by S. M. Soto
I’m out of fucking bullets.
I toss my eagle and pause when I spot the hunting knife discarded ahead, remembering mine is currently lodged in someone’s throat. I grip the handle in my fist and I slam into the man Giovanni is fighting, sinking the hunting knife into his back and yanking the blade up, tearing through his body. A fist suddenly sails into my ribs stealing my breath. the same man roughly grips me from behind, trying to yank me back. I yank the hunting knife out of one man’s back and swing out with my arm, embedding the blade into the side of his skull. As his body starts to fall forward, I tug it out, and move onto the next, working in tandem with Lorenzo, Giovanni, and Vincenzo.
A slice along the carotid artery.
A swift jab to the stomach over and over, letting the glint of metal disappear into his body.
I freeze when I hear it. It’s the sound of Sophia’s screams. A chill runs down my spine. All the hairs on my body stand at attention. And as I strain to listen, pushing past the ringing in my ears, I hear him. Angel. I hear his cry, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Like he’s in pain. A surge of fear and anger spurs me forward, and I push everyone out of the way, sprinting down the hall, turning the corner. I run, trying to find the source. I can feel myself getting closer.
I turn left, skidding to an abrupt halt when I spot Matteo and Garrett at a standoff with more of Kincaid’s men. They’re heavily armed. One of them holding what looks like c4 explosives, the same shit that damn near ripped my legs off in the foyer earlier.
“Can’t let you past,” one of them grunts. The one holding the explosives. “Strict orders to keep you away until the wife and kid are dead. Everyone else gets to burn a slow death.”
A growl rumbles in my chest as I prowl toward them, stepping in line with Matteo and Garrett. I feel Matteo’s gaze on me just like I feel Garrett’s. I know I have a trail of blood dripping after me, but that’s not going to stop me from getting through these men.
I’m calculating the fastest way to do it without getting killed and getting to Sophia and Angel before they do. As my brain is whirring with calculations, I glance at Matteo, and everything slows when I see the look in his eyes.
Before I can react, his hand is in the center of my chest, pushing me back, the force cracking against my sternum. I drop to the floor and feel his body cover mine just as something detonates. It’s not as huge as the other one that blew out the door in the foyer, but it’s big enough that I feel the blowback. It has our bodies sailing through the air, slamming me into the wall.
It takes me way longer than it should to roll upright and take stock and when I do, I see Garrett sprawled out, a few feet away from me, sitting up too, trying to regain his bearings. My chest squeezes in a vise when I see Matteo. A grimace spreads across his face, blood seeping from his shirt. He uses the wall to push himself up, shooting me a glare.
“Go. I got this.”
That strange sensation in my chest is back as I stare at the man I’ve hated most of my life. A man who just risked his life to save mine. I turn my back on him like I have so many times before, but this time feels different. Garrett stumbles to his feet with me and at the sound of Sophia’s screams, we break into another run, leaving Matteo and whoever is left of his soldiers to finish off the rest of them.
I have one thought in mind and one thought only—saving Sophia and Angel.
I PEEK MY HEAD OVER the railing of the crib, checking on Angel for the hundredth time. All day he’s been fighting his normal sleep schedule. Where I can usually feed and burp him and let him fall asleep in my arms before laying down, he’s been giving me the hardest time. It seems like all day after I feed and burp him, he’s fussy. I can get him to fall asleep easily when I’m holding him, but the very second I lay him down, his bright little eyes spring open and then he’s crying.
I just laid him down fifteen minutes ago and could already hear him stirring through the monitors, so I snuck into the nursery to check on him. I start taking slow steps away from the crib when his eyes fling open. My body deflates.
I open my mouth to sing him back to sleep, but the words get caught in my throat when I hear it. My brows tug down into a frown and when realization sets in, my stomach drops. My heart catches in my throat and I grab onto the crib railing for support as the floor rumbles beneath me. The vibration is strong enough that it rocks the shelves and the dressers in Angel’s nursery. If we were in California, I’d pass it off as an earthquake, but we’re not in California, and I’ve felt this before. I know exactly what’s happening.
