Chapter 17 - Who the f*ck is Shawn? (3)

T Y L E R

I pondered his words for a few moments, then realized what happened. When I sat with him and Faith in the cafe yesterday, I was so distracted by trying to protect Faith that I didn't realize his longing eyes whenever he stole a glance at her. He still loved her. Mario still loved Faith. I should've seen the signs. "Faith."

A bitter smile appeared on his lips. "Yeah."

"What happened?" I paused and quickly added, "I know it's none of my business but if you don't mind telling me."

Mario scratched the back of his neck and stood. "We are going to need some drinks if we're going to talk about that." He moved to the fridge again and yelled, "do you prefer chilled beer or shots of tequila?"

I couldn't handle tequila right now. The hangover would be painful so I told him I preferred the beer. Mario put down one pack, containing six bottles of beer, on the table. He seemed to know that I was totally worn out and wouldn't be able to open the cap so he opened it for me before he handed me the beer. He clinked his bottle on mine and we took a drink.

"When I first met Faith, I thought she was just another pretty face. I thought I would date her for a month, maybe two, and broke things off when it started to get serious." Mario leaned back on the couch and held his beer on top of his right thigh. "But she's different. She's simply the most amazing girl I've ever met in my life and I like her a lot. Two months become three and before I knew it, we've been together for ten months, longer than any relationship I've ever had." He brought the green bottle to his lips and took a long drink.

"She was kind and so pure, she lived her life in the right way and it inspired me to change so one day, I decided to leave the organization."

I took a sharp intake of breath. It was a bold move. I did the same thing a year ago and was lucky Santiano let me go. Although he clawed back to me after graduation. I remembered what the big boss said about giving me to repay his unpaid loan and curled my hand into a ball of a fist. Damn that man!

I turned my attention back to Mario's story. "They didn't let me go that easy, in fact, they didn't let me go at all. So when I started to refuse to do the job, they sent me a picture of Faith, and the rest was the same as what happened to you today."

My body froze at the mention of Faith. "Did they do anything to her?"

Mario shook his head. "They didn't but I did."

I frowned. "What?"

He shrugged one shoulder and said, "I dumped her." He shook his head and there was sadness in his eyes. If I didn't know better, I would've thought he was going to cry. "In the cruelest way possible so that she wouldn't even think of being friends with me let alone getting back together."

I told myself that I would let the man say what he wanted to say but I was curious about what he did. In the end, I let my curiosity get the best of me. "What did you do?"

"I made out with her best friend..." Well, that wasn't so bad, I thought, until he continued, "in our bed." Fuck!

I stared at him, wide eyes and gape-mouthed. "You did what?!"

"She walked in on me with her best friend in our bed," said Mario with a sigh.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" I wondered if punching him now would be too late. I might not have any feeling left for Faith right now, but she was someone I'd considered as a very close friend. And the thought of Mario hurting her, even if it was for her own good, still drove me mad.

"It was the only way." Mario's eyes warned me that he didn't like the tone of my voice. "If I continue to be with her, she'd forever followed by Manzini's men. They wouldn't leave her alone to make sure I behave."

"Manzini?"

Mario nodded. "That's the big boss."

I gave it a thought as I tried to recall if I've ever heard Santiano mentioning that name. "I've never heard that name. Until today, I thought I was working for Santiano."

He shook his head. "You're sold by your old boss." Mario gave his head a little shake. "I don't know if I'm jealous or take pity on you."

I shot him a questioning look. "Why?"

"You're dragged into this mess. You didn't want to be here, you didn't want this job." He paused and took a drink. "But I walked myself into this mess when my father—" he abruptly stopped as if he couldn't bring himself to finish his story. When he finally spoke again, it was a different topic. "You need to make a choice, Ty. You need to man up and make the damn choice because this organization, Manzini, they weren't joking when they said they'd blow your girlfriend's head off."

I lifted my brows. "Why? I thought they'd keep Autumn alive so they could order me around." Autumn was the real reason I was doing this and if she was gone —I shuddered at the thought of that—I would stop doing it. I didn't care if Manzini was going to chase after Santiano or me. Autumn was the most important person in my life and if she was gone, there was no point for me to keep living my life.

"That's what I thought as well until I saw them blowing Pietro's wife when she was on her way to the market the next morning after Pietro told her about the organization." Mario put his empty bottle on the table and leaned forward. "And Pietro was dead the next day. One thing this organization isn't lacking is men's power. None of us is irreplaceable, man. They can put a bullet in our head anytime they want."

"That means I can't tell Autumn what's going on," I muttered to myself. Shit. I was tired of lying to her but there was no way I could tell her the truth and it sucked.

Mario seemed to hear my words as he said, "you can't. The minute she knows, she's dead."

I never felt as hopeless as I was feeling right now. I looked up and let out a deep sigh. "What should I do?"

Mario opened another beer and took a long drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and put the beer down. "You have two choices. You continue what you've been doing so far but make damn sure that you won't make any mistakes. Not even a small one because it could cost you your girlfriend's life. Or, you break up with her and let her live her own life, far from danger. And when the organization sees that you're on your own, they will stop following her around. If you stumble and accidentally make a mistake, they will take it out on you. They probably will give you more than just two rounds but they will not harm your girlfriend." Mario leaned back and held his palm up as he waved his hand. "The choice is yours. Choose wisely, my friend."

"Is that what happened to you?" I asked. "Whenever you made a mistake, will they take it out on you and give you a few rounds?"

Mario pulled the sleeves of his sweater up, revealing two black and blue bruises on his arms. "These two were from this afternoon when you refused to do the job."

I flinched as I stared at his arms. "Damn. I'm so sorry, man. I didn't know they would hit you too."

He pulled his sleeves down and folded his arms. "You're my responsibility." Mario cocked his head to the side, he looked so forlorn. "We both are dogs on the leash and when a dog makes a mistake, it would be beaten."

I lifted the beer and took a long drink as I tried to decide which course of action I should do.