Page 67 of Incompatible

And I will not let him break even more, I cannot let him fall. No. I refuse.

That doesn't change the fact that I will cry for the next few days. Cry and cry. I cry myself to sleep because he suffered. It kills me inside and just doesn't stop.

BAY

The first one of them I kill is Matt.

It happens exactly one month after the Halloween incident.

And that first time, I have Ennio’s help.

He works with me to put together a plan that will keep me safe from any potential police investigation.

At this point I no longer have any doubts about who he is, he doesn’t bother to hide it anyway.

Ennio Ferro is the nephew of Anzo Ferro, the mafia capo. The Ferro family is the biggest and most powerful in the city, and he has access to resources I couldn’t even dream of.

To make my alibi absolutely solid, Ennio promises he’ll abduct Matt while I’m at school.

After school everything goes as usual.

My parents drive me and Alex home, but I slip out through the back entrance, making sure none of the cameras my parents have scattered all around the house catch me.

I push through the shrubs and come out onto a side street about one thousand feet east of my parents’ property.

There is already a car waiting for me, and Ennio is the only one inside.

I look at him in surprise. I had expected him to show up with his alpha bodyguards. Orsoldati, or whatever they’re called.

"Wow, you kidnapped Matt by yourself?"

Ennio levels a cold stare at me.

"A gun is a powerful force equalizer, besides, I know a thing or two about self-defense and martial arts, and he was no real opponent. A village thug with five brain cells," he adds, his face staying just as unmoving and coolly superior as always.

"I know a bit about that too, but kidnapping… That requires a little more than that."

No comment comes.

We pull away and Ennio drives, and I’m afraid to ask the question, but at the same time I’m not afraid at all, which feels strange. I feel this rush in me, like I’m high on adrenaline.

"Where is he?"

"He’s waiting somewhere it will be easy to get rid of him."

And that is the entire answer I get.

Ennio gives me a brief, unreadable look.

"Next time you’ll have to take care of these things on your own. I’m helping you this one time. I have my own matters to handle."

I swallow hard. "But I don’t have a car," I throw out the most pathetic argument any beginner killer could possibly come up with.

Ennio sighs deeply. "You can legally have a driver’s license already. And if you don’t have a car, I could lend you one from time to time, just learn how to drive at least a little so you don’t crash with a body in the trunk."

I stare at him for a moment. This man has an answer for everything.

"Thanks. How do I repay you?"