Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 89: Chapter 89

TERZO
We’d been traveling nonstop for the last two weeks. Dani was resilient, like always. She was strong and determined to get the job done. I only had one problem. She barely slept at night. Most of the time, she didn’t even know I was awake, watching her.
“What’s on your mind?”
“We’re five minutes away from what I once called home. I prepare a speech when I face the person whom I call mom. Now, I don’t know what to say or do when she’s in front of me. Shall I tell her the truth? I’m not confused. I just never got disgusted with someone the way I do right now.”
“I know you need closure, but you don't have to face her. All you have to do is move on.”
She looked right into my eyes. “If you were in my position, what would you do?”
“You don’t want me to answer that. And I don’t want you to do anything for revenge. You won’t feel the same after that. Trust me. The satisfaction you feel won’t last, but the repercussions do.”
“Is that what happened when… you?” Before she looked away, I saw the glint of guilt flash in her eyes.
“No. I never regretted my actions. Maybe I had moments of thought after I met you, when I hurt you, but all I did was to protect you, to keep you close to me so I could watch you.”
As we arrived at the house she once called home, she stood there for a moment, contemplating before she pressed the doorbell.
“I’ll be right behind you, sweetheart.”
She turned to me. “Will you come inside with me?”
“Of course.”
She shook her head in amusement as she looked again at the guys in black suits. “You guys went a little overboard.”
The door swung open. A woman in her thirties was surprised to see Dani.
“Where’s Mom, Via?”
“She’s getting ready.” She shifted her gaze between me and Dani and the guys behind us. “She and your stepdad are attending a party.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Miss Dani.” She opened the door wider.
“And my stepfather?” Dani went inside.
“Upstairs.”
I followed suit, and Tristan stayed behind, watching our ride. Marco and Gio remained at the door.
I looked around. It was a decent home, nicer to raise a family in a safe neighborhood like this. Only her parents, or what she thought her parents were abusing her.
“I wanna talk to Mom.”
“Of course. I’ll go tell her.” Via left upstairs.
“Nothing’s changed. It’s just me.” She scanned the house before we went down the hallway, probably to the kitchen.
“Are you okay?” I held her arms. “Whatever you’re gonna do, I’m here for you, okay?”
She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I’m not gonna commit murder. If that’s what you’re saying.”
“You don’t have that killer look in you, Dani.” I looked into her eyes. All I saw was a beautiful woman who had been through a lot.
“Who are you? How did you get into my house?” I caught a voice of a man behind us, from the living room.
“That’s the perfect stepfather, John, at least, in the eyes of people who don’t know him.” She left the kitchen. We found John standing before Marco and Gio.
“If you won’t answer me, I’m calling the police,” John warned them.
“You don’t wanna do that, if I were you, John,” Dani said calmly as she faced her stepfather.
He turned around, surprised to see Dani, but he was also angry. “What are you doing here?”
“Nice tux.” She snorted.
“I don’t like the way you talk to me, Dani. Why are you here? You want more money? You’ve been gone for months, and you come back here with these? Who are these people? What kind of people are you involved with? Get a job, honey. You’re already an adult. People made a lot of money at your age.”
“Wow.” Dani crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. “You said a lot of things, huh. You didn’t even ask where the hell I’ve been for the last months. How am I? You’re not even worried. In fact, from what I can see right now, you’re relieved that I’m gone.” She took a step closer. “Why is that, John? You’re too eager to get rid of me from your life?”
He took something from his pocket— cash—and gave Dani a few bills. “Get out of the house. Get a job, Dani. Have some decency.”
Dani laughed silently, her body shaking. “Decency? Can you spell it out for me? I forgot what decency means.”
I slipped my hands into my pockets with a smile. I was so proud of her for standing up against her bully parents-ish.
“Get. Out.” John began to fume with anger. His face turned red, eyes narrowing at the girl he treated like trash.
“Or what? You’re afraid that I will tell people what kind of man you are, or what kind of husband you are, or let’s make it more interesting, of what kind of stepfather you are to a thirteen-year-old girl?”
“What the hell are you talking about, you ungrateful—” He pressed his lips together, clearly, showing off what kind of man he was.
