GUNSHOT ➪ Zayn

ғɪғᴛʏ-ғɪʀsᴛ

Chapter 51: The four blood ties

Neither man spoke. Only the sound of their footsteps on the asphalt echoed through the empty neighborhood.
'Have you been here before?' Spoon broke the silence.
'No. I've never set a foot here.'
'Not even with Zayn?'
'No, every time he came here, he took care of his own business. He never brought me into it. The only thing I know is that he grew up here.' The dark-eyed young man admitted.
'He's not the only one who grew up here. We all did.' Spoon said.
'What do you mean?'
'Alyssa grew up on the edge of the neighborhood. Selena lived 10 minutes away.' The boss explained. Both of them advanced near a large black metal gate that Spoon opened, and they had now entered an unknown place.
It was a green space, and it could've been a park. James froze when he noticed the rows of stones sticking out of the ground. It didn't take him long to realize that he was in a cemetery.
'What are we doing here?' He asked when Spoon stopped walking.
The boss crouched down in front of a tombstone without answering James' question.
'We've come to see someone significant to you.'
James bent down in turn, not knowing who he was talking about.

'Grace Bell.' Spoon whispered, caressing the name carved in stone. 'Your mum.'
'My mum?' James repeated, unsure.
'She died when you were six, but you don't remember anything about her.' The old Mexican man explained.
'What?'
'Grace was an amazing woman, she was incredible, brilliant, and she had a gift for always finding a solution... and she had a lot of trouble trusting others, a bit like you.' He chuckled. 'We worked together: Jenifer Dallas, Asim, and Isabella Malik, Kirlo, Graziella Moretti, your mum, and I.'
'Graziella Moretti? Like the Moretti-Carrera family?'
'Yeah...'
'So this is true? The four blood ties myth?' James asked.
'As I told you, there are many things that you don't know, and that's why we're here. Because you need to understand the whole story by its beginning and if you want to understand you have to listen and stop asking questions' Spoon said.
'Sorry.' He apologized.
'First of all, do you want to hear your mother's story?'
'Of course.'
'It's not a fairy tale...' The boss warned him.
'None of these stories are fairy tales. I can hear it.' James promised.
'Okay. So as I said, we were on a team. We worked all together. We were mighty. We got everything we wanted. All our missions were successful. But you know how it goes, we're not 20 years old all our lives... so time went by little. I remember the constant arguments of Isabella and Asim. They love each other very much, you know, a little too much even. Graziella always wanted to make her life on her own. I think she was afraid. We were all excellent friends, a bit like all of you. Kirlo was very, very protective of your mother. They both had, you know, a complex life... Then afterward, we had children. But that's complicated too... when you become a parent, your outlook on things changes completely. I was a fucking asshole, I couldn't manage to make my family happy, and now my daughter hates me... Isabella and Asim got Zayn and Marc, but you know how it ended. Your mom got pregnant with you, and I think that's the only time I've ever seen her happy. She wanted to stop working with us. I wasn't against it, so I let her stop, except that, as you know, it's almost impossible to get out of this environment. But I still had contacts that could have protected her. No one has attacked her in 3 years. Nobody. One day I had to pick her up at her home and take her to London. That day your father learned that your mother had given birth six years ago. He was furious. It was too dangerous for him to have a son, so he came into your house, you were in your playpen, and your mother was asleep on the couch. He brutally murdered her... and I should have been there to stop it, but I got there just 10 minutes, 10 minutes late. And it was too late, so I took you with me. I went back to the club, I put you in the playpen with my daughter, and I called kirlo. He had a lot of trouble understanding the situation. he blamed me, and he was right: it was all my fault. Then he gradually withdrew into himself. He detached himself from our team, well, especially from me. Then followed almost ten years of constant fighting and arguments between him and me. He lived through your mother's death very badly. He hated me more than anything, but you've probably heard your uncle criticize and insult me for a long time, right?'
'Just a little bit...' James nervously joked.
'Then you know how it went...'
'You shot him in the head, yeah.' The young man said.
'Because he collaborated with the other side and that he was responsible for Jen and Asim's disappearance.' Spoon reminded. 'I shouldn't have done that, though.'
'You did what you had to do...'
'I'm sorry, James. You grew up alone because of me. You didn't deserve that.' Spoon apologized.
'You took me in, you gave me enough money to live well, you paid for my studies, and then you offered me a job. You made up for it...' James smiled.
Spoon gave him a compassionate smile and rested his gaze on the grave.
They both sat looking at the tombstone of the woman who had not deserved her death. James suddenly broke the soothing silence:

'Why are you telling me all this now? I've known you since I was a kid, and I started working for you 12 years ago.'
'My daughter... My daughter made me realize that I've been an asshole all my life. Today she hates me, and she has every right to. But I can't help but think that maybe if I change, she could forgive me for all the mistakes I've made.' He hardly replied.
'I'm sorry... for your daughter.' James said.
'You're a good guy despite all that. She'll forgive you.'