by Sonja B
“Felix,” she whispers. I turn to face her, waiting to hear what bullshit she had to say. “I didn’t know you went after Juan on my behalf. Thank you. I’m sorry about what happened between you and your brothers. I know how much you guys mean to each other.” Keirra raises her head, unshed tears cloud her eyes. “I do want to be with you, Felix. Please don’t walk away from me. I thought I was giving myself time after what happened with Juan. I thought it wouldn’t have been wise to jump into a relationship so quickly after I left him, but I see now that decision was wrong. Shit, Monica was right. She told me I was making a mistake, and if I kept at it, I was going to lose you. I don’t want to lose you, Felix.” Tears begin to fall from her eyes. Shit. I go to her and take her into my arms. “I’m so sorry, Felix.” She sobs.
I tighten my hold on her. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” I tell her, as she wraps her arms around my waist. Removing my right hand from her waist, I lift her chin and stare into her beautiful brown eyes. “I was once told that if something was meant to be, then it will. You and I were meant to be, Keirra.” She nods, before I kiss her soft lips. Damn, I missed her lips. This kiss was powerful and passionate. It was like coming home after being away for so long.
Slowly releasing her lips, I give them a peck, before I smile down at her. She returns the gesture. “Stay with me tonight. I just want to hold you. I need to hold you. We don’t have to do anything, I just need you close to me, okay?”
Her smile grows wider before she says, “I would love that, Felix. I need to be close to you too.”
I rest my forehead against hers, loving the feel of her in my arms. “Okay, let me finish making dinner for everyone, and you finish up with Monica. I’ll see you when dinner is ready.”
“Okay,” She says, as she reaches up and gives me a kiss. “See you in a bit.” She whispers, as she lets me go. I release my arms, as she begins to back away from me. I wink at her, making her giggle, before turning to leave out the kitchen. Damn, I finally got my ‘One’.
An hour later, dinner was ready. Everyone sat at the dining table, digging into the lasagna along with salad and garlic bread. The only person missing was Adam. He called earlier to let Axl know it might be tomorrow morning before he made it home. He was pulling an all-nighter because he had a customer who was paying big dollars to have some work done on the engine on his ’68 Mustang. Axl was not happy that he was missing dinner. He liked for all of us to sit down together as a family, but he understood and told him we’d put a plate up for him. This was the third time this month Adam had to miss dinner because of his job. Shit, he was the manager, he should have given the job to one of his employees, but I knew that he wouldn’t. Adam took pride in working on automobiles, especially classics.
So even with Adam not being there, we all sat as a family and enjoyed our dinner. Keirra sat next to me, which had Axl raising his eyebrow. He eyes us suspiciously, before the answer finally hits him. “It’s about damn time.” He says, before shoving a big helping of lasagna in his mouth. Asshole. The girls giggle at his dumb ass remark.
After dinner, Monica and Keirra volunteered to do the dishes and clean the kitchen. I’m sure she and I were going to be their topic of discussion. Axl, Alex, and I decided to go to the den and watch a movie. Of course, we had to settle on something Alex picked out. I was so happy when she chose Mulan because if I had to sit through another viewing of Frozen, I was going to pull my fucking hair out. I’ve noticed that since she’s started taking Karate classes, her choice in movies now tends to be something with martial arts and action.
As we sat watching the movie, Axl’s phone was continuously going off. “Damn Axl, who keeps blowing you up? I know you’re not cheating on my sister already.” I tease.
He turns to me with a serious look. “I would never cheat on Monica!”
“Just joking, Axl. I know you would never do Monica like that.” I respond.
He lets out a deep sigh, shaking his head. “It’s Romano. He’s been calling and texting me nonstop for the last two days. Lorenzo came by yesterday, trying to tell me that it was important that I see him.”
Fucking Romano. Why couldn’t he just leave Axl alone? He’s put him through enough shit. If you ask me, Axl should have finished him off that day at the old tire factory, father or not. Either way, Axl went on how to deal with him. I had his back one hundred percent.
“So, what are you going to do?” I question, wondering where his head was at.