Angel starts crying in the crib as if he can sense that something isn’t right. His cries are shrill screams that I’ve never heard come from him. It’s like he knows something is wrong. With trembling hands, I pull him out of the crib and press him against my chest, fear clawing at my throat. I throw the door open and run down the hall. The sound of bullets being fired along the lower level of the estate has tears streaming down my face, but I don’t stop. I don’t slow. I run. To protect us.
What’s happening?
Where’s Creed?
Who’s shooting?
There’s another loud boom that jostles me and Angel into the wall of the hallway. My shoulder takes the brunt of the force, but he still cries. Hysterically screaming in my arms. His little body shakes with the force.
“Shhh. It’s okay, baby,” I choke out, trying to help soothe him. But I can’t. He knows something is wrong. He can tell I’m afraid.
I pause on top of the staircase, unsure if I should run up or down. If I go up, there’s a chance the building will collapse, but if I go down…that’s where the gunshots are coming from. I just need to make it safely outside with Angel then figure out what to do.
I run down the stairs with Angel in my arms, trying to get away from the gunfire, but it seems like every turn, every wing, every floor, they’re getting closer. I skid to a halt when a hole blows through the wall, just a few feet in front of me, making embers fall everywhere. A piercing scream escapes from my throat as men I don’t recognize, round the corner, stepping through the embers and billows of smoke.
All the color drains from my face.
My grip tightens on my son.
I whirl around on my heel, turning the other way, breaking into a run but the gunfire seems to follow us. We’re unable to escape it.
My ears are ringing.
Angel is crying harder now.
The billows of smoke are thicker than they were only a few minutes ago.
I spin around in a circle, frantically searching for a safe escape, but I feel like the walls are closing in around me.
“Creed!” I scream with tears streaming down my face, our baby clutched in my arms. I don’t know where to run. There are pounding footsteps behind me. I don’t know who they belong to, so I run. I make a break for it. I glance over my shoulder, making sure I’m not being followed. When I turn back around, I crash into a body and hold onto Angel for dear life as I totter on my feet at the force.
“Oh, my god, Soph!” Alexis cries out. There’s black stuff smudged on her cheek and her face is wet from crying, eyes red-rimmed with tears. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” She pulls me into her arms squeezing us. We dart our gaze around frantically, making sure no one is following us. My tears spill down my cheeks in torrents.
“What’s happening? I can’t find anyone.”
“I don’t know,” I choke. “One minute I was in Angel’s nursery to check on him and the next…it was just complete chaos.”
The smell of smoke hovers in each hall and on each floor of the estate. The smell is getting stronger, with each breath, it sits in my lungs, making me choke. I look down at Angel who’s still crying, and I try to think of something to use to cover him with.
“Give me your sweater. I need to cover him.”
Alexis rips off her sweater and we hang it over Angel, I try to leave enough room so he can breathe, but I don’t want him inhaling any of the smoke because I’m alrea
dy starting to feel dizzy from it. We both flinch at the sound of rapid gunfire. It sounds like a damn machine gun and it’s much too close for my liking. I squeeze Angel’s little body against my chest even tighter, trying to figure out how I’m going to keep him safe and get him out of here alive. Alexis looks down at his bundled form in my arms with worry in her eyes.
“We need to get out of here, Soph.”
“But Creed and Gar…” I trail off, my voice cracking. Alexis’ face crumbles and her chin quivers as she tries to hold it together.
“We can’t think about that right now. Not any of them.”
We flinch at the deafening bang of bullets being fired, and I squeeze my baby tighter, trying to get him to stop crying.
“Come on!” Alexis urges.
We run, trying to escape the smoke, the bullets, the gunfire. We file down the horseshoe-shaped staircase and skid to a halt at the blood spilled along the foyer. A cry tears from my lips when I get a good look at one of the bodies. I run down the rest of the way and drop to my knees in front of the familiar form.
“Matteo?”
