by M. D. Melai
What had I just done? I should have known Heinrich would twist my words. I felt like dying in that moment.
My heart couldn’t handle losing them like this. I had just sentenced them both to death, without even realizing it. My own words were their end.
How did I make it to this place? Where had I gone wrong?
And right then, my own words coming back to haunt me. I had told them that I didn’t want a bodyguard, and that I didn’t need to be watched out for every second of every day. I wanted independence, because of my own pride, but all they wanted was for this moment to never happen. I should have trusted them, all of them, and listened each time they tried to tell me how dangerous the situation could get.
And now I knew. This was how bad that it could get. I had no leverage left to save them.
James was right when he said that I didn’t do anything but hurt both Lucas and Emilio—that proved to be true in this very moment. So, maybe I wasn’t good enough for either of them. I had always thought about which one would be best for me, but I should have also reversed the logic and made sure that I was worthy enough for them. They both deserved better than for me to keep hurting them. Sure they had both hurt me, but it didn’t amount to the pain that I caused them.
Now they wouldn’t get that chance. And I wouldn’t get the chance to tell them how sorry I was.
I had to find a way to save them.
“Viktor!” I said. “If you spare their lives, then I'm sure that I could talk my family in to giving you some of their territory.”
He turned and cocked a smile. It was a smile that I had grown used to in the short amount of time that I had spent with him. And instantly, I knew he would reject my amendment to my first offer.
“Sorry, but I’m afraid that you’re too late,” he said right before I heard a gunshot outside.
My breath hitched, and I didn’t release it. It kept me from screaming. Then I shut my eyes and tried to tune out everything around me. But before I could retreat into my mind, I heard the second gunshot go off, followed by a third, fourth, and fifth.
Please no! Please, not them! God please, not them. Please not my family.
Emilio and Lucas were out there, but so were Lorenzo, Paolo, Dex, Vinny, and the others. I couldn’t lose any of them. Those were my friends too. None of them should die for me.
Karma was bound to catch up with me eventually, though. Everyone had made it out alive the last time I met Viktor—I should have known that we wouldn’t be that lucky a second time.
My heart was breaking… along with my spirit. I had told myself I wouldn’t let Viktor break me, but he had—slowly and meticulously.
I hadn’t even realized Viktor had unlatched the locks on my arms and legs, until he grabbed me up under my arms and lifted me.
“You’re coming with me,” he said as he pulled me into a standing position. I lost my balance and fell to the floor.
“What the…,” Viktor said as I hit the ground, almost taking him with me.
“What did you expect,” I coughed, trying to catch my breath. The pain was overbearing, and I was trying to keep my thoughts together. “I’ve been lying down for three days on metal. My muscles are stiff, not to mention your handy work!”
“James, grab her. We have to move her. And get the car—we’re going to the bank as soon as possible.”
I cringed as James’s arms scooped me up off the ground. I instantly felt dirty and violated.
The pain was so bad that I kept my eyes closed, and I prayed I wouldn’t throw up all over the place. Without any warning, James threw me on a hard surface, and laughed when I screamed in pain.
My eyes instantly flew open in time to watch James shut the door of the room and lock it. The room was small—a bed and desk was all that was in it.
The bed was surprisingly clean, except for the blood that was now smeared on it from me. I couldn’t do anything else but fall face forward into the pillow. I was helpless now. I had become a liability to my own family. They should have just handed me over to the Heinrichs years ago. It would have saved them a lot of heartache.
What kind of life would I be heading back to after I signed over the money to Viktor? Would I even have anyone to share my life with? Viktor probably would only hold up his side of the bargain for so long before he would come after my family again. I had nieces and nephews. This wasn’t their fight.
More gunshots rang out down the hall, and I couldn’t hold back my pain anymore—physical or mental. I started to scream, and then when that wasn’t helping, I started punching anything and everything I could get my hands on. My knuckles began to bleed with every punch I threw.
I crawled over to the door and pulled myself up. I gritted my teeth and rammed my body up against it as hard as I could.
Nothing.
I was too weak, hurt, and tired.
Leaning my head against the door, I began to cry. I couldn’t do this—my worst nightmare was coming true around me. I pounded my fists softly on the door as I slid down the backside, before pulling my knees up to my chest. My face fell onto them, and I wrapped my arms around my legs and pulled them as close to my body as I could.
Why were there still gunshots going off? I wished I knew what was going on outside of these four walls.
How much longer was I going to be stuck in this room? I wanted this to be over with. I wanted to see my family. I needed to know if Lucas and Emilio were alive.
***
I hadn’t asked for this to happen to me. I didn’t even know about the money until a few months ago. And if I knew then what I knew now, then I would have left the money in the account and never touched it. It could have sat there until Heinrich himself died for all I cared.
If I could go back even further in time, then I would have stopped Adela from putting it in my name, and from running away too.
But this was the hand that I was dealt—another curveball that life decided to throw my way. I reacted to it the best way I knew how—in the moment. I was usually the type of person to act first and ask questions later, but this time, it had come around and bit me in the ass.
