Questions and Lies
Rook's POV
Selena threw the phone at the wall so hard it cracked.
"We have to save him!" she screamed.
Rook picked up the broken pieces. The message was still visible on the cracked screen. Enzo tied to that chair. Blood on his face.
"It's a trap," Rook said calmly.
"I don't care!"
"Well, I do." He pocketed the phone pieces. "They want you, not him."
Selena paced around the small room like a caged animal. "Did you kill my mother?"
The question hit him like a slap. He had been waiting for it. Dreading it.
"Answer me!" she demanded. "Did you pull the trigger?"
Rook looked at her face. Those eyes that looked exactly like her mother's. The same determination. The same fire.
"Yes," he said quietly.
Selena stopped pacing. For a moment, she just stood there. Then she laughed. Not a happy laugh. A broken, bitter sound.
"I knew it," she whispered. "Deep down, I always knew."
"Selena—"
"Don't!" She held up her hand. "Don't say my name. Murderers don't get to say my name."
"I had orders."
"Stop hiding behind that excuse!" Selena's voice cracked. "You had a choice. You could have said no."
"No, I couldn't."
"Why not?"
Rook turned away from her. How could he explain? How could he tell her about the life he lived before Enzo found him? About the things that made him into what he was?
"Because I'm not like other people," he said.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I was broken long before I met your family."
"That's not an answer!"
Rook spun around to face her. "You want the truth? Fine. I was twelve when I killed my first person. A man who tried to hurt my little sister. I used a kitchen knife."
Selena's eyes widened.
"By fifteen, I was living on the streets. Killing to survive. By twenty, I was the best assassin money could buy." His voice was flat, empty. "Your father didn't create a monster. He just found one."
"That's sad," Selena said. "But it doesn't excuse what you did to my mom."
"No, it doesn't."
"Then why tell me?"
"Because you asked for the truth."
They stared at each other across the room. The silence stretched between them like a canyon.
"She was trying to leave Dad, wasn't she?" Selena asked suddenly.
Rook nodded. "She found out about the senator."
"What senator?"
"The one your father had killed six months before your mother died."
Selena sank into the old chair. "Mom knew about that?"
"She found evidence. Photos. Bank records. She was going to turn it over to the FBI."
"So Dad ordered you to kill her."
"Yes."
"And you just said okay?"
Rook was quiet for a long moment. "I tried to say no."
"What?"
"For the first time in my life, I tried to refuse an order."
Selena looked up at him. "What happened?"
"Your father reminded me what happens to people who betray him."
"He threatened you?"
"He threatened you."
The words hung in the air like smoke. Selena's mouth fell open.
"He said if I didn't complete the job, he would give the contract to someone else. Someone who wouldn't care about keeping you alive."
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
Selena studied his face. She was good at reading people. It came from growing up in a house full of liars. But Rook's expression was stone.
"So you killed my mother to save me?" she asked.
"Yes."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't care if you believe me."
"Prove it."
Rook walked to his jacket and pulled out a small recording device. He pressed play.
Enzo's voice filled the room: "Kill Maria or I'll find someone who will. And when they do, they'll make it look like a family murder-suicide. The girl goes too."
Selena's face went white. "When was this recorded?"
"Three days before your mother died."
"You've been carrying this around for three years?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because someday I knew you'd ask me this question."
Selena was quiet for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was small. "Did she suffer?"
"No. It was quick."
"Did she know it was you?"
Rook closed his eyes. This was the hardest part. "Yes."
"What did she say?"
"She asked me to promise something."
"What?"
"To keep you away from this life. To help you escape when you were old enough."
Selena started crying. Not angry tears this time. Sad ones.
"She knew you would do it," she whispered. "She trusted you."
"She had no choice."
"There's always a choice!"
"Not in our world."
Selena wiped her eyes. "I still hate you."
"I know."
"I'll always hate you."
"I know."
"But I understand now. A little."
Rook felt something twist in his chest. Something that might have been relief.
"We need to talk about your father," he said.
"What about him?"
"That photo. The warehouse. I know that place."
"Where is it?"
"The old shipping district. It's where your father used to take people who crossed him."
"Used to?"
"It's been abandoned for two years. Perfect place for an ambush."
Selena stood up. "Then we know it's a trap."
"We know. But we're going anyway."
"Why?"
"Because they have something I need."
"What?"
Rook hesitated. He had kept this secret for three years. But with everything falling apart, maybe it was time.
"Your mother gave me something before she died," he said. "Something important."
"What?"
"Proof that your father wasn't the one who ordered the senator killed."
Selena's eyes went wide. "What are you talking about?"
"The real killer. The person who's been playing us all along."
"Who?"
Before Rook could answer, the lights went out.
The room plunged into darkness. Selena gasped.
"Stay calm," Rook whispered. "Don't move."
But it was too late. The front door exploded inward. Men in black masks poured into the room. Red laser dots danced across the walls.
"Selena Rossi," a voice called out from the darkness. "You're coming with us."
"Like hell she is," Rook snarled.
Gunfire erupted. Muzzle flashes lit up the room like deadly fireworks.
Rook tackled Selena to the floor just as bullets tore through the air where she had been standing.
"The window!" he shouted.
They crawled across broken glass toward the back of the apartment. More gunshots. The sound of men shouting orders.
Rook kicked out the window screen and grabbed Selena's hand.
"Trust me," he said.
"I don't!"
"Then trust that I won't let you die!"
They jumped.
Three stories down into the alley below. Rook twisted in mid-air to take the impact on his back. They hit hard. Pain shot through his ribs.
"Can you run?" he gasped.
"Yes."
"Then run!"
They sprinted down the dark alley. Behind them, more men appeared at the broken window. Flashlight beams cut through the night.
"This way!" Rook pulled her toward a drainage tunnel.
They crawled through the narrow concrete pipe. Water soaked their clothes. The smell was awful.
"Where does this go?" Selena whispered.
"The river."
"Then what?"
"Then we find out who really killed that senator."
"How?"
"Because," Rook said as they emerged from the tunnel, "your mother hid the evidence somewhere only I would think to look."
They stood on the muddy riverbank. The city lights reflected in the black water.
"Where?" Selena asked.
Rook looked at her. Even covered in mud and scared out of her mind, she looked like her mother. Brave. Strong. Ready to fight.
"The place where it all began," he said. "The place where I first met Maria Rossi."
"Where's that?"
"The warehouse where they're holding your father."
Selena stared at him. "Are you insane? That's exactly where they want us to go!"
"I know."
"It's suicide!"
"Maybe. But it's the only way to end this."
A car engine roared in the distance. Getting closer.
"They found us," Rook said. "We need to move."
As they ran along the riverbank, Selena called out over the sound of their footsteps:
"Rook! The person who really ordered my mother's death—do I know them?"
Rook looked back at her, his face grim in the moonlight.
"You've known them your whole life."