Gods & Monsters | Bruce Wayne

FORTY THREE - FATE

Laughter was impulsive but Carla swallowed the urge, brows lifting slightly instead as she looked at Carmine in disbelief at what he'd just said.

"Do you not remember what happened to-"

"Don't even think about finishing what you're about to say." He jumped in quickly, finger pointed at her with narrowed eyes.

Carla obliged, not because she was told to but because she too didn't particularly want to say out loud what she'd intend to, shaking away the intruding memory with a disengaging breath.

"You should see the state some of these boys come back to me in. The Batman isn't going to do that to you."

"How do you know that?"

There was an air about the comment that made Carla's stomach turn with the thought of Carmine knowing the truth, scarcely able to bear the notion of him knowing and playing her like a winning hand.

"He doesn't kill these men, he's not a murderer. That makes me think whoever he is, he has some kind of heart behind that armour. He won't hurt you."

Carla swallowed, feeling her own heart tense up inside her chest, "And if he does? Or if somebody else does? Will you be able to cope with all three of your children's blood on your hands?"

Carmine looked into her eyes, her face hard and fixed. Her almond eyes haunted him, seeing his two sons staring back at him through her and for a moment, he felt regret. He had shed tears and he'd felt pain slice him to pieces when his sons' lives were taken, but Carmine was a man who understood that the world didn't stop turning for anybody, and decided to turn with it.

He had preached the gospel of consequences to Carla many a time and she had yet to forget his words, though the thought of her life being a consequence that Carmine was willing to live with unsettled her more than anything else he'd said had. Still, given the fate of her brothers, Carla realised quickly that she shouldn't have been shocked at the heartless decisions their father made.

Carmine put down his glass and licked his lips, leaning forward with his elbows resting on the table and his heavy eyes glaring across at his child.

"It won't happen."

Her drive home took forty minutes but with the lifetime of memories that Carla's mind traced back through it felt more like forty days. Everything that Carmine had said to her had reinforced her feelings towards him and added fuel to a burning fire of resentment that had been lit thirteen years prior.

She parked her car in the garage beneath her building and sat in silence while the engine cooled, staring blankly at the grey walls with tired eyes and a numb sensation claiming her body.

Carmine's orders hadn't been much of a surprise to her considering her options had become vastly limited after Jonathan's trial, but she still felt a sense of betrayal gut her, making her wonder how a father could do such a thing to his own flesh and blood.

She'd known he was heartless after losing Santino and then Dante three years later, but for whatever reason, Carla had clung onto the thought in the back of her mind that two lessons would be enough to make him learn. Clearly, however, she had been wrong.

"What's wrong? You don't look very happy."

Bruce stood up and slid his phone into the pocket of his blazer when Carla walked into the lobby of her apartment building. He hadn't been waiting long, finishing up work just a half hour ago himself, but the happiness he'd been waiting with to see Carla was quickly slashed when he caught the look on her face.

"Do I ever?"

He tilted his head in agreement and followed her towards the elevators, "Touché. Still, what is it?"