Page 6 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

Joey

My mind was a riot of emotions, so loud they drowned everything else out.

I was in a haze as Mags sat me in a high-backed wooden chair at her and Harrison’s kitchen table.

Withdrawn so deep within myself that neither the sting of antiseptic nor the bite of the sewing needle that pulled my wounds closed earned so much as a hiss from me.

I was entirely on autopilot by the time I climbed under the shower spray, retreating deeper and deeper into myself as blood and grime washed down the drain.

“I’m going home,” I mumbled, barely audible, as Az collapsed onto the couch beside me. “I have to figure out how to tell my folks.”

“We’ll go with you. You don’t have to do this alone, Joey.” Az replied softly.

I didn’t bother with a response. I didn’t have it in me.

Travel plans were made around me, Az and Leighton occasionally asking for input I couldn’t find the energy to give.

I was vaguely aware of Harrison arriving at some point to speak with Az, their voices a low murmur against the background of my mind.

It felt like I had only blinked, and then I was standing in the living room of the home we’d bought our parents after our first big score.

“Hey, Little Brother.” Rich’s voice felt like a slap to the face, and I turned so sharply it nearly threw me off balance.

My heart sank back into my stomach when Az, not my brother, entered my view.

“You need to eat something, even if you don’t feel like it.

” He said as he held out a sandwich for me.

I took it, biting into it before baring my teeth in a grimace meant to be a smile.

My movements felt mechanical; each forced bite felt like chewing cardboard.

Not even Az’s worried expression could break through the heaviness that had settled inside me, weighing me down and making everything feel pointless.

Time seemed to pass in another series of blinks.

I closed my eyes to Az and opened them to my mother, pulling me against her as she sobbed.

Another blink, my father was in the recliner across from where I sat on the couch; his head hung low as he stared at the floor.

Yet another, my parents sat on either side of me while they addressed their pastor.

“Hey bro,” Leighton said, “I brought your suit. Your mom said you need to change. It’s almost time.”

Another blink, and I was staring at a closed, dark mahogany casket, a pall with a death’s head moth laid across it. I could almost reach out and brush my fingers across the casket pedestal. Tilting my head, I studied it in confusion before turning to speak to Rich.

“Wh–” The whispered word never fully left my mouth as pain crashed over me. My hands clenched into fists, my nails biting into the skin as awareness sank in for the first time in days.

A ragged breath left me, my whole body shuddering with it, before I clawed my way back to the numbness.

To the place where none of this was real, and I’d eventually wake to find it was all a horrible nightmare.

The pastor’s words helped lull me back to that place, the soft tenor of his voice a lullaby in a sea of grief and anger.

Not even the cold bite of late winter air could snap me back from that place as we strolled from the funeral home.

It wasn’t until the car had fully stopped and she emerged that I felt anything.

My eyes narrowed on her then, in her sleek black dress, smoothing the non-existent wrinkles while Craig stood at her side.

A quick once over of Craig was enough to tell me that his smart suit hid extensive injuries, and yet, the fucking princess was wholly untouched.

“What is it going to take for you four to screw your heads back on straight?! Is one of us going to have to fucking die keeping her alive before you realize this whole thing is a fucking MISTAKE!?” He roared, slamming me into the dining table.

The wood buckled and split in half under the impact of my body.

Bile bit at the back of my throat, and I had to fight my initial instinct to tell her to get back in the car and go back to wherever she came from.

Some small voice told me there was a better way to make that point, so I swallowed the sneer that threatened to split my face as I watched them approach.

She strolled next to Craig for a moment, seeming to fret over him, until her eyes swung up, and she saw the three of us standing outside the funeral home.

Once upon a time, the smile that lit up her face would have melted my insides as she broke into a run.

Leighton was the first to reach her, sprinting across the distance to sweep her up in his arms in a spin.

Az was hot on his heels, if a bit more controlled.

Awe, look, she’s crying. How convincing.

I thought to myself as I strolled along after my remaining brothers with my parents.

It took several breaths to steady myself when the attention turned toward us, and I was glad I’d had my parents to duck behind to avoid being pulled into one of her performative hugs.

“Love, these are Dawn and Ian—Rich and Joey’s parents,” Az said, making a gesture between her and my parents. “Dawn, Ian. This is Victoria Bristol.”

