SHE IS THE MAFIA (BOOK#2)

Chapter 39

****Malachi POV*

There is a high-pitched ringing in my ear before audible conversations force me to open my eyes. I stare at a dirty wall, blinking multiple times before carefully lifting my aching body off the cold ground.

A chain rattles around my wrist.
I am chained to a rusted pipe.

I know where I am.
I know what happened to me before I lost consciousness.

The degrading words came out of my father's mouth as he beat me with a bat.

If you haven't chosen her over your family, you wouldn't be suffering as much. Now, look at you. Chasing after a woman who doesn't even love you.

Something about my father... no matter how much he might hate me, he knows me well. A little too well. It isn't easy to admit. It is easier to push aside the feelings that have resurfaced towards Tempest.

God, I am so pathetic.
But what can I do?

She was my first love.
She was my first ever serious relationship, the woman who made me who I am today. So, yes, seeing her after six years took my breath away. And yes, I thought I had a chance. I thought I had a chance when I saw she wasn't married or with a child.

Little did I know she had found love with a foreign man.
The same man with a cocky attitude who had snatched her out of my hands six years ago.
I still wonder how he coerced her into loving him.
Unless her love for me was never as real nor as strong as she said it was.

Margo was a lovely replacement.
Too lovely. Too sweet. To perfect.
There was no identifying flaw. Her obedience was overbearing. I wanted her to fight back, and it took me too long to realize how toxic I had been to her.

So as my father stood over me and swung a bat onto my body, I took time to reflect.
I will rather be the one taking the beating than Tempest.

And I hate how this is what made forced my true feelings to come out. It wasn't jealousy of Elias. It wasn't Tempest treating me like a mere friend all this time. It wasn't knowing and keeping her relationship with Elias that forced the lingering love I have for her out.

It's my father.
The one who knew back then I would fall for her.
He knows yet again because he has seen my guilty eyes and resented my weak heart.

"I'll go make some calls. I need to know for sure if he is dead," I hear Carlos say from behind me, "And keep an eye out for your son. He is awake,"

I groan as a door slam, the noise sending a pulse of pain through my skull.

The pain subsides when I hear soft sobs.
Heart-wrenching sobs.

I look around the room.

Her black curls cover her face, but not enough for me not to see the dried blood under her nose. Her eyes are closed, eyelashes damp from the never-ending waterfall that escapes her eyes. Her hands are tied in front of her chest, and she lies curled up in a fetal position. Her cheek pressed against the cold ground, and her lips tremble with quiet screams that can be heard from miles away.

"Tempest," I call out softly.

I scoot towards her regardless of my father's glare, only to be stopped inches away as the chain cuts me distance short, "Hey... Hey, come on," I beckon her, "Look at me. What is it, huh? Are you hurt?"

"It hurts," her voice is near gone, "It hurts, Malachi,"

My head snaps to my father, "What did you do? What did you DO?"

I fight against the chains, pulling with all the strength that's left in me, "I told you not to touch her..." I pull. I pull with all the anger that runs through my veins, "Wasn't I enough? Why would you hurt her?"