The Fall(88)

“Lose the gun, Franco.” I tilted my head to his torso to remind him he had two tracking him. Even Vegas wouldn’t have backed the odds of both of us missing.

“I’m rather attached to this.” He tightened his grip and smiled. “So f*ck you.”

“Sofia, what’s going on?” Little Jimmy waved the gun in her direction, not able to understand why his dead sister was standing very much alive in front of him. “What are you doing with this guy?”

“Jimmy, please.” Sofia nodded to the barrel he had pointed at her, no doubt hoping to telepathically try and get him to lower it. “I know you don’t understand, but Dad lied to you. He is the one who wanted me dead.”

“No, no. He wouldn’t do that.” The gun stayed raised, but wavered a little like he was unconvinced of where to point it. “You’re his blood. He disowned you but he’d never kill you.”

“He did.” She turned and looked at the man standing beside him. “Franco was in on it.”

“Is this true?” Little Jimmy’s head whipped to the side while trying to maintain visual on both Sofia and me. “Tell me!”

“I hate family disputes. Not my place to get involved.” Franco yawned, apparently bored and not the least bit concerned we were in a four-way standoff.

“Except you are involved.” I laughed, and as much as I hated to admit it—even to myself—I saw a family resemblance. That cold hard stare when he eyeballed, the lack of f*cks he gave—it was like looking into a mirror. “And I still owe you for the last time we were together.”

“Stop.” Little Jimmy’s voice shot out of his mouth. “Someone tell me what the f*ck is going on.”

“You’re too late for that conversation, son.” Franco smiled, his eyes remaining on me.

I’m not sure it bothered me, because f*ck knows I didn’t want that son directed at me, but I really hated how these conceited bastards threw the word around.

There’d been a time when I would have literally killed to hear it, to know that there was a part of me that belonged. But like everything in life I’d been disappointed too many times to believe it was possible. There hadn’t been a place for me; I’d wandered from wake up to lights out as an outsider. And no one ever had my back. Except for a woman, the one I was supposed to kill and couldn’t.

And now here he was, the guy who had no idea of my existence, or even the chain of events he set in motion all those years ago. Looking at me like I was the disappointment, the stench of entitlement suffocating the room.

An eerie calm washed over me as words I hadn’t planned on saying came spilling out of my mouth. “What happened to your first wife, Rose?”

“What?” His head whipped around as his smug ass smile evaporated.

Yeah, he hadn’t been expecting that. Just the mention was enough to jack his spine up straight.

Sofia’s eyes widened, but she kept her mouth clamped. She nodded, giving me the signal she would back me up as her eyes stayed on Franco. Little Jimmy’s head continued to swivel between us all trying to work out what the f*ck was going on.

“Rose?” I repeated it, enjoying watching him flinch as I said it again. “The woman who you were married to? You remember her, right?”

“I divorced her, she had an affair.” His jaw tensed, the words barely getting out of his tight row of teeth. “Stupid whore couldn’t keep her legs closed.”

Stupid whore.

How many times had I said those words?

How many times had I believed them?

But had she actually been either stupid or a whore? Or was that something that had been programmed into me without me even knowing. A silent legacy gifted to me by a shithead.

“What did that feel like?” I couldn’t help it, wanting to scratch that itch a little bit more. “Not being able to keep your woman satisfied that she had to go elsewhere.

“That’s how you want to spend the last moments of your life, talking about the dumb bitch I used to be married to?” He was searching for an answer, wondering why the f*ck I’d bring it up. The mention completely out of left field.

And it was getting to him, rattling his cage so much his nice expensive suit was getting tighter in the collar. “Because I will f*cking end you, Michael.”

And I saw in his eyes that every single word of it was true.

No, not what he was saying. What Sofia had said.

That woman I’d spent my entire life hating had to look at Franco and know that the kid she was carrying would probably end up like that. I couldn’t imagine what that would have been like for her and not giving into the urge of ending it all together.

It was easier when I believed the lie, one that in a weird way the * had perpetuated even without him knowing. And maybe, just maybe I didn’t really hate her at all.

It was hatred in general that consumed me and I was just addicted to the burn. Those flames were easier when they had a name, when hating myself didn’t cut it “You think I care if you kill me?” It was my turn to laugh. “But you didn’t divorce her, she left you when she found out she was pregnant.” I watched as he fought the desire to react, failing miserably as it came double barreling at him. “And the woman you say you were so willing to get rid of was the one person who denied you what you most wanted in life—a son.”