“I know who she is,” my mother scolded Az, and for a moment, I hoped it was disdain I heard in her voice.

“My boys told me so much about you, Victoria. I wish this were a happier occasion, but I’m glad to lay eyes on the woman my boys love.

” Mom sniffled, wiping her eyes with a tissue before embracing the viper in our midst.

I wanted to puke when her eyes widened in surprise before she recovered herself and smiled sympathetically at my mother.

“Mrs. Innocenti–” She started.

“None of that, honey. Call me Dawn. And you call this ol’ lug here Ian.” Mom interjected, patting my father’s chest, my father wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

I stood away from the group just a bit, watching them welcome her back into our family like she belonged there.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand it.

None of them seemed to care that everything we’d lost and been through was Victoria Bristol’s fault.

If Az had just let the crowd trample her during the gala fire, Rich would still be alive.

She wouldn’t have been around to spread her poison through our family so thoroughly.

To think I’d nearly fallen for it completely was enough to set my teeth on edge.

I wanted to recoil when Victoria’s eyes finally landed on me.

That warm brown had once been comforting and drawn me in.

But now I knew better. All of her “misunderstandings” and “mistakes” when it came to the rules we’d put in place for her, that he’d put in place for her, were coming under a whole new light.

She was more like a siren tempting sailors to their deaths rather than a princess we needed to save.

I forced myself to stand still as she approached, but I couldn’t bring warmth or receptiveness to my face. It was all I could do not to push her away.

“Joey…” She said softly, holding her arms out as she got close.

“Don’t.” I hissed.

“Joey,” Az’s voice was a warning. My eyes narrowed on his hand gently taking her arm to pull her back.

“He needs time, Love. He’s not in a good place right now, and I don’t want you taking the brunt of it.

Why don’t you go with Dawn and Ian, get Craig settled in? I’ll bring you to him when he’s ready.”

“It’s fine, Az, I’ll be okay. It wasn’t all that long ago that I lost my mom.

And we’re all grieving right now. I know what it’s like to be where he’s at, I understand that dark place.

” She said, her voice softening as she got almost close enough to wrap her arms around me.

Her words felt like a slap to the face, and I jumped back, unable to help myself, as I pushed her away from me hard enough to make her fall off her heels.

“The fuck do you think you understand, Princess ?” I spat at her, finally letting go of the iron fist I’d kept around my emotions since she’d stepped out of the car that had dropped them off.

“It’s your fucking fault that my brother is in a casket in there right now, a bullet between his fucking eyes!

” My voice started rising until I was shouting, and I couldn’t bring myself to care about the scene I knew I was making.

“And everyone here is a fucking idiot for letting you back into the fold like it’s anything other than your own machinations and plans that got us here in the first fucking place!

It’s like Rich said, when I was stupidly fighting for what I thought was your fucking honor, how many of us have to fucking die for everyone to get the fucking point?

! You’re a fucking poison , Victoria.” I curled my lip into a vicious sneer as I stepped toward her.

“Stay away from my family. Stay away from my brothers. Stay the fuck away from me!”

“Joseph Dario Innocenti!” My mother screeched, making my attention instinctively snap to her.

Leighton shoved past Az, planting himself between me and Victoria, his face twisted into a snarl as he jabbed his finger into my shoulder. “I’m not going to do what you deserve in front of your mother because I fucking love Dawn, but that’s one mother fucker.”

“What the fuck, Joey?!” Craig said, trying his best to help Victoria up in his injured state.

“This wasn’t her fault, Little Brother,” Az said, his brows furrowed as he stood beside Leighton. “We could have walked at any time. We chose to be there.”

I felt my collar pulled sharply as my father stepped into view, his soft baritone carrying a note of finality as he spoke.

“That’s enough, boy. Not here. Not now. To the car.

” He shoved me forward, not hard enough to make me stumble but sufficient to get the point.

“I’m taking him home. Get Dawn to the cemetery; I’ll meet you there. ”

I shoved my hands in my pockets and started heading for the car, my father on my heels.

For a moment, I almost felt bad for my display, not because of the snake everyone was protecting but because of my parents.

I knew they were going through it, and none of it was fair to them.

I just wished they could see I was trying to protect them from a similar fate.

Because I wholeheartedly believed that if Victoria Bristol had her way, we’d all be joining Rich sooner or later.