“Shit, Felix, I don’t know. On the one hand, I don’t want shit to do with his dirty ass, but on the other, I’m curious as to what he has to say, does that make sense?”
“Look, bro, as long as Romano is alive, you will always have to deal with him. I say hear him out, then go from there. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Hell, I’ll even go with you.” I tell him, because if Axl needed me, I would always be there for him.
“And so will I,” Monica says, as she and Keirra enter the den. We didn’t hear them come into the room.
“Absolutely not!” Axl booms. Ladybug cuts her eyes at him with a twisted-up face. “Sorry, Ladybug.” She shakes her head, then continues to watch her movie.
“And why not? As your wife, yes, I’m going to pull the wife card, I’m going wherever my husband needs me, and on this, you will need me. Keirra can stay with Alex since we are off tomorrow.” Keirra comes and takes a seat next to me, getting comfortable. Now, this shit felt like a normal occurrence.
Axl runs his hand down his face and beard, mumbling something that none of us can make out. “Fine, Monica, you can come, but I’m telling you now, if you pop off before I can find out what he wants, I’m sending you to the car.”
“I promise, baby, I will follow your lead.” She responds, crossing her heart. I don’t know if Axl caught it, but the look on her face said otherwise.
Keirra sits up from her cozy spot at my side and says, “Like Monica said, I’ll babysit Alex. I’m off work, so it’s no big deal. I’ll keep an eye on her while you guys handle your business.”
“Well, Felix, I would like for you to come with us. I’m not sure when Adam will be back, so I would appreciate it if you came with me.” Axl says, staring at me.
“You don’t even have to ask, Axl. If you need me, I’m there.” I tell him with certainty. I wouldn’t want him to go without me or Adam anyway. I didn’t trust Romano as far as I could throw his shady ass. He was one of the reasons me and my brothers went through the bullshit we endured.
“Thanks, Felix,” Axl says. I would do anything for my brother. He has already sacrificed so much for Adam and I, and if he needed me to fly to the fucking moon, I would find a damn way.
Axl excused himself from the room to call Romano back. Twenty minutes later, he came back into the den.
“We go tomorrow morning at nine.” He states, as he retakes his seat next to Monica. Axl seemed like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders after talking to Romano. I can promise you this…if Romano comes at my brother sideways, he won’t have to worry about Axl getting to him because I will shoot his ass where he stands.
The movie wasn’t finished before Axl picked up a sleeping Alex. He and Monica said they were retiring for the night and took her to her room.
I turned the television off, then helped Keirra up. Together, we walked hand in hand to my wing of the house. I gave her one of my t-shirts to sleep in and damn if it didn’t look good on her. Once we got into bed, I pulled her close to me, then wrapped my arms around her. Keirra laid her head on my chest, as we talked about our future together. She dozed off before I did, but right before I succumbed to my own slumber, I kissed her on the forehead and fell into the best sleep I’ve had in years.
Chapter 7
Axl
My brief conversation with Romano replayed in my mind as Monica, Felix, and I drove to his house. He was very cryptic with his words, but he conveyed that it was imperative that I met with him. I swore I wouldn’t have shit else to do with him, bu
t when he mentioned it involved my siblings, I had to find out what the fuck he was talking about. If he thought he could pull the same shit he used to with hanging my brothers over my head, I was about to shut that shit down. He couldn’t threaten me with my brother’s lives anymore because they were more than capable of protecting themselves. That didn’t mean I still didn’t worry about them; I just wasn’t as paranoid as I was before.
Pulling into Romano’s driveway, a wave of unwanted memories hit me. This place was like coming back to a long-forgotten nightmare.
Monica squeezes my hand for support. I give her a wink in return.
“You good, Axl?” Felix asks from the backseat.
“Yeah, I’m good. I just want to get this over with. You got your shit on you in case things goes left?”
He taps the back seat. “Hell yeah, I don’t trust his ass.” He replies.
I turn to Monica, who pats her right side where her gun sits in its holster. The baggy sweater she wore hides it perfectly.
