My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin novel Chapter 436

Chapter 436: Going to Need Them

"Miss Ashley, Marshal is still your father. He may not be perfect, but blood is thicker than water. At the end of the day, your father would give an arm for you."

Ashley couldn’t help but let out a shallow chuckle.

Right.

This was it.

These were the twisted beliefs drilled into her head as a child.

And it wasn’t just this priest. Everyone around her had been so twisted that it was no surprise her mind had ended up just as screwed.

"Forgive your father," the priest continued. "Love him. Obey him. Listen to him. No matter what happens, your parent will always be your parent. It’s in the God’s commands to honor your parents."

"I know. That’s why I’m here." Ashley drew a deep breath, staring at the small holes covering the wall between them. "Father, I want to confess and ask for forgiveness."

"I’m listening."

A small, almost deranged smile crept onto her face. "I want to forgive my father."

"That’s good." The priest nodded in satisfaction.

"And I just realized that for me to forgive him... I have to kill him."

The satisfied smile on the priest’s face froze.

"But I promise it’ll be swift," she continued. "He won’t feel a thing. Once he’s on his knees, I’ll use the sharpest blade possible and cut his head cleanly off his shoulders."

"Miss Ashley—"

"Father! Father!"

Before the priest could continue, a desperate cry echoed from outside.

Then, a loud thud followed before a gunshot echoed through the church.

BANG!

Afterward came a deafening silence.

The priest’s breath hitched.

He turned toward the entrance of the confessional and carefully peeked through the curtain, only to catch a glimpse of one of the men working behind the church being dragged away by another man.

Blood smeared the pristine marble floor.

Horrified, the priest quickly pulled his hand away from the curtain and whipped his head toward the wall separating him from Ashley.

"Miss Ashley, what is going on?" he asked, his voice no longer as gentle as before. "If your father hears about this, he’s going to punish you again!"

"He wouldn’t punish me if he never found out I was the one who did this, would he?"

His breath caught at her answer.

"What you said..." Ashley continued, her voice quiet and steady. "Honor my father. Obey him. Listen to him... because blood is thicker than water."

She paused. "But how am I supposed to keep honoring and obeying someone who made me break God’s commandments, Father?"

Silence answered her.

"’You shall not kill,’" she recited.

A soft click followed as she cocked her gun.

"But how many lives did I take in his name?"

The priest stiffened. "Miss Ashley..."

"’You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not take God’s name in vain. You shall not make idols...’" Ashley’s voice remained eerily calm.

"And yet, even the man who called himself a priest—the man who preached God’s word—kept telling me it was okay to worship Marshal."

Her fingers tightened around the pistol.

"That it was okay to follow a man’s commands over the ones you preach during Mass." Ashley paused as a peaceful smile slowly formed on her face. "So, I confess to you, Father..."

Her voice softened.

"You should’ve taken that child in when she came to you for the first time."

The priest’s eyes widened.

"You should’ve seen a child who could still be saved instead of dragging her back to him in exchange for money." She whispered, "If you had, I probably wouldn’t have come back here with a gun in my hand... aimed straight at your heart."

The priest stopped breathing for a second.

"Take them all out and let God sort them out," Ashley added under her breath. "That’s what I kept hearing growing up."

Her smile remained. "So, I’ll let the heavens decide where you belong, Father."

"Miss Ashley, don’t do this—"

BANG!

The priest clutched his chest as an unbearable tightness seized him. His gaze dropped, catching blood rapidly soaked through his robes.

"Miss—"

BANG!

Another gunshot echoed.

Then another.

And another.

At the first gunshot, Tank stepped into the main hall. His eyes immediately shifted toward the confessional booth as a flash sparked from inside once.

Then, second.

Third.

Fourth.

Minutes later, Ashley stepped out of the confessional booth and walked straight toward Tank.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify