The drive to the brownstone was silent.
Tony insisted on going despite his injuries. The paradics patched him up enough - bandages, he refused pain dication, and Morrison provided transport with an FBI escort.
But when we arrive, I wish we hadn’t co.
The brownstone was gone. It was damaged or burned... just gone.
Where Tony’s grandmother’s house stood for over a century, there was just... rubble, smoking debris, and flas still flickering in pockets. The foundation was exposed like an open wound.
Both neighboring brownstones were damaged as well, with the windows blown out and the facades cracked but still standing. Marie’s bomb was precisely placed, it was focused and designed to destroy one specific target - and that was Thomas Marvin.
There were fire trucks everywhere, ambulances, and NYPD barricades. Neighbors were in robes and pajamas, their faces shocked, as they were questioned by police.
Morrison ets us at the periter; her face said everything before she spoke.
"I’m sorry," she says quietly. "I’m so sorry, Tony."
He doesn’t respond, just stares at the rubble.
I stay beside him, hand in his, but I can feel him retreating. Going sowhere I can’t follow.
"No one could have survived," Morrison continues gently. "The blast was instant. He wouldn’t have suffered."
Still nothing from Tony.
"We’re searching for remains. It’ll take hours, maybe longer. You don’t have to stay."
"Yes." Tony’s voice is flat. "I do."
So we wait.
They won’t let us get closer because it’s too dangerous. Structural instability, potential secondary devices, standard protocol.
We sat in the back of an FBI vehicle. Tony stared at the destruction while I watched him disappear.
Hours pass, and dawn breaks, the sun rising over Manhattan felt obscene. How can the world just... continue? How can there be light and life when Thomas Marvin is dead?
Around 2 AM, they find him.
Or what’s left of him.
Morrison approaches carefully. "Tony. We need... we need you to identify-"
"I’ll do it." I stand quickly. "I can-"
"No." Tony’s voice is still that terrible flatness. "I have to."
"You don’t have to see-" I start.
"Yes, I do." He looks at , and his eyes are empty. "He’s my father, I have to."
The morgue was cold, designed to process death efficiently.
They’ve laid Thomas out as respectfully as possible, but there’s no hiding what an explosion does to a human body.
I stay outside while Tony goes in to give him privacy for this mont.
I can see him through the window, though. Standing over his father’s body, perfectly still. He’s not crying or moving. Just... looking.
When he cos out ten minutes later, sothing fundantal has changed in him.
The Tony I know, the man who fights for redemption, who struggles with his dark past, who chooses integrity over easy violence... is gone. Yet, there was a flicker, a mont as he stood there, where I saw the briefest hesitation. It was just a fleeting glance, his eyes shadowed in turmoil, as if he were fighting against the darker part of himself. But it vanishes quickly, replaced by the steely resolve that has now taken over.
What walked out of that morgue was sothing else. Sothing colder and harder.
"It’s him," Tony says to the dical examiner. "Thomas Anthony Marvin. My father."
He signed paperwork with chanical efficiency, answered questions in monotone, and arranged for the body to be transferred to a funeral ho.
All of it without emotion, without feeling anything.
We leave the morgue around 3 AM. The FBI had arranged a hotel for us, the brownstone obviously uninhabitable, with every other property potentially compromised.
Tony drives. I don’t argue, just sat beside him in the car Morrison provided.
We’re almost to the hotel when he just... stops.
He pulls over in a random parking lot, shuts off the engine, and sits there.
I wait to give him space, ti, whatever he needs.
The Manhattan skyline glitters in the background. City that never sleeps, continuing its endless rhythm, unaware that Tony Marvin’s world just ended.
"He finally learned how to be my dad." Tony’s voice is barely above a whisper. "After thirty years, he finally figured it out. He chose over the empire and started showing up, being present by allowing to make my own decisions without interfering."
"I know." I don’t touch him yet, sensing he needs to say this.
"He saved tonight, all those years. Took a bullet for in that warehouse, protected when I was vulnerable, did everything a father was supposed to do." His hands grip the steering wheel, knuckles white. "And I couldn’t save him."
"Tony-"
"I was supposed to protect him." His voice cracks. "That was the deal. I take over the family; I protect everyone, including him, but I let Vincent inside our security and let Marie orchestrate all of this. I let my father die alone in that house while I was miles away, unable to stop it."
"He wouldn’t bla you-"
"He should!" Tony slams his hand against the wheel. "He should bla ! I failed him! I failed at the one thing that mattered!"
