by Ashley Jade
"It's true. It's time to get your payback. DeLuca deserves everything that's coming to him," I add before I step out of the car.
Adrenaline and excitement are pumping through my veins and I can barely hold back my smile when she places her gun to my head and we begin walking toward the warehouse.
I know he's in there. I can feel his presence looming throughout me.
I almost want to warn Alyssa...but then I wouldn't make a very good hostage and DeLuca would know her bark is worse than her bite.
And her bite needs to be the kind that kills.
"Back the fuck up," she growls in his direction, surprising me.
Atta, girl.
He takes a few steps back and fixes his dark orbs on her.
I can feel her heart beating erratically against my back and I glance at DeLuca, forcing his intense gaze to land on me instead.
"Are you okay, Bambina? Has she hurt you?"
"I'm fine," I reply, the ice thick in my tone.
"Don't take that tone with me," he barks. "You know I worry about you, Lucianna."
My stomach recoils...but I know what I have to do. Ricardo's here and I'm not giving him a reason to hurt him. "I'm so sorry, mio amore. It's been a long day."
Beside me, Ricardo tenses.
"Sit over there," Alyssa tells us, motioning to the wall.
We make our way over and DeLuca and Alyssa face one another.
Part of me is hoping she'll just shoot him but then I notice the gun in his back pocket.
Shit. Alyssa thinks he's unarmed.
"So we meet again," DeLuca says and I bump my shoulder against Ricardo's. "He's armed," I whisper out of the corner of my mouth.
Ricardo gives me a subtle nod, never taking his eyes off DeLuca.
"I'm not afraid of you," Alyssa states.
That's when DeLuca puts his hand in his pocket. I open my mouth to warn her...but to my surprise Alyssa points her gun at me.
DeLuca immediately pauses and I don't miss the fear in his eyes.
"Stand by me, Lou-Lou," she orders.
"No!" DeLuca shouts.
Ricardo mutters a curse and the look DeLuca gives me could burn an entire town to the ground when I stand up and walk over to her.
I promised her I'd help her kill DeLuca and I meant it.
"It's safe to say that you might not want to make any sudden movements again. I specifically told you to come unarmed."
She pulls me in front of her. "Granted, it's not a crowbar, but I swear you'll feel every second of the impact when I kill her."
I channel up horrible memories and my lower lip trembles. DeLuca knows me...my fear has to be authentic in order for this to be effective.
It works because a moment later he removes his hand from his pocket.
"You'll never get away with this," he says.
She laughs. "I beg to differ."
I hear the sound of someone's footsteps approaching as a large shadow walks through the back entrance of the warehouse.
Unfortunately, the shadows not big enough to be Jackson which means it can only be one person walking through those doors.
The gray suit and blue eyes prove me right...along with the gun in his hand that's currently pointed at Alyssa.
"Drop the gun, Alyssa," Ford sneers.
Behind me, Alyssa croaks, "You gonna kill me, Ford? That's what it's come down to?"
His eyes waver and he sighs. "You know I could never do that. But I can't let you kill DeLuca, either."
"Why not?"
"Because then how would you find out the truth, Alyssa?" DeLuca sneers behind him.
I hear a gun cock and DeLuca laughs and says, "I appreciate you volunteering to be my bodyguard, Ford."
Ford curses under his breath and closes his eyes.
"However, I suggest you stay right where you are, special agent. There's something I've been meaning to tell Alyssa."
Ford moves the gun toward me then. "If you do, then I'll take out Lou-Lou."
That's when Ricardo stands up and my pulse skyrockets because I've never seen him look so fucking angry before.
He looks so downright murderous right now...DeLuca looks impressed.
Ricardo cocks his gun and stands behind Alyssa. "And I'll take out Alyssa," he says to Ford in a gravelly tone.
Oh, shit.
DeLuca smiles. "Good job, son. I'm proud of you."
My stomach lurches because I know how much Ricardo's always longed for him to say that. The sheer irony that he's hearing it today of all days is eerie.
"Shit," Alyssa says, her voice strained.
"Sorry, Alyssa. But I'm not letting him kill Lou-Lou," Ricardo barks and my heart grips.
That is, until I take a look at the current predicament we're all in.
Everyone has a gun pointed at them except DeLuca. Which is exactly the way he planned it for this showdown.
