Page 26 of Killian (The Doherty Mafia)
“You think you can play me for a fool? You think you can run away with your little boyfriend? Do you know how stupid that makes you look?” Spit flew from his mouth as he spoke with a hiss. He gritted his big teeth. Sweat beaded his upper lip. I could see how worked up he was. How angry he was.
Every fiber of my being filled with dread. I wanted to hide from him, but there wasn’t anything that could save me. I could never hide from him. I should have known that.
“It’s over, Reese. Your little plan is finished. And it has cost you the life of an innocent boy.”
“What…where is he? Where is Charlie?” My voice cracked. I could barely breathe. Even though I asked the question, I didn’t want to hear the answer.
“Charlie is dead,” Aldo said. He clenched his jaws, like it pained him to say the words.
I shook my head violently. It didn’t make any sense. How could he be dead? I saw him in the morning. He kissed my cheek before I walked away from him. He told me how excited he was about our plan. Just two more sleeps and we would have been on our way.
“You better fuckin’ believe it. He is dead. I made sure my guys double checked the scene. It’s all official. You’ll see it in the news. Drunk teenager drives into a tree.”
“No!” I cried out like I was physically hurt.
I slipped off the bed to the floor in a heap of a mess. Aldo didn’t make a move. He just stood over me, watching me. I didn’t dare to look at his face but I assumed he was pleased by my reaction. This was what he hoped for. To really hit me where it hurt.
He had staged Charlie’s murder to look like a car accident. To kill me without actually doing it.
I sobbed bitterly. I could barely even hear his voice when he spoke. My boyfriend was dead. My best friend had been killed. Along with all my hopes and dreams for a better life. It was all my fault. I did this. Charlie would be alive right then if he hadn’t associated with me. If he hadn’t fallen in love with me.
How would I ever wake up in the morning after this? How was I supposed to go on living my life?
“Why? Why would you do this to me? Why would you kill him?” My shrill voice bounced off the walls of the room. I was sure my mother could hear wherever she was in the house. But there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it, and maybe by that point she didn’t even care.
“You know the answer to that question, sweetheart. You’re my daughter now. You belong to me. Which means you have to do exactly what I say. You have to make all this worth my while,” he growled, throwing his hands around the room. He was talking about my bedroom, about all the luxury he thought he gave me.
I didn’t care about the room. Or the house. The money. None of it was mine. I didn’t want any of it. Neither would he actually give them to me.
“And I hope this is a lesson for life. I hope you see what I can do to get what I want. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s life, would you?”
I couldn’t stop sobbing as I kneeled on the ground. My face was in my hands. My body shook with terror and grief.
Then I felt Aldo’s hand on my head. He started stroking my hair the way he would have stroked a dog.
“All you have to do is behave yourself, sweetheart,” he said.
* * *
And the memory of those words brought me back to my reality in Killian’s basement. I gasped when I remembered those exact words. I wasn’t just imagining it, and neither was my memory playing tricks on me. Aldo had really said it, the same way Killian had said it too.
Both men had warned me to behave myself if I wanted to live. If I wanted to be safe.
Maybe that’s what was happening to me? Killian was just another version of Aldo.
I had been nothing but an object to Aldo. One of his many prized possessions. Something he could use to trade with. It was the same reason Killian kept me here. He wanted to use me too. To trade me. To do what he wanted with me.
I stood up with a jerk, wrapping my arms around myself because I needed to feel my warmth. I gasped for air as I tried to breathe.
What was I thinking? How did I convince myself this was a good thing? That Killian was my only hope?
I knew I had to get away.
