Deadly Possession - Chapter 7 (Patreon)

"Come on, Lissette. You can't stay locked in there forever." I knock on the door for the 2nd day in a row. She's still locked herself in that room. She won't even come out to eat. I didn't want to scare her by kicking the door in but she was beginning to worry me. The only reason I hadn't done anything yet was because I could hear her small sobs through the door.

I lean back against the wall. What the hell was I doing? Did I really think that she would be ok with me? I fucking killed everyone she worked with! Not only that, but she was getting her way with everything. If she wanted to pout and throw a fit, I let her. If she wanted to scream at me, I let her. I let her get away with everything. She was running right over me.

Maybe I should think like Luca. If I were Luca, what would I do in this situation? My mind flashes to the day after Elise locked herself in the car. Luca told us what happened... eventually. Elise had every right to lock herself in the car.. she was scared, yet she emerged with Luca's name etched into her flesh. I shiver at the thought. There was no way in hell I was going to do that to Lissette.

I sometimes try and put myself in Luca or Romelo's shoes but each time I try I don't get very far. I just try and blame it on the fact that they were both raised in broken homes. Maybe that's why they could be so cruel.

"Lissette. You have an appointment today." 

There's still no response. I've been trying to get coax her out of the room all morning. Today was the day she would get the rods out of her fingers. That is, if she ever came out of the room. She was driving me insane. If this was what it was like to have children then I know for a fact that I was NOT ready. I didn't have the backbone to be mean to people unless it was a direct order from Luca. That's when all my resolve went out the window.

I let out a frustrated growl.

"Lissette, you can't just hide from me in my own house!" I shout. My nerves were shot completely with everything that was going on with Luca and trying to find Elise. The last thing I needed was this. I jump up from the floor and go into my room to grab the key to the door out of the drawer. I walk back to the door pushing it open.

"Lissette, you're coming out whether you want to or not." My eyes fall on the giant blob in the middle of the bed that's covered by the blanket. I roll my eyes. Watching her was really like having a child. I walk to the edge of the bed and take a seat, the mattress sinking under my weight.

"Lissette, is living here really all that bad? I have done nothing to hurt you since you've arrived?" I ask incredulously. 

I've taken care of her and haven't laid one finger on her. I didn't understand why she was acting like this. Maybe I should let Romelo come and get her. A sob pulls me out of my thoughts and Lissette slowly pulls her head from under the cover.

"You don't understand... they're all dead because of me." 

She's sobbing so hard, but I'm not paying attention to her cries. She popped a blood vessel in her eye from crying so hard. I don't even think she's aware of it. I've always had emotions. I've felt bad for people on several occasions. But I could feel a tightening in my chest at the sight of Lissette. She was literally crying so hard over these peoples death, carrying a heavy burden as if it genuinely were her fault.

"Lissette. I want you to listen to me very closely. What happened with those people in your office, was not your fault. They were sticking their noses where it shouldn't have been. It was a matter of time before we came for you. They chose their fate the moment they sold the wife of our boss to another man just to spite him. We would have found a way inside. We always do. You just happened to be a viable option. But we had several options if you didn't work out. It is not your fault."

She breaks eye contact with me after a while and her sobs quiet down to whimpers. I can't help but reach out to wipe away the tears from her face. I couldn't imagine being in her shoes right now. She truly believed it was all her fault. I guess us getting there that soon is her fault, but the fact that they were all dead had nothing to do with her.

"Look, Lissette. We need to go to the doctor ok? You have an appointment today, and I really need to check on someone that's in the hospital right now." She finally stops sniffling and I say a silent prayer that she won't be so difficult to get to the hospital.

~

"Now, take a deep breath..." Dr. Shotwelll preps Lissette before pulling the long rod out of her finger. She's squeezing her eyes tightly together in pain. The rod had blood on it from being lodged into her fingers the past few weeks. I finally was able to get her out of the house, it taking much longer than I had wanted it to.

"We're going to prescribe..." Dr. Shotwell begins rambling about her prescriptions but I don't listen as I see Romelo in the hall. I immediately stand and exit the room going to find him.

"Romelo!" I shout. He pauses in the hallway and turns to me. He looked, distracted by something.

"Hey. Didn't think you'd be able to get her out of the house," he says motioning his eyes towards the room we were just in. I study Romelo for a moment, something about his demeanor was... off.

"Hey man, are you ok?" I ask. There were no secrets between any of us. If something was bothering him, he would let me know. He only shrugs his shoulders.

"Ya I'm fine. I just came to check on Luca." Then his demeanor darkens as he takes a step closer to me, his face wiped clean of emotion.

