𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

23 | Tracking Down the Missing Link

Similarly to when Tom had killed Daniel and we bathed in stunned silence, Tom and I showered together in an equal silence tonight. Although I wasn't crying or unnerved about killing Sofia, I was just quietly appreciating the fact that I was alive and back home with my love.

"So what was it like in there when she wasn't hitting you?" Tom said running his thumb gently across my bruised eye as we sat on the bed with our cups of tea. It was weird. We weren't under the covers leaning against the pillows as you would imagine, we were sitting on top of the blankets just enjoying our conversation and drinking tea like a picnic.

"This was just one time. She was actually nice to me in a super creepy way. She knew she needed me, she tried to be like me so you'd fall in love with her," I said shaking my head in disbelief of how crazy she really was.

"What does 'nice in a creepy way' mean?" He laughed, blowing the hot liquid in his hands to cool down before taking a sip.

"Uh, she brushed my hair for me. And she watched me shower. And she made me moan for her," I said screwing my face up just remembering it.

Sofia really was a weird fucking woman.

"Um... Do I want to know why or should I just assume she was horny and move on?" Tom said screwing his face up with me.

"She wanted to sound like me if you ever fucked her again," I laughed, shaking my head and sipping my drink.

"I kissed her once and that's because my brothers didn't believe her when she said we were dating and she grabbed my face to 'prove it'. Trust me, I never would have even thought about fucking her," he assured, uncrossing his legs and stretching them out on the bed.

"Did she sleep in our bed?" I said looking down at the sheets and sighing.

"I didn't let her stay here, I visited her at Mum's house cos she still stayed there for 'her own protection' which was bullshit," he scoffed.

"You know she cut her stomach herself? She wanted to match with me," I said shaking my head and rolling my eyes.

"That's why she cut herself... She needed an excuse to turn up here," he sighed.

I put my empty cup on the floor next to us and laid across the end of the bed, deeply exhaling. Honestly I'm just glad to be home with the man that I love who I know can protect me now that Sofia is out of our lives.

"I wonder how long it will take for them to identify the body and get the news to Jack... he definitely won't take it very well" Tom said softly, thinking of something I hadn't considered:

Jack Maniscalo was alive and in prison still.

"Yeah but he won't pin it to us, the police will rule it a suicide by drugs and arson. Why else would someone turn all the gas outlets on and lie perfectly still in the bathtub with their clothes on as they burnt?" I shrugged.

"Yeah but Jack will be the only one suspecting foul play," he protested.

"So? There's no evidence he could pay anyone to find that I was ever at that house or that I killed her," I said rolling on my side to face Tom.

"Yeah but Jack is crazy too, he doesn't need evidence when will just believe the first insane idea that pops into his head and go with it," Tom explained.

Look, even though Jack is in prison I can't help but to think her death might lead back to me. How many Maniscalo's are there that could suspect Tom's new girlfriend was the one to kill her?

"How many Maniscalos are alive?" I asked, cocking up my eyebrow and watching Tom finish his tea with an exaggerated 'ahh' sound which made me smile.

"Uh, the important ones are just Jack and his eldest daughter Mila. My uncle Paul killed Jack's wife when I was like eight and Jack killed him to make it even. So yeah, just Jack and Mila," he shrugged.

"Jack is in prison, where's Mila? Is she insane too?" I said going onto Facebook and trying to search for her name.

Tom explained to me that Mila was in fact the black sheep of the Maniscalo family, in which she was completely against The Family and everything it stood for. Growing up hating her family and their values, she started researching the effects crime syndicates had on society and the inner workings of the groups from an outsiders perspective. As much as she hated her own family for being in the mafia, she found a fascination with the morals and values of other Mafia groups from different countries.

It kind of made sense, the Japanese mafia and the Russian mafia placed a bigger emphasis on doing things as a team and a group rather than individuals being shady to climb up the ladder. As soon as she turned eighteen she apparently moved countries and married some guy named Benji.

"What about the husband? Is he cool? Will this Benji guy come after us?" I asked, not being able to find her online at all.

"Benjiro Tanaka? Nah he's chill apparently. I'm like ninety nine percent sure he's in the Yakuza mafia over in Japan but he hates the Maniscalo family as much as we do. If anything, he'd be happy she's dead. I think that's how they met actually... Jack flew the girls over there and did a deal with the Japanese guys. But then he completely fucked them over and burnt any bridges The Family had with the Yakuza. Seriously, they won't have anything to do with us anymore," Tom explained, getting under the bed covers and tapping the sheets next to him.

Crawling up and joining him I sighed, alerting Tom to realise I was now fretting about the fact Uncle Jack could set another hit man on me. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer against his chest, his heartbeat thumping through my ears as I smiled to myself.

"If only I could get a guy on the inside to take out Jack too... Then we wouldn't have to worry about any more fucking crazy Maniscalo's coming after us. I don't think I know anyone in the same wing as him though. All my incarcerated guys are in the public areas for petty crimes," Tom sighed.

"I uh, I might know some guards at his penitentiary who could help us out with that actually..."