by A. G. Khaliq
“Donte is the man responsible for my father's death,” Boss said quietly, his voice ice-cold, dropping to barely below a whisper. “He killed my father in cold blood many years ago. And this mission was the perfect chance for me to get my own back… For me to get my revenge.”
I felt the colour drain out of my face as I came to the realization that this wasn’t just a little feud that my boss had with Donte. This was something that he’d been planning for years and years and years, to precision. And he used me 506
as bait. The sheer thought of that made me nauseous.
I felt so fucking sick.
“Because of Donte Abruzzi, I don't have a fucking father,” Boss seethed.
“Because of Donte Abruzzi, my father was fucking robbed from me!” He rattled his fists, letting out a bellow. “I was only twenty, and Donte was just a few years older than me. It's been over a decade, nearly fifteen whole fucking years, and I still can't forget! I still can't forget what he fucking did!
“And now, I can finally get my revenge!”
“Your father was a fucking paedophile!” Donte roared, his veins pulsating to the surface of his skin.
Looking like he wanted to torture.
Looking like he wanted to kill. Looking 507
so hungry for blood, that not even his conscience could stop him from strangling Philip and making him struggle for air. “I was working in the area, and I saw him lure a little girl into the alleyway. You thought I was going to turn a blind eye to it? That I was going to let him rape her?” He broke off his sentence, seething. “I'd barely got to the alleyway when he had his hand up her fucking skirt! Of course I was going to fucking kill him!”
“All hail fucking Saint Donte Abruzzi!” Boss sneered bitterly. “You think you're such a good man! You're a liar! Why should I believe the words that come out of a criminal's mouth like yours? A Mob boss like yours?!”
Boss rattled his fists angrily, his eyes bloodshot.
“My father was a good man!” he 508
bellowed in his own defence. “A church-goer. You did all you could to tarnish his reputation! You didn't even get charged for his murder because there was no fucking evidence!
“You're a dead fucking man, Donte Abruzzi. It's time to put my father to justice.”
Before another word could tumble out of Philip’s filthy mouth, I hurled at him, punching him for all I was fucking worth. Punching him with all of the strength that I had inside of me, with every fibre of my damn being. Punching him repeatedly, relentlessly, not stopping for a gasp of air, not stopping to spare him some pain. He deserved everything that was fucking coming to him. This bastard… This motherfucking bastard…
“You should know better than to fight me, Philip,” I snarled, “when the 509
very fact you recruited me in the first place was because of my fighting ability.
The reason you took me under your wing.”
“Playtime's fucking over!” Boss roared, cocking his gun, catching me off guard and pushing me off of him.
Philip shot me straight through my fucking shoulder. I cried out in pain, but I knew I couldn't die yet. I had to fight a little more… I hadn't even got Donte off the wall…
“NOOOOOOOO!”
Donte
screamed bloody murder. “SAPPHIRE, NO!”
I charged at Philip, knocking the gun out of his hands before I kicked him hard in the crotch, causing him to fall backwards onto the cold, hard tarmac. I punched him hard in his face, dislocating 510
his jaw as I climbed on top of him, grabbing hold of the gun from the floor, pressing it against his temple.
“Funny how the tables turn. Beg me for your life, motherfucker,” I sneered.
“Or I'll blow your guts out right here.”
I knocked the other gun that he had in his pocket out of his trousers, so that it slid all the way to the other side of the room. I continued to punch him relentlessly, needing him to suffer.
Needing to vent out all of the anger and frustration that had been building up inside of me. Needing to get my own revenge.
“Please stop!” Boss bellowed.
“Please…”
“You think I'm going to show you mercy?” I snarled, my voice strung with venom. “You think I'm going to show 511
mercy for the man who killed my mom?
This is me getting even. Tell me what you know about the murders. Since this whole thing was a fucking set-up, you must have information.”
Boss coughed out blood, spitting it out on-to my face as he struggled for air, his ribcage constricting on him. I held my knee against his neck, making sure that he knew I meant business. Making sure that he was aware I would snap his damn neck if he didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear.
“I -” Boss coughed shakily. “I – I can tell you where your mother is.”
“What?” I denied.
I furrowed my eyebrows, confused as to what he meant by this.
“I never killed your mother…” he 512
breathed. “I paid off the nurse to tell you that she was dead. I took her somewhere else. The body at her funeral wasn't even hers… I just wanted you to be scared. To focus on the mission… I swear to you, she’s alive…”
I felt my whole body tremble. I couldn't believe what the fuck I was hearing.
This man…
This deceiving motherfucker...
He'd played me so hard.
He'd lied to me countlessly...
His father was a paedophile...
He just shot me in my fucking shoulder...
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My chest was heaving upwards and downwards, as my eyes burned into his.
His pleading eyes begging me to spare him.
