The Mafia and His Obsession Part 2 (Tainted Hearts 5)

Yeah, I was sure she’d not see a sight like me coming to knock at her door every day.

“Hi…I’m here to meet Valerie,” I introduced myself to the woman. Was this woman her mother? I couldn’t tell. There was no familiarity.

I knew I should have done my research before dropping by her old house, the house she grew up in and the house Valentin stole her from, but I had been in a rush to complete this task. The final seal to Valerie’s past.

I just needed to see how her family was doing after so many years—needed proof and closure for my Valerie. Her wounds were still raw. Her past, present, and future was still messy and in shambles. But I knew she was strong enough to get out of this fucking dark hole, and I would be there, waiting for her to fall back into my arms. Once she would be ready to meet her family again, I’d be the one to take her and introduce myself to her parents.

The woman’s eyebrows rose up and then she slowly shook her head. “Valerie? You mean Valerie Blackwell?”

I nodded, doubt creeping in now. The look on her face didn’t sit well with me. “I am a friend of the Blackwell family. I have been out of the country for a long time and I just came back. We lost contact before but I’d like to see how she was doing.”

The older woman’s lips parted in shock and the blood drained from her face. I met her eyes, keeping her focused and grounded on the spot. She swallowed hard, her face becoming paler, almost ghost-white. What the fuck?

“You don’t know?” she breathed.

I took a step forward. “Know what? What happened?”

She looked back over her shoulder, and when she faced me again, her eyes glistened with tears. She leaned closer as if to whisper a secret. “The house burned down seven years ago. No one survived.”

I reared back, her words echoing in my ears. It was deafening and the blood rushed through my veins furiously. “What?”

She nodded solemnly. “They were all trapped inside. The house burned down to the ground. No survivors. It was such a tragedy. The whole community was shocked by it. So sudden, so quickly. Four lives lost.”

My throat felt parched and my tongue was heavy in my mouth. I couldn’t speak. How was this possible? Valerie said Valentin had pictures of her sister growing up over the years. It had been the only thing keeping her going, alive and surviving through all the fucked-up shit Valentin threw at her.

The woman took my silence as permission to keep speaking. “You say you are a friend of Valerie, right? I am so sorry, dear. She had such a bright future ahead and was a sweet girl. Valerie was a friend of my daughter. They were both ballet dancers at the academy. Her death…” She choked on her words as she trailed off. “…so tragic.”

I stayed frozen on the porch, confused and shaken to the core. She patted my arm, sympathy and pity written all over her face. “Do you want to come in? A cup of coffee maybe. You must have traveled a long way. I am deeply sorry for the news I have given you. Please come in.”

Taking a step back, I shook my head. Her hand fell back to her side. “No, thank you,” I muttered. My gaze studied the house, and I realized that it looked to be new, recently built once again while all the other houses on the same road looked to be a few decades old.

Ah fuck. No fucking way.

I rubbed a hand over my bearded face and turned to walk away from the house. The woman called after me, but I didn’t turn back.

My hands clenched into fists at my side, my knuckles aching under the pressure. I fought the urge to pummel something—someone to the ground. But the person I wanted to see bleed was already dead. At my own hand.

Valentin must have been the one to burn down the house. There was no other logical explanation. It all made sense now. Valerie’s father owed him money. Valerie was the debt that Valentin collected when her father couldn’t pay all the money back. She had been collateral damage. Valentin got what he wanted but after all, he was Solonik. A deceitful man. An unforgiving man.

Valerie’s family thought the debt had been paid. Their daughter’s life for the money they owed. They probably thought everything had been forgiven. But men like Valentin didn’t forgive and forget easily.

So he killed the rest of the family. It was an easy job for him to do. He destroyed any chance of Valerie going back to a normal life once again.

The pressure in my chest became agonizing, and it almost felt like my ribcage was closing tighter around my lungs, suffocating me.