The time it takes Sal to find me.”
He paused, his masked face tilted in
confusion. Then, the door splintered inward,
and black–clad figures flooded the room.
And there, in the doorway, was Sal.
く
He stared at me, his eyes wide with shock. I
hung suspended, the grotesque stitches on
my feet clearly visible. Mad Dog had
wondered who’d leaked the pregnancy. Me. I
had a low–level informant inside Mad Dog’s
crew, just enough to pass information. When
Sal showed me that photo, I knew I had to
prepare. I left a video hidden in his desk, a
recording of me planning a birthday
confession. Sal had never been in love. He
wouldn’t forget my rejection that night. I
didn’t want him to know I “loved” him during
some fleeting moment of passion. I wanted
him to realize it just as he pushed me into the
abyss. Guilt. That’s what binds people, not
love. Love is a fragile flower. Guilt is a thorny
vine, wrapping around you, squeezing the life
out of you.
He’d searched the house frantically, a
desperate, broken look on his face. He cut
L
me down, holding me so tight I could barely
breathe. His hands trembled as he stroked my
hair. His voice was hoarse, choked with
emotion. Everything about him was different
now, cautious, almost…gentle. “Let’s go
home,” he whispered.
“I…I don’t have a home,” I murmured.
He flinched, pulling me closer. He mumbled
apologies, his words barely audible.
He put me in the car, then went back into the
dollhouse. One of his men blocked the
doorway, shielding me from the view inside.
The screams started almost immediately. The
collector. I sat in the car, listening to the
chilling sounds, imagining the horrors
unfolding inside. Sal’s hands were never
clean. Not anymore.
Sal took me back to his apartment. Things
were…normal, almost. But something had
shifted. He’d never let anyone stay in his city
Г
apartment. Now, he held me close, telling me
it was my home.
I saw Maya one last time. Her innocent
facade crumbled when she saw me. They held
her back, but her eyes, full of hatred, were
locked on mine. “Sal! Don’t you see? She’s a
cop! She’s lying to you! You have to know!”
Sal’s face hardened. He grabbed an
expensive vase from the table and smashed it
against the wall next to Maya’s head. I
flinched. He turned to me instantly, pulling me
into his arms. “Liv? Are you okay? Don’t
worry…it’s alright.” He kissed my neck, his
eyes searching mine desperately. “You’re
not…are you?”
I didn’t answer. He held me for a long time.
Sal smothered me with attention. But my
phone was gone, and I was confined to the
apartment. I asked for my phone back; he
kissed me. I asked why I was being kept
く
prisoner; he just smiled and held me tighter.
He hadn’t forgotten. He still suspected me.
He came home late one night, the smell of gunpowder clinging to his clothes. He stood in the doorway, watching me. “Why aren’t you
sleeping?” he asked.
“Can’t,” I said. The nightmares were
relentless – blood, screams, the faces of the
dead.
He held me close, his hand stroking my hair.
“It’s okay, Liv. It’s all over now.”
The next morning, the news reported a fire at
a pharmaceutical plant. Four dead, including the owner, a man named Gordon. Multiple gunshot wounds. Arson. Gordon…Mad Dog.
Sal had taken care of him. He was unraveling.
And he was dragging me down with him. I
wanted to destroy him, to take him down with
- me. But that wasn’t the mission. I had to
bring him to justice, to dismantle his entire
operation. My training officer’s dying wish
had been to clean up the city. Sal didn’t know
that the first person I’d ever shot was my TO.
He’d guided my hand, placed the gun against
his own temple. He knew it was the only way
to protect my cover. He’d told me to live. To
finish the job.
Early spring. Sal came home unexpectedly. He
was taking me somewhere. No bodyguards,
no sweep for bugs. He just drove. “Liv,” he
said, his voice quiet, “today’s…my birthday, I
think. The one on my ID, anyway. I made it up
when I was in juvie.”
He drove for a long time, the sun setting
behind the mountains. “I spent my childhood
in juvie. Killed my old man when I was eleven.
He…he blinded my mom. Crazy, right?” His
voice was flat, emotionless. “I wanted him
dead for years. My mom was a city girl, a
college student. My dad…he bought her.
<
From traffickers.” He paused, then continued,
his voice barely above a whisper. “He came
home drunk, started beating her. She was
already blind in one eye. I grabbed an axe, hit
him nineteen times. Juvie.‘
وو
He turned on the headlights as darkness fell.
“No one wanted me after that. Just the
gangs. The dirt. That’s when I realized…I
guess I inherited his…demon blood. Someone
gave me a psych eval once. Said I was a sociopath. I made those records disappear.”
He pulled up to an abandoned amusement
park. I remembered it, deserted and decaying.
But now, the lights were on, bright and garish.
And we were completely alone.
“I bought it,” Sal said, smiling at me. “Fixed it
- up. I never went to an amusement park. Come
on, Liv. Let’s play.”
The empty amusement park felt surreal, the
brightly lit rides casting eerie shadows. Sal,
L
however, was in his element. He pulled me
onto the carousel, holding me close. “Liv, you
know…you’re the first person who ever told
me they loved me. Everyone hates me. Even
دو
my mom. But you…you said you loved me.‘
His voice cracked. “When I found out…I
thought I was going to die. Because I betrayed you. I know it’s too late. But I don’t
want you to hate me. Please.”