"I think the real question here is, are you ok?" He seems to be searching my face for something. Whatever he sees, he doesn't like.

"That agent, knows too much to be let back into society once you grow tired of her. You didn't think this through did you." I don't want to answer him. I didn't think it through. I honestly just felt such pity for her, and I let my emotions rule me. But now I wasn't sure if letting her live was the best idea. And there was nothing I could do about it because letting her live was what got me in this mess in the first place.

Romelo steps back just as the door behind me opens and out steps Lissette and Dr. Shotwell. The moment her eyes land on Romelo she visibly shrinks back in fear. Romelo notices the movement and a laugh leaves his lips, his eyes traveling back to meet mine. His voice is low and sinister.

"The moment you grow tired of her, I will be there. To end her." He doesn't wait for me to respond and walks away with his hands in his pockets. I watch his retreating form in confusion. He seemed pretty adamant on trying to kill her. Was there something he knew that he wasn't telling me?

The rhythmic beeping of Luca's heart fills the room. Lissette is standing quietly by the door while I take my time to visit my Capo. He looked worse if that were even possible. He was losing weight, and his scars were beginning to scab over. The bruises on his body were turning into deeper greenish colors. And his hair was now cropped. There was a tube down his throat helping him to breathe.

It was hard seeing him like this. He was the best. The smartest. The strongest. And now he was the weakest. Fighting for his life.

"You've got to come back to us, Luca." My voice fills the room.

"We need you... We need you to lead us... And to find Elise. We've got to find Elise and your child. There's so much here that is unfinished Luca.. But you've got to come back to us, first."

~

Lissette

The car ride is silent. I honestly didn't even know what to say to Nicolai. I witnessed a very private moment between him and Luca. It was so strange seeing him like that. All broken and unconscious when I only knew him as the terrifying crime boss. I wasn't even aware he was in the hospital. What could have possibly happened to him for him be in such an awful condition?

"Are you ok?" My voice is quiet, I'm honestly surprised he heard me. He only nods his head though in response.

"I know, it must be hard for you seeing him that way.. What happened?" I ask. I was genuinely curious. When I saw him last he was strong and healthy, and now he had a tube down his throat.

"Your boss was a coward. Blew up his home just to kill Luca. Almost succeeded in doing it too." I gasp in horror. I knew Matchup was crazy about taking down the Pasquino crime family, but I didn't know that he was completely psycho as to take himself down as well when doing it.

"I-Is he going to be ok?" I ask. For the first time, Nicolai turns to face me in anger.

"Like you fucking care. You probably want him dead."

"That's not true." I say trying to defend myself but I knew he was right.

"Oh save me the waterworks please. You people wanted to take us down so bad, you were willing to drag an innocent woman and her child down with it," he growls in anger. 

My mind immediately flashes to the woman we caught thinking it was him. Elise. She was Luca's wife, and their marriage was arranged.

Her being captured was partially my fault. I dug up her information that Luca had purposely hidden. I could see why he did that now, the people in that agency were ruthless. They sold her as a sex slave just to take Luca down. She was the true innocent in all of this. Then I remember what Nicolai said about her while Luca was unconscious.

"You guys don't know where Elise is?" I ask. I genuinely was worried about her wellbeing. Everything that happened to her on our half was my fault.

"No. Luca told everyone to go into hiding because of you people. He told us not to let anyone know of our locations. He took his family and literally disappeared. He only came out of hiding to deal with your agency. So he could make his world safe again for her." He gives a soft chuckle and I look up to see him smiling.

"He loves her. And he'll do anything to protect her. Especially now since she's carrying another life inside of her. You should've seen him when we were going to up to the mountains to rescue her. He was so stressed. We were stuck down there for three days due to the storm." The car is once again filled with silence.

"You people may have seen Luca as a horrible person with no remorse. And I know in some ways he was. But I couldn't imagine him not making it. Not being able to hold Elise again, or meet his child. He loved them. I'd never seen Luca do some of the things he did for her."

Horrible, unfiltered guilt washes over me completely. Not for Luca, but for Elise. She didn't deserve any of this. She never had a say in what happened to her life. I wonder what she was doing right now. She was probably so devastated. She probably thought Luca was dead by now.

The mixed emotions I was having was driving me crazy. I wanted Luca dead, for the sake of the world. But I wanted him alive for the sake of Elise's world. So that something good could come out of everything that has happened to her.

I try and imagine in my head, what it would be like to be married to Luca. How he could possibly show that he loved someone. Compared to what I had seen, Luca was incapable of love. But the way that Nicolai spoke of him, it seemed that he was almost.. human. Did he do everything he did because of his love for violence or because of his love of his family?