DeLuca claps his hands. "Good. Now that we've got that all sorted out and everyone knows where the other stands. Alyssa, I would like your attention."
"Don't, Alyssa," Ford says. "Whatever he says isn't true. You have to trust me. I love you. I have always loved you."
Behind us, Ricardo coughs. "You are one fucked up person, Ford. And I've seen some shit, but this right here...this takes the cake."
"Please, DeLuca," Ford pleads. "I've never asked you for a single thing, other than sparing her life. If you tell her everything. It will kill her."
"I'm counting on it," DeLuca sneers.
I can feel Alyssa stiffen behind me. "Do you or do you not work for DeLuca?"
"Technically, yes," Ford answers. "But I didn't always. I am a member of the FBI first and foremost."
"Yeah, he's what we like to call a flipper-flopper. You know, when it suits him," Ricardo adds.
"Why, Ford?" she questions. "How could you do that after you saw what he did to my father?"
"Because I became too powerful for him to keep trying to take down," DeLuca interjects.
Ford's face pales. "I couldn't beat DeLuca. So, I had to join him. There was no other way."
DeLuca takes a step forward and his face hardens. "Go ahead, Alyssa. Ask him what his first job for me was."
She shakes her head and points her gun at Ford. My heart breaks for her because I know what it's like when the man you've always regarded as your savior, turns out to be your annihilator.
"No," she shouts. "You wouldn't do that to my dad. He was your best friend. You grew up together. He loved you. You wouldn't set him up to get killed."
"I'm so sorry," Ford whispers. "I had no choice."
"There's always a choice!"
DeLuca grins and I feel sick to my stomach because I know he's about to go in for the kill. The emotional kill, that is. He's still having too much fun torturing her to go in for the physical one.
"And what a choice it was," he starts. "He obviously chose to save his own ass. He came to me, worked out a deal and gave up your dear old dad in the exchange. You know, he was the one who suggested we do it right here, too. He said your dad liked the water." DeLuca chuckles. "He even set up the two gang members to take the fall for it. I'll admit that was brilliant."
"You're fucking sick," Alyssa says, her voice cracking.
"I won't deny that," Ford says. "But I love you, Alyssa. You know that I do."
"No, what I know," she begins. "Is that you were on the phone with me when it happened. You heard me cry my heart out. You heard my screams as DeLuca took my father from me. You picked up that scared and destroyed little girl and held her in your arms like she was your own. You held her like you would protect her...all while knowing you did this to me. To him! How could you?"
I can't hold back the tears that are forming in my eyes because...and I never thought I'd say this...but I identify with her.
Although our situations are different...they're similar in the fact that we put our trust and love in two men we thought would protect us.
Two men that turned out to be monsters.
"What else could there possibly be?" I question.
I gasp when I realize. What an asshole.
DeLuca smirks sinisterly. "Alyssa? Besides your father dying, can you think of anything else that might have ruined your life?"
"Shit," Ricardo mutters.
"You were behind the sex tape, Ford?"
The spineless bastard stays silent.
"Answer her, Ford." DeLuca directs.
That's when Ricardo chimes in. "You tell her the truth now. It's the least you can do, you fucking scumbag."
"DeLuca promised Gaffney that he would win the run for mayor if his son Dean did it," Ford starts. "However, it was my idea in the first place. I paid the Gaffney's off and promised that Dean would never get busted on a DUI charge if he fucked you and filmed it."
I swallow down the ball of revulsion making its way up my throat because I know exactly who Gaffney ran against in that election.
Alyssa recoils. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you do that to me?"
"I needed to do something to—" Ford pauses and DeLuca grins before he chimes in. "To make sure your pretty face would never end up on the evening news. Where you could slip up and tell the whole world what I did to your daddy. Live from New York. You know, you really should have chosen a different major at NYU."
His eyes blacken and I fight back a shiver. "I run this city," DeLuca shouts while taking a step forward. "It's mine. My greed, my hunger, my money...but most of all my control and power. I let you live as a courtesy to Ford; after certain assurances were put in place, of course. But, I wasn't going to have your stupid fucking ass mess up what I worked so hard to build. I couldn't take that chance." His lips turn up in a snarl and he winks. "However, I would like to thank you for being such a willing participant. Nice tits by the way."
