by M. D. Melai
“Are you talking to yourself?” I asked him.
“No,” he laughed. “I have an earpiece in.”
“I want one.”
“It’s probably best you don’t.” He was serious.
I was going to ask who he was talking to, but then we turned and my father’s SUV went straight. I looked behind us and the follow-up car followed us. We must be getting close.
Lucas and Benito both leaned down and pulled out a couple of handguns as if on cue. Even though I grew up in a mafia family, I hadn’t really been around guns a lot. Lucas was messing with one of them, which made me a little nervous, so I did what I do best at times like this. I asked questions.
“What are you doing?” I asked, looking at the guns.
“I'm checking them,” he said sounding condescending.
“Obviously.” I almost rolled my eyes at him. “I meant like, what exactly are you doing?”
His face softened as he realized I had no idea what he was doing, and that I might actually be interested.
“This right here,” he began as he placed his hands on the top of the gun and pulled back, “is called the action. Look in there.” He moved the gun to the side and I looked inside an elongated hole. “Do you see anything?”
“No.”
“Okay good. That means there is not a bullet in the chamber.”
“Okay.”
“This is called a clip,” he said holding it up. The clip, as he called it, housed the bullets. “This gun holds seventeen shots.” He took the clip and pressed it into the bottom handle of the gun. “Now the clip is loaded and the next thing you do is you have to pull back the action again to load the first bullet into the chamber, but after that, the next sixteen shots will fire automatically.”
“So it’s ready now? If you need to kill someone?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes,” he said looking up at me for a moment before going back to pulling extra clips out from under the seat and checking them.
Benito was doing the same thing.
I felt panicked as I watched them handle the guns. How could being here be safer than being back home?
They had guns and I was wearing a bulletproof vest. Why couldn’t I have been stashed away somewhere? I had several panic rooms at the house. Why didn’t they just leave me there? I was seriously starting to question my family’s abilities of thinking logically. I felt very unsafe and endangered here.
Violet needed me though.
I needed to be strong for her, because I was going to be the only one who would understand what she had been through. I could do this. I was strong enough.
Lucas put the guns back on the floorboard before turning towards me.
“Turn this direction,” he said calmly.
So I did. Then he reached for my shirt and started pulling it up.
“What do you think you are doing?” I said as I slapped his hands and pushed myself back against the door as far as I could get.
“I’m making sure your damn vest is on correctly, now come here.” He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him.
I sat there and he lifted my shirt back up. Lucas tightened and readjusted the vest, making sure everything was right. I didn’t think it could possibly get any tighter, but it did. To say it was uncomfortable now would be an understatement.
Marcello killed the lights to the SUV we were in, and then the lights to the vehicle behind us cut off as we came to a slow crawl and then to a stop.
Benito handed Marcello two of the four guns he had loaded earlier.
“Liliana,” Benito said as he turned in his seat to look at me, “when we get out of the car, you follow us. Don’t speak a word. Lucas will stick beside you the entire time. You do whatever he tells you, no questions asked. Do you understand?”
I nodded my head. My heart had went from a steady beat to a slow strong powerful one as it pounded against my chest so hard I swore, even in the dark and with the vest, I could see my chest moving.
“Let’s move out,” Benito spoke before he opened his door.
Marcello and I followed. As soon as I slid from the car, Lucas followed right behind me before he turned and shut the door behind him. If I hadn’t been standing right there watching it all unfold, then I wouldn’t have ever known my brothers or Lucas had shut the doors.
“Here, put these on,” Lucas said as he handed me a pair of goggles. “They’re specifically made for seeing at night,” he whispered.
“Night vision goggles?” I asked.
“Yes, how else do you plan on walking around in the dark?”
A flashlight? I thought to myself, but then I remembered who I was with. There was no way we would be using that.
I slid them over my head and placed them over my eyes, and Lucas did the same with his. Before I knew it, my surroundings slowly came into view.
Benito started doing hand signals, and I somewhat understood them. He paired everyone off: me and Lucas, he and Marcello. And from the other car he paired off: Giovanni and Giorgio, Lorenzo and Paolo, and a few others. Then he gave the sign for us to move forward.
We quickly and quietly made our way down the street. I felt like I was in a movie as I watched everyone move around me while I tried to keep up. I felt like we were the S.W.A.T. team moving in on our captured victim. I laughed inside as I thought about what Roman would look like if he were here as I pictured him in his Halloween outfit from our last Halloween together. I totally got the irony of it now more than ever.
We stopped outside a door and two of the men I didn’t know came over and worked on it for a moment, and then it opened. I tried to watch, but I couldn’t see anything over Lucas’s and my brothers’ shoulders as they boxed and surrounded me.
Lorenzo went in first, Benito followed, then Lucas and me, and Marcello followed up. The others and the twins headed down the opposite hallway. I tripped several times along the hallway we were in. When we turned left, I started making mental notes. What if something happened and I had to get out of here all by myself?
We made it shortly down that hallway, and then turned right again. When we came to a stairwell everyone started heading up. I tried to keep up, but I stumbled a few times. Lucas must have noticed my lagging. He quickly, yet softly, grabbed my hand and guided me the rest of the way up the stairs.
