Then.

I inched my way along the wall behind me, fearful of my life for the first time all day. Connor and Murphy watched me like they were scared of me, which was a joke in itself. "Y-You two...You guys ki-killed Trevor," I stammered, holding the heavy bag tight against my chest. If anything, I could use it as a shield if they decided to kill me. Hopefully whatever was inside it was enough to hold back a bullet or two.

"We can explain, lass," Connor said without hesitation, holding his empty gloved hands up. "We're not gonna hurt ya."

Murphy took a step closer to me. "Riddles, its okay. No guns. Look." They both waved their hands side to side, showing me that they had no intention of hurting me. Or at least, that's what they wanted me to think. Another step closer, then another, and before I knew it, Murphy was only inches from me. I felt like his gaze had turned me to stone. He slowly reached for my arms, but I yanked myself away from him before he could put a finger on me.

"Don't fucking touch me!" I screamed, another bout of tears escaping again. I wanted this to be just a bad dream. I didn't want to believe that they were murderers. In my mind, Murphy was so gentle – always smiling, laughing, and poking fun at me. But the man in front of me was nothing like that. I didn't know this man.

"Ridley, its me," Murphy whispered. I could hear the heartbreak in his voice. "Its me."

From behind him, I watched Connor throw his hands up in exasperation and shake his head. "You've got to be fuckin' kiddin' me!" he exploded, his face suddenly burning red with anger. He paced the floor in circles, his eyes darting from the multitude of bodies, to me, then back to the bodies. "Ridley, you've been workin' with these fucks the entire time?!"

My mouth nearly dropped to the floor. "Are you kidding me?!" I shouted. "Of course not! This was Rocco's ide-"

At that moment, a subtle knock came at the door followed by the buzz of the doorbell. The three of us fell silent for a short second before the twins pulled their masks back over their face and lifted their guns. Murphy whispered for me to get back behind the bar, but I refused to with a defiant raise of my middle finger. He didn't argue with me because Connor yanked on his arm, leading him to the door. I could barely hear their hushed conversation, but I was able to make out the words "fuck with 'im."

The door was pulled open and shouting rumbled the walls. I clutched the bag tighter against me, my body trembling. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest as I heard Rocco struggling against the two. I jolted at the sound of loud crashes and the twin's voices yelling so loud that it no longer sounded like them.

"GET DOWN! GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND!" Murphy bellowed. Connor, who had a firm grip of Rocco by his hair, pushed him down near the body of the pear man. The part of me that wasn't terrified for both our lives wanted to laugh in hysterics at his expression. He looked more scared than I felt.

"Don't shoot!" Rocco pleaded, holding up his hands in forfeit. "Please don't shoot! We're on the same side!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Connor shrieked.

Once they had successfully wrangled him to the ground, Murphy started for me while his brother pressed the muzzle of his gun to Rocco's nose. I let out a panicked yelp as Murphy wrapped an arm around my neck which in turn caused me to drop the bag and swing my arms wildly in some kind of desperate, frenzied defense. Unfortunately, he was much stronger than me and was able to secure my hands behind my back and press the gun to the side of my head. "I ain't gonna hurt ya," he whispered quickly into my ear. "I promise."

Every sensible part of me told me not to believe him, but I froze for a moment to ponder on our stance. The arm around my neck was barely touching me; I could've easily broken free from his grasp if I wanted to. And the way he stood with his legs parted without turning at an angle left him wide open for a backward groin kick. Even through the blurred vision of my sideways glance, I could barely make out that his finger was nowhere near the trigger.

"We're on the same side! Boss must've sent me in as backup! I'm Rocco!" Rocco tried to convince Connor through his heavy breathing. Sweat dripped from his hair and dampened his clothes around his armpits. "If you're gonna shoot anyone, shoot her!" He lifted a shaking finger to point in my direction. Anger erupted inside me like a firecracker.

"Hey, fuck you!" I shrieked, starting for him. Murphy held me in place. I wasn't sure if it was to keep Rocco safe from my wrath or if it was to keep up the persona he was playing on. "You asked for my help, remember?! So fu-"

"WHERE'S YER GUN?!" Connor shouted, cutting me off completely.

Instead of showing him right away, Rocco continued to desperately and incoherently babble on for his life. Murphy's gun left the side of my head and pointed to him. "SHOW HIM YER FUCKIN' GUN OR I'LL SHOOT YER FUCKIN' BRAINS OUT!" he roared. I flinched away from his voice as images of Trevor's face during his rage episodes popped into my mind. Murphy must've felt my sudden movement because his thumb started to trace invisible circles smoothly over my skin on my shoulder.

