EIGHTEEN

Belle got out of the car and ran into the house, tears streaming down her face. She didn't say goodbye or even a word to reassure me that she would be alright without me. I remained seated behind the wheel, watching her disappear into the house, feeling a pang of helplessness. 

Starting the engine, I drove away, the image of her running replaying in my mind like a shattered Polaroid, fragments spinning in a loop. It shattered me, and I shifted gears to speed away as if trying to escape from myself.

As I parked my car and stormed inside, entering the living room, I found Giovanni and Coletti gathered around Leo, sipping whiskey as they cheered for a job well done. My blood boiled at the sight, all the years of suffering, pain, and anger igniting a spark inside me that burst into flames as soon as I saw them.

"Apollo, right on time," Coletti greeted, his tone casual and irritatingly calm.

Ignoring him, I rushed towards Giovanni, grabbing him by his shirt and pinning him against the piano. With one hand, I pressed his head against the piano lid, and with the other, I slammed the lid shut, breaking his nose. His screams of pain only fueled my rage as I dragged him to the sofa.

Coletti attempted to restrain me, but I swiftly kicked his foot, causing him to release me. As he recoiled, my fist met his face. 

Meanwhile, Giovanni attempted to crawl away, but I pounced on him, seizing him by the hair and repeatedly smashing his head against the carpet.

Coletti stood up, trying to pull me away, but my focus was solely on Giovanni. Leo, weakened from chemo, attempted to intervene, tapping his cane on the table in a feeble attempt to calm me down. However, all I could hear was a cold-blooded voice urging me to exact revenge on Giovanni for what he did to Belle.

I wanted him to suffer, to feel pain worse than hers. 

He assaulted her twice now, and I swore to her I would end anyone who dared to touch her. Pushing Coletti to the floor, I heard the sickening crack of bone as I leaned on him. Standing up, I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and went after Giovanni, who still tried to crawl away from my rage.

I pulled down his pants and, holding his legs with my knees, shoved the bottle up his ass, shouting, "Does this hurt?" I relished in his screams of pain. 

"This is how she felt, you sick bastard."

Removing the bottle, I slammed it against the wall, turning him back towards me and kicking his face until my fists grew numb. 

Marco ran towards me, but as he did, I stood up, ordering him, "Take him to the basement, give him hell until I come back."

Approaching Coletti, I framed his face with my hands, leaning my forehead against his. 

"You're next," I whispered, my eyes darkening as his eyebrows lifted in shock. 

"All of you just watched and did nothing as he took my wife to assault her again," I shouted to Leo before turning back to Coletti. 

"But you will pay."

"I know you work for the Russians, you fucking rat," I spat at him.

"Apollo," Leo shouted, holding his hand to his chest, "Don't be a fool, boy. You can't kill both of them."

Elena rushed down from the upper floor, shouting, "What on Earth is going on?"

"Did you know?" I turned towards her, grabbing her neck. 

"Apollo, calm down," she barely managed to say, tapping my hand against her neck.

I stopped, taking my hand away from her neck. 

"Did you fucking know he assaulted Belle?"

She stood silent, a clear indication that she was aware. With that knowledge, I pushed her away as she stepped closer. 

Walking away, I shouted to the other men at the door, "No one leaves until I say so."

"Apollo, this is madness," Elena shouted as I descended the stairs to the basement door.

Maybe it was. 

But it was mostly what they made me. The Beast, a madman without concessions, a man without remorse. But what I did have was a heart, and it beat for her. For Belle. Seeing her crushed, afraid of the dark because they had made her so, trembling in my hands, brought back fragments from my past. I broke into madness, and it consumed me.

Entering the basement, I found Marco securing Giovanni to a chair. Giovanni had a choice, and he chose to make me the beast, just as he was one. At this point, we were no different, both broken villains in someone's story. 

He broke me so badly that I became unbreakable, turning me into a man who feared neither death nor breaking bones, ending lives. But there was one thing he feared—the monsters he had created coming back to him. And he stared right into the eyes of the greatest monster he had created.

"Life isn't fair, is it?" I asked him, my voice laced with rage.

He laughed, "Wasn't easy either."

Walking to the desk, I grabbed a chair and sat in front of him. "I want to know why?" I asked.

"It's just business, Apollo," he grinned, blood staining his teeth from my punches.

I chuckled, punching him again. His head tilted, but he turned it back, spitting at the ground, his spit crimson red. 

"I will give you hell, old man."

He continued laughing, taunting, "If you believe this is hell, just wait for what awaits your bitch."

Without hesitation, I clenched my fist and struck him again.

"I will make sure you won't survive that to happen."

"You will choose her over your family," he jeered.

Enraged, I struck him again. 

"I will choose her over all of you thousands of times if I must."

"When I remember her sweet flower popping..." he said, laughing.

I stood up, grabbed a chair, and slammed it at him. His bones broke as the wood shattered against his skin. He growled, laughing, "You can kill me, Apollo, but you know she is your weakness, and everyone knows that."

As he continued to mock me, I seized a knife and drove it between his ribs. 

"You will pay for everything you've done," I said.

"Marco, bring me the box with the rats," I commanded.

Marco stood silently by my side, not even blinking. He walked to the wooden box, and as the faint sound of rats scurrying filled the room, I whispered closer to Giovanni, "Remember how I screamed every time you closed that lid on the box? I want you to remember it as you die slowly inside."

His skin grew paler as I mentioned it, revealing his fear. 

"No!" Giovanni's scream pierced the air. "I will tell you whatever you want to know."