So what was my next move?
After sitting against the wall for ten minutes, I knew that there wasn’t another move—I had lost, and the smartest thing to do would be to concede and wave my white flag.
But I couldn’t just sit here. I needed to get up no matter how hard it hurt, and find a way to at least get out of this room if nothing else.
Fate must have been listening.
About the time I was going to get up, the door handle rattled for a second, and I tried my best to get up to my feet in time, but I was too late. The door flew opened and connected with the back of my head.
“Lily?” Dante’s familiar voice called out as soon as he cocked his head behind the door.
“Dante,” I whispered, before I found my voice. “Dante,” I said louder as I tried to push myself up off the ground.
“Lily!” he said, falling to his knees in front of me. I looked up at him, my eyes meeting his. I smiled at the sight of him. I was so happy to see him.
His face went through the emotions as he looked me over—inspecting me. As far as I knew my cuts had finally stopped bleeding, but the dried blood and my mutilated body was a lot to take in all at once.
“Are you okay?” he asked, helping me into a standing position, before awkwardly trying to decide if I was too hurt to hug.
I didn’t wait for him to finally decide. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as I could. He hesitated for a moment, before he softly wrapped his arms around me, making sure not to hurt me.
“I’m fine, but can we please get out of here?” I asked, still holding onto him.
“Yes, good idea. Can you walk?” he asked, looking at me.
“I think so,” I said, turning towards the door. I was a little unsteady, so Dante wrapped his arm around my waist as he slowly opened the door and peeked out. When everything was clear, I spoke up. “Wh
at are you doing here? Where are Viktor and James?”
“There’s no time to explain,” Dante said as he pulled up his gun and pulled me in close. “Do you know where your clothes are?”
“Maybe the office, I don’t know. Why?”
“It’s December and you’re in a tank top and shorts.”
He didn’t need to say anymore. I pointed down the hallway in the direction I knew James and Viktor had come from.
Dante led the way with me by his side to what I thought was the correct room. As soon as Dante opened the door, my hands immediately flew to my mouth. Olivia was lying on the floor, a bullet hole between her eyes. Viktor hadn’t even bothered closing them.
I hadn’t known her for very long, but it still came as a shock to me. Dante made sure I was steady against a desk before he knelt down and closed Olivia’s eyes.
“Guessing you know her?” he asked.
I couldn’t even speak. All I could do was nod.
Dante searched the room and closet while I started ripping drawers open on the desk. Finding my clothes was easy. They had shoved them in the bottom draw—a weird place to put them. My locket was there too, and just like James said—he completely destroyed.
“It can be fixed,” Dante tried to reassure me, but even he didn’t sound convinced.
“I don’t think it can be,” I responded.
Emilio had given me this necklace, and now that he might be—I couldn’t or wouldn’t go there. Lucas and Emilio were fine. I refused to think anything different.
I quickly threw my clothes on, and unfortunately, I had to wear a jacket from the closet.
“Ready?” Dante asked as soon I buttoned the last button on the jacket.
“Yes, just get me out of this place,” I said as he grabbed me around the waist again and headed towards the door.
“Hopefully this will make you feel better,” Dante said as he opened the door and looked out. “We’ve got most of Viktor’s men. As far as we know, Viktor, James, and two of his other high rankers have escaped. They won’t get far, though. The others headed into the woods after them.”
“How do you know?”
He motioned to his ears. I hadn’t realized he had an earpiece in.
“How many of ours are left?” I asked, fearful of the answer.
Dante just gave me a disappointed look and shook his head. When he was about to respond, I quieted him and let him know that I didn’t want to know—his expression was a good enough answer.
Instant guilt hit me. I didn’t have time to think about it right now. Dante and I needed to get out of here, just in case there was anyone lingering behind they hadn’t caught yet.
He held me close as he led me down the hallway and past countless rooms before we came to the exit door. Dante told me under no circumstances was he going to let me go, but he asked if I could try and keep up as much as possible. He still had to hold a gun, while trying to help support and protect me at the same time.
Dante pushed the door open, and the evening sun was on the horizon, still lighting up the earth. We both searched the area, and neither of us saw anything.
“Are Violet and Elle here?” I asked.
“No, only the men came, and trust me when I say that Violet was not happy about it,” Dante replied.
We were just about to step out of the door when Giorgio came running up to me.
We didn’t have time to tell him to watch out, before he swept me in his arms and hugged me so tight I couldn’t control the scream that ripped out of me.
Giorgio almost dropped me right then. His facial expression changed into the same vengeful one that Dante had held earlier when he first saw me.
“What the hell did they do to her?” Giorgio hissed at Dante.
“This isn’t the place to talk about it right now,” was all Dante said.
“I’m going to kill them,” Giorgio shouted. “You hear that, I’m going to kill each and every one of you!”
The sound of two men’s screams, and gunshots followed seconds after Giorgio’s declaration. Thankfully they didn’t sound like anyone’s we knew.
