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We finally made it there and raided the building, scaring the shit out of all the seedy characters who called the place home. It was a pitiful place. Nowhere like I would expect to find my princess being held or even a place where someone who prided themselves on being such a hustler would call home. Once I arrived at the floor where everyone directed me he lived, I found that he and his men had left in a hurry. They had taken a stairwell behind an armored door down to a secret escape. I followed but stopped when I reached the bottom of the steps finding them covered in blood. Not seeing a body, I headed back to meet my men and continue my search.
With my gun pulled, I prayed that by some miracle they had left her behind or they hadn’t all made it out yet. We followed a trail of blood down the hall and busted down the door where it ended. What I saw made my heart stop. There, on the floor of the dingy apartment, was the body of a blonde woman, her body lying in a pool of blood which was clearly her own. I fell to her side in anguish with hatred burning through my veins. My fingers went straight for her neck, trying to find some kind of pulse.
She can’t die.
That was all I could think at that moment. Everything I wanted and needed completely depended on Mariana’s survival. Yet, here I was, trying to find a pulse on her lifeless body. The level of blood was more than I had ever seen from a person who had survived a gun shot. I could see where the wound was, still bleeding. There was a chance Jonas and his men had hit something vital from the looks of it, but a sliver of hope was on the horizon as I caught the feeling of her pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. I just didn’t know for how long.
“She is alive! One of you, get me something from in here to put over the wound to put pressure on it. We have to take her to the nearest hospital,” I ordered. One of my men went into the bedrooms, grabbing sheets. They would have to work even though they looked like they could have used some washing a long time ago. I took them and helped my men take her down to the SUV, positioning her in the backseat so that her head was on my lap and I could reach the wound.
It was scary to see that there was no response from her. She was in enough pain or had lost enough blood to have passed out. I was thankful for that, for the fact she didn’t have to experience the tremendous pain that was going through her body. Her breathing was shallow; I could barely tell she was breathing at all. The bullet h
ad affected her respiration, wherever it had planted itself inside of her. We took off, rushing to the nearest hospital on the GPS. I would have to be smart about this; pay off the doctors and the staff for silence, but it wouldn’t be the first time.
I didn’t care if my men saw it as a moment of weakness while I put as much pressure as I could manage on that bleeding hole in her side and silently begged repeatedly for her not to die. My distress was plain on my face. As soon as I lost her, I would lose everything.
In a way, I was incredibly selfish by wishing for her to live. She had been shot and left for dead by a monster who had been holding her for eight years. Her suffering deserved an ending, and death would at least accomplish that. My intentions for wanting her to live had much less to do with feelings for her or her pretty face. Though, those things only helped to serve my determination for this purpose to keep her alive.
I needed her alive, so I could prove my claim to the Vasile throne. I was man enough to admit just what I needed her for. If she were awake right now, I would make that clear to her face. I had vowed the moment I saw her, half dead on that floor, that I would never lie to her. She’d experienced enough pain and disappointment through her entire life, especially over the past few years. I wasn’t going to give her a reason to be disappointed in me, but I would also not give her false hope of something more than what we were always meant to be. That wasn’t the way I wanted it to be. She was a great woman proven by her blood alone. And if she was anything like her parents, she deserved the best she could get from me, which was exactly why my family and I had been the ones trusted with the Vasile legacy to begin with. We were strong, and we were some of the most honest criminals in the business if there could be such a thing.
I looked down Ana bleeding in my lap; I wonder if she even still went by that. It was interesting to see how she had aged. I had not seen her since we were both children, but I knew even then how beautiful she would be with her chocolate eyes and long blonde hair. She had this innocent air about her, and it hadn’t gone away from her youth. She was one of those that would make you pledge to do anything for her because she looked so delicate and sweet, but her name meant it was not so simple.
I wondered as I looked at the lines creasing her face and her thin and hurt body, bruised from the abuse, if the girl I knew was still in there somewhere or if everything good about her had been ripped away by her captors.
The last time I saw her I was nine years old; old enough to understand what a wife was and that she would be mine. Though, I had not yet had my first crush on a girl yet. We had actually been visiting her family in Romania, and our fathers were having dinner tougher. Her spirit was so strong; it radiated through everything she did or said. Even at seven years old, it was hard not to get a sense for who she would turn out to be; in an ideal world, that is.
My memory of that day came back to me as if it was yesterday, a movie playing in my head. I had been watching her most of the day as she tried to show me around the house with her limited vocabulary. There was an excitement in her to see me. I got the feeling she didn’t have many playmates. So, I silently went along with her, letting her show me everything she had. Some of her most prized possessions were her toys that resembled weapons, and she even took me into her father’s trophy room of sorts, trying to tell me some of the stories behind the swords and other things he had on display, as if from memory. There was no doubt that she was a Vasile. She was sweet and beautiful. And spoiled rotten.
At some point, we had gone running around outside, and Mariana had heard some desperate meowing. She followed it behind a bush to see a stray cat, its gray and black hair all mangled from a fight. It was injured pretty badly, including a broken leg. She was instantly concerned about it and started crying. I followed behind her as she ran inside, interrupting the dinner to get her mother and father to come and see if they could help it. I was surprised that they obliged her.
She looked at it with concern and horror as they tried to get a good look at its injuries and wrap the leg. The cat was in such distress that it sent Mariana into a panic. I reached over and grabbed her hand and held it. She instantly squeezed back. It already felt, even at such a young age, that she was mine. I held that little hand for the rest of the night, and I felt like a really empty little boy when I had to let it go.
What struck me so much about her was how she had empathized with everyone around her, even animals. As I got older and held that memory close to me, it made me think of how she would be with our children; the heirs we create together. The Vasile children, my children, would be in good hands.
I hadn’t seen her in years, and as we pulled up to the hospital, I realized how much could change in two decades. My feelings for her and my strength in the clan had morphed into something I never thought possible, watching how strong and valiant my father was when he was leading it.
The thought of that little girl, the one that had belonged to me since the day she was born, having to endure all these awful things from Jonas, made me furious.
I watched the emergency nurses come out with a gurney and load her onto it. I flashed my cash at everyone that saw her. They were discrete, letting as few people as possible get a look at her as they wheeled her into the operating room. I sent one of my men to pay off the surgeon as well. There would be no discussion and no investigation. They would make up whatever story they needed as to not reveal her identity or mine. I pulled out my phone as I headed for the waiting room and let my men know they were to have her guarded around the clock before I decided to take care of much-needed business.
Jonas was going to pay for holding onto my most prized possession, for trying to snuff the life out of the last remaining Vasile. My men would find Jonas, wherever he had slithered off to, and god help the devil when he was found.
Everyone knew about the arrangement, even Jonas. Though he was not of the original thirteen clans, Jonas had come to some of the meetings over the years. In fact, I had seen him about a year ago. I felt like I should have noticed something in his behavior that let onto the fact that he was the one who took her. Maybe the shooting could have been prevented. Wasted years could have been prevented.
Well, Mariana would be where she was supposed to now. With me. She would be in my house, in my bed as soon as she was able, making up for the time we had lost.
I began to call everyone I had ever worked with as well as the clan leaders I believed I could trust to help me in this endeavor. Everyone was going to have their eyes peeled for Jonas Masterson. They were to deliver him alive.
His death was mine.
Revenge was mine.
Mariana is mine.
The next phone call I made was to my family, to let them know I had found Mariana and to have them begin the preparations for our wedding. It was going to be extravagant; fit for a king and queen. She was going to wake up from her surgery to a whole new life by my side, and it was going, beginning with, a bang.
Chapter 6
Mariana
