Page 90 of Tainted Love

“This is different,” I argue. “She’s different.”

“No, it’s not. Do you remember the day Mercer recruited me and Eli?”

My eye twitches. “I could have killed him…”

“And that would have been very unwise considering the consequences involved.” She laughs. “Sure, Mercer was a monster, but he kept this family together. We live in darkness, Dante. We always have.”

“But she doesn’t have to.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” she says. “It’s hers. Just like it was for all of us.”

I watch Lucy smile from across the room. She chuckles at something Elijah says to her. Their voices blend in the air between us and my head keeps it from filtering out. I can’t focus on anything else but the light shining from her eyes. It’s still there, even after everything she’s been through. That won’t always be the case. Eventually, her soul will reach its limit and that spark will die. It could be years from now. Or next week. Maybe even tomorrow.

“She’s strong, Dante,” Lilah says, “and best of all, she’s got us.”

I smile. “Not a bad team, I guess.”

“Give Lucy a chance. I’d say she’s earned it.”

I look at my little sister again. Lilah is rarely wrong — a fact that she’s more than happy to point out at any possible occasion — and she’s not wrong right now either. Lucy is capable of making this decision for herself and even more than that, she’s capable of going through with it. There’s no doubt in my mind she’ll pull the trigger on Marty the first chance she gets and that scares me even more than it scares her.

The living room table screeches along the wood as Elijah pushes it a little closer to the wall.

“What are you doing?” Lilah asks them.

He crosses the room to join us, giving Lucy plenty of space. “Just a test.”

Lucy stands up from the couch and slips her shoes off her feet. “Something I haven’t tried since… well…” She looks at me for a moment and brings her heels together in the center of the empty floor.

Since our first night together when I asked her to dance for me.

I stay quiet as I watch her move. Lucy rises onto her pointed toes, easing up slowly until she can’t go any higher. There’s a slight tremble in her shins but she keeps herself upright and raises her arms above her head. She purses her lips and exhales, forcing all of her air out before finally tiptoeing along the floor in a straight line. Her arms fall to her waist, waving softly up and down.

I smile as she does. It feels like only yesterday I brought her out here. The first week, she cried every night in my arms. Sometimes, it was because the pain was too much to handle. Others, it was the memory of her father’s blood-covered face. Mostly, it was the thought that she’d never dance again that brought her down. A life gone cold.

And now, here she is, bending and twirling to the songs in her head like Marty Zappia never happened.

She’s the light in my darkness.

Her ankle twists and she slips off-balance. I lunge forward and grab her before she falls, holding her up as she laughs at herself. Elijah and Lilah break out in applause and congratulations.

“I did it!” Lucy cries, throwing her arms around my neck.

Her eyes shine with ecstatic tears. I feel my own rising to the surface as I hold her against me.

I won’t let this happen.

I won’t let her become a killer.

Not like me.

Chapter 29

Dante

I walk into our bedroom, following the gentle shuffling sounds of her getting dressed. She and Lilah picked out the perfect outfit for her to wear to the casino, something of Lilah’s she found out in the garage, stashed away in old, forgotten boxes.

I nudge the door closed and she looks over her shoulder at me.

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