48 | Old Friend

“*Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future.” — Oscar Wilde*.


**Third Person POV**


The man pulled his shinning Aston Martin through the old rusty gates of Mount Carmel and cringed. Not that he was a rich snob, but because he detested the idea of his friend living in a place like this.
It was large, ancient and holy.
None of those fucking things ever defined them. They were the worst of men, ruthless monsters who only lived for themselves.
It was late evening, and he contemplated that Gabriel would be in the church, praying or whatever the hell people (or priests) do inside a church in the evening. He strolled around, looking for the arched door of the church and finally spotted after a few wrong turns.
It would not be the first time that Marco Alessi would be entering a church, and he held the same boring expression on his face every time his foster father made him go there on Sunday— long after he turned eighteen and a fucking adult.
When he reached the arched doors and pushed with his strength, the scent of candle wax and everything holy wafted into his nose. He cringed. As a man who was an enforcer by profession, a right-hand mafia in the city of Chicago, the woodsy smell and crucifix made him uncomfortable.
He looked around the place, noting the countless rows of flickering flames illuminating the perimeter and behind the altar. And finally, he spotted him. Kneeling in the front pew, he saw the dark outline of broad shoulders and a bowed head.
“You got to be fucking kidding me,” Marco muttered. Even though his voice was low, the sound echoed around the walls as if the Almighty too could offence in his language.
Gabriel opened his eyes, and without even looking back, he recognised his voice. He merely raised his head, made a sign of the cross and unfolded himself from the pew. The rosary was still wrapped in his fingers — the very hand that once upon a time held a flogger against a bare ass — and slowly turned around to greet his old friend with a deadpan expression.
Gabriel’s deliberate, unhurried steps towards Marco gave him all the time to peruse his friend from head to toe with incredulous blue eyes. Marco could not believe his eyes. The black cassock was just…out of place with Gabriel’s personality.
“Fuuuccckk.” He drawled the word with a chuckle.
“This is a church,” Gabriel reminded him solemnly.
Marco rolled his eyes and then made a pretence of looking around. “The fact that I have not been lit in flames makes it hard to believe. How are you? Wait, don’t answer that. You look like shit.”
It was the first time Gabriel smiled. “Well, thanks, Marco. You look…” He looked him up and down, “…the same asshole you were before.”
“This is a church,” Marco mocked his tone, and then the men burst out in a short laugh.
“Yeah, and I am not exactly an ideal example of a holy man,” Gabriel retorted as the men embraced each other in a brief hug and slapped each other’s shoulders. Together, they took the seats in one of the pews for a conversation.
“You are not meant to be here,” Marco said. “It’s fucking creepy.”
“Don’t tell me that a man like you are afraid of ghosts.” Father Sullivan smiled.
Marco lifted a casual shoulder in a shrug. “Well, I have killed my fair share of people, and I do not suppose all of them landed up in heaven. Otherwise, I would not have to kill them. Never mind. I hope you haven’t called me here, all the way from Chicago, to share ghost stories, did you?”
Gabriel shook his head as his demeanour turned serious. “I need some information.”
“Now we are talking, Gabe.” Marco nodded. “What is it?”
“Have you ever heard of the name Zane Abbott? Diamantaire by profession.” While Marco scrunched his brows and recalled, Gabriel pulled out his phone and showed him a picture.
“No,” the enforcer confirmed and looked up. “Is he from Chicago?”
“No, New York-based. But he does conduct his business in certain parts of Chicago. I need his profile, Marco. I know the job is beneath you, but I have to keep it under the wraps.”
As someone who took out high-profile businessmen, diplomats, politicians and criminals, Marco was the go-to guy for the Romano family based in Chicago. The undisputed criminal family of Chicago with immeasurable wealth and powerful influence.
“What should I be looking for?” He asked.
“Every dirty deal he has ever made. I want names, I want proof, and it should be enough to grab him by the balls,” Gabriel directed. He had already thought this through.
The man laughed in his face. “What did he do, my friend, that pissed you off so badly?”
“Just get me the information.”
Marco looked at him, and his brows pulled together before the realisation dawned on him. “Oh, shit. Fuck,” he whispered, gaping. “Please don’t tell me it is what I think it is?”
Gabriel frowned, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. “Since when do you speak so cryptically?”
“It is about a girl, isn’t it?” Marco asked point-blank.
But Gabriel made the cardinal mistake of answering too quickly. Too defensively. “No.”
“A student, if I am not wrong?” He pushed.
“Fuck, Marco,” Gabriel gritted his teeth and grunted. “Just get information and nothing else.”
