The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 148 Chicken Soup Sébastian | was in the car listening to Cristos narrate what had happened while | was asleep.

| was impressed to learn Joy had killed three men. Not only did she kill two men at a gas station near Red River where she was supposed to be delivered to Pete McDowell, she had finally crossed out Cris Murdock off her list..

Nicole was in the hospital. There were many possible reasons as to why, but | was sure it was to shut her up.

The rest, | believe, was irrelevant to me, although learning Norma's husband was Hispanic made it clear the relationship she had with Cynthia wasn't just purely friendship.

When | woke up earlier, the first thing | noticed was Cristos sitting beside my bed, mumbling to himself. One look at his eyes toldhe was thinking the unthinkable. | asked him to getsfood before he toldwhat was on his mind. It's incredibly difficult to think on an empty stomach.

He had just left to getsfood when Emma walked into my room. Guessing | was hungry, she placed a tray with a bowl! of steaming chicken noodle soup in front of me. | pushed the bowl away, refusing to eat hospital food.

“What are you doing here, Caruso, and what the hell is this?” | asked bewildered while pointing at the bowl, scowling.

After the Doc stitchedup, | was out like a light. And now that | was awake, | wanted answers.

“I took a day off from work, Domenico,” Emma answered while she took a look at my vitals, avoiding my eyes.

“And in case you wanted to know, the Nurse Administrator, uhm, she ambushedin the parking lot... at gunpoint.” “Letget this straight. Your boss, who's an old lady, held you, a trained Blood Disciple, at gunpoint?” | asked rhetorically.

“It doesn’t make much sense when you say it... in that way, but yes, that’s basically what happened,” Emma answered sheepishly, still avoiding my eyes. She began to change my bandage.

1/6 CHAPTER 148 Chicken Soup “And?” | asked, urging her to continue.

“And what?” She asked cleaning the skin around my wound. | saw the stitching was immaculate. Doc did a good job.

“Emma, I'm wounded and hungry, so stop with the games,” | grumbled, annoyed at her for playing dumb. “What happened to your boss? Did you kill her? Is that the reason why you're here? To hide?” “Ah, 1 didn’t kill her... Link did... while she was trying to negotiate a deal with me. He staged it to look like a suicide,” Emma answered as she dressed my wound.

In short, she didn’t do squat.

“Emma, your aversion to taking a person’s life may be endearing to most, but in the organization, you have to be the one to pull the trigger. But, | have to say, you did good with Theodore Cohen. | have to give you credit for that. Anything else happen while | was unconscious?” “A lot, actually, but I think it’s better if you hear it from Primo,” Emma answered, fluffing my pillows.

“Where's Xavier?” “Beaufort, Joy and K iki drove back to New Salem a while ago. Joy has a dinner date with Mayor Cohen, then they'll be going to Cohen Mansion for his father’s wake. The mayor ha invited all of the townsfolk to Cohen Mansion, so they can pay their last respects,” she spo in a monotone as if nothing concerned her.

“You just said the nK iki. Ki ki, as in K iki, Xavier's baby sister?” | asked puzzled.

How did that happen? “One and the same,” Emma answered, trying to feeda spoonful of chicken soup. | averted my face, avoiding the spoon.

“Forget it. | don’t want to know how she got here,” | mumbled, trying to keep my lips tightly closed. She immediately gave up, dropping the spoon into the soup in frustration. “What | want to know is why is Cristos here, if there's an open house happening there?” | asked, more confused. “He should be there to bug the place.

Hell, | should be there.” | pushed the blankets off ofand swung my legs to the edge of the bed. “I need to get dressed.” | stood. up, feeling a bit woozy, but just like my wound. It was nothing | couldn't handle “Will my 2/6 CHAPTER 148 Chicken Soup stitches hold?” “Yes, just no sudden movements and no heavy lifting,” Emma said. “If you feel any pain, Doc left you painkillers.” She picked up a small plastic bottle filled with white pills from the nightstand. “Take one when needed. Just one.” | glanced at her with an irate expression on my face and sn atched the bottle of pills from her.

“I got it, Emma. You know I dislike medicating when I’m on a mission. | don’t want to zone out in the middle of something important, | argued. She was about to open her mouth to explain, but the door to my room suddenly opened and in walked Cristos.

Perfect timing.

“Sebastian, what are you doing out of bed?” Cristos asked, holding a plate with a sandwich in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other.

“Givethat,” | said, grabbing the sandwich. | took a big bite, purring at the delicious taste. of ham and cheddar cheese. | was so hungry, | gobbled the rest in record time. “I'm going to get dressed so we can head back to New Salem. | don’t want to miss the chance to check out Cohen Mansion when Liam's opening his doors to the public.” | took the glass of juice and washed the sandwich down. “By the way, why are you here, Cristos?” | took the plate from him and handed both the glass and the plate to Emma, then gestured for her to leave. She nodded her head and left us to discuss, whatever pressing matter Cristos was about to throw my way, in private.

| waited for Cristos to speak, but he seemed tongue-tied for whatever reason.

| decided it was better to just get dressed and ask him later in the car. | opened the closet and found a few of my personal belongings along with a nice dark gray suit hanging inside, fit for a wake. | took it out and hung it on the closet handle.

“Where do you think you're going?” Cristos asked.

“Duh. To New Salem and you’re going to drivethere,” | smirked. “Why don’t you get out of those hiking clothes and change? That look is awful on you.” | turned to head to the bathroom to wash up, but Cristos stopped me.

