You guys remember when I told Rocco that Sky would look at me like I'm a monster when I finally told her?
Yeah, her finding out by being a witness to my eighth murder-- the look on her face-- was way worse than anything I could've imagined.
I called out to her over and over but she just ran away. I didn't blame her; how could I after what she had just seen?
I was running towards the door that should've been closed and was just about to yank it back open and run after Sky when someone called out to me.
"Teo, man, wait! You can't go anywhere looking like that."
I let out an annoyed snarl, knowing Dre was right and as I walked over to the industrial sink, I ripped off the blood-covered tank top I was wearing.
"Sammy, Jinx-- clean that shit up. Dre-- come here."
As if he was reading my mind, Dre was following me over to the sink, peeling off his sweatshirt.
"Got you, bro."
I rinsed off the blood as best as I could and for the first time, I felt remorse.
And I knew it only because of her.
"Yo, man... what the fuck just happened?"
After turning the faucet off, I shook my head, my heart racing and my nerves on edge.
"Fuck!!! Dre-- she wasn't supposed to find out like that, man...
My voice trailed and my body shook, knowing I was never going to see her smile at me again.
"I was gonna tell her!"
I shouted it out, not really to Dre, but to the damned spirits that jinxed me.
But no matter how much I tried to blame the fates and stars aligning for the perfect storm, I knew it was my fault.
I fucked up.
Again...
I threw Dre's sweatshirt on, not even caring that it was a little too snug-- I had to get home to my girl.
"You know this isn't gonna be pretty, right? This shit could go left with her, real quick."
I noticed the threatening tone in Dre's voice and it was now the second time I've ever actually thought about hurting him.
"She's not gonna say shit. End of story."
My eyes cut over at him and just by the look on my face, I knew he knew I was serious. My expression weakened a second later, thinking about what I'd be going home to.
"But, I can't just let her leave me..."
There was a threat out there.
Alexei.
And he wanted nothing more than to hurt me for what happened between us in the past.
And he managed to figure out that the easiest way to hurt me would be through Sky.
I couldn't let her walk away-- not as long as Alexei was still breathing.
"Then, you know what you gotta do."
The little pouch Dre pulled out made my breath hitch and as my fingers clasped around it, my eyes met his.
I let out an exhausted huff before nodding my head slowly, my eyes dropping to the pouch in my hands.
"She's gonna hate me-- probably already does--but I'd rather her be alive to do it."
✨
I raced home hitting speeds that I never knew the Range could reach. I opened the front door slowly, slightly preparing myself for the entire house to be wrecked.
Hell, if I were Sky, I would have set this place on fire by now.
But she's better than me and she always will be.
I ran straight for the bedroom, my heart finally finding its place at the bottom of Earth as I saw her packing a few items from our bathroom.
When she saw me, everything she was holding fell from her hands, and for the first time, I saw fear in her eyes.
She backed away from the bed, shaking her head as her face contorted into a grimace.
"The mafia?!"
"Shortcake, I can explain. It's--"
"Really, Matthew?! You can explain?!"
I turned my head and clenched my jaw, knowing that she only called me by that name when she was mad at me. For some reason-- her calling me that-- it made me just as mad and she knew it, so I figured that if she's trying to piss me off too, I couldn't take the bait.
"I was trying to protect you."
"By lying to me?!"
My eyes were back on Sky instantly and while I shook my head, my eyebrows furrowed in frustration.
"Baby, I never lied!"
She let out a sarcastic little chuckle before deadpanning me, her smile nowhere in sight.
"No, I guess you didn't, did you? You just left out a huge part of your life."
She shook her head in disgust as she looked me up and down.
"I don't even know who you are."
I felt a rip in my heart as I began shaking my head furiously.
"Y-y-you don't mean that."
"Oh, but I do, Matteo."
She gave me one final look before turning back to the bed, recollecting the things she dropped.
As I looked down, I realized what she was doing and it felt like my brain stopped functioning.
"What are you doing?"
She stopped for a second, looking out into the distance like I had just asked her to divide the color yellow.
"What? Getting away from you, duh."
I rushed over, placing my hands on top of hers in an attempt to stop her from leaving me.
"No, Sky... baby, look--"
She shook her head and ripped her hands away, my heart feeling like it was going along as well. I sighed and dropped my hands, watching as she slowly began the torture of making me watch her pack her things.
"Look, I shouldn't have kept all of this from you. But, baby-- I was just trying to keep you safe and I didn't want you to worry, okay? There's still someone out there, and after you were attacked, I just--
"Wait wait, wait, wait... what?!
She was shaking her head and as she looked at me, her eyes widened in shock.
"That night in the alley-- that was because of you?! That was your fault?!"
"No!"
I reached out for her and once again she pulled away, looking like she wanted to be nowhere near me. There were tears welling in her eyes just waiting to fall and when they finally did, she took my world along with them.
"I can't believe I ever thought I loved you."
It appeared that she was finished packing, and after closing and zipping the suitcase, she pulled it off the bed and turned back to me.
She was walking over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and as she sat down, I saw her reach behind her neck to remove the necklace I had gotten her.
The final nail in the coffin to our relationship was nailed shut but I knew I still needed to keep her safe.
No matter how much she'd hate me afterward.
I pulled out the syringe from the little pouch Dre had given me, and after yanking the top off with my teeth, I rounded the corner of the bed, huffing to myself as I began to mourn my and Sky's relationship.
"I'm so sorry Bambina..."
She opened her mouth to argue but before the words could fall out of her mouth the drugs had been injected into her neck. Within seconds, her body slumped over, and I knew I had a limited amount of time before the tranquilizers wore off.
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