Mistress to a Monster

“No. Just stop. Stop with all the tears and the lies. Just leave me alone.” Milah turned, and this time, she walked, fast. She didn’t know where she was going.

All she wanted to do was to get away. To leave De Luca land. To put him behind her so she never had to look at his smug face again, but she couldn’t do that.

Instead, she had no choice but to find solace elsewhere.

She knew exactly where she was heading. To the two people who could have put an end to this. Whose love was cut short by outside sources.

The cemetery was quite far from the house, and once she got there, she stopped just outside of the gate, looking at the gravestones. So much death. She swiped at her cheeks and stepped onto the grounds, seeing several names and finally coming to a stop where Valentino and Alicia lay.

Milah collapsed to the ground, several feet from the stones.

Were they finally together?

Staring at their names, she sobbed for them and for herself.

“I was falling for him.” She covered her face with her hands and felt the huge loss and emptiness. “Revenge is so cold. It doesn’t keep you warm, and it doesn’t stop the hate. None of this is ever going to stop.”

There were no answers.

“Everything I fell in love with was a lie. The long nights. The snuggles, the laughs. It was all false. He’s not like that. He just had a bigger plan he was trying to concoct.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at the gravestones, knowing no good was ever going to come out of a De Luca and Russo union.

At the sound of a twig snapping, Milah spun her head toward the noise and saw one of Damon’s soldiers approaching. He’d been there for several months, even before she arrived. She had no idea of his name.

“Leave me alone. You can tell your precious master that I’m not leaving the grounds.” It would be dumb to.

She had a target on her back for just being a Russo. No matter where she turned, she was hated.

“I’m … I came to see you,” he said.

Milah looked at him and frowned. “Why? I don’t know you.”

“I know you don’t know me, but I … know you,” he said. “Or at least I know of you. You see, my name is Ricky. My mother made sure that I was never to be named after him.”

“Who?” She was confused by this man.

“My mother was a waitress at one of Antonio Russo’s nightclubs. He’s my…”

“Oh, I get it. You’re one of my father’s children,” Milah said. She started to laugh. “Let me guess, you can’t stand me either so you’re going to kill me?” She put a hand protectively over her stomach.

“No, no, I’m not here to kill you. I’m older than you, in case you’re wondering.” Ricky still held a gun in his hand, it was the kind that she’d gotten used to seeing when the men were patrolling the grounds.

“If you’re not here to kill me, then why are you here?”

“I … well, Antonio never accepted me. Even after a paternity test. He abused my mother, and so I vowed that I would never ask that man for anything. I found out about the De Luca and Russo feud and decided to work for his enemy. Then, I heard about you. I heard what he did, and I just knew that I had to meet you. I watched you from afar. I waited to see if you were like him or if you were different.”

“And?” Milah asked.

“I, I would like to offer you a hug, little sister,” Ricky said.

“Why?”

“Because we only have each other, and right now, you’re hurting more than anything.”

“Ricky, you don’t know me.”

“But I’d like to.”

“Damon will kill you.”

“I’ve been loyal to him and him alone. I have sworn to protect him, and I will swear to protect you.”

“Why now?”