Chapter 8

Franco

"Son." I reach for my only child, watching him turn his back on me. He doesn't look back as I lay bleeding on the dining room floor.

Everything I knew was a complete lie.

For how long I've known Jin, I figured he would stab me in the back one day, but it seems he's been playing me like a game of chess. That moment, that very moment years ago, outside of Dom's father's house, standing in the pouring rain, Jin appeared out of the shadows like the devil. I shook hands with him and became an ally. I didn't know I was sealing a deal with a man who had killed my Helen. I always wanted to be ahead of others, driven to be better than anyone else. I think back to when I went through the police academy, being at the top of my class, and graduating with Helen cheering for me. She was there for every triumphant moment in my life. Through the good and hard days, when I came home from a long day at work. I supported my family, working to the bone so my wife and son would have a roof over their heads, but Helen used to push me more to see what was right in front of me. She always used to say family is everything, and life goes by so fast that you can miss most of the important moments in the blink of an eye.

I stood by that and tried to make it home for birthdays and holidays, to be there for my little family. That one moment, the second I found out my Helen died... I felt something inside of me collapse. Maybe it was my heart that just stopped that day as I held her one last time, but the drive I used to have, was gone with Helen. I became obsessed with killing her murderer; revenge was my closest friend until I finally pulled the trigger on the man who took my other better half away from me. I didn't see back then that the path would lead me to where I am now.

Somewhere along the line, I lost myself to greed, corruption, and power. My own flesh and blood is a stranger. I have made myself into a man who Logan would never be close to. I am a monster.

"I'm sorry, Helen," I whisper to the chandelier, the bright lights becoming hazier and brighter.

I laugh and cough at the same time, the sound coming out raspy. It's almost ironic. Days ago, I thought of killing my son if he ever betrayed me, and he ended up stabbing me repeatedly instead. I was going to do it too, but Logan beat me to the punch. I can't really blame him for leaving me to suffer with my thoughts as I slowly bleed out. My son would have been rotting next to my wife in the cold, damp soil, and I would have carried on with life and worked beside Jin until I also got rid of him.

My, my, how fast the world does go around.

Helen was right. It only takes one blink, and you end up missing so much in the span of a second.

"Fuck!" I shout, regret burning me from the inside for all I've done, and the bridges I've burned because of my damaged soul.

I already know I won't see my Helen in heaven; my path will take me down to the fiery pits of hell so I can relive this moment over and over.

I

Am.

A.

Fool.

That fucking file. He kept a file on the killing of my wife. Almost like a trophy. I wonder if he would go through the pages every now and then and have a good laugh at my expense. The first page in the file was a faraway picture of Helen, her face turned to the camera, though her eyes were looking in the wrong direction, wholly unaware she was being photographed. A list was the second page of everything my wife did daily: her routine. Pages after pages. Someone, probably one of Jin's triad members, stalked my wife for a long time. Likely, when I started working on the case. It seems Jin has eyes and ears everywhere. He even had paperwork on me right from the beginning of my rookie cop career to the day my Helen died.

The red, bold stamp executed over my wife's smiling photo was like a kick to the gut; the breath knocked right out of you. Or, in my case, a stab to the stomach.

"Oh God. Franco!" Diana shrieks somewhere off to my right, and her blurry, horrified face appears in my line of sight. "You're bleeding! Oh my god! Ambulance." She's muttering to herself as she flutters her hands over me and stands to get to her phone.

"No ambulance," I grit out with a hiss and release my stomach, blood spilling forth from the wound like a river. "Take my phone and look for my doctor. He is on call for emergencies. He'll know what to do."

I dig my phone out of my pocket, handing it shakily to Diana. She quickly scrolls through my contacts and calls my private doctor just for these emergencies while pressing on my stomach with a grimace on her face.

My eyes blink slowly, closing and opening what feels like hours later, but it's only been a few seconds. I watch Diana through blurry eyes, black dots dancing in my vision. For a split second, her face goes fuzzy around the edges, softer, and I'm staring at my Helen until she's gone once again.

So many regrets.

Death is at my door, knocking very fucking loudly on the other side.

I still have one more thing to do; I'm not ready to meet the devil just yet.

It's the last thing I think before my eyes finally shut, and then... darkness.