“Alright, let’s get this shit over with, I promised Ladybug we’d take her out for lunch when we got back,” I tell them, then open the door and got out. Felix climbs out behind me. I walk around to Monica’s door and open it for her. She gets out and places a tender kiss on my cheek.
“You got this, baby.” She tells me, as she moves to the side so I could close the door.
“Thank you, Mo.” I honestly tell her. This woman has been my backbone ever since she came back into my life.
As the three of us make our way to Romano’s front door, I see Lorenzo is already there, waiting on us. Since Rocco was no longer in the picture, Romano moved him up as his right-hand man.
“Thanks for coming, guys.” He greets, as he shakes my hand, then Felix’s. He gives Monica a quick peck on the cheek. “He’s waiting on you, Axl. He didn’t know you were bringing Monica and Felix with you, but I’m sure it will be fine.”
“It’ll have to be because I’m not seeing him without my wife or brother by my side,” I state.
“I understand. Come in, I’m sure you don’t want to be here any longer than you have too.” Lorenzo says, as he turns to open the door to let us in.
My chest tightens, as I enter the foray and look down the hall that led to the dungeon. Flashbacks of the first time I woke up there crowd my mind. Thoughts of Rocco attacking me play like a mental horror movie, as my chest begins to rapidly rise and fall. Then the attack with the dogs, being kept in their cages, and so on. I wasn’t having an anxiety or panic attack. This was The Snatcher of Souls trying to break free and kill every mother fucker in this fucking house of torture.
“Relax, baby. Breathe.” Monica soothingly says, as she strokes my back. “You’re not in that place anymore. Breathe.” Her mantra helps pull me back into the now. If I ever got the chance, I’ll burn this fucking house down so no other person will have to go through the hell I did.
Taking a deep calming breath, I shake those horrible memories from my head. “I’m fine now. Thank you, baby,” I tell her. She smiles up at me, gripping my hand.
“Are you alright, Axl?” Lorenzo asks with a worried look.
“Yeah, bro, you don’t have to do this. You don’t owe that mother fucker shit.” Felix hisses.
“I’m good. Let’s go.” I reply.
Lorenzo nods then continues to lead us through the house to the elevator that would take us up to Romano’s floor. Once inside, Lorenzo hits the button for the fourth floor. In all the time I was held here, this was the only floor I never set foot on.
When the elevator dinged once we reached Romano’s floor, the doors opened to a sitting room with large windows that faced the front of the mansion. There were two doors in the room, one on the left and one on the right. Lorenzo led us to the one on the left that had a guard standing in front of it.
“Maxillo, you remember Axl, he’s here to see Mr. Romano. This is his wife and brother.” Lorenzo tells him.
I remembered Maxillo, he was one of the four guards Rocco had on me when I was let out my room. He didn’t say shit to me then, and I don’t give a shit if he did now.
Maxillo stares me up and down, then turns his attention to Monica. I didn’t like the way this mother fucker was staring at my wife. He looked like he was undressing her with his eyes.
“You like looking at nice things, Maxillo?” I ask him in a nonchalant tone. He cuts his eyes back at me. “I suggest if you like looking at nice things, you will keep your fucking eyes off my wife, before I cut them mother fuckers out your head.”
He swallows hard, as his eyes grow big. He moves to the side of the door for us to enter. Certain disrespect I couldn’t take, and for this pussy to eye-fuck my wife in front of me, I meant every word I said.
Lorenzo steps forward and opens the door. I walk in first with Monica and Felix following behind me to see Romano in his pajamas, sitting against the headboard. Once inside, I turn back to Lorenzo.
He nods. “I’ll be right out here if you need me.” I nod back
“Thank you for coming, Axl,” Romano says, causing me to swivel my head in his direction. “I’m glad you brought your wife and brother with you.”
“How the fuck do you know she’s my wife?” I sneer.
He chuckles. “Just because you no longer work for me does not mean I don’t keep tabs on you, Axl. You are my son, which makes her my daughter in law and Alex, my granddaughter.”
