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“Did you miss me that much?” I taunted her, giving me more time to prepare.
With it being only me who was awake, I knew I had to think fast on my feet. It was within this moment my mind recalled every dark romance I had ever read for the brutal fights and violence that took place within them. Even though I had never been one to actively pursue violence, the ideas in my mind worked fast to save me now because of the things I read. Part of me knew I would feel guilty for what I was about to do as I played dumb on the ground a little longer, but I needed to stall her for just a few minutes to save myself. I could only hope Antonio would forgive me for what I was about to do to his mother.
“You were supposed to die at the hands of Mario, but you somehow tricked those boys into believing you're something special. You're not,” she nearly growled at me with a hiss. Her nature reminded me of a serpent, readying to strike me right now because I knew she wouldn't let me live for a few more minutes. Giorgia's eyes gave her away because she wanted me dead that bad. She wanted me dead, so she tracked the exact vehicle I would be in and rammed into us. Someone within Augustus's ranks had given out his information, but that would be a different problem for tomorrow.
Two men in all black stood around me in their bulletproof vests, having ear coms dangling behind their ears for me to see they spoke to a higher power. I knew it had to be with their dads because Giorgia still reigned below them.
My eyes moved past Giorgia in the most common of ways to easily distract anyone like something came our way behind them. Acting like I saw a new threat in the distance, the others quickly joined as she turned her head away from me. The act was so juvenile, I couldn't believe it even worked. My hand lurched forward to fall on the side of the guy beside me as I ripped the handgun from its holster along his hip. Never experiencing how to handle a gun myself, I had watched Draven do it while we had sex that day. I memorized where his fingers moved to cock it and to release the safety just like Costas had while sitting on the couch beside me earlier. Thanks to them, I gathered how I needed to work the heavy gun to fire it.
Right as Giorgia turned her attention back to me, she acted like I was ridiculous for wasting her time by pretending to see something in the distance. Instead of giving her a moment to say something rude to me again, I fired the gun. I shot her. For the first time in my life, my flight or fight response kicked in, and I chose to fight. I willingly chose to end someone else's life in order to save my own.
The bullet hit her in the throat where I hadn't actually been aiming. I just knew the gun lined up with her body enough I would hit something. Blood began to splurge from her throat in pulsating pumps that began to hit me because I sat below her. The splatters began making me gag because I hadn't been prepared to kill anyone, and I had throw up still in my mouth from earlier. The men quickly moved to get the woman as two other men climbed out of the vehicle to deal with me. Firing the gun some more, I tried taking them out, but my aim hadn't been as successful as it had been against her because she stood right in front of me. Their movements were hard to track with the gun and timing it, and I felt like firing so blindly would only lead to someone else getting hurt on the side.
Shielding my face with my hands, I let the gun fall at my side in surrender because I knew they wouldn't let me live now that Giorgia had fallen to the ground in a heap of her death. Wanting to cry, there were so many things I wished I had done before my life ended. At least I knew every single person I loved got to hear it from my lips before this moment. I could die knowing they distinguished I loved them in return.
More tires squealed in the distance, promising more men to come for me as I claimed the life of my boyfriend's mother. I didn't know how many men they felt like they needed to fight against me, but I knew they wouldn't take their chances. More gunfire began to explode around me, so I held my breath as I waited for my life to end before my eyes. I waited for the pain or seeing holes all over my body as the weapon rapidly fired like it was an automatic rifle instead of pistol.
When the bullets stopped making noise, I squinted my eyes open to see the black-clothed bodies falling around me. My hands quickly began patting over my flesh to feel where I had gotten hit because I had to be too numb to feel it. When I felt nothing damaging or wet, I firmly observed the car in the distance has two figures began running toward me. I couldn't see them through the setting sun, but I could make out the outline of the rifles along their hips.
“Please don't shoot me!” My plea was met with a laugh as someone dove on their knees beside me to check me for wounds. That's when I finally saw who had joined my fight.
“Tommy? Is that you?” My eyes blinked as the man who worked at the prison with my father positioned himself over me to check me for anything damaging.
“Let's just say I got an unpredicted call from your father last night. No one hurts our family.” Helping me to my feet, I realized my dad had a plan of his own with an army of his own. It also reminded me that people in higher positions still had the power to take justice into their own hands as I looked around at the dead bodies.
Unable to cope, I tried to nod my head along with what he was saying to me about how my father gave him the details of it all. Unable to keep up, I pointed my finger toward the car where the other two waited for us, unconscious. “They need your help more than I do.”
