by Haley Ladawn
I broke free from his hold, but it was a wasted effort. Right when I let go, I could feel my body weaken. Whatever was in that syringe was encompassing my entire being.
Before I knew it, my legs had given out and I was helplessly lying on the cold, marble floor.
Connor loomed over me, like a dark, blurry shadow. He lifted me off the ground, and I was limp in his arms, unable to move a muscle. “I’m sorry, but I have to do this. He’s watching us.”
He pulled my bloody hair back, exposing my pale neck.
“Who’s w-w-watching?” I murmured when I felt that familiar darkness take over my body; slowly and then all at once.
“You’re about to find out…” Connor’s voice faded out and then he did too. He was the last thing I saw before I was swallowed by unforgiving darkness.
Chapter 29: Twist of Fate
Elliot’s Point of View
Luciano stood with his back facing me.
When I was a young boy growing up in Italy, I learned that you never turn your back on someone. It gives them an opportunity to stab you in the back in both a literal and metaphorical sense.
I could have easily sliced his throat, or lodged a bullet into his spine, before he had the chance to turn around. Although, that also went along with the whole not turning your back on someone philosophy. I didn't particularly care for him, but he was an ally, even if I wanted to slice his throat most of the time.
“You were quick to get rid of the girl,” he noted, seeming all too amused for his own good. “You don’t trust her?”
“I don’t trust anyone,” I answered flatly. “Not even my own famiglia.”
“I understand.” He finally turned around to face me like a man, still he had a present nervousness surrounding his entire being. It wasn’t like Luciano to be anxious. Cocky, yes, but nervous? Not so much. It made my guard go up, but I didn’t fear him. I didn’t fear anyone. “I don’t trust my family either.”
“I thought you didn’t have a family?” I’d noticed the holes in his story before, but I never addressed them. I knew what it was like to want to hide from your past, so I never pushed him to talk about it. Plus, I didn’t really care to hear another sad story about a broken family. Everyone here came from broken families. It’s the one thing we all had in common. It’s what united us. It’s why people join the Mafia to this day. They want a new family. Well, that and the money. I’ve known men to kill for a couple hundred dollars. Hell, I hired them for the betterment of my organization. “Didn’t your family perish in a fire?”
“Yes.” He quickly recovered with a nod that was almost believable.
I knew he was lying. Several years ago, he’d told me his family was in a fatal car accident that claimed all their lives. Now, it was a treacherous fire. I liked that he was changing his story up, though. It made it less repetitive, and showed that he had an imagination.
“If I’m being honest, Elliot, I didn’t just come here to talk to you about Sylvio’s daughter.” Luciano refilled his crystal glass with some expensive liquor from the shelf near my desk. His mouth wavered on the rim of the glass, like he was piecing together his next set of words, but they never came. He knew to be careful about what he chose to say, knowing that it could seal his fate before he even got the chance to finish his sentence.
“I’m glad to hear that, amico,” I replied bluntly, giving him the faintest smile. My grin wasn’t out of friendliness, more out of spite. “Because if you’re interested in Lily, you’re interested in dying.”
“You say that like you’re in love with her,” he mused, taking a sip from his glass. “Killing another man over a woman sounds a little bit old-fashioned, don’t you think?”
“The only person I’m in love with is myself.” I sat down on my desk, already growing tired of his presence. If I hadn’t been a person who thought so highly of loyalty, I would’ve killed him by now and painted portraits with his blood. “It’s survival of the fittest. It’s kill or be killed.”
He was a trained executioner, knowing better than anyone that killing was inevitable in our world. It was just as natural as breathing. It made it easier to sleep at night, knowing that our enemies were silenced before they got the chance to silence us.
“I kill people for a living and sometimes I forget that.” He laughed, shaking his head. “My kill streak makes me forget that I’m not invincible. One measly bullet and I could be buried six feet below, so could you.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were threatening me, Luciano.” I kept my composure, completely unfazed by his cryptic words. I had a knife tucked into the pocket of my suit and two pistols placed on either side of my waistband. He would be dead before he got the chance to take a single step toward me.
