Mafia Kingpin: A Dark, Thrilling Organized Crime Romance

70

            "I pray you find peace." Keelan rocked his head in his hands.

"I had no idea that she was depressed to the point that she would take her own life," Ellie's dad cried, and took another deep breath in. "D - do you two lads know anything that might have triggered this incident?"

The words that her father said just made me despise myself even more... because me and Keelan knew that she'd been sexually abused... and we didn't tell anybody about it. Not even her fucking parents.

"S - she was raped," Keelan stammered, shakily.

"W - what?!" Ellie's dad froze in shock, shaking so hard that he fell to the ground. "WHEN WAS THIS?!" he bellowed, kicking and screaming as he broke down.

"About a week ago..." I mumbled.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" he bellowed.

"She said a creepy old man did it... and then threatened her if she went to the police," Keelan explained, taking his head in his hands.

"That bastard is gonna pay for what he did to my daughter!" he screamed. "I'm a terrible father... she walked in late that night with blood all over her clothes. And when we asked her about it, she said she fell over... We should've tried to find out the truth." Tears slid down his cheeks and I felt my throat go dry as I watched him cry. I couldn't bear it.

"It's no use blaming yourself," I mumbled. "All you can do is try to avenge her death. If you look through her phone maybe you'll find some clue as to who he is."

Ellie's dad took a deep breath in, trying his best to keep himself together and stay sane. He got up from the floor, drying his eyes with his sleeve, his face puffy. "All of this was happening right under my nose, and I had no idea..." he murmured. "I'm a terrible father."

I crossed my arms awkwardly, not knowing what to say that could help him feel better. I thought it would be better off for all of us if I stayed quiet. There was a long silence between us, as Ellie's father took deep breaths in and out.

"Thanks for your help, guys..." he mumbled, breaking off his sentence as the tears started falling from his eyes again. He turned away from us, walking away sadly, leaving me and Keelan alone in the graveyard.

I turned to Keelan, taking my head in my hands. "We should've done more to help her, man..." I tried. "Maybe if we'd gone to the police ourselves, we could've saved her. Maybe this wouldn't be happening."

Keelan took a deep breath in, continuing to hold the cross of Christ on his necklace. "We can't just blame ourselves for this incident, bro..." he mumbled.

"I can't help but to feel like this is my fault," I sniffed. "I was horrible to her, I got in a fight with you because I was angry at her. She didn't deserve this man..."

I couldn't keep my emotions bottled in anymore. The tears started to fall from my eyes, and they wouldn't stop. "She didn't deserve to die," I sobbed.

Another tear fell out of Keelan's own cheek. He was trying so hard to stay positive. He was so strong... And I didn't know how he did it. It felt like I'd already reached my own breaking point. I couldn't take any more misery, any more shit going wrong...

"We've gotta keep moving forward bro, no matter how hard it is," Keelan said sadly, and then turned away from me, coughing up another sob. He stared at Ellie's gravestone, and planted a soft kiss on her name engraved in the rock. "Rest in peace, Ellie," he said, and with those words, he got up, and walked out of the graveyard, leaving me alone.