REDEMPTION | MAFIA ROMANCE | SMUT

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I shook my head.

Alexa tried to sit up, and I caught her wrists and pinned them to the bed. "Liam," she cried, her arms wriggling beneath hand-grasped restraint. "I didn't want her to die." Her tears warmed my cheek as I pressed our temples together. "I loved her. She loved me."

Yes, deep down, I believe Kathy did love Alexa. Alas, she loved their childhood captor more.

"Kathy was so sick, Liam." Her strained whimpers breathed in my ear. "I should have seen the warning signs and helped her. That's what family is for. They are supposed to help one another, stand by each other. I failed her. She needed me, and I let her down. I let you kill her."

"You are unaccountable for my actions."

"If it weren't for me, Kathy would still be alive."

No, Kathy betrayed the syndicate. "I was going to kill her regardless."

Alexa's breath hitched.

"She is gone," I rasped, and she suppressed raw sobs. "I said it once, and I will say it again. I will not apologise for choosing you."

I primed myself for another argument, but Alexa's head dropped into the pillow in defeat. Teary-eyed, she roved over our reflection in the mirrored ceiling,

I knuckled her tears away. "Do you honestly believe she would have let him go?" I asked, and her lips wobbled. "Ask yourself the unbearable, Alexa. If she had to choose, make an impromptu decision, would it have been you or him?"

Alexa's face scrunched up.

My hand smoothed over her delicate throat. "I asked you a question."

One tear fell from the corner of her eye. "I lost her, didn't I?"

"Yes," I said frankly. "Now, you can go through life, reliving her betrayal, the pain and grief, or you can hold onto precious memories that not even God himself can erase." Her round, wet eyes reacquainted with mine. "Here." Helping her sit straight, I tilted her chin. "Share something with me."

Alexa's throat worked on a forced swallow. "Like what?"

I never looked away. "Your sister."

Her breath shuddered. "I used to wait for Kathy to come home from my bedroom window," she admitted with a sheepish smile. "I loved my mother, but the house was too quiet when Kathy wasn't around. Some nights, I would fall asleep on the window bench because I was so tired, but I refused to go back to bed until I knew she was home safely.

"Anyway," she continued, "I overheard loud noises once and awoke with a start. They were arguing, Kathy and our mother, because she came home too late. My mum was worried sick. She was crying. Kathy was crying. I was listening at the top of the stairs..." Her face hardened while she revisited the memory. "Mum found emergency contraception in Kathy's bedroom. Why did I not remember that before?"

I had no response.

"That happens sometimes. I get snippets here and there..." Alexa glanced at the curtained window. "Kathy stormed up the stairs. I panicked and hid behind the bannister, hoping she missed my snooping." Her smile was sad. "Of course, she caught me. But she never yelled at me or anything. She just took my hand and asked if I wanted to go on an adventure.

"Kathy put me first. Even when she hurt the most, I was her main priority. Her tears didn't matter. My mother's upset did not matter. I mattered. It pained her to see me so frightened.

"We waited until our mother went to bed and snuck into the woods behind our house." Her eyes welled up. "And we walked right to the edge of the cliffside and waited for the sun.