Requiem of The Godfather: Price of a Memory

Ch 08. Flight Beneath the Rain

    The SUV’s worn tires screamed as Eduardo wrenched the steering wheel, forcing the vehicle onto a muddy dirt path. Rain poured down relentlessly, as if the sky itself wanted to drown this city of sins. Inside the car, the atmosphere felt colder than the air outside.

    

    “Edu, slow down! You’re going to get us killed!” Emily shouted, clutching the handle above the door.

    

    Eduardo ignored her. His eyes were locked on the trembling rearview mirror. He had just seen the flash of police lights at a major intersection. They were looking for this car, a stolen vehicle already wrecked and soaked in blood.

    

    “We need to change vehicles,” Eduardo muttered. His voice was flat, emotionless, like a machine processing data.

    

    “How are we supposed to do that? We don’t have any money, Edu! We didn’t even pack enough clothes for Chloe!” Emily’s voice edged toward hysteria. She glanced back at their daughter, who was asleep from exhaustion, though her body jolted every time the car hit a pothole.

    

    “Clothes don’t matter if we’re dead, Em. All we have now are our lives. Focus,” Eduardo snapped.

    

    [STATUS: MENTAL SYNCHRONIZATION DECREASING.]

    

    [RECOMMENDATION: AVOID EXCESSIVE EMOTIONAL INTERACTION TO PREVENT SYSTEM CRASH.]

    

    Eduardo cursed silently. This damn System. Every time he tried to care, it warned him to stay cold. He felt as if a thick glass wall was being built between himself and his family.

    

    “Why have you become like this?” Emily demanded. She could no longer hold back her fear-laced curiosity. “You’re covered in blood, Edu. You’re soaked not just from the rain, but from their blood. How could you be that strong back there? You’re not my Eduardo.”

    

    “I did it for you!” Eduardo shouted. “What do you want me to explain? That I had to become a devil so you wouldn’t become a whore?!”

    

    He slammed the steering wheel left, pulling into the deserted parking lot of a closed shopping center.

    

    “But not by killing them like animals!”

    

    “In Claude’s eyes, we are animals, Emily. Wake up!” Eduardo stopped the car with a violent jolt. “Get out. Now.”

    

    “What?”

    

    “Out! We’re leaving this car here. We’ll go on foot through the back alleys and find another one.”

    

    They stepped out into the bone-chilling rain. Eduardo lifted Chloe, who woke instantly and began crying as the cold water hit her face.

    

    “Daddy! It’s cold! I want to go home!” Chloe sobbed.

    

    Eduardo’s heart throbbed painfully. He wanted to hug his daughter, to whisper comforting words like he always had. But when he opened his mouth, what came out instead were tactical commands. “Don’t be loud, Chloe. Cover your mouth or the bad people will hear.”

    

    Emily stared at him, devastated. “You can’t even comfort your own child?”

    

    Eduardo ignored her. He walked quickly through the rain, leading them into the parking lot of a nearby run-down apartment complex. His eyes scanned the rows of parked cars, searching for an easy target.

    

    An old sedan from the nineties, one window slightly open, caught his attention. Eduardo handed Chloe to Emily.

    

    “Wait here,” he ordered.

    

    Eduardo approached the car. He did not need the keys. With the abnormal strength he now possessed, his hand shattered the window effortlessly. No alarm blared, muted by the passive Shadow Step technique he had just acquired.

    

    Within seconds, he was inside, connecting the wires beneath the steering column. The old engine coughed once, then rumbled to life.

    

    “Get in,” he said coldly.

    

    They were back on the road, heading toward the outskirts of the city, away from the watching neon lights. The drive lasted an hour, wrapped in suffocating silence. Emily held Chloe tightly in the back seat, while Eduardo stared straight ahead, his eyes unblinking.

    

    He felt as if his soul were being flayed. He wanted to cry, wanted to scream to his wife that he was terrified out of his mind. But the cursed System suppressed his tears. He felt empty.

    

    “We’re here,” Eduardo said when they stopped in front of a cheap motel with a flickering neon sign that read, The Last Rest.

    

    The place was filthy, reeked of urine, and was hidden behind old warehouses. A perfect place for a ghost.

    

    Eduardo rented the corner room with the last of the cash he had taken from Marco’s wallet. Once inside the dim room, the first thing Emily did was turn on the small television in the corner, hoping for news about what had happened.

    

    “…Latest report from the northern docks. Police have discovered five male bodies with severe injuries. The victims have been identified as members of a local criminal syndicate…”

    

    The news anchor’s voice made Emily’s skin crawl. But the next sentence shattered her world.

    

    “…Police also found blood traces believed to belong to a civilian named Eduardo. Based on evidence at the scene and a partially submerged vehicle, authorities have declared Eduardo deceased. The search for his body is ongoing in the surrounding waters…”

    

    Emily collapsed onto the creaking edge of the bed. She looked at Eduardo, who stood by the window, watching the parking lot.

    

    “Edu… they said you’re dead,” Emily whispered. “You’re… officially dead.”

    

    Eduardo turned slowly. A crooked, unsettling smile appeared on his pale face, a smile devoid of any human warmth.

    

    “Good,” Eduardo replied shortly.

    

    “Good? Are you insane? How are we supposed to live if you’re considered dead?!”

    

    Eduardo stepped closer to the television, staring at the screen that displayed his old photo, from when he was still a weak man easily trampled by others.

    

    “If the world thinks I’m dead, that means I’m free, Emily. I can move in the shadows without anyone looking for me. The police won’t search for a body they believe already drowned.” Eduardo clenched his fist. “And Claude… he’ll think he’s already won.”

    

    “And what about us? Me and Chloe? We’re supposed to live as a family of ghosts?” Emily shouted.

    

    “That’s the only way you stay alive,” Eduardo said sharply. “From now on, don’t say my name in front of anyone. The Eduardo you knew really did die at the docks. The man standing in front of you now is the one who will make sure Claude never wakes up tomorrow morning.”

    

    Eduardo turned and walked toward the bathroom, leaving Emily trembling in fear at the sight of her own husband. She realized then that the man with her was no longer a father or a husband. He was a predator, newly born from his own death.

    

    What are you really hiding from me, Edu? Emily thought.