Conquered by the Mafia Boss

The maddening thought briefly seizes my head before I see Rafael’s shaking body, slumped over and partially hidden by the bars.

I fucking got him.

Heart pounding hard, I stand up from behind the garbage bin as Rafael topples backward, his body crashing into the steps as he slides down.

Yes!

I run around the side and almost run into Rafael’s heaving body. He blinks rapidly as I aim my gun right at his rat face.

“You shot me?”

I did. There’s a nice, clean hole buried in his shoulder. In the darkness, his leather jacket just looks wet.

And yet there’s no outrage in Rafael’s eyes. He can barely process what just happened.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“I can’t believe you fucking shot me.”

“Where the fuck is my husband?”

I aim the muzzle between his eyes so that he can’t miss it. His eyes widen and he spreads his white hand against the snow.

His demeanor shifts when he realizes that I’m dead fucking serious. “Your husband?”

“Want another one? Don’t waste my time, you prick. Where’s Tony?”

“Oh, Tony.” He gives me a nasty grin and shrugs despite the pain in his shoulder. “Fuck if I know.”

“You have his cell phone. Any more lies, and I’ll shoot you again.”

The gun trembles in my grip and Rafael seems to finally understand how unhinged I just might be.

“Look, he’s probably already gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean, gone?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, but I had to get rid of him.”

“Don’t!”

It rips from my throat in a scream that the whole neighborhood can probably hear. That’s it-Rafael just confirmed what I knew all along, that Tony is dead. He’s gone.

The world dissolves away like sand. It’s all gray and flat. Suddenly I feel the cold. Like an oppressive fog, it envelops my body. Blood rushing to my skin feels like a thousand painful pinpricks. My eyes burn, but I can’t cry. I barely have the strength to hold the gun, and really the only warmth is glowing in my belly. Because the kid still matters. Because it’s all I’ve left of him.

He’s gone. He’s gone.

I can’t take it. I want to scream with the grief howling inside me. I want to destroy every shred of light left in the universe, because the only one in my life is gone.

“I was never going to let anyone come between us. Help me get up, and I’ll forgive you for this.”

He brushes aside Tony’s death as if it were a minor inconvenience. He strains to sit up, and I aim the gun at his forehead.

I hate him.

I’ve never hated anyone so fucking much, not even the bastards who killed my father.

“I loved him,” I scream in a shrill voice. “I loved him more than you could ever fucking fathom!”

“I love you,” he says in an angry voice. “I did everything I could to get you back, and now that I have you back I’m never letting you go.”

“You don’t have me. You never had me.”

The gun trembles in my hands and a thrill runs through me. I’ve never killed anyone before, and I’m about to see what it feels like. Will I feel anything? Will there be regret?

He shakes his head. “Baby, you don’t have it in you.”

“See you in Hell.”

I pull the trigger as something crashes into my side. Sparks fly on the pavement as the bullet glances off the ground. I fall down, heart hammering. The wind is knocked from my chest and I wheeze.

What the fuck?

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

Another man’s voice growls in my ear as he yanks me upright, and I’m so bewildered that I can’t find words as he picks me off the ground.

“Is he-is he dead?”

The man holding me by the scruff of my neck snarls in my face. “I don’t fucking know. You’re not supposed to touch him!”

“I’m not dead.”

Rafael’s voice sounds strange, yet still very much alive. A surge of rage rushes through my limbs, and I try to shove the man aside.

“Let me kill him. I want to do it. Step aside!”

“No!”

He takes me bodily and forces me up the stairs, leaving Rafael behind.

“Give me that fucking gun.”

He twists it out of my grip and shoves me into my apartment. Then I finally get a good look at him. He’s one of the men I saw at the Les Diables fortress.

“Did you follow me here?”

“Good thing Carlos asked me to, because otherwise you’d be in deep shit.” He looks behind himself and sees Rafael, still sprawled on the pavement. “Fuck.”

Fury rustles my insides like black tar. I should have killed him a long time ago, but now it’s too late and Tony’s gone.