Garden of Sins

“Okay.”

Oh, Isabelle, one sick fuck more or less in the world doesn’t interest anyone especially when it comes to wife-beaters and rapists. They can be killed with a clear conscience. No problem.

“Are you ready?” Dorian asks and steps aside.

“Sure,” Caden says hoarsely. I watch him go to the first in line without hesitation and squat down in front of him, his forearms resting on his knees, as he looks at him with his head tilted. Caden flicks two fingers against the chin of the whimpering Mexican, whose greasy hair hangs down over his forehead. I know exactly what my brother is doing. He can read people as if they were open books, no matter how much they close themselves off from him.

Everyone watches my brother closely, especially the boss.

“Did you do it?” Caden asks emotionlessly and the guy shakes his head in panic.

My brother makes a dismissive gesture. Dorian and his father exchange a look. Caden crouches in front of the second.

“Did you do it?” he asks roughly.

“No!” The blond shakes his head and Caden tilts his head to the other side.

“You sure?” A little creepy smile crosses Caden’s lips. His look shoots over his shoulder to me that seems so hard and cold. I don’t know if I look the same right now.

Do it, his eyes tell me and I grit my teeth. Fine, okay, no problem.

I step closer, my steps echoing across the floor.

“Stand up.” With my chin, I point at the blond asshole and he shakes his head stubbornly like a fucking child.

“It wasn’t me!” Sweat drips from his forehead. “I swear, it wasn’t me.”

Before he can finish talking, I grab his greasy, sweaty hair and pull him to his feet as he bellows.

As soon as he is on his feet, I release him and take a step back. I trust my brother. If he says it was that bastard, it was him. I don’t like bastards, Isabelle. I also have a mother and a little sister and I don’t like that type of scum at all.

So, I raise the gun as panic twitches through the blue eyes opposite me. The release echoes through the room.

“I didn’t do it!” the man shouts, but I don’t believe him. If my brother says it is so, it is.

So, I pull the trigger.

The shot resounds in my ears, which immediately begin to whistle. My fingers tingle and my arm jerks back a bit.

I inhale deeply as the blond crashes to the ground. His lifeless eyes stare at the ceiling and blood spreads around him.

I avert my gaze as my heart races and sweat collects in my neck.

No emotions.

Caden does not flinch as he is already concentrating on the next one. Adrenaline rushes through my body like an addictive drug.

Fuck.

I just ended a human life, Isabelle. I shove this thought aside and tear my gaze that once again raced to the ground away from the dead man.

“Are you afraid?” my brother asks the trembling bald man, whose sweat glistens on his bald head. I step behind Caden and look at the guy.

“No,” he whispers hesitantly. Caden tilts his head.

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to lie and not to stick your dick in women who say no?” My brother gets up and nods to me before he walks away.

I step back a little again. The adrenaline is still surging from the last shot and my ears are still whistling, so I use the adrenaline to feel only the rush, nothing else.

“Get up!” With the gun, I indicate that the man should stand. His pants darken as he pees himself. “I didn’t mean to, I actually didn’t want to...” he whimpers, but I don’t let him finish.

I shoot him in the chest. Blood soaks his white shirt shortly afterward and spreads as he sinks to his knees. The life in his wide-open eyes fades and he tilts forward with a jerk, like a heavy sack of potatoes.

I secure the sulfur-scented weapon and push it back into my waistband.

“Take the others away,” the boss orders quietly and unmoved before glancing at his watch. The three other men start to dispose of the bodies.

Vito de Luca looks at us for a few more seconds. I am growing colder and colder, Isabelle. I know this will change everything now. Our whole lives, everything we knew. Something new begins and when Vito de Luca speaks again, the cold shoots through my veins like ice, freezing everything.

“Welcome to the Famiglia.”