Love Thy Enemy

Chapter 3: Killer

If anyone were to know what I had done...

But no one will know. This is the house of secrets. That's why he let me kill them, why I am still alive. If I were to tell anyone I'd been kidnapped and brought here, Valentino would make sure they'd discover what I had done. Just as the thought strikes he rises from the stairs without shoes.

"Why are you barefoot?" I ask, distracting myself from the reality of the crime I committed.

"My shoes were covered in blood" He shrugs, looking behind him with a quick glance. Then I recall the other six men that had been locked up in the basement, the ones I hadn't killed.

"Where are the rest of the men?"

"I killed them" he says in the same tone he'd use to say 'I bought eggs' or 'the milk is in the fridge', as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?" I whisper horrified.

"You never leave witnesses unless you're willing to risk your freedom for it."

"It was my freedom on the line, not yours. You should have asked me"

"I should have asked you, you say? Well, how rude of me, I'll ask now, would you like me to put a bullet through my skull to erase all witnesses? What about you? Can I kill you? You who have now tasted revenge and seen my basement where so many others I promise you have and will be killed? It is unfair I suppose. Innocent people don't die, right? And only those who kill out of revenge remain innocent, right?" His words sing, his smile is distorted into an atrocious and ugly thing. I stand with shaky legs, abhorred by my lack of regret.

"Your hands are no less filthy than mine. Everyone deserves to die for something, you, me, the four men, the six men, your father, my mother, a brother, a friend, it doesn't matter. What matters is the decision to slit their throat" am I no better than him? Is that what he is trying to tell me?

"I don't care who you kill or why, Ana. I care that you don't pretend to be any better than me. We're not God, we are monsters and so is everyone else"

"I don't kill if I don't have a reason to kill"

"Neither do I" he states with decisiveness.

And in this silence the lines I believed so clear, blur.

"Crazy isn't it?" But I have nothing to say "I'll drive you home now" apparently having decided I've had too much.

"You're not going to kill me?" Following his logic, my death would be only rational, but man was not rational. And maybe neither were monsters. Was I?

"It was never my intention to kill you."

"You don't know me" He sighs.

"Perhaps we can finish this conversation next time we meet. As for now, I'll let you shower and dress, then I'll drive you home because you've killed my driver" Valentino grins sheepishly, taking a slight step forward.

"You're odd" In his eyes I see the humor of my words.

"You're not too bad yourself." With a laugh he leads me to a bedroom, a hand on my lower back, his eyes on the floor, mine on him. He is beautiful, how had I missed it. His jaw is strong, his eyes a piercing green, with a slight bit of gold in the middles. He is tall standing at 6 feet 3ish, in his late twenties. And a scar to set him apart from any other man I have ever, or will ever, encounter.

"Like to stare don't you?" His once powerful stance becomes insecure as he shifts from one foot to another once we come to a halt in front of the bedroom.

"You don't like being watched?" I wonder with amusement.

"I prefer to do the watching" Only now does he meet my gaze, for a brief moment before opening his mouth to perhaps dismiss me for that shower I actually really want.