Ruined: A Dark Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  There was nobody else around. I gripped the gun I got off Boris then tried the doorknob. It was locked, of course. I stepped back and slammed my boot into the door, just above the handle. It buckled and splintered. I kicked it again and again until the door cracked and swung open.

  Kicking in a door wasn’t fucking subtle, but fortunately the building was pretty damn big. Someone would be along to check it out, but I had a few seconds.

  I stepped into a small room and kicked the door shut behind me. There were lockers all over, dusty and unused. I quickly went up to the door that lead out into the hallway and peered into the distance. I saw a guy walking fast toward me, looking annoyed, probably the asshole they convinced to check the disturbance.

  I pressed myself against the wall behind the door and waited. He came into the room mumbling to himself, saw the mess I had made, and turned around, a look of panic on his face.

  I brought the butt of my gun down on his head. He crumbled to the ground without another word.

  I quickly grabbed his gun from his pants and stepped out into the hallway. I looked around, getting my bearings, and made a right at the end of the hall. I could hear the bar back behind me. Ahead, there were smaller workrooms with drains in the bottom, probably where they carved up individual animals back in the day. Now the mob used them for interrogation rooms, and I knew Sadie would be in one of those.

  I crept up along the hallway, listening as I went. There were muffled voices up ahead, and I slowed down as I reached a turn in the corridor. I peered around the corner, careful not to make too much noise.

  Ahead, I saw two guys standing outside of a room. I quickly pulled back. I didn’t recognize either of them, which was unusual, and I figured they were probably either new or hired muscle. There was nobody else around, and I had to assume that they were there to keep Sadie safe.

  I took a deep breath then turned the corner and walked directly toward the guys.

  It was crazy. I knew it was crazy. But I was assuming that if I didn’t recognize them then they wouldn’t recognize me. They’d know I was mafia as soon as they saw me, but they wouldn’t know that I was the guy everyone was after.

  The man closest to me looked up, frowning. He was young, maybe in his early twenties, with an awful mustache and a cigarette between his lips. The guy next to him was older, maybe in his forties, and was overweight. The older guy stepped toward me.

  “Yo,” he said. “Who are you?”

  “I’m here to see the girl. Vadik sent me.”

  The two guys exchanged glances. I didn’t slow down.

  “Hold up,” the younger guy said, putting his hand on my chest as I approached. “Vadik didn’t tell us about this.”

  I stared at his hand then back at him. “You better fucking move or I’m going to move you.”

  The young buck stepped up to me, ready to throw down. The older man, though, stepped between us. “Okay, enough,” he said. “What’s your name?” he asked, looking at me.

  “Boris.”

  “Alright Boris. Vadik didn’t mention you, but fine. Go ahead and see the girl. She’s not long for this world, anyway.” He gestured at the door.

  I nodded at him. “Thanks.” I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  Sadie was sitting in a chair in the center of the room. She looked up at me, her eyes wide. The door slowly shut, and as soon as it was fully closed, I ran to her and threw my arms around her, pulling her from the chair.

  She hugged me back, sobs ripping through her body.

  “I thought you were dead.” She said.

  “Takes a lot to kill me.”

  “Gage. Oh my god. I can’t believe it.” She kissed my neck, my cheeks.

  I grinned at her. “It’s good to see you too.”

  “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should never have gotten us into this mess.” She was babbling, and I put my hand to her lips.

  “Stop,” I said softly. “The guards might hear us.”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said more softly.

  “I love you.”

  She blinked, surprised. Then she kissed me hard, her whole body pressed against mine, and I assumed that she felt the same way.

  That was all I needed. As soon as she kissed me, I knew that we were going to beat this. I knew that we were going to survive. There was no way I’d let those bastards out there take her away from me, not now.

  We finally broke off the kiss, our foreheads touching. I could taste her tears but I didn’t care. I was too busy smiling my ass off, happy we were back with each other.

  “I’ll never leave you again,” I said. “I promise.”

  “I love you,” she said.

  “I know.” I took her hands. “Listen to me. Things are going to get messy from here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’re going to shoot our way out of this.” I stepped back from her and took the two guns from my jeans. “Stay close and stay low.”

  “Okay. Close and low.”

  I turned toward the door, adrenaline pulsing through my body. “Ready?”

  She nodded, a look of steely resolve on her face. “Ready.”