“I’m not threatening you. I’m just enlightening you,” Luciano replied with a stark voice. “I have some information you may find useful, but I want something in return.”
“Of course, you do,” I replied, sighing heavily. “What do you want? Drugs? Prostitutes? Money?”
“None of that,” he said abrasively, managing to surprise me. “I want my guaranteed safety for the information I’m about to give you.”
“Done.” I nodded, knowing that’s all it would take. My word was good and he knew it. Men who lied got their tongues cut out, and their teeth pulled with pliers. I loved my pearly whites, and my English was already bad enough with a tongue. “But if what you’re about to tell me isn’t useful, I’ll kill you before you get the chance to make up something that is.”
“Fair enough.” He sighed, clearing his throat loudly. Biting down on his tongue, he closed his eyes, almost as if he didn’t want to see my reaction. “I have reason to believe that Sylvio James is still alive.”
“Excuse me, idiota?” I addressed him wearily. “What the fuck are you talking about? You were hired to kill him years ago, and you got paid for the job. Are you saying that you didn’t follow through with it?”
“Fuck no!” For the first time since I’d met him, he seemed fearful, but not necessarily because of me. He was afraid of his target. He was afraid of Sylvio James, but why? “I shot that motherfucker five times in the back, but they were calculated hits. None of them were fatal shots. I wanted to watch him bleed out and I did. I watched that piece of shit for five hours, until I couldn’t see him taking breaths anymore. I was sure he was dead. I even checked his fucking pulse.”
“Why did you want to watch him bleed out, Luciano?” I narrowed my eyes at him, standing up from my desk. I kept my hands clenched at my sides, trying to keep whatever sliver of self-control I had left in me. I was two steps away from reaching into my waistband for a gun and blowing his brains out. “It wasn’t just business for you. It was personal. Who the fuck is Sylvio James to you?”
“He was a target. He was a job that I didn’t carry out properly.” He gritted his teeth, seeming just as pissed off as I was. “Now, he’s a madman that has it out for me, you, and your precious flower pot.”
That did it.
Before I could talk myself down, my fist connected with the side of his jaw. I put all my force into the hit, knocking him sideways. He stumbled backwards, cupping his face.
“If he even lays a finger on Lily, I will fucking end you.” I clocked him hard again, going right for the nose. “I hired you to kill him, so he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone again, not because of his debt to my family! You know this! You will find that piece of shit, and you will do what you failed to do ten years ago, capisci? He was never supposed to be able to hurt me again! He was never supposed to be able to hurt anyone ever again. This is your goddamn fault, bastardo, and you will fix it. If you don’t, I will make you wish that you were dead, yes?”
“If he hurts her, I’ll kill myself.” He stepped away from me before I could smash my bloody fist into his face again. “You won’t have to worry about doing it for me.”
“And why is that?” I was huffing and puffing, willing myself to stay calm. He had more informat
ion that I needed, so he couldn’t be killed just yet. If Sylvio was alive, Luciano would know where to look. He spent several months tracking him down once. He knew where all his favorite spots and hangouts. He knew Sylvio better than anyone else.
“Because she’s my sister.” He looked me in the eyes, not blinking a single time. “And I never took that hit for the money. I took it so I could protect her. Everything I’ve ever done is so I could protect her including working with you, becoming a killer, and pretending to be dead.”
He paused, almost for dramatic effect. “I’m Lucas James and I’m the only chance you have at finding my father. Sylvio will come for her one day and he will kill her. He’s already killed our mother. Haven’t you wondered why no one has come looking for Lily? There’s no one else now, but me. She doesn’t even know it, but I’m all she has left.”
“She has me,” I said underneath my breath, not as affected by his confession as I should’ve been.