“Joy told Stanley you're sick with the flu and I, ah, I'm not going back to New Salem, Sebastian. I'm going home, back to California, for good.” | turned around to face him, noticing his defensive attitude. But that wasn’t all | noticed. | saw the scared look in his 3/6 CHAPTER 148 Chicken Soup eyes. | instantly knew where his anxiety was stemming from.

“Did something happen to Joy? Is she okay?” | asked, suddenly worried. Then it dawned on me... Emma just said she was on date. “What am | talking about? She must be okay if she’s on a dinner date with Liam. You almost got me, Cristos.” | chuckled and sighed. “No tfor pranks. Get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs in ten minutes.” “I'm serious, Sebastian. I'm heading home. You can’t stop me. I'm taking the first flight out tonight.” | sighed. Something must have happened. Last night, all | remember was Xavier staying behind at Huff Hills to conduct his own recon while Cristos was with Joy in New Salem.

“Does Xavier know about this?” | asked him. He nodded, his head hung low in shame. “And what did he say?” “He toldhe will allow it, but | needed to tell you first,” he answered. | nodded my head in -understanding.

Xavier knew | had a private meeting with the bosses after we made the decision to push through with all of this. Xavier wasn’t privy to any of the details of the meeting, but he had a good idea what was at stake.

My deal with the bosses was the reason why we had all these resources at our disposal. Although our main objective was to provide justice for Joy, | also had another mission to take care of... after Joy had exacted her revenge.

| grabbed Cristos’s shoulder with my good arm and pulled him towards me. He needed at reality check.

“No you're not, Cristos, unless you want to seeor Joy die,” | muttered through clenched teeth. “We swore an oath to our fathers that we would see things through until the very end. We made a blood pact and vowed. If you go hnow, not only will you be shamed and your father shunned, our fathers’ men will storm in and kill, not only me, but-Joy too. Xavier, unfortunately, has orders from his father to stand down if he receives his father’s ring by messenger. There will be no way of saving us.” He quickly lifted his eyes to gaze into mine, searching for the truth.

“Sebastian, how could you? How could you make this sort of deal without telling me?” Cristos asked, stunned at the realization that there was more at stake here.

“Our fathers felt compelled to do so, as insurance, since we were going to do this for a woman the three of us share, which, to them, is suicide. They actually believe we will make a mess of things here and as a consequence, elicitia retaliation from the Angels of Darkness 4/6 CHAPTER 148 Chicken Soup wanted to prove them wrong because | believe our brotherhood is as strong as our love for Joy,” | said, staring at him. “Have | made a mistake thinking that, Cristos?” “Sebastian, I'm scared. I-” “You don’t think I'm scared?! You don’t think Xavier's scared?! We are terrified, but we are Blood Disciples. Blood Disciples never run from a fight. No matter the cost... even if it means we might lose Joy in the process. Our fathers gave us a choice before we chere, stressing this mission was risky. Now, we have to honor the choice the three of us unanimously made or die trying.” | looked him straight in the eyes. You can’t turn your back on her or us. Ever. Do you understand, Cristos?” He hesitated, but he nodded his head.

“I will tell you this, but do not breath a word to Xavier. He loves Joy too much, he might feel betrayed by our fathers.” | waited for him to nod his head before continuing. “Joy was present at the meeting. She agreed to sacrifice her own life for our brotherhood, if it cdown to that,” I said in a low voice.

“No, she didn’t. You lie, Sebastian,” Cristos accused me, shaking his head.

“She did, Cristos. She understands her place in the organization. A good soldier puts those above him... first,” | said, squeezing his shoulder for emphasis. “If she is brave enough to stake her life for us... even marry the b astard who raped her for us... the least you can do, Cristos, is stay.” As | gazed into his eyes, | noticed a renewed fire kindling in their depths. He understood what needed to be done.

“You're right, Sebastian. | will stay,” he said with conviction. I grinned at him and patted him on the shoulder.

“There's my Blood Disciple brother. If you need to, tomorrow, you can take the day to unwind. But for now, get dressed. | need you to tellwhat happened while | was out.” Cristos quickly turned to leave to get dressed, but before he exited my room, he asked, “Do you ever think of losing Joy?” “Every single day. This is why | will never turn my back on her.” Our car cto a sudden stop after passing through the gates of Cohen Mansion, interrupting my thoughts..

5/6 CHAPTER 148 Chicken Soup A deputy, who was managing traffic, signaled at us to turn left.

“So many people actually came,” Cristos murmured, parking our car at the very end of the mansion’s grounds.

“It'll be difficult for us to maneuver our way through the mansion. Too many eyes.

“You're probably right,” | said. “But we can use the crowd to our advantage. All we have to do is split up. You got your earpiece on?” He was wearing a jeans shirt under a brown trench. coat paired with black jeans and brown Chelsea boots. Somewhere in his outfit was his hidden mic.

“Yep,” he answered, grabbing the teddy bear and flowers from the backseat.

“A teddy bear?” | asked, glancing at the bottle of wine | brought with me. “Are you going on a date or something?” “I couldn't find a gift basket at HQ and this was the only thing I could stick a camera and a listening device on to.

It'll have to do. Now, let's go. Bo says he needs shelp and Link seems to be talking to someone about a deed of sale.” From the car, Cristos and | walked to the open doors of the mansion where several people were gathered talking among themselves. They nodded their heads in greeting as we made our way into the grand hallway.

| was stunned to find the place packed with people. Judging by the incredulous look on Cristos’s face, | wasn’t the only one.

“Wow, it's a party.” Chapter Comments 8