  I stepped up to the door and kicked it open. The guards were surprised and stared up at me. The younger guy was lighting a cigarette with the end of his other one, and the older guy had a bag of beef jerky out.

  I put the gun against the older guy’s head and blew his brains out. He crumbled to the ground as the younger guy stumbled back, eyes wide. I turned the gun to him and shot him between the eyes. His head snapped back and he fell to the ground.

  I moved out into the hallway. Sadie stepped up behind me and we both hustled back down the hall. Suddenly, from the opposite end, voices were yelling. I looked back and fired off a few shots, forcing whoever was following to jump back.

  “Around the corner!” I said.

  They started to return fire. We jumped around the corner, getting out of the way just in time. I fired off a few shots back at them but couldn’t get a good look. We turned and ran back down the hall, not bothering to be stealthy.

  We got about halfway down before our pursuers turned the corner and started firing. I grabbed Sadie and threw her into a room just off the hall, diving in next to her.

  “Fuck,” I said. We were pinned down. I fired a few more shots out there, forcing the pursuers back.

  “Gage,” Sadie said. “Look.”

  I followed her eyes and saw another door toward the side of the room. “Go,” I said, firing back down the hall.

  She got the door open. It led into the adjacent room. I ran after her, into the next room, and we went down the hall that way, room to room. I stopped every other room to fire off a few shots, but finally we reached the end of the hall and the end of the connected doorways.

  I pressed up against the wall and peered out. I saw two men rush into the first room we had gone into and another two running down the hall. I stepped out and fired at them, dropping to my knees. They dropped as my bullets tore them to pieces.

  “Come on!” I yelled. I turned and ran, Sadie fast on my heels. We dove into the locker room I had first come into, the body of the first guard I knocked out still lying there unconscious. I slammed the door and we ran outside and back down the hallway.

  They were coming for us, close on our heels. I turned to fire off a few shots, but I didn’t slow down. I shoved Sadie in front of me, forcing her to go faster. We turned out onto the main street and headed toward my car. It was just ahead, parked right where I left it. I tossed her the keys as I fired back at the mobsters following us.

  “Get it going,” I instructed, stopping and crouching down behind a car. “Come get me when it’s ready.”

  “Okay!”

  She kept running. I popped up and fired off a few shots, forcing the guys after us to back off.

  There was a moment of silence. They didn’t fire and neither did I. We were separated by about twenty feet and some concrete.

 
“Gage,” one of the men yelled. “I’m coming out.”

  I knew that voice.

  It was fucking Vadik himself.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

  “You won’t shoot the man that gave you life.” I watched as he turned the corner, his hands raised in the air.

  I don’t know what stopped me, but for some reason I didn’t pull the trigger. I didn’t fire. Maybe it was all the years of working for him that stayed my hands, but I wasn’t sure. I was trained to kill, lived to kill, and my fingers ached to pull the trigger. I had every reason to kill Vadik then and there.

  “You don’t have to run,” he said. “You’ve done enough. Give us the girl. We’ll let you rejoin the family, hell, I’ll even promote you. A man that can survive this is a man I want to keep around.”

  “Why would I do that? After all this?”

  “Because I’ll make you rich and powerful. You know that I will.” He gestured at me. “I brought you up in this world. I gave you a chance. Don’t disappoint me, Gage.”

  I stared at him, not sure why I couldn’t pull the trigger. I should’ve killed him the second he showed his face. He was going to murder Sadie and me without a second thought, and now he was suddenly asking for my mercy. Hell, he wanted me back.

  Just then, the car pulled up behind me. Sadie rolled down the window. “Gage!” she yelled. “Come on.”

  I turned back to look at her. Her face suddenly faltered and she yelled something.

  I turned back to Vadik. He had pulled out a pistol and was aiming it at my face.

  I squeezed the trigger. I fired first, hitting him in the chest. He fired second, missing me by inches. I fired again and again, hitting him with every bullet. He stumbled backwards, but I didn’t wait to watch him fall.

  I turned and dove into the car. “Drive!” I yelled.

  Sadie peeled out, wheels tearing up the concrete.

  We drove fast away from the Hen. After fifteen minutes, we stopped briefly so that I could get behind the wheel. After that, I drove north, and I didn’t look back.

  There was no reason to stop, not ever. I wasn’t leaving anything behind in Ashertown. I didn’t have a life back there that I was going to miss.