“Ungrateful, what, John?” Dani provoked her stepfather calmly, making me chuckle.
“What the hell is going on?” A female voice boomed upstairs, followed by echoing high heels.
I followed Allison Souls with my gaze as she descended. She was not definitely Dani’s mother. She was pretty in her prime, and when she dressed, she could pass as a politician’s wife.
“Well, hello, mother.” Dani waved her hand nonchalantly.
“Will you tell your daughter to get out of the house? Give her some cash. We’re gonna be late for the party.” John was about to leave.
“Stay!”
They froze.
Their gazes found me.
“Who the hell are you?” Allison asked.
“Who do you think you are to order me in my own house?” John turned to face me directly.
“The husband.”
“Excuse me?” Allison asked me in shock before turning to Dani. “What the hell have you done to yourself, Danielle? Look at you. You don’t have a job, you don’t have money, and you think getting married can save your sorry ass?”
“Sorry ass?” Dani snorted, grabbed something from her blazer’s pocket. “My ass or yours?” She showed her an old picture she had taken from her parents’ house. “I can tell you right now I’m way richer than you and your husband combined. But I will deal with you later.” She faced John again.
“What is that, Ali?” He asked his wife when Allison just blanched, face ashen, and stood there frozen.
“You, on the other hand, pervert, sex deviant, dick, you won’t get away with this? You took advantage of my vulnerability, my fear, my memory, my weakness, and my useless mom.”
“Don’t talk about her like that! She’s your mother!” John yelled at her.
“Is she?” She raised her brows. “Why don’t you ask her if she’s really my mother? If she really gave birth to me. You can’t even deny what you did to me in my room.”
What the fuck was she talking about? I was already standing straight, straightening my suit. My skin crawled. My bones vibrated in anger. My blood boiled with overwhelming rage.
“My mother never listened to me because she was afraid to sleep on the street rather than protect her daughter. Apparently, she cared more about herself than the well-being of a child she stole from her real parents.”
“What are you talking about? You don’t make any sense.” John was confused and angry.
I went to the kitchen or I would kill someone today. I opened some drawers and found a meat tenderizer. I didn’t want to be bloody today, but I would make sure he would never forget what he did to Dani. My Dani.
I turned on the fire on the stove and heated the meat tenderizer. Once it was luminous red enough, I turned off the fire and went back to them.
“You did not even protect me, Allison. You were supposed to protect me from a predator like him, but you chose a lifestyle that you have always dreamed of, you are trying hard social climber.”
“You’re ungrateful bitch!”
Twack! The sound echoed in the entire house. Silence followed as Dani struck her fake mom on the face.
“You leave this man, or I will expose your lies, Allison,” Dani said. I believed in her threat. She was furious right now, and she had every right to be.
While Allison was too shocked to react, I went to her husband.
John’s murderous rage simmered. He raised his hand, about to hit Dani. “Bitch!”
I blocked him. I gripped his arm hard and pressed the meat tenderizer against his face.
He screamed in pain as his skin sizzled.
The smell of burning flesh hit my nostrils. “You won’t go to the party. You leave this town alone, or I will tell the world that you assaulted your underage stepdaughter.” I turned to Allison, who just widened her eyes because she knew what would come next.
“It was Dante. He– he blackmailed me.” Allison trembled. She just admitted she was involved with Francesco.
“He blackmailed you? I thought he liked you.”
“Yeah, he did, but he changed. I’m sorry.” Tears streaked down her cheeks.
“You stole my wife’s life away from her and treated her like some kind of disposable. A traumatized kid who just went through shits, watched her parents got murdured before her innocent eyes, and yet, you still allowed your maniac husband to abuse her? You did not even get her therapist.” I grabbed the back of her head and gripped her hair tightly to the point she was whining in pain. Her hands came to my wrists to hold on. I want to make sure she knew who she was talking to.
“I’m so sorry.”
I looked right into her terrified eyes. “Your apology meant nothing for years of abuse. I’m giving you until dawn to tell the world that your husband is not a good man, or I will come for both of you and skin you both alive until you are unrecognizable. Do you fucking hear me?”