Page 94 of Fix You

“I know,” I whispered as I pulled his soaked shirt out of his pants.

A tremor ran through his body. “We should’ve tortured him for days. He sure as hell deserved it for what he did to Caterina. But in the end, we couldn’t. It only went on for a few hours.”

I slid his shirt down over his arms. “You did what you had to do and what was right for the three of you.”

As the blood-stained shirt fluttered to the floor, Rafe said, “I’ve never tortured a man before.”

“You haven’t?” I asked, undoing his belt.

He shook his head. “My father said it was beneath me as a leader. That there were low-endcoglionesto do that work. Now beating men up and asserting dominance with your fists was different to him than torture.”

I made quick work unbuttoning and unzipping his dress pants. “That’s where our fathers were different. Mine said any man who didn’t have blood on his hands was weak. To lead, your men should always see your dirty hands.”

“Fucking bastards.”

“Aye, they were. No corner of hell is too good for them.”

After I pushed Rafe’s pants to the ground, his haunted voice froze me. “As the oldest and the heir, I was the one who slit his throat in the end.”

I pushed his shin to step out of his pants. “How did it make you feel to do that?” I questioned in a whisper.

“Like a fucking animal.”

Slowly, I rose back up to stand in front of him. “You’re too good to ever be an animal, Rafe.”

A mirthless laugh rumbled through his chest. “If you would’ve seen what I did to him, you might change your mind.”

“He hurt Caterina. From what I’ve heard, he allowed Carmine to beat her so hard she could’ve lost the baby.”

“He beat her tolosethe baby.”

I gasped in horror. “What? Why?”

“She was to be given to him. Father was going to annul her marriage to Callum and marry her to Carmine to cement his alliance with the Jersey Bratva.”

“Sweet Jesus,” I murmured.

A tormented look flashed in Rafe’s eyes. “He wasn’t always bad.”

From what I just heard about Alessio, I couldn’t imagine that statement being possibly true. But instead of expressing my doubt to Rafe, I said, “What’s a good memory you have of him?”

“Growing up, we loved the Yankees. Father bought season tickets, and instead of pawning us off on one of the bodyguards, he would take us. Whatever we wanted from the concessions, he bought us.”

Rafe shook his head. “It’s the only time I ever remember him smiling at us. He never said he loved us, but he would say, ‘This was a good day, sons’.”

“And that’s where our fathers were different. I don’t have a single good memory of mine.”

“Right now I wished I didn’t have any of mine. It would make all of this easier.” He swallowed hard. “It would make me less of a monster.”

“You could never be a monster.” I placed my hand over Rafe’s heart. “What beats beneath my fingers? That’s what makes you a good man.”

He frowned at me. “I killed my own fucking father, Maeve.”

“And Callum killed my father so that I didn’t have to. Your father and my father tried to destroy their daughters. Instead of protecting us as fathers should, they allowed horrible things to be done to us. My father stood by and allowed a man to rip myvirginity from me and made his sons assist. Your father allowed a man to beat your sister almost to death in order to kill her child, and he would’ve allowed her to be raped as I was.”

Staring up into his haunted eyes, I said, “You avenged Caterina tonight, but you also avenged me. By killing your father, you showed the underworld that in the Neretti family, you will allowno oneto hurt the women you love.”

Rafe blinked at me. For the first time since he’d arrived, I felt like I was getting through to him. He brought a hand up to cup my cheek. “Thank you, Maeve.”

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