Tommy dipped his chin to me and handed me off to Joseph as he ran to check the vitals of the others. Waving his hand at the truck they had driven in, I saw four more guys inside as they backed the truck up to the car. They all hopped out and began moving my companions from the car carefully enough to make sure they wouldn't worsen any of the wounds they sustained. One also happened to be a real doctor as he began looking over the vitals of the two they laid in the back of the truck. Being guided inside of it, I kept looking back through the rearview window to make sure my best friend and new ally survived. Today would go on the books as the most unnatural event of my life, but it also told me things I never knew about myself before it.
In all my years being a law-abiding citizen, I had it within myself to break it. I had it within myself to choose my life by taking someone else's. Today, I didn't just read about the corruption, I took part in it.
eighty-four
Costas
Ringing settled in my ears long before I regained my sight. The hum acted as a block to reality as I struggled to shift my body to rouse. Heat began to swell from all around, so I fought through the haze of my groggy mind to come to. What on earth happened? Groaning, I shifted my sore body only to realize I'd been pinned.
Making my eyes focus through the blur that wanted to claim me, I understood a worse predicament waited for me rather than my death. The back door sat open for me to see everyone from the other side of the vehicle had gotten out, but I’d been on the driver's side. The side a bomb exploded below when we drove over it. Dr. Carmichael supported Lucia before setting her down on the road away from the burning van.
Before he could make it back to me, another unmarked SUV pulled up behind him. Panicked, I made sure to scream at him over all the other sounds now blaring because our transport had been totaled. "Watch out! Behind you!"
He didn't hesitate to turn around in the chaos, trusting my warning. Running back to Lucia, she stood on her own, but we knew trouble found us. Panting, I had to get out of this vehicle. My fumbling hands tried to gain access to the seat belt against the wall I used in the back of the van, but I couldn't undo it. Even worse, edges of the metal support beams helped to trap me in the utility van Augustus tried to hide us in. Thanks to the grate-like barricade wall for work supplies—and hostages in our line of work—I felt how stuck my leg was. Unable to shift it without feeling immense pain, I knew I had other problems I'd have to deal with later.
Finding a shard of metal that had broken off something, I hurried my wobbly hand to reach for it as I sliced through the cloth straps of my safety belt. Thank heavens above I wore the damn thing, always needing to be extra careful in our world because of events just like this. After removing the straps, I had more function of my other limbs to begin helping me unblock my pinned leg. My eyes also caught sight of the dead driver to my left as his head dropped toward the middle between seats. His body was set ablaze when the front lit up in flames after the bomb. It didn't give me much time to get out before it would hit the fuel line.
In a matter of minutes, I'd be worse off than him. Using all my might, I grunted and tried to push the wall away from my leg. It didn't work, so I knew I'd need to find another option. Just as I began looking around for something to pry with, I saw Dominic Russi and Mortimer De Luca walking toward my mother and Millie's father. Holding my breath, I could see the upper hand the two termites believed they'd gained.
My biological father studied the curves on my mother, noting she had aged gracefully. It sickened me to the core that he could so brazenly objectify the woman he hurt all those years ago. The other two dads were sizing each other up on the left side of my view. Having Steven's back to me, I couldn't make out how well he'd handle going up against Draven's father. My understanding would always be they played dirty.
"Lucia Malone, my pleasure again." Dominic let his leering grin out.
"Dominic, it's been too long." Her growl could be heard from here, but I knew her strength in stance wouldn't fair against their army. holding my breath, I couldn't look away. "Too long that you've been left to breathe and walk this earth."
"Ah, always with that sharp tongue." Shaking his head, he skirted his shifty gaze toward his partner. That's when I noticed Mortimer had his hand reaching for his back. Out of pure instinct, I went for my pistol before he could shoot anyone. Once his gun was brought forward, I fired mine through the haze of smoke I'd been trapped in. Luckily, he couldn't get Steven in time as I shot the gun from his hold.
Mortimer winced and shook out his hand just as Dominic paid attention to who else attended their little show. "Costas, is that you, son?"
Using that title to lure me into his falsities, I didn’t speak because I knew it was a lie. My mother kept blocking his view to get his stare away from me, but he shoved her to the side like she wasn't a force to be reckoned with. Growling, I had to concentrate as another wave of smoke drifted in front of me. Not having the clearest shot while coughing, I fired in his direction. Hearing him curse up a storm, I knew I didn't kill him, but I definitely nicked him somewhere.
