Black Romance

It wasn"t right, it was wrong.

I didn"t care who came looking for a job if they said they wanted everyone in the house dead for one person"s betrayal, I said no.

That was the only time I could say I honestly felt hate for my father and was able to see the man my mother saw. The greed and power had taken over, he had lost his ability to separate his values.

She hated him, and for a little while, I hated him too.

After that day, things changed, he did things differently. It was as if he had looked in the mirror and saw the same person my mother did. I don"t think he liked the image he saw peering back.

So, we had laid out plans, we weren"t allowed to deviate from it. If it didn"t seem like it would work, we pulled back until the timing was right.

I know he felt remorse for what he had done, and I often thought he still felt that remorse up until the day he died.

Because his last words to me were, "I"m sorry, tell her I"m sorry."

I never really knew what he was talking about, not until right then as I watched Berlin collapse to the floor.

Was he talking about her?

"Nice job, dip-s.h.i.t, you killed her." Virgo was softly caressing the flower, pulling the petals between his fingers with a tender force so that they didn"t pluck free.

Growling, I whipped my body around and lunged forward. Gripping his throat in my hand, I squeezed, cutting off his air supply. "You f.u.c.king a.s.shole," I said, digging my fingertips deeper into his skin. "I should f.u.c.king kill you right here."

"Then do it." His lips moved in soundless words as he held his gaze on mine.

"It"s not for me to decide if you live or die, it"s hers." Looking at Berlin, she was starting to come to, pushing herself up off the floor. Drawing back my fist, I let it go easily.

Connecting with his face, I watched the blood as it started to trickle out of the nose and over his lip. Virgo smiled, his teeth b.l.o.o.d.y and tinted red.

"You f.u.c.king p.u.s.s.y, you"re not even strong enough to kill me. You want to leave it up to a stupid f.u.c.king wh.o.r.e. You are just like your father, you"re weak."

That was it. I lost control. Any restraint I had been gently coddling, quickly dissolved.

Punch after punch landed on his face. I could feel his bones as they crunched beneath my knuckles, and his skin as it grew warm from fresh blood. Virgo"s body went limp as I repeatedly hit him.

Dropping him to the ground, he flopped over into a b.l.o.o.d.y pile. He was groaning, rolling around slightly as he held his face.

Turning to Berlin, I dropped to her side. "I"m sorry, Berlin. I really had no idea, not until today. I should have told you, but I wasn"t sure how you would react. You already had a reason to hate me, I didn"t want to give you another one." Filling her in on some of the details, I watched her face as it transformed. It was as if I had filled in some of the blanks, pieces of that day that she was missing.

Helping her up, she looked at me, her expression sad, but holding understanding. "It"s not your fault, I can"t blame you for something you didn"t have any control of. That"s not right or fair to you."

"I really am sorry, I was still just a kid, barely a man. There was nothing I could do to help you."

"Stop," she said, holding up her hand and touching my cheek. "Stop apologizing for something that"s not your fault." Her eyes fell on Virgo, lids lowering as her lip curled. "f.u.c.king piece of s.h.i.t." Walking over to him, she gave him a quick kick to the ribs.

I watched as her body began to shake and her tears came pouring down her cheeks. "I f.u.c.king hate you! I f.u.c.king hate you! You stole my family! You stole my life!"

Berlin stomped on his head, kicking him in the face and any other open area she could find.

Stepping to her side, I grabbed her arm. "Here," I said, pulling the hidden gun from my waist.