Let Me In

Chapter 49 - Ti Amo

But I couldn't do it.

As much as I wanted to watch her soul leave her body, two things kept bouncing around my mind.

One: I still cared about her.

Something inside me was saying that there's more to the story. Although I didn't have the mental capacity to hear about it right now, it was forced. Natalie...or Kaia, was forced to do this. Apart of me felt remorse for that.

And two: she wasn't done explaining.

If I murdered her, then I wouldn't know the rest. That was important. I needed to listen to everything, get all the information out of her before I did anything too quickly.

So, I let her continue.

"Then, there was the night of the meeting." she took a deep breath, letting her head fall back. "Your uncle and cousin, Giuseppe and Romeo orchestrated that whole thing."

My eyes went wide. Giuseppe? Romeo? What the hell did they have against my father? I didn't know much about them...only that he was supposed to take over the business after my grandfather died. Because he was older, it should have gone to him. But I wasn't sure why it didn't.

How could they do that? How could they have their own family killed? Romeo and Luca were close, along with Giuseppe and Silas. They were all close. They all had a bond, from knowing each other for so many years.

Nothing about this was fair. My heart ached, knowing that it was them. Knowing that they caused the death of my oldest brother and Raphael's father. The man I had grown to care about so much lost his only parent, and it was their fault.

"Giuseppe offered money to the guards working at the casino that day, to allow our family past the security. If they went against your father, he promised a raise." she shifted in her chair, attempting to loosen the tape. "The ones who refused were killed on sight."

Jesus. I could only imagine how many people that would have been. My father's employees always seemed to be loyal, but I guess some of them valued money more.

"So how does this involve you?" I questioned, looking down on her. When she didn't respond immediately, I gripped her chin between my thumb and forefinger, lifting her head to face me. "Answer me."

"I wasn't there," she said quietly, ripping herself from my grasp. "The only thing I did was ask them to take you. I just wanted to explain, Bianca. I hate this life, I hate it as much as Leo does."

Leo. My poor brother. He cried for who he thought was Natalie. She broke him. Of course, that brought up a million other questions.

"Did you even love him? Was that another lie? You were already using me, was that not enough?" my voice was low. I tried not to show how much this whole situation affected me, how it hurt me, how it hurt everyone.

Her eyes went dull, like she had forgotten about their whole relationship. Another tear began to form, and I ignored it again. "I don't know-"

"How do you not know?" I snapped, folding my arms over my chest. I took a step back to put some space between us, before I hit her once more.

"I just..." she trailed, thinking hard about her words. "I don't know if I loved him. I did care though, I can promise you that."

Promise? How could she possibly promise? After everything she's done, promises meant nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was already a challenge to believe anything that came out of her mouth.

"You only dated him for information? Because I didn't talk...am I correct?"

"Yes...but it wasn't always like that. He didn't tell me much. Only that you wanted to work for your father and he wouldn't allow it. He didn't say anything about the mafia, he didn't know that I already knew."