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“Now you know… That’s the story. That’s the reason for everything. That’s why they want to kill me. They stand to lose billions, Vincent. It’s not like I’m just some person. I’m Roberto Lobonov’s daughter. People will know me the minute I dye my hair back the color it used to be. It’s a strong testament of what happened if I give it.”
“Have you ever thought of going back to do just that?” I’m just curious.
She’s shaking her head before I can even finish.
“No. I can’t. I’m not strong like that. Do I want revenge for my parents’ death? Yes, of course, I do. Every day, I avenge them in my mind in some ways. Sometimes I even save them. Sometimes it all feels like a bad dream that just came to screw with me. Then I remember it’s real and my uncle is a man of serious power. Mark was so distraught from the loss of Maksim, that I think part of him died in the fire too. Then, when Sasha died, it was like he was gone. Part of me hoped he would get strong and avenge my parents’ death and overthrow my uncle. The more he deteriorated, the more I realized that was never going to happen.”
I give her hands a gentle squeeze.
It must have been so hard for her.
“I’m going to fix things, Ava. I’ll get you your vengeance.”
Her gaze clings to mine. “Vincent… I’m scared because I don’t want you to get hurt. You’ve lost so much. You have a son to worry about, and you can’t worry about me.”
“It’s not up for discussion, doll. I’m just telling you. I can’t let them take you, and I can’t let them get away with what they did to you. It’s not in my nature to let a thing like that slide.”
Maybe I let love in and it made me crazy. Pa hasn’t called me crazy yet, and I’ve seen him twice today. Both times, he fell in line helping out. The same as everyone else. We’re doing what we always do when we have situations like this.
I’m just waiting on a location, and then I’m gone. I don’t plan to wait for the enemy to strike.
She throws her arms around me and hugs me hard. “Thank you. Please… be safe, Vincent. Please be safe. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
I hold her close to me and think of that too.
Yesterday was close for me. That bomb could have taken me out. It nearly did.
We stand, and I slip my arm around her as we start heading back to the house.
As we get to the concrete path, I hear a helicopter. Then I see it coming in the distance, and two more.
It’s very uncommon to see helicopters in these parts, and since I’m on high alert, everything is suspicious to me.
“Ava, get in the house! Go to Nick. He’ll take you down to the basement,” I shout, and she runs into the house.
I’m glad she does because as the helicopters get close, I realize I was right to be suspicious. I run into the house too and signal everyone. All my guards are spread out with guns at the ready while the helicopters lower and men with gas masks start jumping down. They look like army guys. Bullets start flying, and I run inside to make sure Timothy, my mother, and Marguerite are safe.
Everyone has a task. Nick is to take Ava to the safe room down in the cellars. Gabe and Salvatore are muscle. Pa is to contact Claudius. There’s about fifty men on the grounds that are skilled to deal with these guys, but not if we’re vastly outnumbered. And we are.
Fuck… there are too many of them, and they’re all going in the house. I shield myself behind a pillar to doge the bullets that fly my way and fire back when I can. Timothy was upstairs with Marguerite.
These fuckers. They’ve attacked my home.
In the height of everything, I see a haze of green gas filling the room. Tony drops down first like a rag doll, then a few others follow.
When I see that, I run, covering my mouth and nose so I don’t inhale the gas.
I have to get to my boy.
I leap up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and run into his room. He’s not there.
Shit… Fuck. God, please tell me they got to the safe room. I don’t know where they were in the house. Marguerite and Ma know the doors that open up to it. I had them installed to mirror the setup at my parents’ house.
“Vinny!” Pa calls out. He’s to my left coming out of the library. He collapses, and a trail of green smoke follows through the door.
I run across the platform to the other side of the house. That’s where I find Salvatore on the ground and Gabe trying to revive him. He’s barely able to shake him before the gas gets him too.
It must be some kind of knockout gas.
