasping his hands around the back of his neck.
Dom steps up to me. “There’s so much I want to say to you.
” Grief thickens his voice. “But if I ever thought you were alive, I wouldn’t have stopped looking for you.
Never. I would’ve raised hell to find you.
” His eyes drift to a momentary close before he opens them again.
“Every day, it’s like I saw you get shot all over again. ”
“You were there?” I finally manage. “With Dad and me?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “I was there hiding, and when I heard Faro threaten us all, I ran home and we left. But I thought you were gone. I had no idea you survived.” His jaw flexes. “I’ll always regret not staying long enough to see whether you were still breathing.”
“So you never traded my life for all of yours?”
He cants his head. “That’s what he told you?” A fist forms at his side. “Son of a bitch.” He takes a second to control his plundering breaths. “You think I’d ever leave the only brother I actually liked?”
“Fuck you, man.” Enzo elbows him from behind.
An invisible pull slices into the back of my throat. Part of me wants to fight it and the other part wants to let go.
Dom clasps a palm on my shoulder, desperation for me to believe him clinging to his eyes.
And I do believe him. When I look to him, I find the same broken man reflected back at me.
We may have had different paths in life, but it didn’t leave one better than the other.
Agnelo had lied. He has spent his life lying. To himself. To us. To everyone.
“We fucking love you,” he promises. “We always have.” Dom’s arms fasten around me hard, and I let my arms hook around him too.
This heaviness in my body that I’ve worn since the moment our father died, it just vanishes.
As he holds me, it brings me back to that boy I once was. The one who’d run to his brother for a hug, who’d look up to him above anyone else.
And I let go. Of the hurt. The anger. The gripping fear. I let go of it all, like I’ve burned away the last of my chains.
“It’s okay, baby bro,” Dom says, the way he once did. “I’ve got you. You’re home now.”
And I do something I haven’t done since I was a child.
I cry.