Page 72 of Incompatible

"You know, you’re sixteen, but you summed up my strategy better than anyone else."

Then he takes a step closer and says in a darker tone, "But… don’t let our little joint project fool you, Bay. Do you think I won’t come collecting? I have an excellent memory, I’ll remember you… and when that time comes, you better deliver."

I nod. "I understand."

Together we wrap Matt in old rags and sheets lying in the corner of the shed, probably brought here exactly for this purpose. Ennio ties his head and legs with rope.

Then we carry him into the dark forest; actually, I carry him myself. My strength really has grown. His weight is nothing to me, and Ennio watches through half-lidded eyes.

We stop near a slightly larger water pit. Ennio points at the spot, and I swing and throw him in. For a moment I hesitate, wondering if he’s going to float back up.

Ennio turns away and starts dragging over a few large branches lying nearby.

"We’ll throw these on top; it’ll keep the body from rising," he says, and it’s clear he’s done this before. The thought chills me and fascinates me at the same time, because I’m absolutely sure the people he got rid of were alphas. As an omega, he wouldn’t stand a chance in hand-to-hand combat, it would be like a regular human male against a gorilla. And yet he managed to do it. Maybe that’s just what life in the mafia looks like? You go over corpses, figuratively and literally, using whatever you can, living with the rule of either you or me, because someone has to fall behind.

We wash our hands afterward and get back into the car.

We drive in silence for a while, and then I say,

"You did the dirty work for me, but now it’s my turn. How am I supposed to handle Kit?"

Ennio’s pale profile cuts sharply against the darkness of the forest outside the car windows.

He stays silent for a moment, then says, "That depends on the strategy you choose. The first one is intense and might draw more police attention, and the second one is more… let’s call it stretched out over time, but also more risky because it comes with the possibility of retaliation against your families."

"I’m listening," I say. "I really don’t know where to even start."

Ennio hesitates for a moment before speaking. "For a few days, Matt’s disappearance won’t raise too much concern. He’s an adult. They won’t be especially alert. It will be relatively easy for you to eliminate Kit, but if two of them disappear at the same time, the police might become more sensitive to the pattern. They might start digging into leads, and sooner or later you’ll be questioned. It could be worse if the remaining two decide to go to the police and mention, for example, what happened onHalloween. They’ll say they only heard about it, but that alone would be a strong lead. You’ll become the primary suspect."

"And what if all three of them disappear at once?" I ask, feeling my jaw tighten hard.

"Well, no one would talk or report you. The question is just whether they told anyone else."

I hesitate. "In my old class there are two of their relatives, Rob and Vin. They’re the ones who started all of this, the ones who attacked Alex, and because I beat one of them up, they sent Matt and Kit after me in retaliation. Theoretically they might know something."

"So the potential pool of people who might know jumps to six?"

"I don’t know. They have tons of cousins and brothers, it’s a huge family, so a lot more people might know."

"Well, that’s why I think it might be safer to wait a few months, show some patience, stay extremely alert."

Ennio drives in silence for a moment. The road ahead is dark, lit only by the pale sweep of the headlights.

Then he adds, "And it will also give you time to settle into the situation, to sort out in your head what happened today, because I have the strange feeling you took it very lightly, but it might come back to you."

"Did it come back to you?"

Ennio lets out a contemptuous snort. "It didn’t. On the contrary, I felt incredibly happy. I couldn’t wait to get the next one."

"I’m not planning on shedding tears over them either. They had no mercy for me, and for what? Think about it. All of this started because I wouldn’t let them take Alex’s inhaler. So I’m not going to show mercy."

Ennio glances at me briefly. I meet his eyes, and I feel a strange kind of understanding between us.

"Just remember not to let it devour you. Over the next few months, give yourself time and decide whether you really want to go after Kit. Think it through."

I stay quiet for a moment, watching the dark forest sliding by outside the window. It’s this what my soul looks like now?

"We’ll see. But if it comes to that… will I be able to contact you more easily?"