Wrong Kind of Love

by Nichol-Louise Andrews

  “It‘s amazing what you can get through the post these days. It was my mothers. I rang her and told her all about you and how much I loved you and wanted you to be my wife and well this came in the post yesterday but what with everything I though it inappropriate and plus I wanted you to know about the real me and see how you took it. It was a little touch and go for a bit like but”

  “I accept you and love you Lucas for who you are. For everything. You will have to thank your mother for me.” Amelia glanced down at her ring finger and smiled “Wow I‘m going to be Mrs Lucas Valentino” she giggled “I cant wait.” Lucas lent over the table and kissed her passionately.

  “Hey what say we get out of here?” he winked, Amelia nodded. Lucas beckoned over a waitress “Can we have the bill please.” he asked.

  “No sorry. It‘s on the house” the waitress smiled “It‘s not everyday we have a romantic proposal so this ones on us see it as your first engagement present”

  “Really wow thank you that’s so sweet of you” Amelia replied.

  “Yeah thank you. Here though please take a tip from us” he handed the waitress a fifty dollar bill but the waitress refused and went back into the kitchen “I‘m gonna leave this here anyway” he looked at Amelia and took her hand. As they were leaving the restaurant the other people in there were congratulating them and patting Lucas on the shoulder.

  Lucas was walking on cloud nine, he had proposed to the girl of his dreams and she had said yes, life could not get any greater than this. They walked back up the hill to the apartment, the streets were still full of the hustle and bustle of people. Amelia was looking at Lucas the whole time smiling a smile bigger then a Cheshire cat.

  All of a sudden the people started to scream and run around, shots had been fired but no one could see where they had come from, more shots had been fired, Lucas pushed Amelia to the ground and pulled out his gun. He cocked the trigger back ready to fire, the mass of people running had parted and Lucas could see a car parked with a man pointing a gun. Leighton Duvall. Lucas fired shots back at the car as it sped off down the street, he looked around to make sure there were no other people around he could not see any so put his gun back into its place, tucked safely in his jeans. He spun round to where he had pushed Amelia down to see a crowd of people, his heart sank and was replaced by a feeling he had not experienced often, sheer fear. He shouted to the crowds to move and when he managed to fight his way through he saw his love, his Amelia lying on the floor. She had been shot. Blood was coming from a bullet wound to her stomach, she looked up at Lucas through teary eyes.

  “Amelia” he called out to her as he sat down next to her, he pulled her up so she was sat leant against him, he rocked her back and forth. “Someone call an ambulance. Call a fucking ambulance” he screamed to the crowd.

  “Lucas I‘m sorry” Amelia said quietly.

  “Oh baby it‘s not your fault none of it”

  “If I had not of gone home yesterday then this would never have happened”

  “No stop it listen to me this is not your fault. You got to fight it, fight it Amelia the ambulance will be here soon” he looked into the crowd “Where‘s the fucking ambulance” he screamed at them. A male on looker told him it would be here in a few minutes. “You here that Amelia a few mins that’s all, a few mins till the ambulance gets her. You gotta fight yeah”

  “I don’t think I can” she coughed, her skin had gone pale and sweaty and she was starting to shiver. Lucas took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

  “You have to Amelia you have to. You gotta do it for me coz were gonna get married you and me right”

  “Right” she started closing her eyes.

  “No Amelia you got to stay awake. Please fight this for me. I cant do this without you I need you Amelia I cant live without you. I love you, I need you please baby fight this.” The ambulance sirens could be heard, they were loud and shrill, it parked up at the roadside, two paramedics jumped out, one rushed over the other got the bed out the back. “Amelia the ambulance is here” she did not respond “Amelia” her eyes opened.

  “I love you Lucas Valentino. I love all of you.” she shut her eyes as the paramedic crouched down next to them.

  “Amelia. Amelia. Amelia wake up. Please don’t leave me” the paramedic felt for a pulse but could not feel one he looked at Lucas and shook his head and gave him an apologetic look. Lucas pulled Amelia into him, her body had gone limp in his arms, she no longer melted into him the way she had done many times previously. “I‘m sorry” he whispered in her ear “I love you”

  “Son let her go now, she‘s dead. I‘m so sorry” a paramedic tried to prise loose Lucas’s grip “We should take her now” Lucas nodded letting his grip go, Amelia was laid upon the bed and wheeled into the ambulance, Lucas climbed in kissed her lips told her he loved her and would never not and hopped out the ambulance. “You can come with us” the paramedic said but Lucas shook his head and started running for the O’Doud’s. The ambulance drove off and the crowd started to disburse been stopped by police wanting statements, a few watched on as Lucas ran.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Leighton Duvall was a hit man, he was a notorious hit man well known just as much as the Valentino family. He worked for anyone and everyone except the Valentino’s. They never needed him as they believed in doing there own dirty work and not having some hit man do it for you the Valentino’s took pride in killing there enemies themselves. Leighton Duvall was in his early thirties he was born and raised in Chicago but his job meant that he travelled a lot. He was a lanky man with long shaggy brown hair and a scar on his upper lip, some say this was from someone breaking his jaw and half his lower teeth ripping his lip clean open but the truth of the matter was that it was a birth defect, Leighton just preferred people to think the other.