When we came through the door, we were in another hallway, but this one was more interior than a basement, like a hotel or business.
I could make out the doors and the small lights at the end of the hallway. Benito shot us a few more hand signals and Lucas placed my hand on his shoulder before taking off. We were halfway down the hall when Benito’s hand flew up and Lucas immediately stopped. I, unfortunately, didn’t stop fast enough and barreled into Lucas who fell into Benito, almost knocking all three of us over.
The look on Benito’s and Lucas’s faces weren’t of annoyance, they were of fear. Lorenzo moved to the next door and popped it open, searched it, and moved out of the way as Lucas shoved me into the room.
“I need you to stay in here,” he whispered as he moved me to the far corner of the room.
“What’s going on?” I whispered back.
“They figured it out faster than we thought they would.”
I looked at him confused.
“That you’re not there. That it’s Elle. Now stay here, okay?”
I nodded my head and then he kissed my forehead.
“If we’re not back in fifteen minutes, then carefully and quietly go back the way you came. Hide from everyone—even our own. Someone told them you had burnt your hand.”
“How will I know that you’re okay though?” I asked.
“You won’t. But, I promise I’ll be careful and come back for you if I can. If I can’t, then you know what to do,” he said before looking me in the eyes. “I love you Lily.”
“I love you too,” I said before I kissed him.
Then he was gone with Marcello, Benito, and Lorenzo.
I
had a sinking feeling that this was not good.
How come I always ended up in a room by myself? Last time it was my pantry.
This type of situation was exactly why I would be walking away again after this was over. If someone wanted to see me from now on, then they would have to meet me somewhere else in the world, but not in New York, New Jersey, or even Toronto.
It was so quiet that I started to worry about my brothers, father, Lucas, Emilio, and even Elle. I hoped everyone was going okay. The time passed slowly as my mind raced. When my fifteen minutes were up and they hadn’t returned yet, I freaked out. I stayed an extra five more minutes, just in case.
When no one showed up after those extra five minutes, I had no choice but to leave. I got up and walked to the door. I opened it as quietly as I could and barely stuck my head out the door. No one was there. I quickly made my way back down the hallway and out the door to the stairs. I was halfway down the stairs when gunshots sounded, but I couldn’t tell which way they came from.
I started running without even meaning to. Instinct kicked in, and I couldn’t stop my legs from moving. All I knew at that moment was that they were too close for my comfort. I tripped one time and slid across the floor, slamming into the wall. I stopped myself with my burnt hand, which caused me to scream out in pain. It happened so fast, and without meaning to, I gave away my position.
The gun fire ceased immediately as my voice rang throughout the hallways, but then it resumed moments later. I pushed myself up off the ground, took off my goggles, and started running again. My heartbeat was pounding in my ears as I tried to make my escape. Fear had taken over.
I found the door we had entered the building through, pushed it open, and then I stumbled out, landing on my chest.
“Stop! Don’t Shoot!” Benito’s voice rang out and the gunshots stopped immediately.
I turned my head towards where his voice had come from as I pushed myself up off the ground. He was standing there with a gun pointed at me. Terror was in his eyes.
“Beni—” I started to say.
I took a few steps towards him before an arm flew out in front of me, grabbed me around the neck, and pulled me backwards. I could tell by the arm that it was a man as I slammed into his hard body. The smell of sweat and gunpowder filled my nostrils as I thrashed around, trying to pull away from this stranger’s grip.
“Let her go!” Lucas’s voice rang out. When my eyes connected with his, they were narrowed and intense. His gun was also pointed in my direction.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here,” the man holding me laughed as he grazed the tip of his gun across the side of my face. His voice sounded familiar as I turned to catch a glimpse of him. “This time I have the upper hand.”
I knew in that moment that he was the one who attacked me the night I was kidnapped.
He started pulling me backwards. My feet dragged along the dirt as I struggled to catch my footing. I looked up to notice not only Benito and Lucas standing there this time, but Marcello and Lorenzo too. They all had their guns aimed in my direction.
I tried to crane my neck to see what was going on behind me, but before I could, my attacker tightened his grip around my neck. It was then I noticed a small blonde figure leaning out from behind one of our SUVs in the distance.
It was Violet, and she looked perfect from what I could tell.
“Lily,” Lucas called out, bringing my attention back towards him. “It’s all going to be okay,” he assured me.
“Let her go!” Marcello called out. “And maybe you all will be able to walk away with your lives.”
The guy holding me laughed as the barrel of his gun pressed into the side of my cheek. It was still warm from being fired, but it wasn’t hot enough to hurt. “We aren’t letting her go. Boss wants her. He didn’t mention anything about you all.”
“Funny. We won’t be leaving here without her either,” Marcello said as his grip on his gun visibly tightened.
“He also said we couldn’t touch her. You guys on the other hand…,” a different voice called from behind.
The man who was holding me started to pull me backwards again.
“Let me go!” I shouted as I thrashed around trying to break his grip on me. He kept walking and I could hear both my brothers and Lucas yelling as I screamed and threw myself around. I heard a gunshot go off and dust fly up in front of us.