I’d seen too many secrets unfold before my eyes to be surprised by this kind of thing. I was shocked when my father told me he ran a Mafia family. I was shocked when he appointed me as his successor. I was shocked when someone tried to kill me for the first time, and I was shocked when I killed someone for the first time. After a while, I became numb to that feeling.
Nothing surprised me anymore.
A loud ringing came from the hallway, and then Everet busted through the doors, guns drawn. Bullets ricocheted against the pristine ceiling, causing drywall and dust to float around the room.
“Lily and Elisa are gone!” he shouted, looking around the room savagely, tossing things left and right.
“What do you mean they’re gone?” I stared at him blankly, confused why he’d just shot the ceiling with an entire clip.
“I mean that they’re gone!” He gave me a sideways glare. “They’re not here! Gone without a trace!”
Chapter 30: Bloodlust
I was used to waking up to the distinct sound of an alarm buzzing. What I wasn’t used to was waking up to white noise coming from an old FM radio.
Blinking my eyes open slowly, I adapted to my surroundings. The darkness hadn’t melted away with my unconsciousness. Wherever I was, it was pitch black. The air was thick with a dingy moisture that made goose bumps rise on my skin. The smell of cigarette smoke was strong, flaring inside my nostrils.
“Where am I?” I asked, feeling the presence of someone behind me. I could almost feel their warm breath at the back of my neck.
“California!” Connor’s voice flooded into my ears as his tall, stark silhouette came into view.
“What the fuck are we doing in California?” I creased my eyebrows, letting that information sink in. If he was telling the truth, I was almost 3000 miles away from home.
I felt the restraints digging into my wrists. My skin was raw and sore from how tight they were. I was on the verge of losing circulation, but I doubted Connor cared about that.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked the most generic question in the book, not giving two fucks about how cliché or hopeless it sounded. “I don’t suppose you’re taking me on a girl’s getaway down to Venice Beach, are you?”
“Do I look like a girl to you?” He narrowed his hazel eyes at me.
My hands were tied, but my feet weren’t, so I raised my legs and kicked him in the shin.
“Do we really have to resort to violence!?” He rubbed his leg as his mouth turned into a painful frown. “That hurt!”
“Well, it wasn’t supposed to feel good, dumbass!” I whisper yelled, shaking my head. “Tell me what I’m doing here! You owe me that much. Stop skirting around the truth!”
“I had to bring you guys here!” he shouted aggressively, running his fingers through his hair. He looked truly conflicted, like he was losing the best part of himself to something darker. “I didn’t have a choice. He made me fucking do it. We were supposed to be taking care of Falco— the rat— but he pulled the goddamn gun out on Gabriel. I love him, Lily, I really do. I can’t let anything happen to him. I just can’t. He’s saved my life more times than I can possibly count, and now it’s my turn to save his. He promised me that you guys would be fine when this is all over. He doesn’t want you, he wants them.”
“You said you guys, Connor.” I cleared my throat, preparing myself for whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “Who else is down here with me?”
“That would be me.” I heard a rough, grating voice pierce my ears. “It’s nice to see you again, Lily. You look good, considering the circumstances. Still pretty as ever.”
I looked over my shoulders, amazed by the man sitting in the broken chair beside me. His hands were tied behind his back, masking them from view. His wide feet were double knotted in the front, securing him to where he sat. The clothes he wore were covered in a thick layer of filth, much like my own.
His dark hair was pushed away from his bloody, bruised face. It looked like he took a couple strong hits to the face and it made me wince. I didn’t care how bad I hurt, I cared about him. He didn’t deserve this.
“Damn, Daniel,” I whispered with a forced smile. It was Elisa’s ex-boyfriend and one of my best friends. “You look rough.”
Our little reunion was cut short when I heard shoes tapping against wet cement. Someone was coming up from behind me, but they were still a good distance away. Judging by how long it took them to get to me- this place was massive. We were probably in an old warehouse.