"I-Its here!" Rocco replied, pointing down to his pocket. While Connor fished about in his clothes, Rocco remained persistent with his ramblings. "I-I'm the funny man! I'm Rocco!"

Then, after inspecting the gun, Connor stood up straight and threw his hands in the air once more. This seemed to be something he did often when he realized something that upset him. Rocco's gun in his hand, he nearly sprinted to Murphy and me. "A fuckin' six-shooter!" he hissed after smacking his brother's arm with it.

I felt Murphy tense up behind me. "There's nine bodies, genius!" he mocked.

"What the fuck were you gonna do? Laugh the other three to death, funny man?!" Connor demanded to know, hurrying back to Rocco's side.

"Pappa Joe said there was only two!" Rocco cried out. "In and out! Boy...you guys sure did a good job. You guys are good, huh? S-Say, i-if you let me loose, you can have her. I-I've heard real good things about her. I b-bet if you ask her real nicely, she'll go own on you in three seconds flat, man!"

My mouth nearly hit the floor at his words. That made it twice that day that I felt utterly betrayed and heartbroken. I'd helped Rocco, thinking he was a friend to me. I'd risked my life so that he could follow his boss's orders. Now, he was selling me out to men he thought neither of us knew. My stomach lurched as tears clouded my eyes once more. Before I could say anything as a rebuttal, Murphy had left my side and shoved his gun right in between Rocco's eyes.

"You shut yer fuckin' mouth," he growled slowly and dangerously. From the tone of his voice, I could tell that he was no longer just trying to play some kind of sick joke on Rocco. "Don't ever fuckin' say anythin' like that about her again. Do ya under-fuckin'-stand me?"

As much as I didn't want to get mixed up in all of this, I saw this as the perfect chance to get back at Rocco for basically using me as human bait. I slowly approached the brothers, paying attention to the clicking of my heels on the tile floor. Something about the noise made me feel powerful and that feeling only grew when I placed my hands on the twin's shoulders. "Well, Rocco," I started, putting on my most sultry smirk, "looks like you've set yourself up. I've hired these two to put you out of commission."

Rocco's eyes looked as though they were going to pop from his head. His face turned crimson and as he struggled against the two and yelled, spittle flew from his mouth. "WHAT?!" he howled angrily. "This whole fuckin' time – You've got to be kiddin' me! Shit! Who put ya up to it?! Who the fuck was it?!"

The fact that he actually believed me sent a strange sort of happiness and satisfaction through me. "Boys," I said. Rocco let out a noise that sounded like a frantic animal trying to escape from its captor when the dual clicks of the guns seemed to echo all around us. "I think its time to finish this."

At that moment, Rocco burst out into pathetic sobs for help. I couldn't hold it back anymore. A laugh broke through my lips and I turned away to suppress it. The twins mimicked me as they lifted their masks. Rocco's cries slowly died down into heavy pants and gasps for air. With the utmost hesitation, he lifted himself from the floor and stared at me like I was some sort of wild animal. In all honestly, I felt like I was. Pretending to turn the tables on him started something new inside me. I felt powerful, confident, and most importantly, I felt like nothing could ever harm me again.

"Fuckin'... What the fuckin' fuck – Who the fuck – Fuck this fuckin' – How did you three fuckin' fucks – Fuck!" Rocco exclaimed, flailing his arms about in every which way and jumping up and down like a three-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.

"Well, that certainly illustrates the diversity of the word," Connor commented, heading for the black bag that I'd dropped earlier. In all the excitement, I had forgotten that it even existed.

I grabbed for it as quickly as I could, nearly breaking my ankles and the high heels in the process. "Now, hold on a minute," I snapped curtly, folding my arms around it. "You guys put me through quite a bit of shock, you know. Don't you dare think I've forgiven you from keeping all this from me. I think I should be the first one to open this."

Murphy and Connor glanced toward Rocco, who was still fidgeting around in in rage and confusion before giving each other a wary stare. "All right," Murphy finally replied. "Go ahead then."

I placed the bag on the bar and inhaled slowly. Whatever was in it must've been important because, well, why else would the mobsters bring it here? It had also been the first thing Connor looked for after killing all the men. For a quick moment, I turned my attention to the bodies that littered the couches and the floors. The police would be here soon if the other customers in the hotel heard all the gunshots. There was no doubt about that. I lifted my gaze to the gaping hole in the roof. If the police showed up and we were still here, the four of us would spend the rest of our lives in prison.

Deciding that there was no time to waste, I nearly ripped the bag open. My heart felt as if it had dropped from my chest, out of my ass, and onto the floor. "Holy crap," I breathed, all the air inside me catching in my lungs. Murphy joined at my side and curled his hand around one of the many stacks of hundred dollar bills. Taking a deep whiff of it, he closed his eyes and nodded to himself.