We immediately stopped. My body started to shake from the immense terror I was feeling.
There was yelling and screaming back and forth and a couple more shots fired off, when I was being pulled away again. At some point I had just closed my eyes.
“Liliana,” Lucas’s voice rang out over everyone and everything. It was firm and demanded my attention.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
I looked at him for a moment confused.
“Do you trust me?” he asked again. This time he asked it more seriously as he looked straight into my eyes, and I understood then—he was asking me if I trusted him with my life.
“Yes,” I said as I looked him in the eyes. He tilted his head ever so slightly to the right, signifying for me to do the same.
I took a deep breath as I tilted my head away from the man holding me. He lifted his gun and aimed it at Lucas. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what happened next, and in one swift motion, I quickly shifted my head to the left.
Then I heard the gunshots go off from both sides.
Chapter 21
I could feel like closeness of the bullet as it hit the guy that was holding me. Blood splattered across my face, and I bit my lip to keep the blood from entering my mouth. The tug of his lifeless body pulled me to the ground.
I landed on top of him with a thud and rolled off of him and hit the ground. I kept my eyes clinched shut and put my hands over my ears. I could barely hear the other shots going off or the screams over the ringing in my ears.
When I felt someone’s hand slide across my arms, I started wailing about. I hadn’t realized that the screams I heard were actually my own.
“Lily, stop! It’s me,” Lucas’s voice broke through. My eyes flew open and he was staring down at me. “You’re okay. I got you,” he repeated over and over as he pulled me into his arms.
I couldn’t hold him tight enough. My sobs turned into hyperventilation quickly as I finally looked at the scene around me. Four dead bodies lay on the ground.
Can’t breathe.
The guy that had been holding me was looking up at me, the bullet hole right in between his eyes.
I started shaking uncontrollably.
“Look at me Lily.” Lucas grabbed my face and forced me to look into his eyes. “Stay focused on me right now. You need to take deep breaths. Breathe with me,” he said as he began to take slow deep breaths with me. His eyes never wavered from mine.
I started to try and breathe with him, and when my eyes would stray from his, he would bring my attention back on him. There was a frenzy still going on around me. I wasn’t allowed to look, but our men were doing something, and doing it fast. I could hear the rustling of everyone behind me.
When Lucas was satisfied I could walk, he moved beside me and made sure my eyes stayed focused on what was in front of me. Then I saw her again, still standing by the SUV that I had seen her hunched behind earlier.
I took off running straight towards Violet, and I slammed into her when I reached her. Thankfully, she was prepared and stood her ground so we didn’t go toppling over. We didn’t speak. She just held me tightly and let me cry into her shoulder as she cried into mine. We stayed like that for a few seconds before Benito’s voice rang out.
“NO!” Benito yelled, making both Violet and me jump. “Take care of this and meet us there!” Benito shouted to the extra men as he hurried to the SUV Violet and I were standing by. Marcello, Lucas, Giorgio, and Giovanni were right behind him.
“Get in the car!” Marcello yelled.
I was confused and scared. The look on all their f
aces told me something wasn’t right. We were all okay here, so what was going on?
Violet grabbed the door, yanked it open, and shoved me in. By the time she and I had piled into the car, the guys reached it. Everyone jumped in, and Marcello hit the gas so hard we were all pinned back in our seats.
“What… what’s going on?” I said, my voice shaking. The hysteria was slowly starting to rise in my body again.
“It’s Pops,” Benito said. “He’s been shot. It’s bad, really bad.”
All I heard after that was a combination of everyone’s muffled voices.
“Breathe Lily,” Violet’s voice called out to me. I was trying, but I couldn’t catch my breath this time. I couldn’t even cry.
What if something happened to him? He had to be okay. I couldn’t lose him. We had our problems sure, but I loved him. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. He was my father.
“He has to be okay,” I kept repeating over and over.
The drive to the hospital seemed like it took forever. Benito was on the phone with someone the entire time. Marcello didn’t even get the car into park before Benito opened the door and jumped out. He was in the emergency room entrance before the rest of us could stumble out of the car.
Lucas grabbed my hand as we ran. Dante came running out the doors, and as soon as he spotted Violet, he sprinted to her and scooped her up into his arms. He kissed her repeatedly as he squeezed her tightly. It was sweet, but short lived as he quickly sat her down, took her hand, and followed us into the emergency room.
Elle, my brothers, and a few other men were gathered around in the waiting room when we entered.
Where was Emilio?
As we approached them, Benito was talking to everyone. “They need blood for Pops. They don’t have enough of his blood type stored here. Apparently they’ve had a busy day. Giorgio and Giovanni can. How about you Marcello and Dante? Do you have type O negative?”
“No. We have Mamma’s blood type,” Marcello replied for them both.
“Me too, but we need type O negative,” Benito said.
“I want too, can I?” I asked. “I don’t know my blood type though.”
“You will need to get tested first,” Benito said taking my hand. “If they need more after Giorgio, Giovanni, and the hospital supply, then you can. But we will see, okay?”