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Monsters come in different forms.

Still, no one saw me for what I am. No one anticipated

I'd be most ruthless Beneventi of them all.

 

EXCERPT

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Sweet oblivion beckons.

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My body slackens as soft leather cuffs tighten around my wrists, holding me aloft. A lullaby called pain wreaks havoc on my mind, and I cling to it, relishing in the twisted comfort accompanying it.

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Fina. Fina. Fina.

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I stop struggling…stop breathing…

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“Aiuto!” a panicked man screams in Italian. So close yet so far away. “Qualcuno venga subito.”

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She appears out of nowhere, a furious angel, the most beautiful creature I’ve ever met. Her full, red lips are moving, angrily, desperately, yet it takes so much fucking effort to hear her.

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Don’t die, Renzo. You promised to save me.

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Huh. I could’ve sworn she despised me. She should—fuck knows I’ve earned it. I’ve done a lot of twisted things and sunk to the lowest lows while chasing fleeting highs. My art is breaking hearts and shattering promises. It’s who I’ve become, the man I was destined to be.

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I never told her how she sparks a fire in me like no one else. How I burn hotter, brighter, when she’s near. We’re tangled tight, she and I, and doomed if one of us ever truly lets go.

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Fucking hell, Fina. I won’t let go, Ever.

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Far away, people are shouting. They can never leave us the fuck alone, can they?

Far away, my mind drifts into a favorite memory, of us and how we came to be.

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I

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