AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cling to him, desperate for something solid in this surreal nightmare. “What do we do?” I whisper.
Angelo pulls back slightly, his eyes meeting mine. “You need to tell me what happened,” he says gently.
I take a shaky breath, the memories flooding back in disjointed flashes. “Jonah… he was angry. He tried to shake me, said I was keeping his daughter from him. He slapped me, and I… I grabbed my shears and…”
My legs give out, and Angelo catches me before I hit the floor. He gently sets me down, pulling out his phone. I hear him talking to Shawn in a low voice, but the words are indistinct, drowned out by the memory of metal sliding into flesh, the sickening squelch that followed.
The sound replays in my head, over and over. The resistance as the shears first met skin, then the sudden give as they plunged deeper. Jonah’s shocked gasp, his eyes widening in disbelief. The warmth of his blood on my hands.
Angelo sits beside me, his arm a comforting weight around my shoulders. “Shawn’s going to keep Lou for now,” he says softly. “She’s taking her to her house for an auntie-niece sleepover.”
I nod, numb. I’m a murderer. How can I ever look my daughter in the eye again? After all my talk about violence not being the answer…
“What do we do now?” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
Angelo's voice is calm, steady. “I’ve changed my mind. We’re not calling the police. We’re going to handle this the old-fashioned way—dispose of the body ourselves.”
I turn to him, shocked. “How?”
He outlines his plan with chilling efficiency. “First, we wipe the camera footage. Then I’ll call Jimbo to help clean up and take care of the body.”
As Angelo talks, I feel a strange sense of detachment, like I’m watching this happen to someone else. Is this really my life now? Disposing of bodies with a Mafia Don?
But as I look at Jonah’s still form, at the blood staining my hands, I realize there’s no going back. This is my reality now.
“Fee?” Angelo's voice brings me back to the present. “Are you with me?”
I nod slowly. “Yes. I… I think so. What do you need me to do?”
“First, we need to clean you up,” he says, helping me to my feet. “Can you make it to the bathroom?”
I take a tentative step, my legs shaky but holding. “I think so.”
As we move toward the bathroom, I catch sight of myself in a mirror. I barely recognize the woman staring back at me. Her eyes are wild, hair disheveled, blood smeared across her face. Is this really me?
In the bathroom, Angelo gently helps me wash the blood from my hands and face. The water runs pink, then clear. If only washing away the memory were as easy.
“Angelo,” I say, my voice breaking. “What about Lou? How can I face her after this?”
He turns me to face him, his eyes intense. “Listen to me, Fee. You did what you had to do to protect yourself and your daughter. Lou will understand that. You took care of a bully just like Lou would.”
I want to believe him. God, how I want to believe him. But the weight of what I’ve done settles over me like a shroud.
As we step back into the main shop, I see Jonah’s body again and a wave of nausea hits me. Angelo steadies me, his hand warm on my back.
“It’s going to be okay,” he says, and for a moment, I almost believe him. “The first kill is always the hardest. We’re going to get through this together.”
“Okay,” I say in a small voice, still not sure if I can believe him. “What’s next?”
Angelo squeezes my hand. “Now, we clean up. And then… we make sure this never happened.”
I’ve crossed a line today, one I never thought I’d cross. But as I think of Lou, safe with Shawn, I know I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
God help me, I’d do it all again.
I watch as Angelo makes the call to Jimbo, his voice low and riddled with code words I don’t understand. It feels like only seconds pass before Jimbo arrives, his presence filling the room.
He takes one look at the scene—Jonah’s body, the blood, my tear-stained face—and stops short. “Sofia… did you do this?” he asks, his voice surprisingly gentle.
