Page 20 of Twisted Obsession

As they lifted him between them further up the pillows, I understood how weak he was. When his head began to slowly turn from side to side, refusing to give me permission to return, my tears turned into sobs and I clamped my hand tightly to my mouth.

‘This is my death bed, Nipote. I don’t want your last memory of me to be less than I am now. Take with you my love, my hope, and as long as it makes the family stronger, my permission to take the future you want.’

‘I want…’ my words became louder sobs, as once again he shook his head at me.

‘Go now, my beautiful girl.’ He placed his fingers against his lips and blew me a kiss.

I took his hand in my own and held it to my cheek, only to see a wide smile capture his handsome features.

As one of the nurses helped me from his room, I didn’t turn around. I could hear he was coughing once again and I wantedto hang on to the last thing he’d bequeathed me, his beautiful smile.

His door opened and I fell through it. Rudely, I refused all offers of help as I made my way along my grandfather’s corridor, through to my mama’s eerily quiet part of the house and back into the sanctuary of my room.

As Dante’s mobile vibrated again, without looking at the caller ID I dropped it inside one of the drawers next to my bed.

I couldn’t talk to him just yet.

For now, my grief was all-consuming. I had to find a way to deal with the fact I felt untethered, burdened and most of all unhinged. Pressing a button on my remote, I locked my bedroom door and let the blinds down to shut out the day, and hoped in turn it would shut down my thoughts.

Chapter Ten

Dante

‘Thank fuck!’ I turned off the engine.

After placing both arms onto the steering wheel, I rested my head against them, and I released a long exhale. I knew I’d only have a couple of minutes tops before someone pulled open my car door, so in the relative peace I allowed myself to breathe.

The youngster had had a lucky escape, and I prayed silently that my little sister would receive the same outcome.

What should have taken me twenty minutes or more to drive, had taken just over the ten I’d told Alessio. Several times, I’d felt my expertly designed Ferrari overly respond to the hammering I’d given it, yet only once had I retracted my foot from the pedal. Anger had been blocking any sense of reasoning. As I’d reached the small village of Palizzi and sped through the single lane, main road of the village, my vision had been clouded with not only my resentment, but also from the dust my car was stirring up. Suddenly, a young boy of about eight years of age had appeared in my path. He had carelessly run out from behind the relative safety of the dilapidated wire fencing that surrounded his family’s house, as he followed the path of his football.

And in that split nanosecond, I’d rapidly realised I was in control of the thing that just might kill him.

In slow motion, he’d picked up his prized possession and turned his head towards me. His small frame had frozen, and his eyes opened wide at his impending fate. Somewhere I heard a woman screaming.

Her scream, filled with torture and the impotence she felt, reached me.

Mia?

Like watching a film, I saw Mia bloodied and bruised at the hands of her kidnapper, as she fought to protect herself from the faceless bastard.

Then I saw the young boy’s dark brown eyes as they connected with mine and I came hurtling back to the present. Through the dust covered windscreen I saw his protective mama launch herself to attempt to save him.

As my foot lifted and slammed against the brake beneath it, I turned the wheel fast to the right. My car crashed through their makeshift fencing, causing the suspension to react to each lump and bump the tyres travelled over. Not being able to see either of them, I made a pact with the devil himself as I pleaded with him in my head that what I could feel beneath me wasn’t the two of them.

Finally, the car came to a shuddering stop, jolting me forward and making the steering wheel in my white knuckled grip meet my ribcage. The engine died leaving my ears focussed on the sobs of the child I’d nearly wiped off the face of the earth and the mama who was repeating over and over again ‘No, non il mio bambino.’

Thank fuck for that.

‘Stai bene?” I asked her if they were okay as I flung open my door.

Not answering my question, she began to swear at me in Griko as she pulled herself and her son up to their feet. I looked on as she swept her hand over his face to remove his errant hair. She took all of him in. Then, realising he was dirty with tears streaking down his face, but unscathed, her swearing at me turned to praising God.

Until, once again, her fearful and angry eyes met mine.

‘Maniaco,’ she repeated over and over with her voice intensifying. Her left hand peeled reluctantly away from the child in her arms as she flung her hand at me to make sure I could feel the strength behind the accusation.

‘Are you both okay?’ I repeated, as I saw several people appearing to see what all the noise and commotion was. In my peripheral, I saw a gun being pointed in my direction. But the gun didn’t concern me. Standing there in the small village I understood it wasn’t the gun I feared but the pain I’d caused them both.

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