All Chapters of The Priest Is A Mafia Don: Punish Me Father!: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

60 Chapters

51: "And how many others would be dead?"

Lilith POVWe spent the next week hiding in a safehouse Carlo had arranged on the outskirts of Catania while Damien's memories continued returning in waves that left him exhausted and sometimes angry at everything he'd forgotten."I missed five days." He said it every morning like an accusation. "Five days where I looked at you like a stranger and said things that must have hurt and I can't get those days back.""We have the rest of our lives to make up for five days." I was getting better at redirecting his guilt. "And you're remembering now so stop punishing yourself for something you couldn't control.""I should have fought harder against the amnesia." He was pacing the small room. "I should have trusted that what you were telling me was true instead of dismissing it as fantasy.""You had a traumatic brain injury from blood loss." I pulled him down to sit beside me. "You weren't being stubborn, you were being broken, and broken people don't heal on demand."He kissed me instead of

52: "It sounds impossible but nice."

Lilith POVThe cargo ship was smaller than I'd expected and smelled like diesel and fish, the captain barely glancing at us before gesturing toward a storage container that had been converted into makeshift quarters with two cots and a battery-powered lantern."You stay here, you stay quiet, you don't exist until we dock in Lisbon." His Italian was accented with something Portuguese. "Anyone asks, I'm carrying machine parts and textiles, nothing human.""Understood." Damien handed him an envelope thick with euros. "How long until we arrive?""Four days if weather holds, six if it doesn't." The captain pocketed the money without counting it. "There's food and water in the crates, use it sparingly because I'm not making special stops."He left and we were alone in a metal box that would be our home for the next week, the sound of the engine thrumming through the walls while the ship pulled away from the only country either of us had ever known."This is really happening." I sat on one o

53: "You always find ways to absolve me of responsibility."

Damien POVThe nightmares got worse on the second night at sea and I woke choking on screams that hadn't quite made it past my throat, my hands already reaching for weapons that weren't there while my mind insisted I was back in the catacombs watching my father's eyes go empty."You're safe." Lilith's voice cut through the panic. "You're on the ship, we're heading to Portugal, your father is dead and can't hurt anyone anymore.""I know." But my heart was still racing. "Knowing doesn't stop my brain from replaying it on loop every time I close my eyes.""Then don't close your eyes." She turned on the lantern. "Stay awake with me and we'll talk until you're tired enough that sleep wins over fear.""That's not sustainable." I sat up and felt cold sweat cooling on my skin. "You need sleep too and staying awake all night because I can't handle my own memories isn't fair to you.""Life isn't fair." She was already pulling out the deck of cards we'd found in one of the supply crates. "And I'

54: "Either way it's better than dying in Sicily."

Lilith POVWe docked in Lisbon at dawn on the fifth day and the city looked like something from a postcard, pastel buildings climbing hills and red tile roofs catching early sunlight while seagulls screamed overhead."This is it." I was standing at the edge of the container looking out at Portugal. "This is where we start over.""Or where we fail at starting over." Damien was beside me and his shoulder was still bleeding through fresh bandages. "Either way it's better than dying in Sicily."The captain appeared and gestured for us to follow him off the ship, his expression carefully neutral as he led us through cargo areas and past customs officials who were too busy to notice two more bodies among the workers."You're clear." He handed Damien a slip of paper with an address. "Contact here if you need documents, he's expensive but reliable, tell him Nuno sent you.""Thank you." I said because Damien was busy scanning for threats that probably weren't there."Don't thank me." Nuno was

55: "We're both disasters."

Lilith POVFinding work in Cascais turned out to be harder than I'd expected and by the second week our money was running dangerously low and Damien's stress was manifesting in ways that reminded me too much of Sicily."There's a security company hiring." He was reading job listings on his phone. "They need someone with military or law enforcement background.""You don't have military or law enforcement background." I was washing dishes in our tiny sink. "You have organized crime background which isn't the same thing.""I know how to handle weapons and assess threats and keep people safe." His voice was defensive. "That translates to security work.""It also raises questions about where you learned those skills." I turned to face him. "Questions we can't answer without exposing who we really are.""Then what do you suggest?" He set down the phone. "We're going to run out of money in three weeks and neither of us has job experience that looks legitimate on paper.""I could waitress." I

56: "That's what you were trying not to want?"

