Craft II (The Craft Saga)

40 - Roman

If there was one thing in life I never thought I was capable of, it was love. Sure, I loved my family but that was different. You have to love your family. That's who your loyalties lie with no matter what. Blood is blood and it creates a tie between family that cannot ever be undone. My cousins, Junior in particular, had always been the closest people to me. I loved them wholeheartedly, more so because they were the only real love I had felt in my childhood.

My father was a brutal man and my mother was a fucking robot. From the moment I could walk, talk and understand what he was telling me, he raised me ready to step into this world and take over the drug business from him. That's exactly what I did, only I did it better. You have to love your family, but that doesn't mean you can't hate them too. That doesn't mean you can't kill them when they step out of line; my dead father knows that better than anyone.

Then there is her. You could say she stepped out of line, but I would say it was a thousand times worse than that. She wormed her way into my business, into my home, my family and my heart so gracefully. I reigned the feelings back; I didn't allow it to weaken me wholly. I didn't let it show to anyone, barely even to her...but I loved her.

For the first time in my life, I felt loved by someone, real love, and the feeling was mutual. Then she had to go and fuck it all up. She doesn't know this, nobody will ever know this...but she tore my heart out that day. It took me so long to recover from her betrayal that I could barely even allow myself to see her. I had to leave her there to stew over what she had done, but I was never going to kill her.

Yes, it's okay to hate the ones you love and sometimes killing them is a necessity too, but she's the exception. I need her alive because with or without her by my side, she fills an empty void within me. If I kill her, I will die inside too.

So when she fled, I had to find her. I had to bring her back where I could keep her around until I was ready to see her again. Ready to forgive her and move on. I knew she was terrified of me and thought I was going to kill her but she had to feel that way. I couldn't look weak, especially not in front of my family or my men and especially not in front of her.

She fled with him, the guy who "worked for me" but Junior had his suspicions of him for a while, it just took me way too long to finally listen to him. It was more so because I didn't want to listen. I didn't even want to hear her fucking name.

I still wasn't ready to see her, so I had my men lay off the search a little whilst I got my shit together. As soon as we discovered Ollie was actually Thatcher, my mindset shifted. There was no way on this godforsaken fucking planet, that I was gonna' let him end her, especially not at the request of her bastard brother.

So, all of that led right up to this moment on the edge of a cliff, myself and my right hand man, J saving our traitor's life. My father would be turning in his fucking grave but I'm fucked. She has well and truly fucked my life but I just can't let go of her.

I shoved Junior away from me with my knuckles firmly against his chest. His face was twisted up in rage and he couldn't stop opening and closing his fists. I raised my hand slowly to urge him to calm the fuck down as I returned my attention to Asher Dagon on the other end of the phone.

'Cabrera, where is my sister?' Dagon asked me, evoking a slow grin to spread onto my face. The fucking audacity to pay a fortune to off his own sibling and then dare to ask me about her.

'Listen,' I started. 'I'm just gonna' keep this plain and simple for that tiny fucking brain of yours, Dagon, she knows what you did. I know what you did...and whenever I see you next, you will be sporting a bullet in your fucking head.'

Junior nodded at me in agreement. He wanted the prick dead almost as much as I did, something that unsettled me and made me wanna' kick his fucking ass, but I had more pressing issues at hand than my cousin being in love with Cece. That was a problem for another day.

Dagon scoffed at my remarks through the phone. 'Cabrera, I won't ask you again-.'

'Good!' I cut him off before he could bore me further. 'I'm not fucking interested in having this conversation with you, Dagon. You hired a hitman to kill your sister because she betrayed you? I mean, no one understands that kinda' festering wound more than me; she fucking betrayed me too! But what you did, or should I say tried to do...you are gonna' pay for it in blood. When I see you, you are a dead fucking man, Dagon.'

The silence on the other end satisfied me greatly. I was about to hang up the phone before his fucking grating voice rang through again.

'So she's alive?' he questioned calmly, but I saw right though it. He was devastated that she wasn't dead.

'Yes, she's alive,' I answered. 'Your hitman however, is not. He has one of my bullets in his head and you're next. You're welcome though; I just saved you a shit ton of fucking money.'

I dropped the phone to the ground and smashed it beneath my shoe. Signalling to the body on the ground, I looked up at Junior. 'Shove him off the fucking cliff and make sure there's nothing of hers left behind.'

He nodded and proceeded to do as I'd asked. My attention returned to where Cece had been standing as I walked away. She was no longer hanging around waiting to find out what her brother wanted, but I had expected that.

Deep down, Cece still thought I wanted to kill her and as wrong as she was, I couldn't blame her. My actions hadn't shown anything otherwise.

I slowly strolled over to my car, waiting for Junior to get the job done so we could get out of here, and then I saw her. A smile spread upwards on my face as I leaned against my car and enjoyed the view before me. Right across the road, I could make out the blur of long, black hair swinging side to side as she ran through the fields with the intention of getting as far away from me as she possibly could. I had no idea where she was going and she probably didn't either but I knew eventually she would realise that she needed to come back to me. I had my shit together and I had moved on from her betrayal. I knew everything I had seen deep down in her whilst we'd been together was the real her and I knew that she was sorry for what she had done. I knew one day she would be back where she belonged - with me and her real family.

'Where the fuck is she?' Junior cried, running up beside me. He glanced side to side, looking everywhere for her.

I shook my head at him. He never was good at hiding his feelings. 'She's gone, J. It's time for us to do the same.'

'Gone where?' he exclaimed, frowning at me heavily. 'We have to find her!'

'We did what we came to do,' I told him. 'We leave her be now. Get in your car and go home.'

He looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he knew better. A slight nod and he tore his eyes away from me, stomping back to his car like a petulant child. I pitied Junior. I couldn't blame him for falling for Cece, who wouldn't? I did know for certain though, that she would never feel the same and for that I felt bad for him. He had all the love in the world inside of him to give to someone; he deserved a nice girl.

He just couldn't have mine.

Junior's car skidded off down the road and I pulled open the door on my own, squinting into the distance as the last blur of her disappeared.

'Run from me all you want, baby,' I murmured, still smirking in amusement at her determination to evade me. 'I'll be waiting for you when you run right back.'

The End.

Please head to the next part to read about the next book in The Craft Saga...