"Who else was there?" I demanded, taking a seat on the box.

His laughter reverberated, and he spat out, "It was just you and me."

"What are you talking about?" I pressed, my patience wearing thin.

"Stop acting like you don't remember the satisfying smirk on your face as you fucked her for the first time," he taunted, malice gleaming in his eyes.

"What?" I erupted, closing the distance between us. 

"I would never," I said in disgust.

"I bet Nicholas can make you remember," he sneered.

"You're a liar!" I shouted.

He spat in my face, a grin etched on his lips. 

"You took her the same way as I did, like the filthy street dog you are. You even got rid of her," he jeered.

"Lies," I seethed, unleashing a forceful blow to his face.

"Truth, Apollo," he chuckled, reveling in the darkness of his laughter. "You know I may be a monster, but at least I am an honest one."

"You sick bastard," I snarled, disgust dripping from my voice.

Giovanni's laughter persisted. 

"C'mon, you enjoyed yourself," he jeered.

Unable to contain my fury, I swiftly grabbed a gun from the table and aimed it at his right arm, pulling the trigger without a second thought. A gunshot echoed, and Giovanni grimaced in pain.

"Rats go crazy at the smell of blood," I declared coldly.

As Marco untied him and dragged him to the box, he shouted, "Nicholas is alive and on his way."

Frustration surged within me. 

"Marco, screw the top of the box; he's not coming out of there," I ordered, my jaw clenched.

Exiting the basement, I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. I shut my eyes, attempting to recall the fragments of memories from that night. I saw her face in the dark, but my mind was playing tricks on me, not letting me remember.

Tears welled in my eyes, and a sharp pain gripped my chest. 

"Fuck!" I growled, releasing my anger on the nearby chair as I took it in my hands and smashed it against the wall.

Returning upstairs, I wiped the blood from my face. Elena stood gracefully by the piano, her fingers gliding over the keys, weaving a haunting melody. Leo and Coleti were still seated, taking sips of whiskey in their sorrow as they listened to Elena's symphony.

"Mom?" I uttered, seeking solace as I sat next to her at the piano.

"Shh," she hushed me, continuing to play a song she had composed when she first cradled me in her arms. I sat beside her, resting my head on her shoulder.

"I fucked up," I confessed. "I was one of the monsters she feared."

Elena played on, silent until the final chord. 

"If you want her scars to heal, then stop touching them," she whispered sagely.

Elena rose from the piano, lifting the cover and snapping a wire into her hands. 

"Since you ruined one hell of a good piano, let's not let it go to waste," she said.

Approaching Leo and Coleti, she touched Coletti's shoulders, got the wire up to his throat, and started to strangle him, cutting his throat. 

"Rest in hell," she declared.

Leo calmly wiped the blood from his face with his handkerchief as Elena's piano lesson left a red trail on his face. 

"Didn't see this coming," he replied calmly.

She pushed Coletti's cold body from the chair and sat next to Leo. 

"This was for all the years of abuse," she explained.

"And you killed him now?" I asked.

"Since you started it," Elena sneered, "I thought I might finish it."

Leo looked at both of us. 

"I don't have long," he said. "The doctor gave me not more than a month to live."

"Leo," Elena's eyes softened as she touched his shoulder.

"Apollo, when I'm gone, at my funeral, the first man who arranges the meeting will be the person who wants to kill you to become El capo de tutti capo," he said, "but surprise them by making a deal with Gotti and Gambino. Everyone else will follow now that Coletti is dead, and I assume Giovanni as well."

"Leo," I said, approaching him, "I will make you proud."

"I don't doubt it," he replied, turning to Elena. "When I die, take Atlas far away from all of this."

She nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"You will have to deal with Russians and Chinese," he continued, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. 

"I've sent Jimmy behind their backs to follow Nicholas, to check about the theory that he is alive."

He tapped the floor with his cane, saying, "Russians will want new weapons, while the Chinese will need transportation of their goods over the sea. Refuse them. We don't deal with either."

With Elena's help, he stood up, brushing her hand under his, as he started to cough. 

"Aurelio owes us a favor; he will have to marry Sergio's daughter, no questions asked." 

Slowly, he walked towards the front door, taking his hat, and leaning against his cane. He was ill and weak. 

For the first time in my life, I felt sorry for him. 

He was a father figure for me that I never had. While Giovanni taught me how to be a beast, Leo made me into a man and a boss, following his example.

"And Apollo, Gotti will take care of the Chinese; don't even get yourself involved," Leo said, opening the door.

"Listen, observe, and think, don't act," he continued, almost breathless from the effort. "Only a fool acts on barking dogs, capisce?"

"Yes," I replied. "What about Nicholas?" I asked.

"Do what you wish, but be prepared and smart about it," he said as I walked him with Elena outside next to the car. 

"And now that Coletti is gone, keep an eye on Sabrina. Jealousy is a disease, and you are the one who will pay the price."

I nodded as I held my hand out for him, helping him into the car. Elena placed a hand on my shoulder, silently giving me a nod with tears in her eyes, signaling that it was time to say goodbye to him.

His cane fell, and as I knelt to grab it for him, I asked, "Is this a goodbye?" I chuckled, "Because if it is, you'll make me tear up, you old fart."

He laughed, patting my shoulder. "What a journey, life," he said. "I'll see you around; you know we will all go to the same place."

I chuckled, my heart sinking. "Safe travels."

"My boy, the best is yet to come," he said, holding my hand and shaking it.

I closed the door, and they drove off. I sat down at the front door, and not going to lie, a tear slowed down its fall.