  Leighton Duvall had received the call the other day, he was asked to tail Lucas and when he could, kill him. Leighton was a little sceptical of this new job because of his mark being Lucas Valentino, he knew if this job went wrong it would be the last one he ever did.

  As soon as Leighton had seen he had missed his target and that Lucas was now firing at him he had sped off. Leighton was not one for a one on one fight he was sneaky he preferred to get his mark from afar so that they would not turn on him but in this case he had missed his mark which he had never done before and now his mark would no doubt track him down and kill him, he knew about Lucas Valentino’s reputation just as well as all mafia and underworld did and because of this reason he drove. He pulled out his phone and dialled in a number.

  “Is it done?” a voice asked.

  “No. not really” he replied.

  “Not really, what the fuck does that mean” the voice was angered.

  “I fucking missed”

  “How the fuck did you miss your supposed to be a top marks man one that never fucking misses”

  “Yeah normally I don’t but”

  “But what? Go back and fucking waste the little shit.”

  “I aint gonna do that, this shit your messed up in is not my problem. I‘m not getting myself in deeper now. I‘m leaving and from the look on the kids face I‘d put it to you that you do the same.”

  “Why, what happened?”

  “I shot his girl, she must of caught one of the stray bullets, it got her bad in the stomach my guess is she‘s dead” the voice on the other end of the phone went quite “Vinnie, hey O‘Doud you there? You hear what I say I shot his girl and if I were a betting man I‘d say he knew it were you that had hired me and he‘ll be coming for you now.” It was Vinnie O’Doud on the other end of the phone, he was the one who had hired Leighton Duvall to do his dirty work.

  “Yeah I hear ya. You’ve fucked us up royally now, how close do you think he‘ll be?” Vinnie asked.

  “I did the shooting close by all the restaurants which is fifteen mins from your place, I‘d say he‘ll be there in about ten”

  “Shit, mother fucker. I best go rally the troops
then coz this is gonna get messy he‘s a fucking Valentino and been fucking trained from birth to be as fucking bad ass as he is. Oh fucking shit I‘m screwed.” Vinnie hung up the phone on Leighton.

  Leighton flung the phone onto his passenger seat and stopped at a red light.

  “No thanks my cars clean enough” he said to a knock at the window not even looking. The knock came again but still Leighton dismissed it by shaking his head paying more attention to the car next to him full of scantily clad girls. The knock came again, this time Leighton rolled down the window shouting Jesus Christ as he turned round, the cigarette which he was smoking fell onto his lap, he never flinched from the burn.

  “No think again” it was Lucas he had been knocking on the window with the tip of his gun which was now jammed to the side of Leighton Duvall’s head “You fucker, you just made the biggest mistake of your life” Lucas pulled the trigger and Leighton’s blood and brain splattered all over and onto the car full of girls, they screamed but Lucas just looked at them and casually walked away.

  Lucas was seething he was not thinking about Amelia if he did he knew he would breakdown he was just thinking about what he was about to do and that was kill every person in the O’Doud house, involved or not involved he did not care either way.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  “You are joking. I told you this was a bad idea” Marti, the O’Doud’s right hand man said to Vinnie.

  “I don’t fucking need to hear that right now Marti. I need your fucking backing and I need it now, that little shits gonna come over here and we need to take him out before he takes us out. Can I count on you for this?”

  “Counts me ins boss, just tells me whats I needs to dos” the eye patch man butted in.

  “Thanks. Marti what say you?”

  “Yeah you know I have your back. We need to move quick though coz if Leighton was right and he killed Amelia than Lucas will be fucking pissed. You know this could end badly for you Vinnie don’t you.”

  “It could end badly for all of us. Make some calls see if you can get any men round here now” Vinnie ordered. Marti and the eye patch man started to walk off as Vinnie put a round of ammo in his gun. He looked up sharply as the main entrance door swung open and Lucas Valentino walked in. the two men ran back in pulling their guns out to. “Wait hold your fire” Vinnie yelled, the two men stopped and looked at him. “Lucas we wont no trouble this was never meant to go down like this”

  “No shit. You just had your fucking step-daughter shot dead on the street as if she were low life scum”

  “She was never meant to be shot”

  “Oh I know that bullet that hit her I know it was meant for me but the truth is Leighton Duvall fucking missed. Yeah I know it was him I‘ve already taken care of him”

  “What you mean?”

