LIX *NOT EDITED*
Vincenzo
Everyone's sitting in the loungeroom exchanging stories and memories except for Karma, she's been death staring Stefano the whole night. I grab ahold of her hand and squeeze it tightly, she looks at me before turning her attention back to Stefano "What's wrong?" I whisper into her ear, she doesn't reply just continues to stare. My aunty and uncle left not long ago as Arabella has an appointment early tomorrow morning for a check-up on how the cancer's progressing, I know Karma was waiting for them to leave because as soon as they walked out the front door she started the death stare.
"Vincenzo, why don't you play us something on the piano" My mother softly smiles sensing the tension in the air, "I really don't think that's a good idea" I reply but this time Nonna pipes up "Oh that would be lovely! Karma, you can sing for us too" She hums in excitement. "You can sing?" I ask looking to Karma, she only nods her head yes as a reply. "Come on, make an old woman happy" Nonna pushes and with that statement I cant back out of this. Taking a deep breath I stand up and pull Karma up with me, she hesitantly stands up still staring down Stefano. I walk to the piano in the corner and sit down as she sits on top of the piano watching her brother like a hawk.
"You going to tell me why you look like you're about to rip your brother's throat out?" I ask watching her body language, "You'll find out soon enough, since when do you play the piano?" She questions before plastering a forced smile on her face "Since I was 5" I reply. "Any requests?" She asks waiting for an answer "WAP" Iggy calls out which causes almost all of us to laugh except the oldies "What's a WAP?" Nonna asks confused, "Thot shit" Gio calls next earning another chuckle from us "What's a thot? And why is she shitting?" Nonna asks again.
"Why don't you pick one Nonna" Karma replies before taking a deep breath, "Ooooo, the one you sang for me when we were in America" She grins. Karmas face drops before a smirk graces her lips "Sure thing, Nonna". She pulls her phone out and looks up the piano sheet music before putting it in front of me I quickly read the song title and recognise the name and artist, Praying - Kesha, I look at her waiting for her to give me the all-clear, she gives me a small nod to let me know she's ready to go. So I look to the music sheets and begin playing. She begins to sing and I almost lose concentration because of how angelic her voice is, I wouldn't have thought she would sound like this, I mean sure I've heard her sing before but it was always over blasting music, this time I can listen properly and now I know what her true voice sounds like I might just have to make her sing to me every single day for the rest of our lives.
We finish the first chorus and that's when her eyes go back to Stefano who's fidgeting in his seat "I'm proud of who I am, no more monsters, I can breathe again. And you said that I was done, well, you were wrong and now the best is yet to come. 'Cause I can make it on my own, and I don't need you, I found a strength I've never known. I've been thrown out, I've been burned. When I'm finished, they won't even know your name".
"You brought the flames and you put me through hell, I had to learn how to fight for myself
And we both know all the truth I could tell, I'll just say this is I wish you farewell".
The pain and emotion in her voice is obvious, I think everyone else can sense it too since tears are flowing down my mother's cheeks as well as Emily's and Nonna's. I look to Stefano quickly who looks uncomfortable, like he knows something's about to go down, the song ends and everyone in the room claps, except Stefano. Nonna gets up from her seat and shuffles over kissing me on the head before turning to Karma and pulling her into her arms "As beautiful as the first time I heard it angel" She says proudly, "Thank you Nonna" She replies wiping the tears off of her grandmothers face.
Karma hops off of the piano and goes to Emily whispering something in her ear, Emily looks unsure but nods her head slowly agreeing to whatever is being said. Within the next hour my parents decide it's time to leave, they say their goodbyes and walk out the front door. "I think I should head off too I need to get back to work," Lukas says breaking the silence, "Could you take me too?" Emily asks looking at Karma before looking at Lukas. "Uh, yeah as long as that's okay with you guys?" Lukas replies looking at everyone for an answer, Karma nods her head before pulling Emily in for a hug and kissing her cheek "I'll see you tomorrow sugar" Karma softly says before watching them walk down the hallway and out the door, leaving just Iggy, Gio, Stefano, Karma and I. as soon as the door closes behind them Karma turns on her heels and takes off running towards the loungeroom again "What's her problem?" Iggy asks before it finally clicks in my head, Stefano, what's he fucking done?
"You fucking son of a bitch!" I hear her scream and I know it's game on for whatever their problem is "Oh shit" Iggy sighs as we run to the loungeroom. Once we get there I see Stefano on the floor with Karma sitting on top of him, "You tell me I'm a junkie" She screams throwing a punch at his face "You tell me I need help" She screams again throwing another one. "Should we stop it?" Iggy whispers to me as we watch it unfold, "No, she needs this" I reply closely watching in case Stefano decides to do something stupid. "How fucking dare you, how fucking dare you!" She sobs while landing blow after blow to his face, "You were supposed to protect me, all I wanted was my big brother but you couldn't even do that. You left me when I needed you. You tell me that my life's worthless because I'm an addict, you don't want to be around me cause of the drugs when infact YOU are doing the exact same fucking thing. How long have you been doing it huh? How fucking long?" She screams grabbing onto his shirt and violently shaking him.