"You talk so highly of him," I mumble. Each time Nicolai spoke of Luca, his eyes would light up in admiration. It's like he didn't see the wrong that Luca did.

"Luca, is my Capo. And my best friend. There is nothing ill I could say about him." Nicolai's tone is so serious, I find myself staring at him in disbelief. How could there possibly be nothing "ill" he could say about him? The guy was practically a serial killer with sociopathic tendencies and a narcissistic attitude.

"How did you get involved with... the mob?" Nicolai chuckles but I was genuinely curious. I mean, who would willingly enter the mafia unless they were low on cash or something?

"I didn't get 'involved' with it. I was born in it." I look at Nicolai confused. Honestly I had no idea how the Mafia worked. I figured that it was just another gang and if you wanted to be a part of it you had to go through some kind of initiation. Like get beat up or kill somebody or something. So Nicolai's little "born into it" statement had me completely confused.

"What do you mean born into it?" I ask. Nicolai takes a deep breath.

"Do we really need to talk about this?" he asks warily. I know I should say no and leave it alone but I don't.

"Yes."

"We are born into this. We don't have a choice. Our parents give birth to us to carry on their legacies. To make the families stronger with time. I was the son of a Capo. But Luca's father had a plan. He was the Capo of the west, and mine the east. When he came into power, he came into my fathers territory, and took everything from us without so much of a fight. Luca's father became the most powerful man, controlling the entire north. My father just gave it away. Everyone hated him for it, because we were under Luca's fathers control, and my father was a coward. He took his life and left me and my mother." I don't dare speak, my eyes grow wide each passing second as Nicolai tells me about himself.

"I had nothing. We had nothing. Our lives were miserable. You wear the name of your father, his legacy, and everyone hated me and my family. They treated us different, awful. We were better off dead along with him. But Luca, offered me a clean slate. A chance to clear my name, to make my life and my mothers life better. The son of the Capo, came to personally recruit me. He saved me."

I gain a small understanding of Nicolai and his way of life. This wasn't a choice, it was a lifestyle.

"So are people ever sworn in?" I ask.

"Sometimes yes. If they are a part of something we can gain from." I take this into my thoughts and realize something.

"So then that means..." I don't even get to finish, Nicolai steps in.

"It's not just a pretty little title when we say we're the most powerful crime family. Luca and his father were cunning. Luca even more so. Anyone he saw as an asset, he would use. Luca has the brains to be the Capo. An even better Capo than his father. He's already proven that in the time that he's taken over."

I nod my head in understanding. All of this was much more complicated than we'd been led to believe. And now I was trapped in the middle of it. Then something catches my attention.

"Why are you telling me all of this so... readily?" I ask. I already knew the answer, but somehow I just wanted it to be different.

"You're not going anywhere Lissette. You already know too much even before I told you this. Now you can sit there and cry about it, again. Or you can try and make the most of it." 

He says it in such a tone that I think he probably rehearsed it in his head before he decided to tell me. He probably did. Nicolai was completely different from Luca and Romelo. He had a conscience. Emotions.

The other two didn't seem to know that there was a difference between right and wrong. I have to stop myself from shuddering at Romelo's words.

"Nicolai loves women. And once he grows tired of you, I'll be there to finish what Luca started. I will make your death loud, and long."

Looking into his eyes had been like looking into nothing. There was no emotion there. Nicolai was patient. And understanding. And he acted like he was normal. Other than the fact that he was ok with killing people, when I looked at him I could see him like a normal human being, other than his friends.

"So you actually enjoy working for Luca?" I ask. He scoffs at me as if he knew something I didn't.

"I don't work for him. I work with him. Luca, Romelo and I are a team. Always have been from the moment Luca stepped into our lives."

I could tell by the way his face lit up that Nicolai truly believed in his heart that Luca was the best thing for everyone. But I wasn't a bias opinion. I knew that Luca was a parasite to the world. He's had a hand in everything from elections to scandals. He was an important person behind the scenes. I may be the only one from that office to survive, and there may have been a reason for that.

Maybe it was my job to kill him. Especially now when he was at his most vulnerable. It would be simple. Easy. No one would be suspecting it. I just had to plot and come up with how I was possibly going to be able to get away with this.

I know this would probably end up being the last thing I ever did, but if I were going to make this world a better place, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. My mind immediately flashes to that woman in our room. Elise. I would be taking her husband, and her child's father. But I know in the long run they would both be ok. Probably happier.

I was going to pull of the greatest plan ever. I was going to do it right under the noses of his closest friends. I, Lissette Gray, was going to kill Luca Pasquino.