Page 40 of Promise to Break

I touch her shoulder, and the fear I see there makes me want to punch a hole in the nearest wall. She hides it as soon as she sees who's in front of her.

"Kill, it's you. Still trying to talk to Mari?" I shrug. "You really like her," she says while running in place. My small beauty is in great shape.

"Does it matter? She won't even speak to me."

"Can you blame her? You abused her for two years, Kill. Mari's strong-minded, and she's not going to forgive you for that very easily. I get that."

"Will you tell me what he did to you?" I ask, changing the subject. "You know that if he made a move on you, I'll kill him, treaty or not."

She shakes her head. "He didn't do anything, I promise. And I'll manage him."

I study her face. "With the panic attacks you get when he's around, I doubt that. I'll speak with Franco—"

"Don't you dare. You've done too much already, and you pay for it every time. Liam is my problem, and I'm his. We'll manage. It's a marriage of convenience. Aunty and Mom have managed, and I can, too."

I sigh. She's right, of course. But Raven wasn't born into this world by choice, and I can't help wanting to spare her. "What should I do with you, Sis?" Raven and I are the closest people in the world. She knows me even better than Maddox.

"Nothing. What you should be worried about is mending your relationship with Maricela. She would be good for you." If Raven knew my true intentions, she would never forgive me. But no one can know. And besides, I'll find a solution before then. I must.

"And how do I do that? She hates me, ignores me… I can show her the bad side of me again. We both know that most of me is bad, anyway."

"It isn't. I wish—"

"Wishes are for other people, not for us, Baby Sis."

"You're the baby. I'm older., don't forget." She scoffs as I ruffle her hair. Today, her blonde hair is highlighted with silver strands. She looks like a fairy. We don't deserve her. The world doesn't deserve her pure, artistic soul.

Raven stops running in place and glances around as if she wants to be sure we're alone. "I have to ask you something, but you have to promise me that you'll tell me the truth."

"If I can. I will." Raven, more than anyone, knows I won't lie to her, but she'll never know the extent of what I do.

"How much do you know about the bullying Mari endured?"

"Most of it, I think. I encouraged everyone here at school to consider her an outcast and to talk shit about her." It wasn't my finest moment, but it was necessary.

"How much of that was physical?"

"None of it. Everyone also knew that touching her or physically hurting her was off-limits."

"Even putting poison ivy powder into her underpants?"

"What?" Raven flinches. She hates it when people yell at her.

"I'm sorry, Sis." Apologizing is a rare occurrence for someone like me. Yet, with Raven, it's always been different. We share a connection where she does everything in her power to understand who I am. And I…well, I just care for her when she lets me. "I never told anyone to do something like that and would never allow it."

Raven nods. "Lila did. And Maricela suffered for weeks. I don't know what more was done to her, Kill, but she's got reason to be as mad as she is."

Even if she hadn't suffered physical pain, the verbal abuse was enough for her to hate me. I know that. "I'm going to take care of it. Don't tell her I know."

"I don't plan to. She's important to me, Kill. Mari's my only true friend besides you. I don't want to lose her."

I nod and walk away, leaving Raven to finish running in circles on the track. I wish I could purge my toxic traits like that.

When I finished my law studies at age fifteen, one of my professors, Mrs. Roberts, told us that love and justice take time. I don't believe in justice, and seeking it is a fool's errand. And still, I'm one to deliver what I refuse to believe in time and time again.

Before I follow orders and kill someone, I do my research. Are they victims of Franco? If so, I make sure they go fast, usually not even knowing what's coming. A little bit of oxygen in the neck, and that's it. But if I discover that the men who are going to die by my hand are anything like me, or worse, I play the game that God or maybe even the devil refuses to, as neither is as harsh as I am.

Lila is part of my victim's list. She annoys me. All I see when I look at her is a rich girl who gets whatever she wants, other than the opportunity to choose her career, her husband, or how many kids she eventually has.

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