"I think this'll work out perfectly for us, Riddles," he informed me, wafting the scent of the money in my direction. It smelled like dust and marijuana. "Ya might as well quit that shit job."

(-)

"...live from the Copley Hotel Plaza where we have just been informed that the largest multiple murder in Boston's history has just taken place," Sally McBride spoke through the tiny TV that sat on Rocco's cluttered kitchen counter. I felt as though I was nibbling through my entire bottom lip as I listened to every word that fell off her tongue. "We have learned that there were nine victims all deeply involved in a notoriously violent Russian crime syndic-"

The TV flashed off, showing me my pathetic reflection in the screen. Our getaway to Rocco's home had been so rushed that I ripped a hole in my shirt on my left side. My hair looked as though a tornado had rolled through it and the make-up that I thought had accented the features of my face smeared every which way. I glared at Murphy through the darkness of the screen as he dropped the remote onto the circular table, cluttered with stinky ashtrays and empty beer bottles. In his hand, he swished around a fancy-looking glass container of whiskey.

"Ya don't need to concern yerself that that shit," Murphy grumbled, his eyes glazed over with a drunken stare. "What's done is done."

I turned my head, crossed my arms tightly over my chest, and pursed my lips into a thin line. "Until the cops find you two," I murmured bitterly, listening to the loud shouts from the bathroom. Connor and Rocco were both trying to take a shower and both of them refused to let the other go first. So, in their drunken state, they stumbled into bathroom together and began shouting that they had better not look at the other's dick. "This is some serious shit," I continued, breaking my awkward eye-contact with Murphy. "You guys are murderers." The word tasted sour on my tongue.

Murphy raised a finger, seemingly trying to stop me in the middle of my sentence. I'd finished before he had the chance to. "Not murderers," he defended. "Just...riddin' the streets of evil men, like Trevor."

I wanted to tell him to keep Trevor's name out of his mouth, but the realization that he and Connor were the ones to finally put an end to all the abuse hit me like a smack to the face. I fell silent while words jumbled inside me, trying to make sense of each other and find an escape through my mouth. After a moment of wondering if I should just let those words fly free, I finally let out a pitiful sigh and sat down across the table from Murphy. "Thank you," I whispered, staring at my hands in my lap. "I know that thanking someone for killing another person is terrible, but..."

Murphy lifted his whiskey bottle upward, pointing to me with the pinkie finger on the same hand. "Yer welcome," he said. I could tell that he was trying to feign a tone of seriousness. "Connor and I – we care about ya, Riddles. We just can't sit back and let ya get hurt like that."

My life had transitioned so quickly in less than two weeks that I couldn't help but silently laugh to myself. I'd moved states away from my family, watched my boyfriend get shot in the back of the head, and taken part in kind of screwed up mafia business. Thankful that my parents were so livid with me that they hadn't tried to contact me since the move, I wondered what they would say if I told them. They'd be speechless, I'm sure. My father would probably deny that I was the same girl he raised to be a proper lady and my mother, well, she'd probably just sob oceans. It certainly was something I planned to keep from them for as long as possible.

I wiped at the make-up on my face and glanced at the smudges on my fingers. I realized that I was still trembling with either shock or adrenaline from running from the sirens that sounded as soon as we'd exited the hotel. "I look like shit," I mumbled mostly to myself.

"Ya look beautiful," Murphy replied, gulping down a mouthful of whiskey. He slammed the bottle so hard onto the table that I flinched in expectation of the glass to shatter into a million tiny shards."As always."

I pretended that I didn't hear him as Connor and Rocco staggered their way in, arms linked around each other and half naked. "All yers," Connor informed me and pointed behind him toward the bathroom with his thumb. Nodding to the two of them, I rushed past them and nearly slammed the bathroom door shut as I entered.

Their clothes littered the floor and the sink. After throwing them into a pile in the corner, I inspected my face in the mirror. Although I should've been more focused on making myself look presentable again, my mind was clouded with thoughts of the large amount of money that was in that black bag. The second we got to Rocco's house, Murphy handed me nearly $20,000 and told me to quit my job again. I imagined that lump of money sitting in my purse, burning a hole through the fabric. What the hell was I supposed to do with all of it? Well, thinking on it, I could buy a car or put a down payment on a house. Something inside me told me that spending it right away wasn't a good idea, though.

The metal in the shower squeaked loudly as I turned the knobs on. I waited for the warm water before stripping myself of my trashed clothes that smelled too much like cigarettes and stepped inside the tub, pulling the curtain shut behind me. Letting the water hit my body, I just stood in place, trying to figure out where I was going from here. I couldn't allow myself to get mixed up in the actions of the twins again. That would mean putting my life at risk. Even so, just the thought of something happening to either one of them, especially Murphy, sent my stomach into painful cartwheels.

