Page 53 of Oblivion
I never pretended to be a saint. I knew what I did, who I was, and I knew that all the monstrosities I’d committed would come back one day to bite me in my ass. But for the life of me, I couldn’t remember any woman I’d wronged. Well, I could, but they were all dead—I’d made sure of it.
No remorse.
No pain.
No witnesses.
Those three were the main rules of The Syndicate and I followed them to a T. But then who was after me and why? Why now?
My brain hurt from all the questions flickering around, and I knew I couldn’t continue like this. I’d had Cillian and Tristan working on uncovering the truth. I had two Italian families working on my side, high on alert, and they would let me know if they found anything.
But it’d been ten days since the wedding and we were still at point zero. No new leads. Nothing that could let us move forward. Even The Syndicate and the Outfit were quiet, and the Albanians… They had their own mess to clean up.
Three days ago, their leader was killed. Agon was not a man I mourned, but no matter what transpired later on and what their initial goal was, he still gave me a purpose when I had nowhere else to go. When I felt that death was the best option for me.
The news shook the entire underground community and the fact that it happened during the day, right in front of the school his daughter attended, didn't sit well with me. If he was working with The Syndicate and the Outfit, who would kill him and why?
I mean, why was a silly thing to ask, considering that he murdered, or at least gave an order to murder, half a dozen people. He wasn’t exactly a teddy bear, but it made me even more wary. Maybe walking outside like this, when everything was going up in flames, wasn’t the best idea, but if I spent another minute inside that house, I would go nuts.
I had my gun strapped in the waist of my pants, hidden by my hoodie, and I thanked the universe for a rainy day today. It’d been hot as the devil’s ass for days now, and sweating wasn’t something I liked to do.
But I needed to clear my head, and with the house completely empty, with only me inside of it, I needed an out. I wanted to start running at night again, but Cillian warned me that it wasn’t safe. I had new documents, but I still looked like me. And most of those who were after me knew exactly how I looked.
It wasn’t as if I wore a mask every time I went on a mission, and whoever this Belladonna person was, definitely knew me. I just hated that I had no idea who she was.
I’d been walking for the last fifteen minutes, and I started realizing that the neighborhood our house was in wasn’t that bad.
It seemed as if mainly families occupied it, at least judging by the number of kids playing around and parents walking in groups on the streets. I wished I could just sit in the car and go into the city, but with Nico and Alessia on their honeymoon, I knew it wasn’t safe for me to walk around unprotected. Nico gave me his word, but we both knew that there were people in thefamigliathat didn’t exactly agree with his decision.
So, I laid low, hating every single moment of it.
I was about to take a turn and go back toward the house, when a bright, pink warehouse pulled my attention.
I was standing at the crossroad, where if I turned left, I would be going straight toward the city, and my house was just behind me. But on the left side, not too far from the crossroad, the pink warehouse stood with a bright, neon sign.
Clearview Shelter.
I didn’t know there was a shelter over here.
My legs pulled me in that direction on their own volition, and just like always, I followed my instinct, going straight for the building.
The paint was peeling off. The place looked run-down, but the large banner of a happy puppy playing with two kids in front of the building started choking me. All those times I begged for a puppy, just one puppy to play with, and all those times my father slapped those questions out of me, while my mother just stood on the side, watching him take his frustrations out on me.
All those times I felt lonely even with my brother and sister around me, and all those birthdays where the only wish I had was to get a puppy.
But it never came, and I stopped wishing. I stopped dreaming a long time ago. But after that conversation with Alessia, something woke up in me. A need, a yearning, and even if those dreams never came true, I knew I needed to start dreaming again.
Hoping.
Praying.
I believed in Kieran and that he would be able to bring back Maya, but I didn’t want her to come back only to hate me and avoid me because I was a shell of the person I once used to be.
With renewed determination, I strode toward the main entrance of the shelter, and walked right in, stopping only when a blond receptionist greeted me with a smile on her face.
“Uh,” I stammered. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she replied back. “Can I help you with something?”
