Young Retribution

XXXIV

It's strange the way things can turn out. When you think that everything is falling apart, and that you will never be able to reach the surface, the one person you would have ever guessed, pulls you from the murky depths. They pull you out at the last minute, giving you the breath that you need in order to live another day.

I can't deny the truth that my heart knows. I had started to love Dominick again. As much as I hated what he did for a living, there was just something about the way he looked at me. The way he held me. The way he loved me even when I didn't want it. Even when we would fight with each other, there was always this light in his eyes. Yes, we were fighting, but it was still me he was fighting with.

I had been his whole world. He had cared more about me than his own life. Every breath he took, he took it for me. Maybe it wasn't obsession. Maybe he just truly loved me with every fiber of his being. The way he would smile at me, it was the same way my father would smile at my mother. I guess it was a possibility that calling his love for me an obsession, was my way of protecting myself.

Admitting that his love was nothing but pure, what would that have meant for myself? Did that mean that I was willing to love a monster? Did it make me a monster? Someone who let the love of their partner blind them to the evils that they filled the world with, could they be anything other than a monster? A fool maybe. A foolish, gullible, monster.

Or maybe I had simply lost myself in the man he had been at one point. The man that I had let consume every inch of my very soul. It's possible that my love for him grew because I started looking at him like we had jumped back to the us that was alive six years ago. I knew that I couldn't love the new version, and the evilness that he was made up of. So to protect myself, I changed my view of him. I changed my view of everything.

Change had been my only life line.

"So, I brought some sugar and cream," Elena placed a black mug onto the bed table and placed a small bowel with a few packets of sugar and two cups of vanilla creamer next to it, "Technically you're not supposed to have any of this, but I highly doubt one cup will kill you." she flinched at her own words, and then laughed nervously, "Probably shouldn't make jokes like that with everything that happened. Sorry."

"It's okay..."

Her hair was different now. It was much shorter, sitting just above her shoulders. The darkness of the color was lighter, highlights of caramel and gold blending together smoothly. She had half of it pulled back with a clip, a few loose strands shaping her face lightly.

"So how about I start from the beginning. My real name is Evelyn Shepard, and I'm a federal agent with the DEA. I've been undercover with the Genovese's for the past seven years. I had a twin sister who was engaged to Leo and Julie's older brother."

"They don't-"

"They did. His name was Michael. He had ran away from the family when he was young and managed to stay in the shadows for almost his whole life. Somehow, he was caught and him and my sister were killed, along with their unborn baby. Julie was crushed over the loss of her brother, who she'd been secretly meeting up with over the years, and became my way in."

"D-Did you know about the kidnapping?"

"No," she shook her head, "Not until Julie got the text about getting clothes for you. I didn't even know about Dominick slipping out of jail until you two were already on your way here. Apparently only Anthony and Leo knew about it."

"So what happened?" I took a sip of the coffee after letting it cool down, "Why am I here?"

"The night of the party, Leo told his sister about the flash drive and your plan. She then admitted the truth about me, because she wanted revenge for her brother's death. He was against it at first, but then she brought up you, telling him that this was your way out, and he eventually caved. Leo handed over the flash drive, and she gave it to me. I slipped out without being noticed and gave it to one of my connections. That morning I was given the go ahead.