Page 63 of Protecting Charity

He raised his bloody hand to my cheek, and I held onto it. "It's okay, sis," he whispered.

I let the waterfall of tears crack my walls and come tumbling down. I nodded, understanding his meaning, and watched the life leave his eyes.

Lightning skittered across the sky, illuminating his broken, empty face, followed by a thunderous boom. I suddenly wished I were in a Frankenstein movie where a bolt of electricity was all it would take to bring him back, even if he was a fraction of the man he was.

I collapsed on top of him, wailing my heart's remorse into his still chest. Rains soaked my exposed back and thin dress as I laid there vacantly touching a button on his shirt. Time no longer existed as I sobbed, regretting every ugly thing I said and thought of him. He may have betrayed me, but he was my brother. The one family member I could relate to, and now, he was gone—by my hands. My heart broke in two as I thought of the dinner table I'd never see him sit at again. Or the stupid jokes he'd tell just to get Mom off my back.

Headlights brightened the forest from the corner of my eye, but I didn't move. The rain fell harder, just as my tears soaked his body with my anguish. Shouts from men came from the direction I saw the lights come in, calling my name, but I didn't answer.

Their running footsteps got closer until they were upon me. Someone put hands on my shoulders, and I shrugged them off. "Don't touch me," I screamed, then fisted my hands into Josh's shirt, holding onto him for just a while longer.

"Charity, we’re here. Let us help you," Max said, then put his hands on me again.

Lashing out with fists flailing. "I said don't fucking touch me. Don't touch him. Leave me be," I cried. I stared at the smashed blades of grass, so close to my face, and let the tears fall, feeding them with my sorrow.

"Look at us, baby," Luca said.

I couldn't. I couldn't look at them after what I did. Give me a thousand men to kill that deserved it, and I'd not hesitate to cut them down. Not him. Not this way. How could I ever live with myself? I would never be able to forget and move on from this.

"Sweetie, look at me."

I lifted my head reluctantly to find Nico's heartbroken face. He felt my anguish, my loss. "I killed him. I didn't mean to; it just happened. I-I had no choice," I cried.

It broke my heart into a million little pieces as I looked back to Josh's vacant eyes. They stared towards the sky, no longer experiencing the world. I reached my blood-soaked hand to his face and closed them, putting him to eternal rest, then curled into Nico's arms and lost myself.

"I've got you."

Pain rippled through my body as I shook from the cold and uncontrollable tears. Max draped a jacket around my soaked, shivering frame as Nico lifted me from the ground and took me to the car, then placed me inside.

"I can't leave him, Nico," I said as I watched Luca cover Josh's face with his coat, then kneel by his side and rub his eyes with his fingers. Luca looked up, and our gaze caught. Tears rimmed his eyes, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

"We'll take care of him," he said as he went to close the door.

I stuck my foot in the way and laid my hand on his arm. "My parents need closure, Nico. He doesn't deserve to be stuck in the grave he dug for me."

The rain-soaked his hair, darkening it more so than normal. It dripped down his face like in a scene from a movie. He looked to the mud, thinking of what I was asking him, then nodded and shut the door, cutting me off from the world. Rain pelted the roof of the car as I sat motionless, begging God to rewind this day or wake me up from this horror. My heart hurt; I could feel it disintegrating as I stared at his body, thankfully unable to see his face anymore.

Nico walked up to Luca and said a few words. Luca nodded, then put his phone to his ear and walked away, placing his fist on his hip. Max walked towards where the grave was dug and began filling in the hole—each one having a job to do.

I put my hand to my mouth to smother the sobs my body demanded I surrender. This was it. It was over, and I'd never see him again, and it was my fault. Why did it have to end this way?

What happened to him that weakened his mind to a point where he could be so brainwashed—where someone could easily convince him to kill the one person who has ever been there for him?

Oh, my god… Mom and Dad. How could I look them in the eyes ever again, knowing that it was me that took him from them? An unexpected bout of anger burst through, and I struck the seats in front of me with my bruised and bloodied fists while screaming through my tears.

Another vehicle pulled up behind Max's car as I hit the seat for the last time. Three men, I knew, stepped out. Ignazio, Gavino, and Dante hung their heads, refusing to look in my direction, and walked towards Luca and Nico while I looked on like a hysterical child from the back seat of the car.

They rolled out a plastic sheet and moved Josh's body over it, then wrapped him up, placed him in the back, and drove away.

And that was the end. He wasn't there anymore.

I retreated into the black void inside myself.

Chapter 25

Nico

If I never saw her cry again, it would be too soon.

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