Chapter Twenty-Four

What does he mean by gotcha? Is that a jab about my naivety to believe he was truly loyal to Jay?

I try to yank myself out of his grip but he’s too strong for me.

“You’d really kill her before having your fun? I fucking doubt that” Jay spews.

“You don’t really know me at all. Try me and her brains will paint these walls.”

Those words should terrify me. The exchange between the both of them should have me vomiting with enough stress to kill me, yet I’m almost oddly numb to what’s unfolding.

“Fuck you. You disgust me,” I hiss at Mitch when he refuses to let me go. After all the betrayal I’ve been on, I am no longer extending my trust readily. Mitch stiffens as I snarl those words at him.

“Keep your fucking mouth away from me.” A light chuckle leaves his lips which gains the attention of Jay. Will lays on the ground with his eyes narrowed as he waits for Jay to make the decision I know Will expects him to.

Will lives in a world where he believes everyone wants to bow to him. Narcissism at its finest.

Jay taps his chin with his free hand before he clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

“Killing you is much more satisfying,” Jay responds.

“Kill her,” Will instructs and Jay laughs as he looks at Mitch. They exchange a look wordlessly.

“Next time you seek out muscle for your dirty work, maybe be more careful about who you put your trust into,” Jay jeers.

Mitch removes the gun from my head and releases me. It isn’t until the moment he releases me that my faith in him returns. Will’s face goes white.

“You fucking piece of shit!” He snarls at Mitch who has a grin slowly spreading on his face.

“Not so big and macho now, are you?” Jay hauls Will up and continues to hold the knife against his throat.

“Why don’t you just shoot me and end me, huh?”

Jay rolls his eyes.

“You don’t get tired of hearing yourself talk. Great question, although you won’t like the answer. I prefer carving. Draws things out.” Jay begins dragging the knife across his skin and Will screams before he begins to try and fight Jay. He’s no match for the skilled killer.

Jay dodges Will’s attempts to throw blows at Jay. Jay humors him, smirking the entire time.

“Fucker!” Will snarls. Jay stabs Will’s side and he gasps, dropping to his knees as he clutches the wounded area. I blink a few times and realize I’m laughing.

“Akira, you don’t have to be here for the rest of this,” Jay says, nodding toward the door.

“I want to stay until it’s done,” I reply because I have been waiting for this for a while. Jay arches a brow as he scans my expression for apprehension but there is none. For once, I am sure about something. I want to watch him steal the life from Will that he stole from me.

Will is deserving.

Will begins to shake; he’s petrified and probably a little affected by the blood loss. Jay grabs the back of his neck.

“Look her in the eyes. See what you’ve taken from her and know this is your penance,” Jay growls.

“Your control ends here,” I rasp. I’m unsure why I’m not screaming. I always dreamt of this moment and the things you’d scream at him, but yet, they remain stuck in my throat or are whispered so he cannot hear them.

“You will not ever terrorize anyone again. Not me or another defenseless woman.”

Will’s bloodshot eyes and pale face look sickly as he begins to smile.

“You fucking loved it and I know it.”

My jaw tenses.

“No one fucking wishes for that shit… no one loves that shit. You’re sick. You’ve always been a prick. Always believing I owed you my life. I was a fool for believing you ever actually loved me.” My eyes prickle with tears as I continue.

I hate that he’s seeing my breakdown, that he gets this one final moment to laugh in my face and parade my naivety and kind heart against me like a joke, but I can’t help it. Now that the tears have begun to fall, I cannot stop them.

“I loved you once, you know. I truly did.” I sniffle, aware that Jay is staring at me intently.

“I thought I could change you.”

I wipe my nose before it has a chance to drip down my face. I shake my head.

“I was wrong. You were an abusive low life back then, and it is what you will die as. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. But you should’ve saved yourself,” I finish, before I sigh and that’s when Jay ends the abusive existence I’ve known for the past couple of years. He’s careful to carve along his throat but he doesn’t puncture his major artery just yet.

Jay is going to enjoy this moment.

Jay takes the blade and begins carving into Will’s cheek as he screams and begins to thrash and fight back but the blood loss from his side has weakened him significantly.

“Stop! I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll end your fucking life!” Jay snickers with amusement as he lifts the blade a final time, hovering it over Will’s throat. My stomach flips, but I force myself to look as Jay swoops the blade across Will’s throat and the inevitable happens.

This is it.

He’s dead.

Blood pours from the wound, a fountain of sins tainted red being released from Will. He twitches and chokes until life drains fully out of him. I expect tears like before, but that’s not what is produced from his demise.

Peace is.

I sigh, feeling the weight of his reign of terror lifting from my shoulders. A smile twitches on the corner of my lips.

“Akira…” Jay trails, moving to me after he wipes the blade off on his pants.

“Are you okay?” He pulls off his sweatshirt which is painted in blood and tosses it next to Will’s body, leaving only a white button-up.

Am I okay?

It’s a funny work because I’ve never been okay. Never. This chaos has always been my home. I’ve sickeningly found comfort in the abuse – the familiarity of it – and now that it’s gone I feel relief but a hole does remain.

Probably because I can’t believe it’s over.

Mitch moves to Will’s body and Jay goes to me, wrapping an arm around my waist before he begins to escort me out of the apartment.

“I would’ve never let him hurt the woman I love,” Jay says softly.

“You love?”

Oh my god.

His words make my eyes bulge as he continues to look forward while leading me to the SUV.

“Isn’t it obvious? I foolishly let you get into my head until nothing mattered but you. Not Dominico, not our ploy to get back at your husband, not even the DeLuca name was enough to control me. You are it,” He admits and the sound of those three words brings tears to my eyes once again.

“R-really?”

He nods as I stop at the SUV, rain pours steadily upon us.

His face is red from his admission, but concern lingers in his gaze when he sees me crying.

“I thought I’d lost my compassion forever, that I’d never feel anything besides the rage and the yearning for violence. You’ve proved that isn’t true. I love you, Akira.”

“Jay the Sadist loves me.”

He snickers for a moment, amused before he grabs the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss.

He breathes a sigh of relief, “You better pray for your soul.”

THE END