Page 38 of Pain and Possession

Noè's eyes stay on me until he finishes his meal, arguing with Frank and May about not letting him pay his bill. Everything about this seems so... mundane. So normal, as if he isn't the leader of the Arcuri crime family, a murderer, kingpin that gets off on pain. As if I'm not the object of his obsession, as if he hasn't infected my body and soul with his poison.

Nothing will ever be mundane again.

"He can afford it." I mumble removing my apron and shutting off lights as I go. Fuck washing the last plate I didn't want to serve him anyway.

Frank sighs, "It's a show of respect to the Arcuri family. If it wasn't for your family Noè we would've never been able to open all those years ago."

Noè smiles, "Very well but only once."

May adjusts Noè's tie wishing him a safe trip as she dismisses me for the night. Not before asking him to show me home.As soon as we step out of the restaurant, I shove his hand off my lower back, hating the tingle that builds deep in my flesh every time he touches me.

"You may be the all-powerful leader of the streets, but I was raised on them. Kindly fuck off I can find my own way home."

He chuckles, "All powerful? Hardly, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve."

I roll my eyes before he shoves me abruptly into an alleyway, my heart lurches when a dark large van flicks on their headlights crawling towards us.

"Noè please." I murmur, digging my heels into the pavement. Desperately trying to wiggle from his grasp as my heart whooshes in my ears.

"I'm not going to hurt you baby. It's a gift, my greatest one so far, to show you how much you mean to me." His voice is warm, and I still my eyes never leaving the van. I press myself into his side grumbling at the sense of false safety it elicits from me. I have a feeling this gift is going to be much more than a gaming console or expensive jewelry.

Something Laney has claimed each time he sent it.

Noè holds his hand out to me, part of me hopes to see the blonde, Camilla, from his compound inside. That thought scares me far more than the man at my side or the van in front of us as I take his hand. Reluctantly letting him lead me closer as the doors slide open. I keep my eyes on my worn-out vans I got at Goodwill last year, knowing whatever is inside will cause an irreversible change in me again.

"Look little doll, I did this for you."

I take a shaky breath, lifting my head letting my eyes adjust to the dark interior of the black panel van.

"What the fuck?" I whisper, my palm growing clammy in his. The living men in the back of the van hunch over three battered and bloody corpses. They stare at us, awaiting his word, not moving as if they're delivering a flower arrangement.

"Show her." He orders. One of the men reaches out with a gloved hand jerking back the body laid on top, his skull devoid of his eyes. I whimper, clasping my hand over my mouth.

"Do you recognize him, Olive?"

Tears fill my eyes as I shake my head no.

How could I recognize anyone like that?

"Clinton Inman. The man that-"

"He was in prison." I interrupt as the blood drains from my face.

"Until I had him released, then I made him pay in ways I don't dare repeat to you."

I shake my head, trying to wrap my mind around this. Around what he's done. Trying to make sense of how Ifeelabout it.

"The other men?" I whisper, as I take a tentative step forward, my knees pressing into the metal of the van. The guy holding up Clinton Inman's head let's it go. It falls cracking against the head below him with a loud thud, I don't so much as flinch.

"Other people that had a hand in the shooting that killed your parents. He never explained why he killed them, right?”

I shake my head; I was just a baby not even a year old when they died. They were out walking with me, when this man shot them both to death. Leaving me there, alive and orphaned.He set in motion all the awful things that happened to me since.

"He was there that day to carry out a contract on a small-time dealer from a different family. Your father Jeffrey Hayes saw him attack the man, tried to help him. Got himself and his wife shot for the trouble."

I don't speak, as I feel myself go numb. The way I've always been. No anger or joy. No relief or gratitude. I just stare as the van door closes, Noè pulls me back into him as it pulls away.

Teeth by 5 Seconds of Summer

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