pull myself up, fix my makeup, and leave my father’s townhouse behind.
Before we’ve even left the entire building is on fire, the cash slipped into the other man’s hand as we left enough to have the evidence of our trip here destroyed.
We arrive at the restaurant before our guests, the server taking us back into a private room. I wait as once again, money exchanges hands.
When I give mon Monstre a look he smirks at me. “I’ve been planning this for a long time, baby girl.”
I order a glass of wine and mon Monstre orders a whiskey, promising me he’ll chew some gum when he’s finished the glass. The smell doesn’t bother me so much anymore, the memories and the fear are dead and gone with Alcatron himself.
We don’t have to wait long before the last two names on the French list arrive, Louis and Martin. They look uncomfortable to be here, especially together, but Martin smiles at me like I’m his long lost goddaughter, a precious girl in his life. As though he didn’t vote in that tiny house to send me away to clear a cartel debt.
Louis stares at me like I’m his next meal.
He sits and smiles at me, ignoring Illi altogether. It's clear he thinks that he is a bodyguard, some man paid by my true husband to keep me alive, and that he’s planning on fucking me now I’m back. It sets my teeth on edge.
He leans forward as if he's going to take my hand.
Illi impales his wrist with his steak knife, the serrated edge slicing through his flesh like butter.
He doesn't scream.
No, Louis has been too well trained in the subtle arts of torture and respectability.
Martin raises his eyebrows but doesn’t comment, ordering a drink for himself and laying out a cloth napkin over his lap like the violence isn’t happening.
Louis speaks through his teeth in perfect English, ”How much is her husband paying you? I'll double it to keep quiet."
I cock my head at him and answer in French, just to throw him off because why shouldn’t I play with him a little? "You will pay it? You didn't even attempt to save me from my husband the first time."
He shrugs and attempts to pull the knife out with a grunt, failing and wincing at the jarring of the wound. None of the servers flinch as they deliver drinks, bread, and menus, something else Louis and Martin should be picking up on and yet they don’t. "Your father needed to learn his lesson. I thought losing you would help him with that. Now he's lost his entire business I think he's figured out what he needed to."
"He's dead." I say, smothering a slice in butter before taking a delicate bite.
Martin curses and sits back in his seat, eyeing Illi off. He’s starting to figure it out. I see mon Monstre shift slightly with the corner of my eye and I know there’s a weapon of some kind in his hand now, just in case.
Louis sits back in his chair. "How? I saw him this morning."
I turn and smile at mon Monstre. I adore him for giving me this moment. "My husband killed him for me. I have his heart in a glass jar if you would like to see it? I think it will be my favorite one, my most prized possession.“
Louis stares at me, the horror etched into every inch of his face. He swallows and then says, "This man... he is your husband? What happened to Mecedo?"
I reach for my wine glass, sipping it slowly and savoring the taste on my tongue. "He found out you had touched me. He did not want a used wife so he sold me on to a different man. It was then I met Johnny and we fell in love."
The name slips out of my lips but it feels right to me to use it. Mon Monstre then slowly pulls the knife out of Louis's wrist, the blood spurting out before he has the chance to stem it. It won't kill him, not any time soon, but I'm sure the wound is painful.
He also will struggle to go for his gun with any sort of accuracy. "And this man, he's come here to kill your family for selling you?"
I move the plate away from myself so I can lean in a little closer to him without finding myself covered in buttered bread. "We're on our honeymoon. He's giving me the hearts of the men