  “What I mean is he‘s dead. I fucking shot him dead. Your one screwed up mother fucker O‘Doud you had your own step-daughter raped and now because of a hit you ordered now she‘s fucking dead and guess what so are you” Lucas raised his gun and shot Vinnie smack between his eyes not giving him time to retaliate, Vinnie fell into a pool of blood formed on the marbled floor beneath his head. The other two men went for their guns also but Lucas saw them and shot them dead first. More men were coming into the entrance hall now all firing at Lucas, all missing. Lucas dived behind a pillar at the side of the room and started firing at the men hitting some but not killing. Shots were been fired from every direction, Lucas looked out from behind his pillar and fired two rounds at three men stood over by Vinnie’s fallen body all three men shot dead and fell heaped over each other. Lucas fired another two rounds towards the back of the room another three of the O’Doud family commission dead. The shots were fewer now giving Lucas enough time to reload his gun with more bullets. He peered round the pillar a man shot at him hitting the marble above his head, Lucas was not going to be killed here, he would not come to the same fate as these men firing at him. There was going to be only one man standing at the end and he was going to be it. He ducked down and crawled behind the grand piano which was just in front of the pillar, he crouched round and shot three more men and scanned the room, there were only another two men left that he could see, one he managed to shoot straight through the heart, the other was in a more difficult position he was stood behind the other entrance pillar. The bullets flew between Lucas and the last O’Doud man, then stopped, the man was reloading this gave Lucas a second or so to make his shot, he ran across the room and shot just as the man turned to fire he to went down, dead.

  Lucas stood in the great O’Doud hall in silence, there were no more men there, Lucas was the last standing. He was surrounded by dead men, men that had been a part in killing the one thing in the world that he loved and loved him, they all deserved it, he had said that no one would hurt Amelia he promised this to her but he had let her down this was his way of making up for that not that it really mattered he did not care if he lived or died now, he was nothing with out her.

  “Lucas” an old voice came from behind him, he turned round and saw an old man stood, it was the head, the oldest O’Doud Vinnie and Jimmy’s father. “I want no trouble. I was no part in this, it‘s over son, leave and I‘ll make no attempt for your life. It will be over.”

  “Your wrong it was over as soon as your sorry son of a bitch son got Amelia fucking killed” Lucas replied.

  “I had nothing to do with that I promise”

  “She was your fucking step granddaughter you should of fucking stopped them”

  “The bullet was never meant to kill Amelia I know you wont believe me but I loved that girl”

  “Yeah your right I don’t believe you and that’s why your as dead as your sons” Lucas aimed for the old man and shot him, he pumped a full round of bullets into the old man as he fell. Dead.

  Lucas heard a car speed down the pebbled drive and grind to a holt, he heard one door open but not shut, Lucas stood behind the marbled pillar and waited for the door to open, he had his gun cocked and ready. The door opened and in walked Valentino gun ready.

  “Oh shit” Valentino breathed shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Father” Lucas came from behind the pillar and walked over to his father.

  “Oh thank God, Lucas are you ok?” Lucas shook his head.

  “No not really, she‘s dead, they killed her”

  “I know son that’s why I‘m here I heard it over the cars radio scanner”

  “She said yes you know. She said she would marry me and now because of me she‘s fucking dead”

  “Hey it wasn’t your fault you didn’t kill her from what the scanner said the shots came from no where you could not of prevented this”

  “I should have been more adamant that we had to stay in, I let her down father I let her down and now she‘s dead”

  “Lucas you didn’t let her down, you loved her and she loved you. We have to go” Valentino grabbed his sons arm and pulled him out the O’Doud’s house leaving behind them the bodies of all the men whom Lucas had killed. Valentino pushed Lucas into the car and ordered the driver to drive. The car sped down the drive and out onto the road, the police scanner mentioned that shots had been fired at the O’Doud estate and back up was needed, the police pulled into the drive as Lucas and his fathers car turned the corner.

  “I really loved her you know father and she loved me, she loved me for everything, all of me, past and present. You would of loved her she was so beautiful” Lucas pulled out a picture form his wallet and handed it to his father.

  “An angel son, she looks like a real angel. I‘m so sorry.” Valentino passed the picture back to Lucas.

  Lucas held Amelia’s picture in his hand, a tear fell from his eye onto Amelia’s face.

  “You know father Amelia was right. I was the wrong kind of love for her.”