“Matteo!” I use my free hand to find a wound, and when I do, my hand comes back soaked with blood. I choke on a cry and take in his disheveled form. He looks like he’s been through hell and back, yet he’s still hanging on. Clinging. His eyes flutter open, and a sob escapes at the pained look in his eyes.
“We’re gonna get you out of here.” I look at Alexis over my shoulder who’s staring down at him with tears streaming down her face. “Help me!” I yell, unable to pull him upright with Angel in my arms. She scrambles to my side, and we try to drag him, but he lets out a grunt of pain causing us to freeze.
“You need to leave,” he wheezes out. I shake my head, more tears rolling down my cheeks.
“I can’t find Creed or my brother. I gotta—”
“You need to get out of here before it’s too late. Get him out of here.”
I look down at Angel in my arms who is still crying. My eyes slam shut, and a sob catches in my throat. Just the thought of something happening to Creed and my brother, of leaving them behind, has my heart tearing to shreds in my chest. But I can’t stay here with Angel and let them hurt him. I have to keep him safe. He’s just a baby. He’s innocent.
“Run!” Matteo suddenly barks.
Alexis drags me up from the floor and with one last look at Matteo, we run. We pass the foyer and I whimper at all the dead bodies. The front double doors are blown open, blood coating the floor, two dead bodies are strewn about along with stray boards and pieces of wood. We move around the bodies, heading straight for the gaping hole in the front of the house.
Alexis suddenly lets out a bloodcurdling scream, and my heart drops.
“There she is,” a voice says, and when I look over my shoulder, I see one man has Alexis by her hair, already dragging her away from the door. I squeeze Angel to me even tighter and try to make a run for it, but as I turn, I crash into a hard wall of muscle that grasps onto me, keeping me from leaving.
“Get off me!” I scream, trying to fight his hold, but he squeezes me, his meaty hands digging into my skin, bruising me. My sweet little Angel cries in distress.
My baby.
I can’t let them hurt him.
“Sophia!” Lex yells, and I hear her cry out in pain. The man grips a fistful of my hair and yanks me away from the foyer entrance just like he did Alexis. He drags me around the corner, into the elegant room that I always thought was like a shrine of Italian Renaissance.
Lex is sprawled out along the floor, blood dripping from her nose. I look up at the man who hit her, and three other men seemingly appear out of nowhere behind him. I’m trapped. I have nowhere to run.
My eyes scan behind me, the walls, the window, looking for any way I can exit, or at the very least, get Angel out of here alive, but it’s not possible.
A man with long stringy red hair and a beard steps forward, his gun aimed at me and Angel. My arms tighten, the floor swaying beneath my feet.
“Nothing personal, sweetheart,” is all he says before Angel is yanked from my arms and a fist sails toward my face. I might’ve been able to block it, but all I can focus on is Angel in another man’s arms.
I realize I’m screaming. Bloodcurdling screams even as pain explodes in my face. I lunge for the man with Angel. My hands dig into his skin and my nails stab into his flesh and I hold on, grasping at him all the while one of the other men comes up behind me and holds me back. He knocks my arms down, wrapping himself around me, keeping me from lunging or reaching for my son.
I cry out, my heart cracking open in my chest with pain. I fight through the haze of red spilling over my vision. I kick through the despair incinerating my body as I watch my son being taken from me. I scream in absolute pain and horror, trying to do everything I can to break free and get back my baby.
“No!” I cry out, flailing my legs in the man’s arms, trying to break free. I don’t take my eyes off Angel’s crying form; too afraid this will be the last time I ever see him. A crushing wave of pain knocks the air out of me.
I ram my elbows back, slamming them into the man behind me. He switches his grip and I dig my teeth in his skin until his hold loosens just enough to give me room to escape. I kick myself free of his hold, managing to launch myself out of the man’s arms. A chunk of my hair is yanked out in the process as he tries to hold onto me, but the sharp tear doesn’t stop me. I sprint for the man who’s holding a screaming Angel. I charge him, growing closer and closer with each stride. Once I’m close enough, I try to grasp my son out of his hold, but he seems to be expecting that. His fist swings out again making painful contact, but I don’t go down.
