The Boy [mxb]

31

"You're dead, Penelli," Violetta snarls.

What a vision she is right now, standing in the doorway with her gun trained on the space between Penelli's eyes.

"Violet!" I breathe. "Oh, thank God." I slump to the ground, the full weight of my wariness and exhaustion finally landing on my shoulders and crushing me.

The relief courses over me in waves, overwhelming in its sheer force.

Violetta looks my bloodied form over with a pain-stricken expression, before gritting her teeth and turning the safety off.

No. I know she's in love with me, but she can't just kill him.

"Wait-"

She pulls the trigger.

Penelli crumples to the ground, blood gushing from his forehead.

"Dare." Violetta rushes forward, examining me with fingers flying all over my face. "Fuck. What did he do to you?!"

"Violet..." I rasp. I clutch at my abdomen, my injuries making their presence known with alarming ferocity. "Why didn't you just call 9-1-1? And... H-How did he get out? You had him..."

Something's not right. As much as I just want to pretend like everything's fine, for the first time in what feels like forever, I can't.

"H-he... He talked about a boss..." I look at her pleadingly.

Say something, I urge her wordlessly. Give me an excuse, even if it's a lie. Tell me you didn't do this to me, to Ciel. Not after everything, not after how long I've known you.

Nothing could have prepared me for the crushing sensation I feel when Violetta stares back at me, expressionless.

Come on, come on...

Slowly, Violetta's lip curls in a small smile and my heart sinks.

It plummets like a stone to the pit of my chest, then through to the core of the earth.

The falling sensation is so real that I would've toppled over if I weren't already kneeling.

Violetta. She's the mastermind behind everything.

The realization chills me to the core.

She had access to criminal records; she hired all those people according to their skillset. She organized all of this.

Violetta never wanted to help me find Ciel. She just wanted to suss out what the cops knew.

Betrayal is a rusty dagger plunged to the hilt in my chest. The pain I'm feeling emotionally is worse than the cuts and bruises littered all over my body, than the exhaustion of fighting off an army of men.

All I know in this moment is complete, perfect agony.

It's all coming together with chilling clarity in my mind. I can see the pieces coalescing in front of me, swirling together before my eyes, and I want to reach out and stop them from assembling so I don't have to face the reality. But it's too late.

That little date was just a ruse to get me out of the house. She organized Ciel's kidnapping.

"You did this," I gasp, my face contorted in more pain than I can handle. I'm on my knees, choking on my own blood, and she's just smiling down at me. "And when the attempt on Ciel's life failed and you couldn't convince me that he was dead, you tried to convince me that he was a murderer. You...you fucking..." My stomach lurches, vision swimming. I can't even stand, much less throw a punch.