  I had everything I needed in the car right beside me. I held Sadie’s hand and I knew that I was home, that I was really home. I knew that I could finally be the man that I really needed to be.

  I had love, and I had a good woman. I didn’t know what more I could possibly want.

  27

  Sadie

  Two years later

  I could hear laughter coming from the other room. I smiled to myself as I finished making the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I cut off the crusts, because that was how he liked it, believe it or not.

  It was always funny seeing a big, tattooed man eat a PB&J with the crusts cut off. It was like a big glob of sugar, but he loved it.

  I walked into the living room. Gage looked up at me, a big grin on his face, Tyler in his lap. “I think he said my name.”

  “He didn’t,” I said, laughing. I put the sandwich down on the coffee table then picked Tyler up. “He’s barely eight months old.”

  “Still. He’s smart. Ahead of the curve.” Gage grabbed the sandwich and tucked into it. He finished the whole thing in two bites. “Thanks babe.”

  I shook my head at him, smiling, and then went into the other room with Tyler. “Nap time, little man,” I said.

  As I put Tyler down for his nap, I couldn’t help but remember what had happened over the last two years.

  After everything in Ashertown, we drove north. We didn’t stop until we hit Canada, and then we kept going. Gage knew a guy over the border that got us set up with entirely new identities, and it only cost every penny we had.

  That didn’t matter. We made it work. We settled down outside of Montreal and started to learn French. I got a job in a law office, of all places, as a secretary. They suspected that I knew more than I let on, but that was okay. They didn’t seem to care so long as I showed up and did my job.

  Gage got a job working construction in the first year we were there while he went to school at night. He wanted to do something else with his life, and I was all for it. He planned on opening his own business one day, and so he was taking business school classes in the hopes that he’d earn his college degree.

  Then Tyler came along. That was inevitable, considering how often Gage and I slept together. Tyler was a blessing, and he really made our new home feel like home.

  We were Canadian, and we had a Canadian kid. Maybe we didn’t have the accents, at least not yet, but we fit in. We made friends, we went to work, and we raised our child.

  Gage constantly had his eyes out for the Petrov family, but they never showed up. We didn’t know if Vadik died that day, but I couldn’t imagine he would survive that many gunshots. I didn’t want to Google it or check the news, because frankly I was afraid of what I’d find. Still, it was possible, and we were always worried that they’d come after us one day.

  It didn’t matter. Gradually, that fear faded away as we settled into our new life together. Gage became domestic, and it was like he was a whole new man.

  On the surface, at least. In the bedroom he was the same old bastard, rough and sensual. It was fresh every time, like a brand new sensation.

  I got lucky and Tyler went down for his nap. I walked back out into the main room, but Gage was nowhere to be seen. “Gage?” I called out. “Where are you?”

  I found a little note on the coffee table. Come outside, it said. I smiled to myself and pulled open the sliding back door. We lived in a small single-family house in the Montreal suburbs, and even had a nice little yard.

  Gage was standing in the middle of it, smiling at me. I walked out toward him.

  “What’s up?” I asked. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”

  “You know how we’re not technically legal here?” he asked.

  “Sure.” I laughed. “I forget that, sometimes.”

  “Well, that’s the reason we haven’t gotten married yet.”

  “I know.”

  He dropped down to one knee. “But just because we can’t make it legal, doesn’t mean we can’t make it official.”

  “What are you doing?”

  He pulled a ring out of his pocket and held it up. “Be my wife. Be mine forever.”

  I stared at him, blinking back the tears. “Of course,” I said. “You big asshole. Of course I will.”

  He laughed and slipped the ring onto my finger then swooped me up into his arms, crushing me with a kiss.

  Tears slid down my face, but they weren’t bad tears. It was the second time I’d cried while he kissed me from pure joy, and I’d never forget either moment.

  The first time was when I realized he was still alive. The second time was when I realized he’d be with me forever.

  My love, my home, my joy, my baby. I had everything I’d ever wanted. Maybe I didn’t have the career anymore, but I could get that back one day. I was young and there were so many options for me. The future was just one blank canvas, and I could choose exactly how to fill it in. I had unlimited possibilities stretching out ahead of me.

  All because of Gage. He made my life completely. I kissed him hard and knew I’d never let go.

  I’d never need to let go so long as Gage was around to keep me.

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