I stalk towards the bed with Felix in tow. “They mean shit to you! Say what it is you have to say so we can get the fuck out of here!”
“There’s that fire I’ve always loved in you. Like father, like son.” He proudly says.
“Well, if you loved that fire so much, why put him through all that horrific shit? Why didn’t you tell him who he was to you when you took him?! For years he thought Sergio Salvant was his father, and he was no fucking better! You could have saved him, his mother, and his brothers!” Monica snaps moving closer.
Romano looks down with a guilty face. I could care less if this mother fucker felt guilty.
“I always knew Axl was my son. I mean, I didn’t at first. You see, a long time ago Elena and I were in love. I would have done anything for her, but my father disapproved of our relationship because Elena came from a poor Italian family and my father wanted me to be with someone of, how do you say…of a higher pedigree.” Felix goes for his gun, but I stop him. “I mean no disrespect, these were my father’s opinions, not mine. I continued to see her against his wishes, but when he threatened to have her killed if I didn’t stop, I knew our time was up. As much as I wanted to defy him, I would never put her life in jeopardy. So, I walked away, leaving the love of my life with a broken heart because she thought I chose my father over her, but that was not the case. I chose her life over her death. My father was an evil son of a bitch who would have followed through with his threat.”
“Like father, like son.” Felix huffs.
Romano eyes him. “You’re right, Felix. Like father, like son. And just like my son, I was thrown in a similar dungeon and put through the same shit as him. I survived it just like Axl did!” He declares, as he begins to cough. Monica’s nurse instincts jump into gear, as she goes to his nightstand and pours him up a glass of water. He takes it from her, drinking half of it down. When he’s able to continue, he proceeds. “So, to keep my mind off Elena and any suspicions my father might have had, I became the perfect son, his perfect killing machine. I wouldn’t hesitate to kill the next man for him. Time seemed to pass by so quickly. Then, one day, I saw Elena laughing with one of her friends going into the grocery store, holding what I thought at the time was a grocery bag. I was so excited about seeing her because I hadn’t seen her in a long time, so I approached her. When I called her name as I got closer, she turned around with a baby in her arms. Her face shifted from laughter to anger. I looked down at the baby boy who was swaddled in a blanket and saw my emerald green eyes. I asked her who the father was, and she told me the baby’s father was her hus
band, Sergio Salvant. I knew she was lying, that baby was my son! I immediately turned from her and left. As angry as I was, there was no way I could claim the baby. My father would have had him, and Elena killed, so I let her secret remain, even though I was pissed that another man was claiming my son! My firstborn! So, when I found out that Sergio owed me money for his gambling debts, I saw a way to get my son, and when I saw Axl had that same fire in him as I did at his age, I knew I could groom him into being just like me…a stone-cold killer who would do whatever he had to do to keep the people he loved safe.” He shakes his head. “I now know that was a mistake. If I was a stronger man back then, I would’ve sent Elena away and still been able to be in my son’s life.”
I tilt my head to the side, not sure I was convinced about what Romano was saying. “But you knew how much my mother and brothers meant to me! You could have prevented all this shit! By that time, you had already taken over your father’s position, you could have saved my mother from taking her life and my brother’s from going into the system!”
Romano nods his head up and down. “I could have, but by that time, I was pissed that my son was calling another ‘daddy’ and Elena loved another. I knew once I had you, you would do whatever I asked to keep them away from harm.”
“This is some bullshit!” Felix boasts. “So, not only did you let my brother suffer, you let the woman you claim to love commit suicide while her other sons sat in the system! Do you know what my little brother and I had to go through?! I should kill your ass right now!”
Fuck, there was no doubt in my mind Felix would kill him where he lay. “Sit tight, Felix,” I tell him, before turning back to Romano. “Enough with the trip down memory lane, why have you been trying to meet up with me?”
“It’s not so much of a trip down memory lane, just a clarification of the past. I know I should have broken the cycle with you, I just didn’t know any other way, Axl. For that, I do apologize to you too, Felix, and to Adam. I can see how much you three will go to war over the other, and I should not have kept you apart.”