A strength I never knew I had before consumes me. I can feel the pain, but the love for my son, the need to protect my child, overrides everything else. I keep fighting. I keep struggling with him. When I almost have Angel back in my arms, I think we might make it, hope builds in my chest making me fight harder, but something hits me from behind and I scream. I scream so loud my ears start to ring. I drop to the floor.
Completely dazed by the blow, I try to drag my body toward Angel and the vile man with the red hair, but he’s already walking away, leaving the room with my son in his arms.
“No, please!” I cry out, trying to ignore the pounding in my skull to drag myself upright, but all that strength that was just there is gone. I scream for him. “Angel!”
I feel a hand grab onto my ankle, and I see red when they flip me onto my back. I don’t know where the surge of strength comes from, but my foot sails forward, bashing into the man’s face. He stumbles back, but his foot still makes painful contact, crashing into my ribs. I choke on air as it’s stolen from my lungs.
“Please,” I plead, sobbing. “Just give me my baby. Please.”
He swings his fist back, bashing it into my stomach, into my ribs. I cry out with each hit. But I never stop fighting, giving it just as good as I get it. For every hit in the ribs my fist bashes into the side of his head. My foot swings out at him, my knees jabbing him in his stomach. I never stop trying to get back to Angel. I can vaguely hear his screams. His cries because he’s afraid.
I don’t know where they’re taking him, but I need to get there. I need to get to him. The man bends down to lift me off the floor, but I grasp onto his arm, digging my nails and teeth into his skin. He roars with pain, flinging me away. My body is airborne as he tosses me to the ground. My side collides with the corner of a table and I see stars. The pain is so much I can’t even suck in a short breath.
I peel my eyes open and make out two forms stalking toward me. When my eyes adjust, I realize one is a man prowling toward me, the other is Alexis holding a marble candle fixture. At the same time he raises his gun, aiming it at my head to shoot me, she gets there just in time. Alexis swings, smacking the heavy marble fixture against the back of his head and he drops to the floor, bleeding out. His gun clatters right next to him.
“Oh god, Soph.
” Lex hurries to my side to help me up and the color drains from her face when she realizes it’s just me. “Where’s—”
I don’t let her finish, I start hobbling away, straining to listen to the sound of my baby’s cries. Lex follows, but we both stop. I turn back toward the dead man and grab his gun. Lex finds a knife. We run out of the foyer.
I hear him crying. It makes my chest crack open with pain.
Are they hurting him?
Where are they?
Where is Creed?
“This way!” I follow Alexis as she runs down the hall with all the frames of Creed’s mafia family members. Angel’s cries intensify this way, and I know we’re close. There’s popping gunfire and it gives me the energy I need. I run through the pain. I ignore my head that’s pounding, my ribs that feel like they’re on fire and my hip that feels like the bone is shattered.
I spot the broad, red-haired man with Angel as we round the corner, toward Matteo’s office. I run after him, my eyes honing on my son. When he hears me coming, he turns, his men flanking him, and I feel Alexis running behind me. I charge through them, taking the pain of each hit as they try to slow me down and keep me away. I take each of the blows, trying to fight my way toward him.
“Angel!” I scream. His cries get louder. It breaks my heart. I can feel myself crying. I’m sobbing as I fight. I’m so close. I’m so close to him.
Just hang on.
I get past one of the men, closer to Angel, and right when I think I’m there, that I have him within arm’s reach, I feel pain that has my breath catching in my throat and my eyes widening.
I look down, and my chest splits open, my heart stops beating, and my stomach churns when I see the knife sticking out of my side.
“No, no, no.” I wheeze. Dropping to the floor.
“SOPHIA!” I hear Lex scream, but I can’t get my body to move. A sickly sweat coats my skin, and my limbs feel like lead. Everything feels heavy to move. I glance up toward the men that are leaving, and a preening noise escapes my throat.
