Page 45 of The Obsession
A few minutes later, she turns the screen towards me, “What do you think of this?”
“Fucked if I know. I’m not good at that shit.”
She gives me a look. “Language,” she says, eyeing Peach on my lap.
I glance down at my niece, who is watching aBlueycartoon on my phone. She loves that annoying show and is so engrossed that I doubt any of this conversation registered with her. Although a part of me is worried her first swear word is gonna be ‘fuck’.
I clear my throat. “I trust your judgment.” I reach into my back pocket, pull out my wallet, grab my credit card, and slide it across the table. “Get whatever you think she’ll need.”
I haven’t discussed this with Emily yet, but my mind is made up. Until it’s safe for her to do otherwise, she’ll be staying with us, whether she likes it or not.
“Do you know what her favourite colour is?”
I have no clue, but I find myself saying, “Blue.” It’s my favourite, because it reminds me of her eyes. Besides, I already have enough pink shit in my house.
It’s now eight o’clock in the evening, and Emily is still fast asleep. I wonder how long it’s been since she felt safe enough to sleep so soundly.
Lucia has checked on her a few times and encouraged me to let her rest whenever I became antsy about her not waking up.“She obviously needs this. Her body’s catching up,”she’d said.“Let it.”
Peach has been bathed, fed, and is also sleeping in one of the spare rooms. It looks like we’ll be spending another night.
I always have spare clothes packed in the car because of the nature of my job. Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid getting soaked in blood. I also pack extra things for Peach when we go out, because kids can be unpredictable. She can go through a full outfit change in thirty minutes. Experience has prepared or overprepared me.
The furniture for Emily has been ordered, and most of it will be delivered to my place tomorrow afternoon. If she decides not to stay with me once it’s safe for her to leave, then she can take it all with her. She left her place with only a suitcase, so she’s going to need to start from scratch.
Part of me hates how familiar that is, starting over with nothing and rebuilding a life piece by piece. It’s not easy, but she’s away from that cocksucker, and that’s the most important thing.
Romeo and I are sitting mindlessly in front of the television. I’m not sure if he’s watching the movie that’s playing, but my thoughts are elsewhere.
It’s just after nine when the message finally comes through from Dante.
“You ready?” Romeo says after turning his phone towards me so I can read the text.
Dante: I have confirmation he’s arrived back at the house and he’s alone.
I place my palms flat on the armrests and push myself up to a stand. “Let’s do this.”
I follow him down the hallway towards the front door, and I’m now grateful that we are here, because I don’t have to worry about Peach or Emily. I couldn’t be leaving at this time of night if we were home.
Romeo pauses at the doorway of the nursery, sticking his head inside. “We have to go out for a bit,” he says to Lucia, who is rocking her son in a chair beside the cot. She opens her mouth to say something, but Romeo cuts her off before she can speak. “I can’t tell you where we’re going, but we shouldn’t be long. Call if you need anything.”
Lucia purses her lips. “I wasn’t going to ask,” she grumbles. Romeo smiles. I swear this guy loves pissing her off. “All I was going to say was, give him a left, a right, an uppercut, and a throat punch from me.”
A laugh rumbles in my chest. These Mafia women are next level.
The soldier is parked a few houses down and across the road when we arrive. He’s very close to where I usually sit when I’m here, casing things out. Or being stalkerish is maybe a better description, butcasingsounds less … unhinged.
“As far as I can tell, he hasn’t gone into the house yet. The lights are still off. When he arrived, he took what looked to be some kind of package out of the leather bag on the side of his bike before disappearing around back,” the soldier tells us.
A cold, heavy knot forms at the base of my spine, and my fingers twitch by my sides as I itch to cross the street and finally get my hands on that cunt.
It will be the last time he touches Emily, or touches anyone for that matter.
The soldier’s eyes flicker to me, reading the shift in my posture. The monster inside is about to be unleashed. My breathing slows as my shoulders lock into that familiar place between restraint and violence.
I step off the kerb, eager to get this started. “Wait here,” Romeo says to the soldier as he falls in step beside me.
“Can’t I watch?” he retorts, but the look Romeo gives him in return is enough of an answer.
