“I don’t understand,” Joelle whispers.
“You see my dear, your life is not what it seems. Yes, your father killed your mother and your family was horrible to you, by the way, they’re all dead, you’re welcome.”
“Dead?” She sits straight up.
“Yes, they didn’t deserve to breathe after what they did to you. And your ex, the cop. We will deal with him. Do you know your trigger word?”
“I think so,” because once it’s said I forget everything.
“You’re doing your ex’s dirty work. He programmed you until he could use you and that meant leaving you high and dry after those men did what they did, they’re dead by the way also, you’re welcome.”
“What the hell?” She pushes her chair back from the table.
“Abel,” Cain looks at me.
“Abel?”
“Joelle, can you sit down?” I’m nervous as hell.
“Just say it. I feel like my whole life has been a lie or something.”
“Not all of it,” Cain interjects, “just the months leading up to you finding your way here.”
“Hammond?”
“My name is Abel. I’m heir to theMartinellifamily throne,” I sigh.
“The mafia.”
“Yeah. I took off to sow my wild oats before having to take over. Your ex caught me doing some shady stuff and knew who my father was and decided to make a deal. I take this job to watch you. I’m supposed to tell him every kill so he can build a case against you. I haven’t told him shit. He made that your trigger word because of your father, he wedged so far into your brain that you can’t help but go ballistic upon hearing it. You’re killing for him. Every person is sent to you by him, and they’re probably told to call you that in hopes that you slash their throats. All those men are enemies of his, men that know his secrets. Yeah, they’re cheaters. But they are men that could put your ex away for a long time. He plans on letting it all fall on your shoulders; you will take the blame.”
“You were sent to watch me?” She steps back a little bit.
“I was. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I fell in love,” I blurt out. This is not how I wanted to tell her.
“You’re the head of the mafia or will be and you were sent to watch me by my asshole of an ex?” She’s trying to wrap her head around it.
“Joelle, you’re a gift. And one the family can use, for good causes. Okay, good causes for the family.”
“Who are you to him?” She points from Cain to me.
“I’m his right-hand man or will be once he takes reign. His father is wanting to retire, but he won’t go home without you.”
“Me? Why me? All I do is kill people and you clean it up. I’m fucked up and people have been lying to me. People I thought loved me.”
“What does killing feel like?” Cain asks her.
“I don’t know. I don’t feel anything. It’s like a dream when I wake up and I’m covered in blood,” I shrug.
“You struggle with it?” I ask and she nods.
“Would it make a difference if you knew those men were bad men?”
“I don’t know,” she sits back down. I kneel in front of her and take her hand, needing her contact so she understands I didn’t mean to hurt her.
“You have a gift of killing and I think you should use that. Come home with us and we will take care of your ex, let you have your revenge,” Cain adds.
I watch a tear slide down her cheek as she thinks this over. It hurts to see her in pain. I’ve seen the torture in her eyes when she kills, even though she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Breaks my heart every time. Might be different if she thought those men were bad and she could make the decision to do it instead of a trigger word.
