Page 37 of Running

Yeah. That was best.

I could keep an eye on her from a distance. Maybe even come back to town every few months.

But I couldn't stay. I couldn't get sucked into the family business. The bloodshed and fighting wasn't a problem. It was having someone else dictate my life. Bosco telling me who to marry and not allowing me out of the house. Luca forcing me to talk and to feel. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pretend to fit into their world.

I couldn't be surrounded by so many people. I would always be paranoid. Growing up it had been a necessity. It wasn't something I could turn off. It was best to leave. Luca would go back to marrying Milan.

The idea instantly had my stomach twisting into knots. I didn’t want to admit it but I didn’t just have a crush on Luca. I was falling for him. Started long before I broke in to the mansion. He had intrigued me from the first day I started surveying the Caruso family. His darkness called to mine. I wasn’t always dark, only when I needed to be. When I was threatened or hunted. Luca was darkest when he was on a job. When he was hanging out with Val or Massimo he dropped his guard. He would smile, laugh, and joke. Watching the three of them was the longest I had ever observed how a friendship worked.

It made me jealous. Especially knowing that could have been my life. Should have been.

If Santo hadn’t run my mom off, would Luca and I have dated like a normal couple? Would I have had late nights hanging with the boys shooting pool and sharing secrets only Mafia kids know?

Shit. I wanted Luca. I wanted him bad. I wanted to hear him laugh. I wanted him to teach me pool like he taught Val. I wanted to go on a date with him. I wanted the full package.

No. I tried to shake the thought away. He wasn’t mine to have. He needed to be Milan’s.

Bosco hadn’t told the Council about her true parentage. No one would. It was a closely guarded secret. One I would take steps to ensure stayed that way. There is no reason to not believe she is his daughter. They will marry as originally planned. Then Luca can become Don. Everyone is happy. Everything is as it should be.

So why am I not happy?

Focus Elena! Kill this asshole, wrap up the Cartel, and I can go find my happiness.

Eddy takes another step forward. He’s being cautious. I would admire him for it, if I didn’t want to hurry this along. My trap was set in front of him. I give a hard shove at his back. He stumbles forward. Completely caught off guard. The rope snaps around his ankles and swings him into the air. He hangs upside down. The creaking of the old rafters tells me it won’t hold him for long. No matter. My plans don’t involve him being upside down for long.

I pull a syringe from my pocket and injected him in the neck. He should be asleep for an hour or so.

As I predicted, an hour later, he stirs. Within seconds he is squirming against the straps I secured him with. The rope and zip types are biting into his skin. I can see small droplets of blood.

I’m sitting straddled in a backwards chair. I wait for him to speak first. Weak men always speak first.

“It seems you aren't as weak and vulnerable as your Uncle claimed you to be.” Good boy for talking. Pathetic he didn’t last longer.

“Santo is the weak one. Running off a pregnant teenager because he was threatened by her.” I mock surprise. “She saw right through that asshole.”

“And yet he was the right hand man of the Don for the last thirty years.”

“They were blind. Too caught up in the notion of blood never turning on blood. It’s all bullshit. Loyalty is so much more than blood.”

“I agree.”

“Why did you accept the hit?” The question had nagged me with each hit-man that came our way.

He gives a lick of his lips. He winces. I hit him a couple times while he was out. He just discovered his split lip. “Intrigue. Challenge I guess.”

Interesting. “We were a challenge?” I ask.

“Would you disagree?”

“No. I just don’t understand why you would admit it.” I can see why intrigue would push him to take a hit on a woman and her kid. I’m equally intrigued by this man and what makes him tick. How he chooses his kills. If he is as good as Santo believed him to be, he would have his choice of any job.

“I may be a bad guy but I'm not a liar.”

“Why do you do it?” Might as well ask my silly questions first while he’s being open. I can torture him for the harder ones later.

“I just told you.” He looks at me as though I am stupid.

Bad move buddy. I take a knife and jam it into his thigh. To his credit he doesn’t utter a peep. “Not me specifically. Why do you kill in general?”

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