CHAPTER FIVE
Graham
If the night couldn’t get any worse, it seems as if the little interaction with those little bastards might have put a damper on everything. I know that Evelyn knew that I wasn’t a normal kind of man, but I think tonight made it clear to her what kind of person I was. She was much quieter since the interaction, and as we made our way back to her apartment, she seemed to be a lot more nervous than easier.
Great, things might be ruined now.
As I walked her up to her apartment door, I waited for her to pull out her keys, “don’t worry, Evelyn, I’ll leave now.”
Evelyn’s head snapped up, eyes wide, and she looked quite confused, “leave? Why are you going to leave, Graham?”
I held hope in my heart that she meant exactly what she had said, but I couldn’t help but worry, “I’m sure you figured it out, Evelyn, but I am not a nice guy. I have enemies - as you can tell from when we first met - and that’s never going to stop. I can protect you, but there’s always that chance that someone could try and kill me. I don’t want to put that burden on you, especially because I want you to like me for who I am… and I’m not so sure you’ll like him.”
I confessed everything right here, laying it down at her feet, but I couldn’t meet her eyes. I didn’t want to see the disgust there either. I handed her the pizza, going to turn away, but her hand reached out, grasping mine. This time, I did look up, and I was stunned to see the soft look in her eyes.
“Don’t just assume you know everything, Graham,” She told me gently, squeezing my hand softly, “if you want, we can go in here and talk. I am sure that you have your reasons for why you do what you do, and I knew from the start that you were not… a ‘good’ guy, per say, but I’m sure to many, you are. Who am I to judge?”
For the first time in so long, I felt my heart practically skip a beat, “yes, I’d like to come inside, Evelyn, since you’ll have me.”
She smiled happily, unlocking the door, “of course, I will, Graham. Come inside.”
I knew this was an invitation, and my heart thumped in my chest, feeling the excitement coursing through my veins. I smiled softly, nodding my head as I took her hand once more, allowing her to take me into her home.
If only I knew what would happen once that door closed behind me, maybe I would’ve walked away…
Evelyn
“I am a Mafia leader,” Graham admitted to me as we sat on the couch, finishing our pizza before going to start the movie, “I have been running it for about five years now after my mentor, the ex-leader, decided to retire and move to the Caribbean to live out the rest of his life in luxury. The good thing about being a leader is that you can leave at any point, and you can change your identity where none of your enemies can find you. I hope to do that one day… but right now, I can’t.”
I let his words sink in, nervously eating the pizza, “I see… is this something you knew you always wanted to do?”
Graham stilled for a moment, his expression going a little tense, “I wouldn’t necessarily say that. But unfortunately, it was just how my life decided to go.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him, wondering if I should really be pressuring him into telling me.
“I was abandoned when I was a baby,” he explained, staring off into space, “I went into the foster care system, going from home to home in hopes that someone would adopt me. As I grew older, I began to realize that nothing here was going to make me happy, and no matter what I did, I was never going to escape this endless cycle unless I did something about it. So, I packed up the few things I had, and I ran away.”
My heart hurt for him.
“I won’t say it was easy.” He continued, setting his finished plate on the coffee table, “there were days where I would be hungry, tempted to go back to those horrid places just so that I could have something in my stomach. Being on the streets was not easy, but it did teach me a lesson. I’m not sure how long it took, but eventually, Father found me.”
“Father?” I questioned, feeling a little confused.
“Father is the man who saved me, the ex-leader of this Mafia.” Graham told me, his eyes fixating on me now, “I didn’t trust him, of course, but he brought me into his home where he had others like me. It didn’t matter their background or anything, but those who were in need would find sanctuary in his home… but there was a price to his kindness.”
“What was it?” I asked him curiously.
“After we got situated, we started training.” Graham murmured, rising to his feet as he gathered up the mess we had made, “we learned hand to hand combat, shooting a gun, and much, much more. Originally, I thought he just wanted to make it so we knew how to protect ourselves but the moment I turned eighteen, I found out that he was looking for a successor, someone to take over that he could trust once he decided to retire. Everyone else would become a part of the group, but he needed this leader.”
My eyebrows furrowed in irritation. I didn’t understand how someone could do that. Graham might not see it that way, but I believed it to be manipulation when that old man decided to take these boys in to basically become his puppets. Didn’t he realize what kind of toll that would have on them?