The three of us stood there for a moment, looking towards the tree lines, waiting for someone to emerge.
Eventually some of our men did. Marcello was in the lead. Behind him, Viktor and James were being dragged along the ground—their hands and feet both tied up. The three men with Marcello ordered Viktor and James to get on their knees as they got closer to us.
“What about our other men?” Giorgio asked Marcello as he approached us.
Where were Benito, Giovanni, Emilio, Lucas, Lorenzo, Paolo, and Adela? Given they were alive.
“They stayed behind to do a sweep of Viktor’s safe house,” Marcello replied. “I was told to bring them this far and then wait. She okay?” he asked, motioning towards me.
“She needs to get to the hospital,” Giorgio answered.
I tried to focus on anything and everything other than the way I felt at the moment. I went back to looking around the area when my eyes wandered back towards James and Viktor. Even with guns pointed at their heads, neither one of them looked remorseful as their eyes caught mine. In fact, James even smirked at me.
“Dante,” I whispered as I leaned more into him. “I’m not feeling so well.”
And I wasn’t. Just the sight of Viktor and James sent me into a complete panic, not to mention the others in our group still hadn’t shown up yet.
“Not too much longer,” he said as two more men appeared through the trees. I felt my smile grow with relief. Both Lorenzo and Paolo came running up to me. Dante held out his hand to stop them from hugging me.
“I’m so glad you both are okay.” I smiled as their eyes searched me.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” Lorenzo said. He was angry, but trying really hard to rein it in.
“You’re okay, right?” Paolo asked concerned as he looked from me to Dante.
“I’ve been better,” I said.
The adrenaline was starting to wear off. I needed to sit down, but I didn’t want any of them to know how bad things were for me. I closed my eyes as I listened to Marcello tell the men that he would wait ten more minutes for everyone else, or he would send them back in to make sure everything was going smoothly.
I kept my mind busy by thinking of anything but the pain I was feeling. I thought about Benito. I wondered why no one had mentioned Lucas or Emilio. I wondered why I hadn’t brought them up. The truth was I didn’t want to know the answer just yet. I wasn’t ready to accept it if the news was in my favor or not.
I thought about how I wanted to see Viktor and James suffer for everything they had put my family and me through. They deserved everything they had coming to them.
Adela appeared next, but the man standing beside her took all my attention away from her. I never expected to see him again. As soon as our eyes connected, my heart skipped a beat, and he took off at a dead run straight for me.
“Don’t grab her,” Dante yelled out as Emilio got closer—confusion written all over his face until he was close enough to see me. He stopped a few feet away from me. Shock, anger, and relief played across his face.
“Emilio,” I said as I took a step towards him. Dante still had his arms around me, but as soon as Emilio put his arm out, I took it, and fell into him.
“You’re okay,” I said, the tears already falling down my face. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Something broke in Emilio in that moment. I thought I was shaking, but it wasn’t me. It was Emilio. He held me carefully, delicately for I don’t know how long, before he finally pulled away from me, and examined my face—his eyes glistening and bloodshot.
“What did they do to you?” he whispered as he carefully touched my face with his hand.
“I’m fine,” I said as I tried to sound reassuring. “I’m just a little tired.”
Emilio looked over my shoulder at Dante, and whatever Dante had done only made Emilio look more concerned and upset.
“Really, I’m okay,” I said again. He still didn’t look convinced.
I was just about to try for a third time, when my name rang out again.
Benito was the next, and I received the same reaction as all the others before, except rage fueled Benito. Emilio cautiously handed me over to Benito, who handled me like I was a piece of precious crystal.
“Did Dante have any difficulty rescuing you?” he asked as he handed me back over to Emilio, before looking over his shoulder at Viktor and James. This time neither of them looked as confident as they had before.
“No,” Dante responded. “Once I found her it was pretty easy.”
Everyone was accounted for now, everyone but Lucas. Benito wouldn’t have left him behind in the forest. He was always the first one in, last one out kind of guy—it was his responsibly as the head.
I looked up at Emilio through tear-filled eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he gently wiped a tear away.
“Lucas didn’t make it, did he?” I asked, my heart slowly breaking.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because Benito is…,”
“I’m right here, Lily,”” Lucas’s voice rang from behind me.
I turned around as quickly as I could to find him standing there. His arm was bandaged up and his face was pale, but he was alive.
“What happened?” I asked, looking at his arm.
“I’m just not as quick as I thought I was,” he responded. “Looks like we have both seen better days,” he half laughed. Leave it to Lucas to try and make me laugh at a time like this.
Emilio had his arms around me, until the moment I stepped away from him and slid my arms around Lucas, neither of us caring that we were injured. I was beyond thankful that he was okay too.
I was so happy in that moment. Everyone was okay. Lucas and Emilio were both alive, and my family as well. I sighed in relief as I said a silent thank you to God for hearing my prayers.
“As much as I would love to stand here and hold you all day,” Lucas said as he smiled and pulled me away, bringing me back to reality. “We need get you to the hospital.”
