Let's Never Meet Again

Nora’s POV.  

“Liam?” my breath hitched. “What ... are .... you doing here?” I stammered, shocked to see Liam standing right in front of me. He was supposed to be at home- sleeping. I saw him fall asleep before I left his apartment but what the hell was he doing there? 

“Nora ...... is that .. really you?” his voice, which was barely a whisper asked, his legs trembling. I knew I had fucked up and the fear of if I would ever escape from the mess I had created gripped me.  

I had been scared of him knowing who I really was my whole life – scared of him leaving me once he found out I was a ruthless murderer. His eyes were fixed on me – pleading for me to prove what he had seen wrong.  

I opened my mouth to explain to him, but words betrayed me as not even a sound escaped from my lips. 

“Liam, I can explain” I finally said, my hand stretched, taking some steps towards him but the reaction I got from him, broke my heart.  

“Don’t ...... don’t near me” his trembling voice warned, as he stepped backwards, his eyes welled up with hurt and fear. 

“Liam, please listen to me. I can explain” I pleaded, swallowing hard. True, I was a ruthless Mafia Queen who never batted an eye before killing her targets but at the same time, I was a fool in love.  

Liam meant a lot to me. He was more than a lover- he was my Saviour, my companion and the one who brought solace to my mind. Since my mother died, I never knew joy, but Liam changed the narrative the moment our paths crossed.  

He was just like my mother...... he cared for me the same way she did, knew what was on my mind before I even spoke and knew all my favorite things even without telling him. His presence was everything I needed and being apart from him was something I thought I couldn’t live without.  

The peace I always felt around him gave me hope- the hope that one day I would be free from my father’s cage and have the freedom to express my happiness and fear at my own free will. But it seemed like my hope was about to get crushed.  

“Listen to you?” he scoffed, shaking his head violently.  

“I saw you, Nora. I saw what you did. You just murdered someone ---- no, not even one individual but several people without batting an eye” he trembled, as he kept the distance between us.  

There was no use denying it – he witnessed it all. The only way I could escape from that was to tell him the truth.  

“I had to” I whispered, lowering my gaze – too ashamed and scared to look him in the eye. 

“You can’t understand, Liam. I ....” I trailed off, trying to find the perfect way to present the truth of the matter to him.  

“I can’t understand?” his hoarse voice asked bewildered.  

“I just saw you put bullets through their skulls like it meant nothing. Who exactly are you?!!” he yelled in frustration, his eyes desperately searching mine for answers.  

I clenched my fists, fighting the fear and terror within me.  

Liam didn’t know the world I lived in was quite different from his. He didn’t know what it meant to be born amid war and what it took to survive.  

I wasn’t made a killer – I was born to be one and that was my destiny.  

“Answer me, Nora!!!” Liam shrieked, which made me flinch.  

There was no other way out, it was only the truth that could save me.  

“Liam, calm down. I promise to tell you everything but let’s get out of here first” I pleaded, knowing the danger attached to him being seen with me and our relationship being discovered.  

“No, I am going nowhere until you tell me what the hell is going on!!! Who the hell are you?” he refused, his voice blunt and filled with determination. 

I wanted to tell him – to say the truth but I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eye and say to him how I had deceived him about my identity and how deadly I was.  

“I .... I ...” I stammered but before I could bring myself to say the words that lingered on my lips, a sharp masculine voice interrupted my speech.  

“Do you really want to know who she is? Can you handle that?” the voice in the shadow said, as I heard heavy and deliberate footsteps approached us.  

Finally, the approaching figure came into limelight and upon seeing who it was, fear gripped me – the fear of knowing that doom was knocking.  

“So, a ruthless and merciless Mafia Queen like you can fall in love? Wow!! If someone had told me, I wouldn’t have believed it” the figure mockingly said, standing before me.  

It was none other than Lorenzo – the man whose master I had just murdered. The same man who had secretly conspired with my father, clearing the path for me to take his master down with ease. 

“Ma....fia Queen?” Liam’s voice cracked; his eyes wild with disbelief.  

“Oh, you have no idea that your girlfriend is a Mafia Queen? Let me tell you a brief story about her” Lorenzo chuckled, his voice dripping with amusement.  

“Don’t Lorenzo” my voice warned but at the same time, my eyes were pleading with him to keep mute. Even if Liam would know the truth, it would come from me and not him.  

But Lorenzo ignored both my warning and pleas and carried on with his intent.  

“Once upon a time, there was a girl born in blood and shadows. She was trained to become her father’s deadliest weapon, whom he used in taking down his enemies. She was trained to kill even before she learnt to love” Lorenzo revealed, taking deliberate steps towards Liam, enjoying every bit of his torment.  

“Can you guess who her first victim was?” Lorenzo asked smirking, his face close up to that of Liam’s. I knew what he was driving at, and the fear of what Liam’s reaction would be tightened my chest.  

“Please, don’t Lorenzo” I begged once again, hoping he would listen that time around.  

“Her mother” he whispered to Liam, locking his eyes with that of mine, enjoying the agony I was in.  

“She killed her mother when she was 10” he further revealed, smiling.  

Immediately, Liam’s face turned pale, he staggered with beads of sweat formed on his forehead.  

“You’re lying. Nora.... can’t do such” Liam refuted; his fists clenched to his sides. Although he was in denial, I could see a flicker of doubt in his eyes.  

“Oh, I am lying? Why don’t you ask her then or better still, ask yourself these questions – Why did you barely see her? And whenever you do, why is it always at night? Do you even know where she lives or who her parents are?” Lorenzo sneered, shaking his head.  

Liam’s eyes glistened, as if realization had struck him.  

“Her parents? She told me.... she is an orphan” Liam whispered, his voice filled with shock.  

“Oh, she told you that?” Lorenzo let out a cruel laugh.  

“That’s rich coming from someone whose father is very much alive. And not just alive – he is the most feared Mafia Boss in the underworld” Lorenzo leaned in closer to Liam, unraveling my perfectly constructed lies.  

Liam took a shaky step back, shaking his head in disbelief. “No ....No, this can’t .... be true”.  

“Liam, please” I reached out, desperate to touch him and make him understand the reasons behind my lies.  

“Don’t touch me!!” he snapped, his eyes screaming betrayal and hurt. I froze, unable to move.  

“You....you lied to me” he whispered underneath his breath as he looked everywhere else, apart from my face.  

“I had no choice, Liam. I wanted to protect our love. I didn’t want to lose you. If I had shown you who I really was, you would have run. You would have hated me even before falling in love with me” I whispered, my throat tightening.  

“That doesn’t justify the fact that you lied to me!! You made a fool out of me. You made me fall in love with the personality which you aren’t. You made me believe I had fallen in love with an innocent ‘Nora’ not knowing I was stupidly in love with a ruthless killer” his voice cracked, as he took a deep breath.  

“Sincerely, I don’t even know who you are anymore. Whether you are the woman I fell in love with or just a ruthless Mafia Queen” he said, letting out an exhausting breath.  

And then, those words I had feared the most slipped out of his mouth.  

“Let’s never meet again. I am done!!” Liam’s voice cracked with finality as he turned around and walked away.  

For the first time in ten years, tears rolled down the eyelids of the Mafia Queen.