CHAPTER 10 (You stabbed me in the back, now it’s my turn)
IAN: I went for my morning run later than usual, I had breakfast with Eloa. Then went for my run at six. I went home, I had a full day, I had given Eloa the spare key to my house. I sent a text to Roberto, I wanted to meet up in the park at seven, we had to talk. He sent me a text back, he will be there. I changed, and unlocked the main bedroom for Eloa. We had a quick lunch together. “Eloa, I am meeting up with Roberto at seven.” She didn’t frown. She ate her lunch and squeezed my hand.
“Honey, I put you house on the market, it really is a stunning home, I have two couples that will view it tomorrow, and I sent in our application for our marriage registration. I love you, honey, both of you.” I felt Breno stir inside me. “I think the feeling is mutual, gorgeous, you changed my life, It all feels so surreal. Please know I am happy, deliriously happy.” She kissed my cheek. “Be safe tonight, honey, and call me if things get out of hand, I am good with a baseball bat.” I laughed and went back to work. I tried not to think of Roberto.
Breno had to take the reins, I don’t have the stomach to hurt my best friend. I went home, showered, and changed.
I waited on the park bench for Roberto. He came unarmed. He showed me. “We need to take a drive.” Roberto nodded, and got into my car. Breno took over, and he injected Roberto.
BRENO: We drove in relative silence, with the exception of Roberto’s mumbling. I don’t hate the man, I understand him. I gave him just enough, so he wouldn’t try and fight back, I have no set plan with regards to Roberto. I pushed him into the boathouse, blindfolded. I drew all the blinds closed. I removed the blindfold and asked him to sit. “Do you want a drink, detective?” He nodded. he stared at me. I gave him his drink. “Who are you?” He asked. I shrugged. “I want to speak to Ian.” He demanded. “Well, detective, Ian isn’t home right now.”
“Please don’t kill me, let me talk to Ian.” He begged me. “No, detective, I told you Ian stepped out.”
He was terrified, the drugs I had injected him with, no longer held much of an effect, and I needed him ‘sober’ for this conversation.
He finished his drink, but I refused to refill his glass. “Detective take your clothes off.” He shook his head from side to side. “This is not a negotiation, do it, or I will take a pound of flesh for the things you did to Ian, I said, fucking take your clothes off, detective!” He stood up slowly, and he undressed, I left him in his boxers. “Do, you feel vulnerable, scared, violated? What emotions do you feel? Because nothing you feel will ever compare to the things Ian felt when Mama raped him. Do you know, well I guess the answer will be no. Ian and I had an understanding, if Eloa, accepted his scares, I would disappear, and allow him to live a normal life. I am his guardian, his protector, if he didn’t need me anymore, I will vanish, but you had to dig, and scratch, and screw things up. So here we are. Thanks to you, detective.”
“I am sorry, I promise I will stop, I swear it, just let me talk to Ian, please Senhor, please don’t kill me, I will resign, I will do anything you tell me to do.”
“Anything? That is a powerful word detective, so will you give me hmm…. A blowjob in exchange for your freedom?” He recoiled from me, I take that as a hell no. “Yes, if you spare my life, I said I would do anything.” The tears pooled over. He was shivering, I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so afraid. “Drop the boxers, detective.” He did it. Merda meu, the man is serious.
“You have five minutes with Ian, that’s it, and pull up your pants.”
IAN: “Roberto, why? I thought you were my friend? You violated my home, my privacy, oh so you want to see what Mama did to me, when I wouldn’t comply to her wishes? Is that it, or are you a peeping Tom?” I took off my shirt, and I twirled so Roberto could see all the scares. “Satisfied?” Roberto sobbed uncontrollably. Roberto, what arrangement have you and Breno came to. I am not here when he is and visa-versa.”
ROBERTO: “Ian, I am so sorry, we have not come to a conclusion. He said I could have five minutes with you. I told Breno, is that his name? That I will resign, I will walk away if he spared my life, Ian please think of Alipha, and the twins. I swear I will destroy all the new evidence, I always wanted to become a writer, you know that, I wanted to write detective novels, and I will sell my house, and move to the valley. Where we have our holiday home, the twins will start school next year, we will be long gone. Breno said, that you two had come to an understanding, that he won’t kill, he will fade away?”
IAN: “Yes, that was the agreement we made, and then we found the camera, this camera in the sala.”
ROBERTO: “I swear I will go, I will never look back, I will never come back.”
IAN: “Time is up. I will let Breno decide, and well done, you really are a formidable detective, he’ll let me give due where it is due.”
BRENO: “So, did Ian give the go ahead? Nah I know he won’t, he loves you like a brother. Tell me about his Dad.”
ROBERTO: I promised his Dad, I will never tell Ian.”
BRENO: “Well, I am not Ian, so tell me.”
ROBERTO: “Breno, I found a box full of old photos on top of Ian’s closet, in the old house. I tracked him down, Ian’s Dad, Carlos. He has a new wife, and children. He ran from Alanzia, because abused him, even tried to kill him. Carlos, has put his demons to rest, he has a good life, I told him about Ian, what a good man he had become, and how well he did for himself, he was proud.”
BRENO: “He left Ian to be molested, to be verbally and physically abused for seventeen years, until I stepped in, and put an end to it, and Carlos is proud? I made Ian, I protected Ian. I didn’t mean to kill Marisa, it was the first time I touched her, but she was fucking doctor sexy, so I got angry, but I never intended to kill her, I think she suffocated, my bad. The other’s well they made fun of Ian, just like Marisa did, they made fun of his suits, I would watch them, and they had to pay.”
ROBERTO: “Lorena Ferreira, what happened there?”
BRENO: “The entire year, she played him, she promised to go all the way on prom night, then she backed out, she punched him, she swore at him, and that was my birth. Ian never knew, he doesn’t know most of it. A song played on the radio, that song Mama would play so loud when she was doing Ian, and I snapped. Ian actually made the connection, I don’t always know why I come out, but that song is the trigger.”
ROBERTO: “Yeah, I get it now, the night in the pub, Ian asked for the song to be changed, but you appeared, he drinks beer, you don’t, you like cognac. You look like him, yet not at all, I can’t really describe it. I knew Ian was innocent, honestly I did, I was trying to save him, I swear it.”
BRENO: I held up my hands. “I get it. Get dressed, do you want a drink?” Roberto nodded. I poured him a double, and I sat back and I thought. “Detective, I have a question for you, don’t lie, I will know if you tell me a fib. Do you accept me?”
ROBERTO: “Yes, Breno, I accept you, you did what I couldn’t do, you saved Ian.”
BRENO: “Well, now what?” I don’t want to kill you, I don’t see a purpose in it, and Ian will never forgive me, so what do you suggest we do?”
ROBERTO: “I told Ian I would move away, and start writing the detective novels I always wanted to, our holiday home is in the valley, it’s far enough, so he will never see me again, I promised Ian, I would destroy the new evidence. My twins start school next year, I think it would be good for them, to grow up in the valley, hell I think it will save my marriage. Breno, I am tired, and I want out. I want to settle down, get to know my sons, get to know my wife. I wish the same for you, and for Ian, that peace will find you both, and I think it has, in Eloa.”
BRENO: “Shake on it?” He shook my hand, we spoke about life, and growing up on das Flores road, it was not a good place to grow up in. I told the detective, I have to blindfold him again. He dressed, and closed his eyes, the man trusted me. I didn’t harm a hair on his head. I said good bye, and he embraced me. “I am sorry, I am so sorry, for the evil you have endured, take care of Ian, Breno.”
IAN: “It’s me Roberto. Are you alright?” Roberto wiped the tears, and nodded. Ian removed my blindfold when we stopped outside my house. A bullet shattered his side of the window, it grazed his cheek, and went out my side, glass shattered all over us.
“Ian, oh Deus, I forgot to call him, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Ian isn’t in right now.” The detective, grabbed my arm. “Breno, stay here, I will go talk to him, if you get out, you and Ian are dead, please man, trust me, get low, and wait for me.” I don’t know why I trusted the detective, the blood oozed from my face, he was shouting to the officer to stand down. Then he went and had a talk with him. The detective fetched me from the car. “Come into the garage, I don’t want Alipha, to see you, I can tend to your wound, the officer, didn’t see your face, and I just fired him. Come I need to stop the bleeding.” I drove into the garage. “What did you tell him detective, just to shoot the driver?” The detective nodded. “Merda, I am so sorry, I wasn’t thinking. You need stitches. Ian will have to come out. I will drive you, and I will have the windows replaced in the fiat. I am sorry, Breno. You kind of scared my brains out of my ass.” I laughed, damn my cheek hurt. Ian called Eloa, to meet them at the hospital. We said it was a hijacking, and Roberto saved us both, I would not open a dossier.
Eloa, and Roberto stayed with me while I got my stitches. I know what they were thinking, because that’s what I was thinking, the only place on my body that was not scared, was my face, even my feet are scared, so are my hands, the sun has covered most of those scares.
“Eloa. May I come to your home?” Asked Roberto. She nodded, and he followed us. Jesse and Jordo were so happy to see me, and Fuffy, had her tail in the air, twirling in and out of my legs, I picked her up and kissed her. Eloa gave me a beer, hell my face was on fire, then offered Roberto a drink, he asked for a beer. “Roberto, are we friends?” That was all Eloa asked. That was all she had to ask.
“Si signora Eloa, we are all friends.” She asked to speak to Breno. Roberto sat forward. “The changes are remarkable.”
“I know, I love them both, honestly I do, the reason I asked to speak to Breno, is because I have a question, for you Roberto. Would you give me away on Sunday? I have no Pai to ask, so I am asking you.”
“I would be honoured, wow, Breno, you okay with this?” I nodded. Roberto wiped his face. “This has been the most significant night of my life, and Breno, o really am sorry about your face. I keep apologising, but I humbly mean it. I am going to have the Fiat towed, I am going to the precinct.”
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