I'm Not Broken - TH

•14•

I sit on the couch, the file of my dad sitting on my lap as I wait for Tom's return. I'm going to confront him. It's too weird that he has a whole ass book on my dad.
Part of me doesn't want to hear the explanation. I don't know what it possibly could be, but whatever is going on here can't ruin our friendship. It can't. He's my person. I just hope it's nothing bad.
The door opens, and Tom walks in looking exhausted. I already know this is going to get out of hand, especially because he's tired.
"How are you?" I ask.
"My brain hurts." He says honestly, kicking off his shoes and sitting down.
"Can we talk?"
He looks up to me, nodding instead of giving a verbal answer. I know he wants to relax, but this can't wait. I need to know now.
"What's this?" I question, setting the file in front of him. That seems to wake him right up because he sits up quickly, grabbing the file with shock.
"Why do you have this? What is going on here?" I exclaim.
"Chloe calm down it's nothing-" he starts and I roll my eyes.
"Nothing? Is the pistol in the car nothing as well?"
He looks at me, completely confused.
"You saw that?" He asks.
"Tom you're keeping something from me and I can't stand it. We tell each other everything. What are you hiding from me? Please tell me." I plead.
"Chloe, I can't." He states.
So there is something going on that I don't know about.
"Why not? Are you in danger?" I ask.
"No love, nothing like that." He shakes his head. "It's just a really important secret. Okay? I promise if I could tell you I would. I'm doing it for your own good."
I scoff, sitting back in my seat with irritation. For my own good? Yeah right.
"Are you an FBI worker or something?" I suggest.
"Quite the opposite actually." He lets out a small laugh.
"Tom.. I need to know that I can trust you." I sigh.
"And you can. This is something that you have to trust me when I say, you don't want to know."
Except the fact is I do want to know. I want to know what I'm getting myself into by living here, with him. I want to know who the person is that I live under the same roof as. How can I trust him when he just admitted to keeping secrets.
"I want to go through the doors." I say.
"Absolutely not." He says plainly.
"What are you hiding from me Tom?!" I yell at him.
He gives me sad eyes, his expression completely changing. I sigh, scooting closer to him and grabbing his hands in mine.
"Please... don't keep secrets from me." I plead.
"You don't understand.. you'll hate me Chloe." He says with a shaky voice.
"You don't get to decide that for me." I state.
He looks between me, and the large double doors that have been labeled off limits. He's thinking about it.. and now my anxiety kicks in. What could be so bad that he thinks I'd hate him for it?
"Come on then." He says, standing to his feet.
I stand up, nervously walking by his side as he stops at the door, and unlocks it.
"Are you sure?" He asks me. "This... this is going to change everything."
"I'm sure." I nod.
"I was hoping you wouldn't say that.."
He turns the knob, opening the door to show a simple hallway that leads to a larger area. He gestures for me to step through first, and he follows behind me. The floor is expensive wood, and the hallway brings us to a gorgeous entry way. There's now more doors and other hallways that lead to other parts of the building. I look to Tom, not quite understanding what this is.
"Over here." He says, leading me down to a room. He opens the door, revealing a large office. There's shelves packed with files, that look just like the one on my dad. "This is where I work."
"As what?" I ask.
"I'm the boss." He says.
"The boss of what, Tom?"
I can't tell he's hesitant to answer my question. He's scared to loose me, but it would take a lot for him to loose me.
"Chloe... I'm the boss of my mob." He says.
My brows scrunch together in confusion, and my brain flashes me pictures of all the signs. The gun, the money, the secrecy. All this time.. and I had no idea.
"Please say something." He says.
I'm sit in shock, not even able to look at him. I have a loose understanding of the mafia and how it works, but you never actually understand just how real it is.
"Does Haz do this too?" I ask.
"Yes. He's my underboss." He answers.
So Haz was lying all this time too..
"You can ask anything you want. I'll answer honestly. I promise." He assures me, but knowing the truth of all of this is going to be terrifying. I just know it.
"Have you hurt someone?" I ask.
"Yes.." he answers quietly. "But darling I would never hurt you. Ever. I swear."
"Have you killed someone?"
Now he goes silent, giving me a pleading look. I already know the answer.. you can't be a mob boss and not have blood on your hands.
"I need the truth."
"Chloe.. anyone but you..." he shakes his head.
"Tom." I cry, grabbing his arms. "Tell me."
He doesn't give a verbal answer, but instead he slowly nods. His eyes go blood shot, and the scary thing is that I know he's not upset about the kill, he's upset that I now know about it.
"Oh my god.." I breath out, letting my hands fall from his and quickly walk out of the office and back down the hallway towards the main house.
I feel tears stream down my face.. all this time Tom was living this secret life. All this time he pretended to be a good guy when in reality he's a murderer. He is just as bad as my dad.
If not worse.
I walk down the hallway, and Haz passes me, instantly getting concerned.
"Woah what are you doing back here-"
"Chloe stop- just let me talk." Tom says walking behind me.
"Dude she knows?" I hear Haz ask as I walk through the door into the house.
I swiftly move towards my room, and pull out my suitcase. I can't stay here.. not with him. Not with a bunch of psychotic murderers right next door.
"Chloe. Will you just stop and listen for one second?" Tom asks, walking in my room with Haz.
"I heard everything I needed to know." I mutter.
"I need you to understand that I would never, ever hurt you."
I stuff my clothes in the suitcase, and look up to the two boys.
"Yeah you'll just hurt everyone else. Is my dad dead? Did you kill him too?" I question.
"Believe me, we wanted to." Haz says and Tom punches his arm.
"Not helping." Tom scolds.
I zip up my suitcase, setting it on the ground.
"I left my home to get away from this, not to get myself into something worse." I say.
"No one here will ever lay a finger on you. I promise." Tom puts his hand out to grab mine and I take a step back. I know my avoidance of him is hurting him, but he hurt me by lying.
"I'm sorry.. I love you guys, but I can't do this. I'm going to call my mum, and I'm going to go stay with her."

A/N: aaa!!! She finally knows!