"You didn’t fail." I reach for him now, but he pulls away.
"Don’t." His voice is sharp. "Don’t comfort . Don’t make excuses because I failed. Just accept it."
We sat in silence, and I didn’t know what to say or how to reach him.
"He said live free." Tony’s staring straight ahead. "His last words, like he was giving permission to walk away from all of this."
"Maybe he was."
"Or maybe he was saying he’d failed too. Failed to keep safe, failed to break the cycle, and failed at everything he tried to do differently."
"That’s not-"
"Isn’t it?" Tony finally looks at . "Katherine, everyone I love becos a target. My grandmother, my father. You. Everyone, because of who I am. What I am."
"What are you saying?"
"I’m saying..." He looks away again. "I need to end this. Everyone connected to Marie, Vincent, Margaret, and the whole Commission network. Hunt them down and eliminate them permanently."
"Marie’s dead and Vincent’s in custody."
"There are others, there will always be others. mbers we haven’t identified and associates seeking revenge. It never ends unless I end it."
I feel cold dread settling in my stomach. "Tony. What are you planning?"
"To go on offense. Hunt instead of being hunted. Use every ruthless tactic I know to destroy anyone who threatens the people I love."
"The people you love," I repeat his words carefully. "Like ."
"Especially you."
"And you’re planning this campaign without ."
His silence is answer enough.
"So you’re choosing hunting over us." It’s not a question.
"I’m choosing to keep you alive." He turns to face fully. "Katherine, I almost lost you tonight, multiple tis. Vincent had you by the throat, and Marie almost pushed you in front of that train. If I’d been one second slower, one inch further away-"
"But you weren’t, and we survived."
"This ti. What about next ti? What about the next Vincent or Marie or whoever decides revenge sounds appealing?"
"So you protect by leaving ?" I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. "By pushing away?"
"By removing the target from your back." His jaw is set, aning he’s already decided. "If I’m not with you, if we’re not together, you’re not leverage or a threat. You’re just Katherine Blaire, a consultant. You’re safe."
"That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard." My anger was rising. "You think they’ll suddenly forget I exist? Forget I helped dismantle the Commission? Forget I was there when Victoria died, when Marie died, when all of it happened?"
"They’ll have no reason to prioritize you."
"They’ll have every reason!" I’m yelling now. "I’m not safe because we’re apart, Tony. I’m safe because we’re together, because you protect and I protect you - we’re stronger as a team!"
"Not strong enough to save my father." The words were quiet and devastating, and I had no response to that.
"I promised we’d face everything together." Tony continues. "That was before they killed my father, and I realized that my love makes you a target for every person who wants to hurt ."
"So you’re going back to being what you were." Understanding dawning. "The ruthless and dangerous mafia boss everyone fears and knows you to be?"
"I’m being what I need to be."
"Without ."
"To protect you. Yes."
I stare at him, this man I fell stupidly in love with. Who I’ve fought, bled, and nearly died beside and he’s choosing to walk away.
"I can’t watch you die," he says simply. "Katherine, I can’t. If sothing happens to you, if I lose you like I lost my father - I won’t survive it, my heart will keep beating, but I’ll be gone. I’d be just an empty shell going through motions."
"So instead you’ll leave ." Tears were streaming down my face now. "Make watch you turn into the monster you’ve been trying not to be. Make live with knowing you chose darkness over ."
"I’m choosing your life over everything else."
"My life isn’t worth living if you’re not in it!" The words burst out. "Don’t you understand? You’re not protecting by leaving. You’re destroying differently. Slower, even more painfully."
He looks away. "I’m sorry."
"Don’t." I grabbed his hand. "Don’t do this. Please, Tony. We can figure this out together. We can-"
"I’ve already decided." His voice was final. "This is how it has to be."
He gets out of the car and starts walking.
I’m frozen for a mont, unable to believe this is actually happening.
Then I’m out of the car, chasing him. "Tony! Tony, stop!"
He doesn’t stop. Just keeps walking. Away from ... away from us.
"You promised!" I’m screaming now. "You promised we’d face everything together! You can’t just - you can’t just walk away!"
He stops, then turns, and the look on his face breaks my heart.
"I’m sorry, Katherine. For everything. For failing you. For not being strong enough to protect everyone. For loving you when it made you a target."
"Tony-"
"Goodbye."
He gets in the car and starts the engine.
I’m standing in the parking lot at 3 AM, watching the man I love drive away.
He doesn’t look back, and I stood there alone.
Reviews
All reviews (0)