Somewhere in the steam of that shower as I watched the make-up that had been caked on my face run down my skin and twirl into the drain, my entire world shifted. I no longer wanted to be the cowardly little girl that Trevor had spent three years of his life molding. I didn't want to shrink away from people because I thought they would yell at me or hit me. Instead, I wanted to be the one to fight back against them. When I pictured myself standing up for my being, no matter what, I saw Murphy by my side.

That was strange in itself. I barely knew anything about the guy and yet I found myself thinking about him almost constantly when I wasn't around him. I'd never had this sort of unknown attraction to anyone else before – not even Trevor. When I first met the asshole, it was just a casual thing until he made it official by asking me to be his girlfriend. Even then, I found myself wanting space from him. That wasn't the case with Murphy. Not at all. I craved his attention, the smell of his clothes, and most of all, that taste of booze and cigarettes on his lips.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when I thought about that last one. We'd shared only one kiss that didn't even last for a full thirty seconds. It shouldn't have meant anything, just like I told him over the phone earlier in the day, but it did. I knew it and I figured he knew it as well from the way I would sneak quick glances at his lips and lick my own without realizing it. It was as if he was my own personal cigarette and I wasn't willing to quit him.

A loud bang dragged me from my shower thoughts. "Hurry up, Ridley!" Rocco shouted over the noise of the running water. "I need t'piss!"

I turned the knobs in the opposite direction and wrapped a towel around myself before stepping from the tub. Luckily, I'd done it just in time because Rocco burst into the tiny bathroom, whipped out his dick right in front of me, and began to pee in the toilet. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and grabbed for my clothes on the ground. "You couldn't have waited?" I muttered as I made my way into the trashy living room. Connor and Murphy both glanced at me and immediately turned their heads away. "Rocco kicked me out of the bathroom," I explained, starting for the hallway to what I supposed was our oh-so-inviting host's room.

Rocco's room was just like the rest of his place: dirty, smelled of old food, and looked as if hookers had been sleeping in the corners for the past month. A disheveled mattress, lacking proper sheets and pillowcases, sat against the wall to my left. Filled with crumpled tissues and cigarette ashes, a small trashcan had been settled underneath the only window. Other than those two things, the only other notable objects were an old wooden, four drawer dresser and a TV with a shattered screen. I wasn't looking to take shelter here, though. I dropped my clothes onto the floor and just before I rid myself of the towel, another knock came at the door.

"Rocco, I gave you the bathroom!" I griped, turning to grab the dented doorknob. "Give me some privacy, will yo – Oh, Murphy..." I adjusted the towel around me, making sure my boobs were covered.

Murphy offered me a drunken grin and held out his jacket toward me. "Its not much," he said, "but we don't really have any clothes that'll fit ya. We can't really let ya go back to yer place either. The pigs might've gotten yer face on camera, ya know?"

"Murphy."

"I just don't want ya to get caught up in this shit. I mean, you're really-"

"Murph."

"-innocent and somethin' like this could ruin the rest of yer life and-"

I placed my hand on his chest to shut him up. "You're rambling," I told him. "You're drunk and you're rambling." I took the jacket from him and pressed my lips to his check, savoring the light tickle of his stubble against my skin. "You're very sweet. Thank you. I'll be out in a minute, okay?"

Murphy nodded, his cheeks pink with an embarrassed blush. Just before I closed the door, he stuck his foot in to stop me. "Oh, and Riddles, one more thing. I wasn't ever gonna shoot ya. I hope ya know that."

"I know," I answered softly, staring at his foot. "I trust you."

He hesitated before retracting his limb. I closed the door, making sure to lock it this time, and slipped his jacket over my shoulders as the towel finally dropped onto my pile of old clothes. It was rather large on him, so on me, it was like wearing a blanket. The bottom sat halfway down my thighs, giving off the impression that I was wearing a baggy dress. Grimacing, I grabbed for my underwear and pulled them back on, knowing in relief that all my most intimate of parts were covered.

Before I returned to the boys out in the kitchen, I gave myself a quick glance in the window. It was so dark outside that the glass served as a better mirror than the one in bathroom did. At least this one wasn't nearly covered with dried water stains and droplets of some unknown substance that I really didn't want to waste my time thinking about. As I watched myself, I decided on a single thing: without Trevor holding me back, I was free to be whoever and whatever I wanted to be.

A smile playing on my lips, I turned from my reflection, opened the door, and chose to join my new family in whatever would come next.