by Jolie Damman
Some time had passed since I got here, and I was thinking when things would get better for me. I needed to keep just one thing in mind, and that was convicting him that his choice was the wrong one.
I got out and walked without a particular direction in the streets. Chicago’s nightlife was quite exciting. I passed by some night clubs and after choosing one, I crossed its doors.
The place was packed, and just walking about in it was a difficult task to accomplish. Nevertheless, when my eyes caught sight of the bar, I headed to it, sitting down on one of the few unoccupied stools.
The bartender caught my attention, his hands drying a glass. “Want anything, miss?” He questioned, his eyes showing me that my presence worried him.
But concerned that I was going to do something rash here? Nah, he couldn’t be. I wasn’t going to drink much.
“Give me the worst you’ve got here,” I said, putting some dollar bills on top of the fancy bar. His hands picked them up and he then poured me a glass with what I imagined was, indeed, the worst drink he had here.
I didn’t know its name, though. I wasn’t well-versed in the drinking game.
I poured one glass after the other, the bartender’s expression changing to one of shock. I knew I shouldn’t be drinking this much, but right now, I couldn’t do anything else.
I felt bad I got out of the mansion without saying Ed proper goodbye. He was stuck in his life and didn’t know how to get out of it. He would never even try to find something better for him. I found myself wishing I could do something about that, but what could even be done anyway?
Nothing.
All this time, thinking I should get away from this life, only to find myself reaching one conclusion I didn’t like. The Mafia style of living was also the only one I knew.
Maybe I should just accept that I couldn’t change anything and provide the safety my son would need. He wouldn’t hate me. I was sure he could become a Mafia boss like his grandfather, making him one of the most badass men in the world.
I emptied another glass, and then got off the stool. The bartender reached out with his hand, his mouth saying something, but I was past paying attention to him now. I walked through the crowd, finding myself deep in it, a hand cupping my ass…
In other circumstances, I would have slapped the man who did that, but I couldn’t feel that hate within my heart at the present moment.
Slowly, painfully, I walked through the crowd and found myself outside the establishment, its noise and songs still perceptible even here. The bouncer came to me and was going to tell me something when other men surrounded me.
They pushed him off me, and one of them said, “Don’t worry, miss. We’ll take you back home.”
They carried me to their car, and upon seeing their faces, I realized who they were. Not Ed’s men. No, these were from a different family. Where were Ed’s men? Probably dead. These men killed them.
They took me away from there, and once again, I found myself wishing Ed was here with me. Could he even find me now? Would these men kill me?
So many questions and so few answers. I needed to sleep once again…
Eduardo
I was working in my office, my desk full of documents on top of it, when knocks on the door caught my attention. “Come on in,” I said.
He was one of my men, and he stepped through the doorway, his hands shaking. They held something. Another document. No, much more than that, I found out upon closer inspection. It was a photo, and it depicted a woman.
He walked closer to me and said, “Boss, I think we got trouble.”
The man handed me the photo, and I asked him to go out by gesturing with my hand. I couldn’t think with him in here. I turned the photo, and my heart raced even more when my eyes landed on her beautiful, angelic face.
Not as angelic it was anymore, though. There were bruises and cuts on it. And not only on it, but also on the rest of her body. She wore nothing. Elsa was naked, and they tortured her. They probably wished to know more about me, our operation here, and she decided not to tell them anything.
The blush on her cheeks drew my attention to them, as did the laziness in her eyes. This photo depicted a fraction of her current well-being, but I knew what those signs meant. She was inebriated. She drank too much and that was when they got her.
My men weren’t enough to stop them. I felt my fingers wrinkling the photo. I grew desperate. I should have done more to keep her safe. It was fine she needed some space and time for herself, but what happened was my mistake. I allowed all this to happen.
I turned the photo and found something written on it. A date, time and a location, and also… numbers. A sum they wanted me to hand to them in order to have her back. I wrinkled the sheet of paper even more, not believing their audacity.
Who were the men that kidnapped her, and what did they think they were doing? They thought I was going to pretend nothing was happening and that I was going to pay them? Not a chance. I was going to bring them money alright, but this I would never forgive. They killed my men once, and I wasn’t going to make the same mistake.
I eased my grip on the photo even more before standing up, my mind focused on one objective only. They were all going to die, but before that, I was going to make them suffer.
Eduardo
We pulled over, the rain pouring outside. I thought this was the wind city, not the rainy one, but whatever. I had things more important to think about right now. The weather and the location of the ‘arrangement’ weren’t going to help, but that was fine. I didn’t consider them being of help right now anyway.
