Bonus - Goodbye forever
I look at them, confused.
"I thought you had taken care of her," I say, confessing that I haven't thought about my twin sister in years.
The last time I saw her was fourteen years ago; I had just finished my mafia training.
"She paid for fifteen years for the problems she caused, and we decided that you would decide her final fate," says Aunt Andreia.
I give an ironic laugh and get up.
"Then let's settle this quickly, because I have an appointment at the end of the afternoon," I say indifferently.
Eloisa no longer has a place in my life, but I can't deny that I don't know exactly what I'll do with her.
"The children will stay with you, love," Lorenzo says to Giulia, his wife.
The other wives who are here agree; I love them very much and I am very grateful for them making my brothers happy.
Besides putting up with them, which is no easy task.
I'm in Matteo's car and we talk about various things during the drive. I know he wants to distract me from the choice I have to make.
"Do you already know where you're going to have the baby?" he asks, turning the corner.
"Dominic wants it to be in Russia, but I'm not sure yet," I reply calmly. "Lizandra wants to be there for the first few months after the birth."
"We all want that, but do what's best for you," he says, giving me an encouraging look.
When we arrive at the warehouse, I ask for a few minutes.
I go into my office and sit at my desk, lost in thought. I open the drawer and stare at the spare gun I keep there.
As always, I open the magazine and check the number of bullets as if it were a mantra.
Come on, Elena, you can do it.
I tell myself when an idea occurs to me. We all have a choice.
I leave the room feeling the weight of the gun in my hand; the metal is cold, but not indifferent, it's quite familiar in reality.
I walk to the interrogation room, passing the cells, and in one of them I see Christopher Sinclair, who recoils in fear as I pass.
The last time I was with him, I ripped off his penis.
I reach the interrogation room and everyone is there, looking through the glass at Eloisa's figure.
"We trust whatever decision you make," Lorenzo says sincerely.
Everyone agrees with him, and I turn to the door.
"No matter what happens inside, don't go in," I say and open the door to the room.
The first thing I do as soon as I enter is remove Eloisa's handcuffs, then I sit facing her and only then do I assess her condition.
She is thin and ugly; I see marks of years of torture on her body, but I feel no pity.
She made her own choices and today she will decide whether or not to make the last one.
"How many months pregnant is she?" she asks me in a hollow voice.
“Five,” I reply coldly.
My heart simply feels nothing when I speak to her; all the anger and hatred I felt have vanished.
She has no right to occupy any space in my life.
“This doesn’t seem to be your first child,” she says, assessing me.
“And the third,” I say, crossing my arms. “You know why I’m here after fifteen years, don’t you?”
She nods and smiles cynically.
For a moment, I see the old Eloisa, and my heart clenches; perhaps I’ve created a little hope along the way.
I place my gun on the table, and she watches cautiously.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asks, afraid.
I don’t answer, I just slide the gun toward her.
“It’s up to you,” I say, and she looks at me suspiciously. “You can choose to kill yourself or choose to disappear from our lives and start over.”
She looks at me and then laughs like a madwoman.
“You came here after all these damn years to give me a choice?” she asks, laughing, and picks up the gun.
I watch her every move as she ponders the options she’s given her.
For a second, I hope she’s sorry, I hope she wants to start over and disappear.
“You know, sister, for these fifteen years all I imagined was escaping torture, but seeing you today and realizing you’ve achieved everything I ever wanted makes me so furious,” Eloisa says, and I just stare at her.
Eloisa never knew what it was like to lose; she always acted impulsively, ready to eliminate anything unnecessary from her path to get what she wanted.
This comes from the monsters who raised her since she was little, from the negative influence they exerted on her.
“You took Silas from me, just like Henri and any other chance I had to be happy, to have power, to have a good life,” she screams uncontrollably. “You stole everything from me.”
I just watch her jealous outburst and roll my eyes.
“Choose quickly, I have an appointment in half an hour,” I say impatiently, looking at my watch.
Eloisa gets angry and then unlocks the gun.
I see her point the gun at me and walk towards me.
She grabs my arm and presses the gun against my stomach, her eyes gleaming as she does so.
She made her choice.
“Are you sure about your decision?” I ask calmly, and I see her eyes filled with homicidal fury.
“I’m going to take one of your most precious possessions,” she says and pulls the trigger.
The gun doesn’t fire, as I removed the bullets when I was in my office.
I observe Eloisa’s confused face, then I draw my other gun from my waist and press it against her head.
“I needed to understand that you would never change,” I say softly, and she recoils from me, trembling.
The understanding hits her slowly, but with the force of a bomb, her eyes fill with tears.
“I needed to see it with my own eyes, even if some hope grew within me, I needed you to kill her,” I say with a tone of disappointment.
Eloisa falls to her knees, understanding that it’s all over.
“Goodbye, sister,” I say, and pull the trigger, killing my twin.
END