The Holy Ghost - M.E. Clayton

Prologue

2013~

The scene was a quietly violent one that would live in my mind until my mind could no longer hold memories.

This was my choice, though.

It was my choice to be here, doing this.

In a perfect world, I’d be at home in bed with Frankie.

I was supposed to be the good boyfriend who chose her above everything else. But the world sure as fuck wasn’t perfect, and nothing was ever that simple.

Life wasn’t that simple.

While the lies and the secrets were killing me, I knew if I told Frankie the truth, it would gut her. She had plans for us, and they didn’t include the gun that my fingers were currently wrapped around.

Ciro was good about deflecting when she’d shoot those accusatory amber-colored eyes at us, but me? All I had was her addiction to my touch. I deflected by touching her, kissing her, or fucking her.

Tonight was the night that would forever change the direction of my life.

And hers.

I tried to convince myself that it would all be okay because her brother was standing next to me, but, deep down, I knew this would change everything.

While all of us neighborhood kids grew up together, as we’d grown older, we learned early on the trio we were becoming a part of. My family and I had lived a couple of blocks over from the Mancinis, but the mutual friend Ciro and I shared brought us together like nothing else could. That friend was Luca Benetti, and everyone knew the Benetti Family ruled Morgan City.

As we grew older, Luca became the dark prince he was groomed to be, and it had gotten harder and harder to resist the temptation and lure. When you grow up lower middle-class and always struggling, money and power can make a remarkable impression on the young male mind.

We wanted better.

We wanted it all.

I stood in the center of the warehouse next to one of my best friends, and we both had guns aimed at the two men strapped to the metal chairs before us. Luca and his father, Giovanni Benetti, stood behind us, looking on.

The room held about ten men, including the two men who were gagged and tied to the chairs. The rest of the men stood, forming an arch behind us, waiting for our next move.

It didn’t matter that these guys were pedophiles. It didn’t matter that we were judging them in a way only The Lord had the right to. It didn’t matter that every second I stood here I was jeopardizing my relationship and future with Frankie.

Frankie-the girl I’ve been in love with since we were seven-years-old; Ciro’s sister.

I glanced over at Ciro and, with the conviction of a thousand men, he looked back and gave me a tightly measured nod. I looked back at the men before us, raised my arm, aimed, and fired a hole clean through one man’s forehead while Ciro did the same to the other.

The room was silent for a few seconds before we turned around and handed the guns back to two of the sentinels that had been standing by. We handed them back without wiping them clean of our fingerprints as a show of loyalty and trust to Giovanni Benetti.

He stepped forward and shook both our hands. His smile was evil and powerful and there was no going back.

Luca was the next to shake our hands and it had felt like a homecoming. He was our best friend, and we knew he’d been doing this shit at a young age, but now we were more than best friends.

We were family in a way no one outside the Benetti Family could understand.

There was no way I was going to be able to keep this from Frankie much longer. Not when I planned on marrying her as soon as she graduated from college next semester. My only hope would be that she loved me enough to balance the life she wanted with the life I would now lead.

Little did I know that she already knew.

Little did I know that she would shatter everything I believed we were.

Little did I know that I would lose my mind when the dust settled.

It was the first step to the obliteration of my soul as it existed.

Chapter 1

Phoenix – 2019~

I should have been home hours ago.

Normally, a hit took no time at all. They called me The Holy Ghost for a reason. And the reason? I was in and out within minutes without anyone ever setting eyes on me.

When I was working, I