Gio and Iggy look at me shocked but I can't give them an answer I'm still trying to understand what the fuck is happening. Stefano lays there as blood pours from the broken skin on his face and the possible broken nose Karma's gifted him, her words ticking over in my head repeatedly "She asked you a fucking question" I say biting down on my jaw, how did I not notice he was on shit? How the aFUCK is he going to call her out on her problems when he's facing the exact same ones? "8 years" He finally replies. Her hands let go of his shirt and she scoffs before laughing, it's never good when she gets to the point of laughing. "You went off on my ex because he fed me drugs when you were feeding yourself it too. Hahahaha you probably fucking sold shit to him" She exclaims throwing her hands into the air, the room falls silent and my stomach drops, surely fucking not. The smile disappears from her face when he says nothing, "You sold shit to him, the shit that almost killed me?" She asks as tears free fall from her eyes.
He doesn't answer again, I can feel my anger boiling over. Every cell in my body wants to rip his fucking head off and feed him to Hades but this isn't my battle to fight, it's Karmas and I'll only step in if it's needed. "You sick son of a fucking bitch" She growls before beginning to punch the fuck out of him again, Iggy and Gio still look as shocked as I feel, Iggy's face as pale as a ghost while Gio looks like he's going to be sick. Something in Stefano snaps because he grabs Karmas hair and rips her off of him before cursing her out and looking down at his palm "What the fuck" He roars looking to the large cuts on the palm of his hands "I put razor blades in my hair the last time I went to the bathroom in the hopes your dumbass would try something" She laughs, almost manically.
They both stand up staring each other down like raging bulls ready to fight to the death, he raises his fist and that's when I charge him, going past Karma I tackle him to the ground, his head bouncing off the tiled floors before punching the fuck out of his face and body, Gio and Iggy try to pry me off of him but I won't get off until this motherfuckers not breathing anymore. "Enough" Karma yells and I stop instantly staring down at the rat beneath me. Karma walks over to us and bends down so she's face level with me, she looks at me with glassy eyes before looking to her 'brother' who is half-conscious, "I never want to see your face again, I don't care if he lets you continue to work but so help me god if I even see you for a second I'm going to cut your head off and put it on a stick so it can sit out the front of my house as a decoration. You disgust me, you're fucking disgusting Stefano. I hope you realise just how fucked up you are. Go back to shooting up, part of me wants your next hit to kill you, the other half of me wants you to slowly die from it over the years. I want you to lose every single thing and person in your life. I want someone to shoot you up in a bathroom and let you slowly die by yourself on the cold hard floor, just like I almost did, because of you. You are dead to me".
He doesn't speak again, he doesn't even show an ounce of regret or remorse, just stares blankly at the roof, she chuckles again before standing up and spitting on his face. "I want him gone" She commands looking to Iggy and Gio, Gio nods his head and makes his way towards us while Iggy's frozen still, probably trying to process everything that's just happened and I don't blame him because I'm still trying to process it too. I look back to Stefano who finally looks me in the eyes, if it was my choice I would have killed him, right here. But it's not my choice at the end of the day, it's Karmas and what Karma wants, Karma gets. "You're done, Gio make sure he packs his shit and leaves my family's property within the next three hours. Drop him off in a forest in another town and leave him there".
I get off of him and straighten my clothes out as Gio grabs ahold of his arms and begins to drag him down the hallway and out the front door "I'm so sorry Karma" Iggy whispers finally bringing his teary eyes up from where Stefano was originally laying "If I had of known I would have done something earlier" He whispers again and Karma just shakes her head before walking to him, she gives him a gentle hug before cupping his face "Don't be sorry Igloo, there's nothing any of us could have done to find out, I just happened to get lucky today, he didn't lock the door. Nothing that happened tonight was anyone fault expect his own". He nods his head before looking to me for reassurance, I nod my head as an it's okay, he stands there for a few more seconds before taking a deep breath in and following the blood trail down the hall and out the front door.
The silence is deafening, Karma and I look at each other as her eyes well up with tears again, my poor queen. I walk to her and pick her up, she wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck as sobs rattle her entire body. I sit down on the couch with Hades who looks more worried than ever and begin to take the razor blades out of her hair before running my fingers through it trying to calm her down. Hades rests his head on her leg and tries to get her attention by nudging her every so often, I don't have the right words to say to her, I don't think there is anything that can be said to make this better right now, so I just let her cry, for hours and hours and hours, until she falls asleep, safe, in my arms. Once I know she's completely out I close my eyes and let sleep take over me, we can work this out tomorrow.
I'm jolted awake by Hade's barking at me like a maniac, I open one eye and notice Karma's not on me "Karma tell him to stop barking" I call out but there's no reply, "Karma!!" I call out again as Hade's barks more viciously, I stand up and panic sets in, she's run off, fucking again. Hades bites onto my pants and starts dragging me towards the back door out to the pool and yard "Yeah yeah I'm coming" I reply as if he can understand, I notice the doors open but think nothing of it she must be out here, I walk out and can't see her. Hades lets go and runs over to the grassy area before whinging.
I run to him and fall to my knees at the sight before me, a large pool of blood, some fabric from the clothes she was wearing last night as well as a single bullet shell, but no Karma, my mind instantly goes to one person, and one person only.
Stefano.