Once the person was close to me, my posture stiffened and my breathing stilled.
“Is she awake or are you just talking to herself?” A deep, husky voice flooded into my ears. It wasn’t the harshness of his tone that made me jump, it was the fact that his voice was familiar. I instantly regretted moving as he took a step closer to me.
I turned my head back at an uncomfortable angle; just so I could see his haunting face.
He wore a black dress shirt, the silkiness of it hung loosely against his frame. His dark hair was a thick and messy, but it worked well for him. It didn’t need to be smoothed out to make him look good, in fact, he couldn’t have looked any better. His gray eyes met mine as his mouth etched into a smirk.
“Long time no see.” Emmet bent down on his knees, so he was closer to my height. He moved a stray tendril of red hair out of my face, before slapping me hard with the back of his palm. His hands were rough and calloused, only adding to the pain of his strike. I squinted my eyes, feeling the burn rush through my cheek. “That was a wake-up call, sweetie.”
“Don’t call me sweetie,” I said through clenched teeth.
He laughed, completely amused by my threat. “Remember what I told you when you first met me?”
“That you’re a silent killer, just like high-blood pressure.” I rolled my eyes, even though it was too dark for him to see.
“Good girl.” He patted me on the head, like I was a damn dog. “Now, let’s have a fucking party. Bring her out, babe.”
There was a loud bang, like a door hitting a wall, then the distinct sound of a body being dragged against the ground. I could hear the weight of something being pulled against the floor and a female breathing heavily, like she was out of breath.
The girl came out of the shadows, and I immediately identified her by the dark blonde hair that fell around her shoulders. It was his girlfriend, Margo. She was also the mysterious woman who’d come into Elliot’s room that morning. Her voice is what gave her away; it was loud and annoying.
Slumped in her hands was an unconscious Elisa, lying halfway on the filthy floor, collecting dust and dirt. Her hair was soaked, clinging to her small, porcelain face that was covered in deep lacerations and yellowing bruises.
I felt bile rise in my throat as Margo tossed her into a chair, letting her body slouch down in the seat, going limp.
“Everet is going to kill you,” I said simply, observing the slight inflation of Elisa’s chest. She was alive, but barely.
“I’m counting on it, red.” He gri
nned wickedly, clapping his hands together, like a mad scientist. “Do you even know why you’re here?”
“To keep you company?” I jested sarcastically.
“Not quite.” He tilted his head, still smiling. “You two are here as stepping stones, you see? I need you two to draw my brothers out, make them come out of hiding, away from all the other guards, so I can lodge a single bullet into each of their skulls, or maybe a couple rounds each. I haven’t decided yet.”
“What did your brothers ever do to you?” I didn’t bother looking at his face anymore. It hurt me to stare at him. He looked exactly like Elliot.
“I was born two minutes after Elliot, two fucking minutes.” The smile dissipated from his lips, and the light left his eyes. I felt myself sink into my chair as he approached me again. “Those two minutes changed my entire life. I was always the baby, the outsider, the least favorite. They wouldn’t let me in on their organization for most of my damn life. They wouldn’t tell me anything, so you know what the fuck I did?”
“Should I care?” I mumbled underneath my breath.
“I spied on them, like a teenage boy peeking into the women’s locker room. I found out some interesting shit, like the fact that my brother has been obsessed with you for years. He’s been watching you since the both of you were kids. Weird, right?”
“What are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes at him, urging myself to turn away, but I couldn’t.
“My father sent Elliot out to check on your father over the years, before he was killed, but he only ever really watched you.” Emmet’s eyes glazed over with an unreadable emotion. “His obsession hit its peak when he tried to give you that internship. He wanted you two to meet naturally, have a shot at something normal, but shit hit the fan when you saw him murder that woman at that restaurant. That totally ruined the whole dinner and a movie thing.”
“He’s not obsessed with me.” I cleared my throat, thinking how crazy that sounded. Elliot didn’t even like me when we first met.