I opened the door of the car, and stepped out of it. My men followed me. I had an umbrella, but decided not to make use of it right now. Some of my men got theirs, their hands holding the fake suitcases.
I thought the plan through, and made some adjustments. I wasn’t going to bring them any money. This was going to be a clean operation. They had no idea the kind of men I brought here with me.
These weren’t normal Mafia goons - they were trained, professional killers. They came here with one intention in mind. Whoever kidnapped her were only seconds from leaving this world for good.
A dark alleyway filled my vision - the only thing I could think about right now, the only thing worth my attention at this very moment. My men followed me, their guns ready for anything out of the ordinary that could happen.
I stationed men on top of all buildings that surrounded this place, and so far, none told me anything that could worry me. No kidnappers on top of said buildings, no one with sniper rifles to kill me, and none other than the assholes standing a couple of feet from me.
These were the kidnappers, and they held her. Their hands made sure she wouldn’t try to flee. Her arms had been locked together by duct tape. They also shut her mouth by putting the same thing on it. She struggled, wanting to shout something, but all that came out were confiscated screams.
Fucking assholes. I was going to kill each and every one of them.
I should have been smarter about one thing. I should have focused less on bringing allies to our cause, and more on finding where they lived. Well, soon they would be of no concern to me, and so I pushed those thoughts away.
Bruises and cuts on her body made me hate them even more. It was one thing seeing them in that poorly taken photo, and another to witness them in person. They didn’t only beat her up, they tormented her.
And one other thing made me loathe them even more. They knew damn well she was pregnant. One more time this happened, and I was sure she would miscarry. If that ever happened, I didn’t know… fuck, I didn’t know what I would find myself capable of doing.
I held my Colt in my hand, ready to fire it. Once their hands had my suitcases with nothing but fake money in them and my dear Elsa was back with me, they would be no more. Their bodies would meet the cold ground, and the next thing their dead eyes would see was the coroner vehicles coming here to prepare them for their burials.
I sco
ffed. “You’ve made the worst mistake of your life, asshole.”
I didn’t know his name, had no idea who he was. I was here for one thing only. I was here to get her back and end their sorry lives.
“We have a deal, then?” He questioned, his voice deep.
He tried to scare me with it, but it didn’t work. I came here for her, not to let his strategies get under my skin.
“We do,” I said before I gestured for my men to throw the suitcases much before they could open them. And when they were opening it, when they were distracted - that was when I would make my move, ending them right here.
Some of their men walked forward, their guns still aimed at me. There were lots of them, but I could see they weren’t prepared for this kind of thing. One of my men just radioed in, and even though he didn’t say anything, I knew that meant they were alone and that their scopes were trained on these assholes.
I waited for them to do it. I needed to buy some time before offing them. These guys here all thought the tops of the buildings that surrounded us were inaccessible. I was about to prove them they should have been more thorough in their assessment.
Their hands got the suitcases, their muscles flexing quite a lot. I knew what they were thinking about right now. They thought honesty from my part defined our transaction
Little did they know that, once they opened the suitcases, I would open fire on them, hopefully ending this family once and for all.
Timing and how long this would take were key elements here. It needed to be done when they were distracted, and when a gun wasn’t being pointed at Elsa’s head.
Looking at her now, I knew how much she was afraid. I wished I could tell her all the details so that she didn’t have anything to worry about. Using my eyes, I tried to do that, but she didn’t understand the message.
Their fingers worked to open the suitcases and when I heard the familiar clicks, I made a quick gesture with my fingers, my arm still lying in its resting position. From the top of the buildings that surrounded us, bullets rained down on those assholes, breaching the unnerving silence.
For a moment, when his gun wasn’t being pointed at Elsa’s head, a bullet hit him. His gun still fired, but he was too shocked by the sudden incident to aim it properly. His body fell over with a thud, and Elsa ran over to me.
I hugged her and said, “You are safe now, and there is no one else in this city capable of hurting you again.”
My men rushed forward, firing and killing more of the assholes. Once the shootout subsided, one of my men would steal their documents and bring them to me. By having them, I would figure out who they were.
I got into the car and drove away, some of my men following me in their vehicles. I did it. I saved her and ended the only family in the city who were, this whole time, trying to harm us. There would be more threat to fight, as there always were, but for the time being, I could find some peace in one thing I felt proud of.
Elsa was with me and she now had all the reasons to live the rest of her life with me.
