Page 120 of A Taste Of Darkness

“After everything, I guess you can imagine why he was afraid to let you in,” Flora said. She got up from her seat and squeezed herself into my bed beside me. I scootched over, making some space. “He never wanted you to get hurt.”

“I know.”

“But, I do wholeheartedly believe that if he knew you’d be caught up in all of it either way, he wouldn’t have hesitated to reach out to you the moment he showed up in Toronto.” Flora leaned her head against mine. “If he knew, I don’t think he and I would’ve ever become friends because he would’ve been too busy making sure you were the happiest girl in the whole wide world.”

God, I really hoped so.

I couldn’t change the past, and there was no use wondering about something we couldn’t have changed, but it felt good to get my sister’s opinion on the situation.

Then suddenly, I felt my smile switch into something more malicious. “You know, if Milo and I get married, I’ll be like a co-mafia-boss or something.”

“That’s a thing?” Flora laughed.

I shrugged. “Not a clue, but Milo said I’ll rule alongside him until he ruined their family or something. It’s all very confusing to me, but I’ll learn.”

To be honest, I didn’t think Milo even wanted to ruin his mafia family. I had this theory that all he wanted was for it to change and for them to follow his rules. He was trained to take over, so he must’ve had some sort of desire to turn his family into the most powerful mafia family in the whole world.

And once he realized that, I wouldn’t be opposed to helping him achieve it.

“Are you mad that Milo and I are together?” I suddenly asked. Though I told myself I wouldn’t care if it bothered my sister, her feelings still mattered to me.

Flora leaned her head against my own, sighing softly. “No. And even if I was, it shouldn’t matter to you, Sterls. You don’t really like Kai, but if I let that stop me from being with him, I’d only hurt myself. You have to live for yourself first, then consider other people’s feelings. If being with Milo is what you want, then you should be with him. Unless he’s being a total asshole to you or abusive in any way, it doesn’t matter what I think.”

“He’s not,” I told her. “Milo is… God, he’s everything.” Now more than ever, I wished he was here with me. If only so I could look at his perfect face.

If he was here right now, he would’ve made me feel better. He probably would’ve brought a way better TV and some movies. And he definitely would’ve brought my favorite candies and drinks. He would’ve held me in his arms and told me that everything was going to be alright.

63

FOLLOW MY LEAD

Milo Marucci

All of my brothers and cousins were driving around Toronto to find Adriana. They were yet to find out what she did, only had the order to capture her and bring her to me if they found her and that was all they knew.

If they had to kill her in the process, that was fine by me.

I couldn’t have given any more fucks about what happened to her, and though answers to my many questions sounded great, I could’ve lived happily with her death and the knowledge that Sterlie was out of danger.

“Yes, darling,” Kai muttered into the phone, probably hoping I couldn’t hear him.

We were in the same car—which never happened, so this was weird—of course I could hear him.

Flora spoke some more, but each of her words sounded like gibberish to me.

“Yes, darling,” Kai repeated.

While he continued to yes, darling his wife, I took a moment to examine Kai’s car. It was surprisingly less tidy than I thought it’d be. One of the backseats had a blanket and what I guessed was a jacket on it. Another was home to a gaming console for playing on the way or something like that. A pink backpack lay on the floor, surrounded by a bunch of crumbles of all sorts.

It was probably where the kid usually sat, so it wasn’t that surprising, but somehow, I still thought Kai’s car was going to be cleaner.

There was something odd about finding out Kai was as human as most other people. Actually, that revelation wasn’t just odd, it was disturbing. How could he of all people be… normal?

Half of the country probably knew his name, and not in a good way either. If he was seen in public, people were going out of their way to avoid him. Even the most brutal criminals at my club didn’t dare glance Kai’s way.

Yet here he was, having stupid cookie crumbles in the back of his car that he hadn’t gotten around to cleaning up yet.

I hated that discovery about him. To me, he was a robot that had its whole life together, and suddenly he was just Kai.

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