Lilith POVThree months into our new life and I woke up on my twentieth birthday to find Damien already gone for his early shift at the fish market, a note on the pillow saying he'd be home by noon with something special.The restaurant was busy for breakfast and Maria had me covering for a sick waitress which meant double shifts and customers who complained about everything from coffee temperature to the way I folded their napkins. By the time lunch rush ended my feet were screaming and I'd earned exactly fifteen euros in tips from people who apparently thought decent service should be free."You look dead." Maria handed me an espresso. "Go home early, I'll cover the rest of your shift.""I need the money." But I was too tired to argue convincingly. "I can finish.""It's your birthday." She pushed me toward the door. "Go home and let that man of yours do something nice for once."I didn't ask how she knew it was my birthday because Maria seemed to know everything about everyone, and

57: "But leaving him to die alone feels wrong."

Lilith POVSix months into Portugal and I came home from my shift to find Damien sitting on the balcony with his phone in his hand and an expression that made my stomach drop before he'd even spoken."What happened?" I set down my bag. "Who died?""No one died." But his voice was tight. "Carlo called, he needs help and I'm the only person he trusts to provide it.""Help with what?" I was already knowing I wouldn't like the answer. "And why is Carlo calling after six months of radio silence?""The Moretti loyalists regrouped." Damien handed me his phone showing a news article in Italian. "They're targeting everyone who was part of Rosa's network and Carlo's next on their list.""So he runs." I was reading about three bodies found in Catania. "He disappears like we did and starts over somewhere else.""He won't run." Damien was staring at the street. "He says running is admitting defeat and he'd rather die fighting than live hiding.""That's stupid." But I recognized the sentiment. "Tha

58: "But it's better than certain doom."

Damien POVEight months in Portugal and I stopped checking Italian news every morning, the compulsion to monitor Sicily's criminal landscape finally fading into something I only did once a week instead of daily.My therapist said this was progress and I was learning to accept that progress didn't always feel like victory, sometimes it just felt like exhaustion with slightly better coping mechanisms. The fish market had promoted me to supervisor which meant more money and more responsibility and more reasons to stay focused on the present instead of drowning in the past."You seem lighter." Lilith said one evening while we were cooking dinner in our small kitchen. "Like something shifted.""I think I'm finally accepting that we're actually safe here." I was chopping vegetables with the knife skills that came from a different life. "That my father is dead and his empire is scattered and no one's coming for us.""That's huge." She stopped stirring to look at me. "When did that acceptance

59: "Not knowing won't make it less real."

Lilith POVTwo weeks after Damien's almost-proposal I woke up feeling wrong in ways I couldn't immediately identify, my stomach churning and my head spinning like I'd drunk too much wine except I'd been sober for days."You look terrible." Damien was already dressed for work. "Maybe you should call in sick.""I'm fine." But I barely made it to the bathroom before vomiting everything I'd eaten for dinner. "Or maybe I have food poisoning.""We ate the same thing and I'm fine." He was holding my hair back. "This is the third morning this week you've been sick.""Stress probably." I was rinsing my mouth. "Maria's been riding me hard about the new menu implementation.""Or you're pregnant." He said it casually but I could hear the tension underneath. "When was your last period?"I froze because I genuinely couldn't remember, the last few months blurring together in a haze of work and therapy and building our life. I'd been on birth control but I'd also been terrible about taking it consist

60: "We need money more than I need rest."

Lilith POVFive months pregnant and I couldn't see my feet anymore, my body transforming into something I barely recognized while Damien documented every change like he was studying for an exam he couldn't afford to fail."You're staring again." I was trying to put on shoes that no longer fit. "It's getting weird.""I'm appreciating the miracle of life." But he moved to help with my shoes. "And also trying to understand how a human is growing inside you.""The same way humans have always grown inside other humans." I was getting frustrated with the laces. "Biology isn't mysterious just because it's happening to me.""It's mysterious to me." He finished tying my shoes. "Six months ago you were just you and now you're you plus a whole other person.""I'm very aware." I stood with effort. "Especially when that whole other person decides to kick my bladder at three in the morning."The pregnancy had been harder than I'd expected, morning sickness lasting well past the first trimester and

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