Marco threw his head back and laughed—loudly. His long, corded arms spread on each side as he relaxed back in his seat. “Six years, Gabe, six years,” he reminisced fondly and smiled wryly. “You took up and left and never looked back all these years. You punished yourself for someone else’s defect, twisting yourself so much so that you just lived to hate yourself. So, what the fuck are you trying to redeem here?”
Gabriel fixated his eyes on the Cross at the altar, the only solace way he could draw at the moment. Ever since Sienna told him about their past, he was restless and roaring from within. If he were the man he was six years ago, he would have driven a knife through the heart of Zane Abbott and gave him the most torturous death possible.
But he had already relinquished that life.
And he could not afford to be that man — if not for himself, for Sienna.
“What are you, my confessor?” Gabriel quipped. “Sorry to disappoint you, asshole, there are enough priests in this parish who’d take my confession. Can you do the job or not?”
“Does any of those priests know about your sins as much as I know?” Marco countered with a raised brow and then winked.
“You are not going to let it go, are you?” Gabriel narrowed his eyes and then cursed under his breath. “Stubborn fuck.”
They sat in silence for a long beat before Marco popped the question and put him on the spot. “So, who is it, Gabe?”
The young priest flared his nose and tried his best to control the temper. He slowly locked his eyes with his old friend. “I went to Chicago for a religious congregation and happened to come across a certain someone,” he revealed with a wicked intent. “I did not know Aurora is back in the city, do you?”
The entire demeanour of Marco Alessi changed. He dropped his facade a man and wore the look of a savage wolf, one who would go into any length to protect a mate. “Careful, Gabe,” he warned him. His baritone dropped, cold and merciless.
Gabriel nodded knowingly and then looked ahead. “All of us have old skeletons in our closet, Marco. Let’s not dig for more.”
“Why me? And why not, Lachlan?” Marco asked, snatching Gabriel’s sharp attention once again. “You could have gone to him, and he would have helped you anyway.”
The name of his brother sparked something within Gabriel. Her throat clogged with an indescribable ache, and his palms balled into fists. “I have not seen him for six years.”
“Whether you accept or not, he is your brother, Gabriel,” Marco reminded him. “He has been your brother all along. The only family you can count on, and you just pushed him away.”
Gabriel knew. He was aware of the fact that he did not do right by his brother, abandoning him without a word for the sins of his father, but he just could not bring himself to call him. Or text him on his birthday.
Two years ago, he merely called his office and hung up after he heard a distant ‘hello’ of Lachlan. Never again, he tried to establish contact.
“Marco, please, let it go,” Gabriel pleaded.
The man let out a heavy sigh, clapping a hand on his friend’s knee and assured. “Fine, I will get you everything on Zane Abbott. But, first, I need to know his sins.”
Gabriel turned his head. “How do you deal with a man who takes advantage of a fifteen-year-old girl?”
“Right.” He slapped the wooden pew and stood up.
Marco Alessi was a monster in his own right, but his depravity has never Extended towards the sexual abuse of girls or women.
He was about to leave but abruptly turned around. “You are a bastard; you know that? That’s why you called me and not Lachlan?” Gabriel only smiled. “But even if I get you everything on Zane Abbott guy, what are you going to do? Please don’t tell me you are going to make him recite fucking Hail Marys and forgive him?”
“I’d rather follow the Old Testament,” the priest answered with a wicked glint in his eyes.
“Yeah, no clue about that.”
“In the Old Testament, God’s anger repeatedly burns against his people for their disobedience. The most common forms of capital punishment in the Bible include burning at the stake, stoning, hanging, and crucifixion, just to name a few.”
“Ouch. You are evil.” He smirked and then nodded. “I will see what I can get.”
Once again, he turned to leave but didn’t. “Oh, and Gabriel?”
“Yeah?”
“Someday, I want to meet this girl who finally revoked your celibacy.”
Marco did not wait for Gabriel to retort and briskly walked out of the church, leaving the priest to muse on his own. Perhaps, his friend knew him a little too much. And then he pondered over his words.
Maybe, underneath this veneer of holy cassock, Gabriel was still the man he was six years ago. In his heart and soul, he was still *Gabriel Wellard* - the sinner and not *Father Gabriel Sullivan*.

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**Marco Alessi is a character from the series ‘The Monster’s Protege’ I had started back in 2018, and this is just a cameo for him. He is an old friend of Gabriel. And those of you asking for TMP updates, I hear you. And I will oblige once I am done with ‘The Sinner’. Working three stories will just kill me (lol).
The Monster’s Protege will be made available (free) and a standalone too across all platforms.
About Lachlan, the supposed brother of Gabriel - we will get to know more about him as the story approaches. We have just been acquainted with Sienna’s past, and Gabriel’s past is still left to be told. I hope that helps with the curiosity.
Happy reading, my lovelies. **