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He gave me his back.
But what did I expect? A hero when he clearly told me he was a villain? A man instead of a monster?
My dad would have killed the men before they even spoke innocent or guilty.
Uncle Chase would have made a game out of chasing them.
Phoenix would have cursed them.
The old Capo would have laughed while they screamed.
The list would go on about what my Family would do, Dante, Tank, Sergio, Santino, Dom, again the list went on and on and all it came to was one thing.
My cousins and I… we were different.
Programmed with the same strength as our parents, but more humanity, and I wondered if it’s because they all sacrificed theirs—so we could keep ours.
What had I fought for?
I’d been perfect, and for what? To die? To feel sorry for myself.
An Abandonato they fought to the death, and I wasn’t stupid.
I didn’t deserve to be saved.
But I did deserve to save myself, whatever it took.
Ivan didn’t look back as the two men faced me, they were at least six two, the one closest to me had both eyes nearly swollen shut, the other spit out a tooth.
I started slowly backing away. “Do I get a running start?” Where the hell was Ivan?
One of them lunged for me.
I ran to my right, putting the house behind me while they both took their time in walking closer.
I could maybe out-maneuver them, but I didn’t have a weapon, I mean I had the dagger that my dad had given me that Ivan gave back to me, I always kept it on my thigh.
I reached for it and pulled it free, holding it out in front of me.
I really needed to do a better job remembering my training, remembering all the sparring with Ivan and how to take someone down twice my size.
“Relax, focus, you’ve already lost the cadence to your breathing,” Ivan whispered. “It’s embarrassing.”
“You’re embarrassing!” I yelled back, rubbing my arms.
Ivan laughed and then charged me, shoving me against the back part of the ring. “If someone tries to overpower you, you’re just going to be exhausted trying to fight, give in a bit, use their momentum to turn the tables. If I’m charging you, let me until that very last moment. Watch.”
He backed up while my breathing slowed.
And then he ran at me.
“One.” I whispered to myself. “Two.” His pace almost slowed as I moved to the left at the last second and slammed my hand into his back, shoving him against the mat on the wall. “I win.”
“And how do you finish this victory?”
“Huh?”
He spun out from the pin kicked under my legs and sent me to the ground, then pinned me there. “You always finish them, Bella, if your life is in danger you do not hesitate, you don’t celebrate that you outwitted them for one second, you grab your knife and you go in for the kill, it’s you or them, that is your choice and the only risk you’re taking is fighting to live, or failing and dying. Do. Not. Fail.” He got up from the mat. “I hate messes.”
