Page 10 of The Mafia Assassin's Redemption
What if he found me? Dragged me off? Killed me?
I looked for Mom, too, but she wasn’t there. I hoped she ran far away. When the bad men took Daddy, Mom was dragged off. And?—
I know she escaped. I know it.
So many parts are missing from my memory, though.
We went to start a new life in Ireland, but then the men came. Then the monster.
He shot Daddy.
I saw him. Saw Daddy. The hole in his head. I could see through the smoke and the coat the monster threw on me.
When I shot him, I hoped for something terrible. Unforgivable.
Back then I thought it was unforgivable. Now I know better.
I’d hoped he was dead.
I didn’t even know my finger was near the trigger.
But I know he didn’t die because monsters never do.
They hide.
And then, in the dead of night, they come back.
I open my eyes and stare at the big corkkboard covering my wall. Everything about the criminal Quinn clan. Things about a mysterious killer. A strange man. Pictures of men who look like him.
I don’t remember much.
Just that he was a giant. And he had curling black hair.
Blue eyes like midnight and a lilt to his dark voice.
And he told me he’d take care of me. That means kill, even I knew that at ten years old.
But now I’m grown up.
At twenty-two, I’m older than my years. I’ve lived a life. I’ve trained. I know guns. I know how to fight hard and dirty.
One day, I’ll find this Quinn.
And when I do, I’ll kill him.
THREE
torin
“Where the fuck are you going?”
My youngest brother, Declan walks over to me, Clawzilla, our black cat, perched on his shoulder. I remember when he was just a hissing scrap of fur. Now he’s big and his body is defying gravity right now because he’s bigger than Dec’s shoulder.
I wouldn’t cross Clawzilla, but he likes naps more than maimings.
“Out.” Because I can’t tell him the truth about where I’m headed.
Arnold, our German shepherd, trots up. He’s a big, gorgeous dog now, his intelligent eyes looking up at me. He makes a small, questioning whine.