And before I knew it, three bullets flew straight out of the gun that I was holding, my whole body shaking and trembling into a frenzy.
Without thinking, I had shot him dead.
I didn't want to believe his lies.
I didn't want to believe that my mother wasn't really dead.
I didn't want to believe a word that came out of his goddamn mouth...
Especially after he'd beaten Donte till he was blue in the face.
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I'd had enough of all the games.
My body shaking into a frenzy, I retrieved the keys for the handcuffs from his suit jacket, as well as his swipe card that he used at the Service. I could feel the pain from the gunshot wound in my shoulder start kicking in. My entire surroundings began to blur around me. I could barely feel myself think, because I felt so damn dizzy. I could faintly make out Donte's cries and screams, and I remembered why I'd came here.
To free Donte.
I made my way over to Donte, in my shaken, psychotic state. I freed him from his handcuffs, turning the keys into the locks, allowing him to finally move properly.
“Baby, are you okay?” Donte whispered. “Baby, talk to me. You're 515
bleeding so much…
“Baby...?”
As I freed Donte from his handcuffs, I felt the dizziness take over me.
Not from the gunshot wound.
Not from killing my damn Boss.
But from the thought of my mother.
The next thing I knew, I collapsed to the ground in anguish, feeling my head sear in pain as my emotions overtook me.
The last things I heard were Donte’s screams…
516
Before everything went black.
517
52
donte
I collapsed next to Sapphire, crying. I didn't even know what happened. One minute she was undoing me from my handcuffs, the next, she fainted. And she wouldn't wake up no matter how much I cried and screamed for her to.
The whole time that this Philip guy 518
had been torturing me, torturing me for killing his father all those years ago... I didn't care how much he hit me. How much he punched me, how much I bled, how much I endured till I was blue in the face.
Because I'
d felt such a betrayal, such a betrayal when I found out that Sapphire was a double spy. When I found out that she wasn't who she said she was.
That she had intent to work against me when she moved to Manhattan. For a man with a paedophile for a father.
I'd loved Sapphire so much… That when Philip broke the news to me outside my house, I couldn't help but to break, to feel my heart get beaten, shatter into millions of pieces. Feeling like I was suffocating, feeling like I couldn't breathe. Feeling like my life had no purpose anymore…
519
Feeling like I was better off dead.
Because I didn't want to know a life without Sapphire in it. I'd grown so attached to her. My heart belonged to her. When Philip broke the fucking news, I wished I was fucking dead. I wished it so much...
But in some ways, I guessed it was a blessing in disguise. Because if Philip had never told me... Maybe Sapphire would never have come clean. It was a chance to get things straight, draw the line between us. And not to mention that Philip didn't actually have anything on me to throw me in jail for the rest of my life, like I feared would happen. He just wanted to get me on his own… Torture me for killing his father.
While I was in this dump, I'd been hating myself. Beating myself up because I thought that Sapphire didn't love me.
520
Beating myself up because I thought everything that happened between us was a lie. Beating myself up because I thought none of the love I had for her was real.
But as she found me, sobbed for me, tried to help me escape, save me, rescue me...
Jumped in front of a bullet to prove her love for me.
I realized that none of it was a lie.
That it was all real.
That she really did love me...
That she wasn't faking it like I thought she had been.
And I loved her all the way back.
521
I didn't give a fuck about what my family thought.
I didn't give a fuck about my mom and dad's opinion, or the opinion of my brothers.
I wanted to be happy, and despite the circumstances, it was still Sapphire that I wanted to be with.
Forever and always.
From the day I met her, I knew that she was going to turn my life upside down.
Heck, it hadn't been easy.
Fighting for her, fighting for our feelings.
But if we hadn't been through all we'd been through, we wouldn't be where 522
we were today.
Madly in love with each other, unable to live without each other.
I didn't care about how much she hid from me in the past. She had been through a lot…
She didn't want to hurt me. She did it all for good reason.
As long as we were both honest with each other from now on…
Nothing else mattered.
“Baby, wake up,” I pleaded, taking her face into my hands, planting soft kisses all over her face. “Please... I'm so sorry he shot you. I'm so fucking sorry.”
My heart hammered against my ribcage. I could feel my chest heave 523
upwards and downwards. I’d cried and screamed so much, to the point I’d grown weak.
I needed to put some clothes on, and get us both out of here.
Get her to a hospital, or something...
I knew that this Philip bastard had left my clothes in a room.
I made my way to the room where my clothes were. I put some pants on, but instead of wearing my shirt, I carefully removed the bullet from Sapphire's shoulder, applying pressure to her wound, and then tied my shirt around it to stop the bleeding.
As if by reaction, she woke up suddenly, her fingertips grazing my face.
