Chapter 13
903words
"Elena... please..." Marco had completely broken down. He tried to crawl toward me, but Leonardo's bodyguard kicked him square in the chest.
I stood up from the chair and walked to the edge of the conveyor belt, looking down at Sophia's face, which was twisted with fear.
"Sophia, don't you love telling the story about that fire five years ago?" I stared at the cross necklace around her neck—the one that originally belonged to me.
Marco looked up, a trace of confusion in his eyes.
"Marco, do you really think a woman who needs help lifting a suitcase could carry a grown man out of a burning building?" I sneered and pulled an old medical record from my jacket, throwing it in Marco's face.
It was the burn treatment record from the clinic where I went after saving Marco five years ago.
"Five years ago, I moved the burning beam off you with my bare hands. I still have the scar on my palm." I held out my hand; the old scar near my thumb looked stark under the lights. "After I pulled you out, I left briefly to lure the hitmen away. But this woman picked up the token I left to stop your bleeding and stole my identity."
Marco looked like he'd been struck by lightning. He picked up the record with trembling hands, looking as if his spine had been ripped out.
"You mean... you saved me?" Marco muttered. "Then Sophia..."
"Sophia was hiding under a table screaming," I calmly recounted the truth. "She saw you had an expensive keepsake on you. She only put on that act because she needed a bodyguard to get her out alive."
Marco snapped his head toward Sophia, his look shifting from shock to bone-deep hatred.
"You bitch! You ruined me!"
Marco suddenly snapped, lunging at Sophia on the conveyor belt like a rabid beast. Ignoring his useless gun, he wrapped his hands around her throat in a death grip.
Sophia, with a bullet in her thigh, was powerless to resist. Her eyes rolled back, and broken, gurgling sounds of begging escaped her throat, but Marco had completely lost his mind.
"I kicked Elena out because of you... I crossed Vito because of you... It's all because of you!" Marco roared as the conveyor belt slowly carried their bodies toward the end.
I watched with cold indifference as these two dogs tore each other apart.
Leonardo walked up behind me, naturally wrapping his arm around my waist. His slender fingers gently traced the old scar near my thumb, his touch incredibly tender.
"Elena, isn't it entertaining watching them rip each other's masks off?" He whispered in my ear, his breath carrying a hint of barely perceptible affection.
I didn't speak; I just gave a slight nod.
Just as their bodies were about to hit the edge of the belt, I pressed the emergency stop button.
Marco and Sophia crashed heavily onto the floor, still grappling with each other, looking utterly pathetic.
Marco knelt on the ground, gasping for air. His eyes actually held a glimmer of pathetic hope. "Elena... you saved me... you still love me, don't you?"
"Love?" I looked down at the man who had consumed five years of my youth. "Marco, you've never understood what love is. You only understand manipulation and your own fragile ego."
I turned around and signaled the bodyguards behind me.
"Since Marco is so obsessed with chasing power, send him to the harshest illegal mines. Let him preach his Don fantasies to the rocks every day." I calmly announced his final sentence.
"As for Sophia, send her back to the slums she despises so much. Since she loves surviving on lies, let her continue her performance there."
Marco let out a scream of despair as the bodyguards dragged him out like garbage.
Chapter14
The lights in the slaughterhouse went out one by one. The sea breeze blew away the smell of mold in the room. Leonardo took my hand; his palm was dry and warm as he interlaced his fingers tightly with mine.
When we reached the door, the moon was high in the sky. Leonardo stopped. Those azure eyes no longer held any mockery or madness, only a deep tenderness.
He lifted my hand and planted a kiss, full of devotion, on that faint old scar.
"Five years ago, inside that burning wreck, you told a boy covered in blood that survival was the only thing that mattered." He chuckled low, his voice vibrating with tension. "Elena, I spent five years climbing to this position just so I could personally get justice for you tonight."
My heart trembled as I met his melancholy deep blue eyes.
He stared at me intently, his tone both humble and fervent. "Now, justice has been served. My Godmother, would you grant me the honor of spending the rest of my life by your side?"
I looked at this man, who was willing to hand me the knife and willing to bow before me, and the last traces of coldness in my heart finally dissipated completely.
I leaned into his embrace, feeling a sense of peace I had never known before.
I used to think I had to fight alone in this swamp, but now I knew there was someone there to catch all my scars.
