Semua Bab Innocence Interrupted - A Mafia Story: Bab 111 - Bab 119

MadeleineFrankie sits on the edge of the love seat, while I’m on the bed, running the rosary beads through my fingers. I try to remember the prayers I said so religiously only a few months ago, but now I can’t think of a single one.We haven’t said a word to each other since we came upstairs. I know, somewhere in this house in the basement, a man is being tortured, and that Rafael is the one who is doing it.Last night, he told me to remember that he is Dom. That's the man I met in the church. That’s the real him. But it doesn’t feel like him.And I don’t care. I think Rafael wants to be Dom more than I need him to be. He’s both and neither at the same time, and I”m okay with that.I’m just not so sure he is.I glance at my closet and my blood runs cold. Marco’s head was in there. They killed him. They did it because they wanted to get to me.The cold creeps through my veins, settling in my heart, and I finally understand that side of Rafael. I get it. Why he’d torture and kill some

RafaelWe became aware of the car following us when we were roughly ten miles from the safe house where I sent Ethel and Betsy. The black sedan was not made for the road we were traveling on, and we would not have noticed it if it didn’t lose its way in the dark and nearly skidded off the embankment. I heard the roar of an engine, and the loud crunch of gravel as the driver slammed on the brakes.Frankie and I looked over our shoulders at the same time, catching a glimpse of the glimmering windshield in the dark. It was the right moment at the right time. “What do we do?” Frankie asked. “Keep going?”I tried to count the silhouettes in the car, but it was impossible. As soon as it was back on the road, the darkness swallowed it again. “No,” I responded. “We’ll lead them straight to the girls.”“We can keep going,” Tito offered. “Go to the city. Drop you and the missus at the hotel.”We could do that. Shake the tail. But they wouldn’t stop coming. It would be a never ending game of ca

MadeleineAs Frankie ties off the last stitch, I let go of Rafael. I tried not to make a sound while the needles punctured me over and over again, but after the fourth or maybe fifth time, I couldn’t hold on anymore.Rafael stepped in as close as he could, and I screamed into him, my mouth wide open against his rock hard belly. I wish passed out like Rafael did that time when I stitched him up, but his wound was worse and a lot deeper.“That’s it, sweetheart,” Frankie announces, and I heard the soft, metallic snip of the scissors. “All done. You did real good.”Breath raises past my lips, sweat drips down my body, my mouth is dry and my heart hammers in my chest like a piston. I didn’t think I’d make it.It still hurts, but it’s bearable now. I let go of Rafael, the muscles of my fingers so tight that I can’t open them. “You don’t have to-” he starts.“I do,” I say in a hoarse voice. “You are hurt too.”Frankie smooths a plaster over my wound, and I get up from the chair. The world s

RafaelI sit at the faded table in the quaint little kitchen and sip on a glass of wine as I listen to Betsy’s babbling.We are far away from the city, in a village so small that it doesn’t even show on the GPS. Nestled at the foot of the mountains, this place would be a fantastic tourist destination, but the villagers are mostly farmers, and they like their peace. Any attempts by developers to turn this place into the next big, must see internet hit, are quickly shut down by the locals.There isn’t much to do here. They are so far off the grid, that I’m surprised they have electricity. There’s one diner that’s open twenty-four-seven and even serves Christmas dinner, a co-op that sells everything from jeans to fertiliser, and a general store covers everything else.I love it here. It’s quiet. Calm. Peaceful. After a good three hours of catching up, Betsy starts to wind down and gives us a big yawn. “Her days are busy,” Ethel says with a smile. “We go hiking, and we look for rabbits i

MadeleineThe bright sunlight stabs at my eyes, and I have to blink a few times to adjust. The air is different here. Fresher somehow. More open.“Now what?” I ask.“We go home.”“It’s over?”“Yes.”I look over my shoulder into the diner, at Sforza who is still sitting in the booth, finishing his pie. “What about him? What if he survives and comes for us again?”“He won’t, Madeleine. There is no way he can survive.”“Can’t we at least take him to a hospital so he won’t… suffer.”A smile flickers across Rafael’s face. “Good. After what happened with Rossi, I was worried.”I turn my attention back to him and look up at his handsome face. I never get tired of watching him. “Why?”He shrugs. “That kind of thing… it changes a person. On a fundamental level. It makes me happy to see that you still have compassion.”We start to wander back to the house. We didn’t touch our food, and I didn’t take one sip of my tea. I’m thirsty and I’m hungry, but mostly I’m in a state of utter disbelief. It