Chapter 13
The Hero Once More…
Elsa
We were in his car. Even though not too long ago I was the subject of people who tortured me, I now felt at peace with my life. I knew I shouldn’t be feeling like this, but his insistence to save me again, when I thought I was safe from his life, made me think I could never find a better way to build a family.
Yes, he was dangerous. Yes, he was a member of the Russo family. Yes, danger would follow him wherever he went, but still… I thought I could find safety by being away from him. It was the last mistake of my life. Never again.
There was one important lesson to take away from all this. I would never be safe. People knew who I was and that I could be used to get to men that wanted to keep me safe. My dad and Ed were right all along. Once you are part of the Mafia, there is no getting out.
Building a family like this was going to be hard, but was there a better solution? No, there wasn’t. Even if I changed my name, became another person, they would still find me.
I didn’t want to put that to the test. The only way to be somewhat safe was by being with Ed and the Russo.
I rested my head on his shoulders as he drove his car. I craned it to meet his eyes. Some minutes had passed since he saved me, and the road ahead was a silent one. Very few cars were driving down on it with us.
I looked at his face, into his eyes, and thought about one thing that made me even more sure of this. I loved him. How could I not feel that way? He did so much to save me twice.
I shifted my head on his shoulders, bringing his attention to me. “You are awake,” he said, his voice soft and slow.
“Thanks to you,” I murmured.
He smirked and moved down his head to kiss me. The kiss didn’t last more than five seconds, but it was enough to remind me how much he loved me too.
“I’m taking you home, Elsa, and this time, no one will ever be able to hurt you again.”
Elsa
Ed could have asked someone else to do this, but with his first-aid kit in hands, he showed me one other thing about him I didn’t know before this very moment. He could be very caring and stubborn at the same time.
He was healing my wounds, his hand holding a ball of cotton. He dabbed it every so often on my bruises and cuts as he cleaned off the blood. My whole body hurt, and what they did to me was horrible, but I could find solace on the fact I wasn’t alone anymore.
I was with him, and I had no reason to think about leaving him again anymore.
“I’m sorry, Ed.”
He stopped dabbing a bruise on my thigh, and said, his eyes looking up at me, “You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. Be still and silent. I need to be careful right now.”
“No, I mean it.” I swallowed hard. This wasn’t easy for me. “I thought my whole life I needed to get away from this life. When I finally did it, I found myself in danger again. I can never get away from this.”
“Elsa, you don’t need to tell me that now. Just rest and be still.”
“But I need to. You were right all along.”
He sighed and said, “All I wanted was to keep you safe. I should have put more men to keep watch over you.”
I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Don’t beat yourself up because of that. You couldn’t have expected there would be so many more of them.”
He didn’t say anything, but I could see he knew I was right. Who would have thought that family could still hurt us?
Time passed as he healed my wounds himself. When he stood up, I looked for his hand and held it in mine. “Where are you going now?” I asked.
He sat down next to me and with a shy smile on his face, he said, “Nowhere. You need me now, and that is all I care about.”
I couldn’t contain myself when he said those words, pulling his face to me and kissing him. He kissed me back, his tongue going deep into my mouth, and from then on, I knew I could expect only the best from him.
✽ ✽ ✽
Ed stood with me in his office, his desk filled with more and more plans. Except that, this time, the plans weren’t for a mission of his, but for our marriage. We were going to marry, and it wouldn’t take long for it to happen.
He stood with his hands on the table, his head looking at the documents and the blueprints for the church we were going to marry at. His eyes surveyed every detail, every piece of data, and I kept on thinking about how I could help him.
“Honey, is there anything you would like me to do?” I asked.
“No, I think I will be fine for now,” he said without looking at me. He was just so focused on those plans.
“There is one important thing you didn’t remember,” I said after waiting to see if he would get his mind off these plans for a bit.
“What?” He inquired, his hands grabbing some sheets of paper and replacing them with others.
“The bouquet. We haven’t even begun to talk about that one.”
“Why is
that important right now? I think that the position of the flowers inside the church is a matter way more important to ponder right now.”
With my hand behind my lower back, I grunted as I tried to make myself feel more comfortable. God, my belly was just so huge.
“Because the bouquet will be thrown at the end of the marriage, and the girl who gets it will think she will have a wonderful life and marry someone like you.”
He shook his head, his hands moving more sheets of paper on the desk. “I don’t really see how that is important right now.”
I sighed. He was so focused on the position and layout of the flowers in the church he couldn’t talk to me properly at the present moment.
I smiled, and as I put a hand on his back, I said, “I will get something to eat.”
