Hit

by Mallory Hart

You’d think ten hours of silence would be enough to process some of what had happened, but apparently not.

One, Darragh somehow knew I tried to turn him in.

Two, someone wanted the both of us dead.

Three, and this was the fact that puzzled me the most, Darragh kept me alive.

A man whose death would put the biggest fucking target in America on our backs. The hit. But I was supposed to be the hit. I was supposed to be dead.

The Angel of Death was not an omniscient spirit of the night. He was a violent man with blue eyes and a thick, Irish accent.

what my family does after dark is not to be questioned, and my life was never my own.

As not only the youngest child of Don Lorenzo Delarosa, but the only girl,

Because if he could really do it, really send me off to live with that— that animal—

He knew what happened with Lucien,

For all their talk of honor and family, they never extended it to me.

The Delarosa’s were slipping. We knew it and every other faction knew it too.

Sean O’Callaghan, my boss, the kingpin of the Irish mob, and the man I only sometimes referred to as father.

Rory was the only one who knew of my secret house upstate.

Pietro’s death was a huge victory for us. He was one of the oldest members of the Delarosa clan,

It’d be a lethal hit to their struggling finances.

“Just about nothing. The Family’s kept her locked up since the day she was born.”

The two families didn’t like each other so much after some incident with a maid. Rumors circled the daughter was involved,

“I want you to kill the girl. Keep any alliance from forming.”

I was the Delarosa’s most coveted secret.

All twenty-two years of my life spent between the same four walls of our upper west side home,

We’d been inseparable my entire life, the children born only ten months apart.

Implying that somehow, after everything Lucien did t Paulina, I could just learn to forget and fuck the man who killed my only friend.

My family betrayed me. That was a fact. I always knew what my sole purpose in life was, but this felt different.

Giuseppina Delarosa just killed herself ten feet away from me.

A woman in a similar position, forced into a position she didn’t want to be in and choosing another way out instead.

The image of my mother dying beside me.

White bondages held me down by my arms and ankles.

the O’Callaghan’s assassin. The forgotten brother. The last one. I was right. This was hell, and the devil stood beside my bed.

Just make sure it gets pinned on the Delarosa’s.”

My family thought I was dead.

The Angel of Death himself stood at the stovetop,

In my head, I always pictured him as the ugly creature my brothers and father described him to be.

A look of pure fury crossed his face and his hands latched onto my hips.

The kiss deepened. A shuddering breath escaped me, and this time, Darragh’s moan echoed back across my lips.

The forest grew silent around us and the Angel of Death carried me back to hell.

So, it was insanity and going too long without getting my rocks off, the only rational explanation for why I did what I did. Good thing we were going to Vegas.

She wouldn’t stop fighting. I knew it. She knew it. But we both knew something else: there was no fecking point.

“So I want one good night. I want to go to the movies, or drink at a bar, or go dancing or whatever.

She was gorgeous. Anyone with a set of eyes could see that.

but it made Pina happy, so it was nice. To make her happy.

I couldn’t do it. Again. And this time, it wasn’t because she reminded me of my Ma. No, it was because for the first time, I felt like a complete fecking animal.

“A European passport, a license, five grand in cash and absolute silence. By Wednesday.”

“That’s not what he said. He just wanted me to kill the girl, man. Kill the girl and all this would go away.”

It was Sean. He told me to make sure the girl was dead. If you didn’t do it yourself, I was ordered to take you down too.”

I barely remembered our last moment in Vegas beyond Darragh hot-wiring a car and getting us out of the city.

The only reason you’ll continue to stay alive is getting far away from here. Your family will have you killed. Honor says so. My family will have you killed because they already want you dead.

I knew my family did bad things. I knew they killed, plotted and maimed, but I never saw it up close.

He was staring at me, but I wouldn’t meet his eyes. I didn’t like the way they looked. Cold as death and so much more terrifying.

The worst monsters weren’t scary, strange things in the dark. They were handsome men who made you believe they’re something that they’re not.