524
“Oh my God, baby…” I mourned, tears sliding down my cheeks. “You're awake…”
“I'm so sorry for everything, baby,”
Sapphire breathed, trembling. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It's okay,” I reassured her, pressing my lips to her hands, squeezing them. “I forgive you.”
“We need to get going,” she said shakily. “I want to raid my Boss's office, get to the bottom of this fucking murder case. Because it seems like he was covering for someone.”
“But you've been shot…” I murmured. “You need to take it easy.
There’s no rush.”
“It's just my shoulder, Donte…”
she insisted. “It's fine. I didn't faint from 525
that… I fainted from the shock of him saying that my mother is still alive...”
She trailed off her sentence, feeling her heart leap to my throat, her head burning as tears welled in her eyes.
“Baby, I know you must have been taken aback by it,” I sighed, my chest heaving. “But you can't believe a word that shady motherfucker says. You held him at gunpoint. He was obviously going to tell you what you wanted to hear.”
I let out a sigh, shaking my head.
Not wanting to crush her hopes and dreams, and make her miserable. Not wanting to press this subject further.
“Just don't get your hopes up, okay?” I shrugged, with a concerned expression on my face.
“I know,” Sapphire mumbled. “I 526
won't. It just took me by surprise… How much he still fucking lies, despite everything he's fucking done.”
I could feel the pain in her voice, and it tore me apart. We’d both suffered and endured so much, and I just wanted all of the bad stuff to come to an end. I was tired of us both being miserable. We didn’t deserve this pain and heart-ache.
“I know,” I murmured.
Sapphire got to her feet, her breathing laboured.
“Let me clean that blood from you,”
she mumbled. “So you're in a fit state to get moving.”
“Baby, I'm fine,” I reassured her.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Nonsense,” she sneered, and then 527
started to dabble at my chest, leaving soft kisses in her wake. “That's better. First things first… We're getting you some fucking food.”
I couldn’t help but to let out a chuckle. This was why I loved her. Even in the worst of situations, she always tried to crack lame jokes to cheer the both of us up.
My beautiful fucking girl.
“I'm honestly fine,” I smiled. “My ribs are a bit sore, but that's about it.”
“Look at all these bruises, Donte…”
she sighed. “It's all my fault.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close to me.
“As long as we're both together, nothing else matters. It's you and me 528
forever, baby. I’d get myself beaten over and over if it meant I could spend one more minute with you.”
“I love you,” she whispered. “I'm glad you have the maturity to understand… To move past this, despite what I did.”
“Of course.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “I understand. You don't have to worry...”
She sighed underneath my touch, pulling me closer.
“But we'll have time to make up and talk about this properly later,” I said. “For now, we have a murder to solve.”
“You're right,” she smiled. “Let's go.”
She darted her eyes in the direction 529
of the dead body on the floor, and snarled.
“And leave that motherfucker Philip here to rot.”
530
53
maya
Me and Donte were on our way back to Washington, where my base for the Secret Service was. I'd taken Philip's swipe card from his dead body, so that I could have access to his office, and hopefully get to the bottom of this fuckery once and for all.
531
“This is Philip's room,” I explained, as we strode into the base. “Let's hope his security card grants me access.”
I swiped his card on the card-reader, and it began flashing green.
“It's working!” I exclaimed. “It's open. Let's go inside.�
��
We made our way inside of his office, and I allowed my eyes to scan the room. Wondering which place would be the best to look first.
“Is there anything here?” Donte asked thoughtfully. “Anything at all?”
“I'm looking,” I murmured.
I began scrambling through his belongings.
There was so much paperwork 532
here...
Photographs of his father.
Case studies of him trying to prove his father's innocence…
But with no proof.
As I dug deeper, I found all of the evidence that he'd stolen from my room.
This shit was going to stay with me from now on. And I'd burn and dispose of it once I'd figured out who was behind the murders.
I continued to search through his things, screwing my face and furrowing my eyebrows, desperately trying to find something useful and valuable.
“Wait, what's this?” I whispered, feeling my heart leap to my throat.
533
He had photographs of the illegal fight he'd found me at all those years ago, And he'd labelled it with the word leverage underneath.
So I wasn't fucking wrong...
“Welcome to the finals of Underground Boxing,” said the commentator, smiling.
I was in my stance, with my hands balled into fists, ready to take this motherfucker down. I’d been training so long for this moment. Everything I’d worked for after being on the run from Fibonacci led up to this…
“The winner will be declared by killing the other opponent,” the commentator went on. “And the winner will win 100,000 dollars in cash.”
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He rolled his eyes.
“No cheating is allowed,” he muttered
condescendingly.
“No
weapons, no steroids, nothing. You are only allowed to use your fists.”
The
crowd
roared
with
anticipation.
“Tonight, we have Maya Bradshaw up against Lucius Wilder,” he shrugged.
