Black Romance - 60 Truth

“No,” I said, cutting the air with my hand and throwing my finger at Virgo. “He’s the one who set the ball in motion, he was the mastermind behind that entire fucking day. My father didn’t want to do it, but Virgo wouldn’t let it go.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? How could you not tell me?” Tears spilled effortlessly down her cheeks. She looked so lost, so afraid, so crushed. It was like all the emotions she had been holding onto suddenly floated to the surface.

“I didn’t know that it was you and your family, Jessie, not at first.” Taking another step in, I tried to reach for her.

I wanted to hold her, secure her in my arms and let her cry until she couldn’t cry anymore. My fingers ached to brush her hair, my tongue tingled to whisper soothing words in her ear.

Holding my arm out, I inched closer. And that’s when it happened, that’s when I saw the look, the same look I had seen on my mother. Hate.

Swatting my hand away, she kept moving deeper into the room, staying out of reach. “When did you know? When did you realize it?”

Laughing, Virgo leaned against the table. He didn’t seem phased that I had just gotten out of his trap, it was almost as if he expected it anyway.

“Tell her more, tell her the truth. You want to play the good guy, but we both know that’s bullshit. Tell her how your father gave her sister and brother away, how he was the man who brought her to me. Tell her how your father hunted hers down like a fucking animal. How he cornered him and slit his throat, and how he loved every second watching him beg for his life . .” Pausing, he lifted his hand to his lips and grinned happily. “Tell her how you were there.”

“Oh my God,” she groaned, clawing at her throat. “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” Her lungs lifted and fell with labored urgency as her face went pale gray. “I can’t see, I can’t breathe.” Tumbling backward on shaky legs, Jessie shut her eyes, trying desperately to not pass out as she planted a palm on the wall.

I wanted to run to her, I was ready to do what she wanted me to all along and whisk her away from all of this pain.

But the anger inside had reached its boiling point. I felt numb from head to toe as the adrenaline surged through my muscles, releasing the monster that lived inside me.

I honestly didn’t know it was her at first. But when she said her full name it all came rushing back.

Memories of that day flooded my head. I was still new, only turning eighteen a month before. It was my second job with my father and his crew, and I was just doing what he told me to. There were no real details, just that we were looking for a single man who owed a lot of money.

My role was to check the house, to go in and see if that guy was there. If he was, my father wanted me to bring him out. I wasn’t allowed to kill him, because our client wanted him alive. But the house was empty. Her father had gone into hiding, abandoning his family, not realizing the true danger he had put them in until it was too late.

It all happened so fast and was done before I could even stop my father. I never expected him to kill the woman or take the kids. I only knew the information that he gave me.

But who I was to against my father?

I remembered when we got home that day and the look of disappointment on his face as he realized what he had done. And I remembered the blindfolded little girl that was sitting in the backseat of his car.

I never knew what happened to that little girl, or where the other two kids ended up, and I never asked. It wasn’t until Jessie told me her full name that I was able to put two and two together.