“Anyway,” Gabriel sighed. “Back to me defending you-the quintessential good brother. You’d have been proud. But then, Ophion broke your confidence-every single one. By the time he was done, I told him to give his hitters the night off.”
Gabriel slipped off the custom made heather brown suitcoat. His socks and pricey loafers followed, then his belt. He rolled up his pant legs.
“Gabe-”
“I was too out of my mind to think straight back then when she went missing. Later I’d convinced myself it was Vale. I let Guy’s name slip to him once, guessed he’d discovered she was black and killed her in some play for your approval. All those suspicions and I was still too screwed in the head to do anything about it. Then Ophion started spilling his secrets when I went to him begging for your life this last time and I...I remembered the day I went to see her family back when I was tracing her steps.
Gwen-her sister, said she’d called Tesano from her house. Guy went there for lunch with their mother and grandmother. They told her at the office you were working from home. She told Gwen she was going to stop by the penthouse and talk to you about a family dinner.
What happened, Hump? We both know you used Kreel as a patsy. What was it? Ophion said you never told him all the details. What was it? You try to get her into bed and she turn you down, so you killed her?”
“No I-I loved her! I-I could’ve never h-hurt her like that-”
“Hurt her like that?! She’s dead you fucked up piece of filth!”
“Grek please-” Humphrey’s breath hitched on a sob. His face was as red as his watery eyes. “Grek please, I didn’t mean-”
“Well I’ll mean this,” barely suppressed rage lurked in the volatile ice blue depths of Gabriel’s eyes. He began to wind his belt strap between his fists.
“I believe Ophion said you smothered her-”
“Gabriel please! Y-you’re my, my f-favorite I-I loved you most of all, I always have.”
“I’m honored,” Gabriel moved into the circle of living room chairs to where his brother sat on the floor. Disregarding the grime soiling his bare feet, he looped the belt like a noose around Humphrey’s neck.
“It was all going to be yours! Everything I built-it was going to be all for you. Please...oh God, please Gabe...”
“It’s not enough,” fury shook Gabriel’s voice. “It’s not nearly enough, but I’ll take it.” He secured the belt’s fastener into the innermost hook.
Humphrey was already gagging and clawing his neck to escape the mounting pressure.
“I’ll take everything,” Gabriel promised. “Just like you took from me-took from my son. Your life isn’t worth a fraction of hers, but your death...that I’ll take.”
The belt was secure. Humphrey was choking fiercely but the scratching at his neck had lost its fervor. He was losing consciousness.
“Is this what she felt, you fuck? Is it?!” Gabriel pressed his knee to the center of Humphrey’s back. The move giving him leverage as he yanked the belt tighter and tighter still. There was a crack, yet he kept drawing back on the leather strap.
“This is supposed to look like a car wreck,” Gabriel’s voice was little more than a choppy sigh then. “Guess I’ll have to get creative.”
Gabriel pulled on the belt long after the life left Humphrey’s body. Afterward, he cleaned himself up, dressed and found Humphrey’s key to lock up. He would call the cleaners later to put the place in order and carry the body to the prearranged scene of the supposed accident.
The body.
Gabriel studied the corpse that his brother’s soul had once embodied. He realized that Humphrey Tesano’s corpse had never embodied a soul. Without another look or any sense of remorse, Gabriel closed the door on death.
Lightness enveloped him the moment he stepped into the hall. He smiled, lifted high by the beautiful memory of his wife.
“I know you didn’t approve of that, Guy, but I had to. For our Brogue. If you’re watching over him and I know you are, bring him the happiness I couldn’t. Bring him an angel. He deserves nothing less.”
~The End~
TESANO ELDERS CAST OF CHARACTERS
A
Aaron Tesano- Second Tesano son
Alcide Cavalese- Athena’s oldest brother
Ashira Morris- Imani’s cousin
Athena Tesano- Matriarch of Tesano family
Audrey Lucas- Giselle’s grandmother
B
Beniton Calabrese- Liam’s old friend
Bettina George- Pitch’s grandmother
Bianca Marsala- Athena’s old friend
Bradly Lucas- Giselle’s brother
Brogue Tesano- Gabriel’s & Giselle’s son
Brogan Lucas- Giselle’s father