Alyssa looks at Ford, her expression absolutely crestfallen. "The way you treated me after it happened. I went to you for help and you—"
"Made her believe she was nothing but a whore. Broke her trust in everyone and everything. Hurt her beyond all repair. And this was all after you had already ripped her heart out. You really are one despicable motherfucker," Jackson's voice booms out of nowhere.
"No," Alyssa says while pointing her gun at Ford. "He's one despicable dead motherfucker."
"No!" Jackson shouts, halting her. "Don't do it, Alyssa."
My heart beats in my chest like a cannon when I see Ricardo shift his stance and aim his gun at DeLuca.
I can hear Jackson and Alyssa talking in the background but I can't focus on anything they're saying because I'm too focused on Ricardo.
And DeLuca...who's currently pointing his gun at Jackson.
"No," Ricardo barks.
In one fell swoop Ricardo grabs me right before DeLuca presses the trigger.
"Don't you even think about it, Babbo," Ricardo says as he brings his gun to my head.
The irony—I've had guns pointed at my head multiple times today, by multiple people...and the only time I feel anything is now.
But it's not because I'm scared...I know Ricardo would never hurt me, let alone kill me.
It's because I'm looking at DeLuca for the last time.
I'd like to say this is a pinnacle moment. The moment where the smoke clears and I suddenly realize what an evil and vindictive person the man I once loved is—the moment that I cut the cord and untangle him from my heart once and for all...but it's not.
Because the only thing I feel—is the deep and dark storm brewing inside me, spinning into a tornado of hate that's aimed directly for him.
The fact of the matter is—I've already let DeLuca go.
My love for him no longer lives inside my heart anymore...but all the anger and pain that he caused me still lives inside my soul...and it's burning like an inferno.
This man has taken everything from me.
He turned my once damaged goods into fragments...sharp and shameful pieces that can never be put together again.
He's trapped me in a room full of broken mirrors that can only reflect the shattered girl staring back at me...because it's all that's left now.
The girl he turned me into.
Bruno DeLuca once told me that damaged people were the most dangerous, because they're survivors.
But he was dead wrong...
Broken people are the most dangerous...because they just don't give a fuck.
And right now...this broken girl wants Bruno DeLuca dead so bad I literally can't think of a single thing I could ever want more.
My pulse races as I wait for the moment Ricardo will finally shoot him and end everyone's pain.
But that moment doesn't come...because Ricardo leans down and his lips brush over my cheek. I don't understand what's happening, or why he's doing this.
That is, until he whispers, "Ti amo. Sii libero," in my ear and the organ in my chest bursts like a supernova...because now I understand.
He's giving that little girl her wish. The same wish she made over and over again...only for it to never once come true. Until now.
He's setting me free.
I reach behind me, pull my gun out of my waistband...and aim it directly for DeLuca's head.
I don't hesitate.
I stare into those dark, demonic eyes for the very last time. "Brucia all'inferno. Burn in hell, Bruno," I say as I pull the trigger, four times.
One bullet for me.
One bullet for Ricardo.
One bullet for my baby.
And the last one for the little girl he broke.
Because she's dying with him today.
Blood splashes me and his brains splatter all over the warehouse before he falls to the floor.
It's one of the most glorious sights I've ever witnessed, but I can't enjoy it for long because I hear sirens in the distance.
I look at Ricardo one last time and he gestures to the back door. It's bittersweet because as much as a part of my heart wants to stay...a bigger part wants to leave.
I nod with tears in my eyes and I wish I could thank him, but I have to go.
I run as quick as my legs can carry me. The sirens are becoming louder, and I can see the red and blue lights from the police cars approaching in the distance. No doubt because of Ford.
I reach my car and open the trunk. Then I root around for a change of clothes because the ones I'm wearing now are covered in blood, guts, and gunpowder.
I quickly strip and throw my old clothes along with my cell phone into the water...not even caring that it's beeping and alerting me that I have a new voicemail.
There's nothing the old me needs to hear...because this is where my new life begins.
I dig in my pocket for the key to the airport locker before I get in my car and hit the gas.
Then I fill my lungs and take the deepest breath I have ever taken in my life.
Freedom.
Chapter 48 (Ricardo)
I fall against my door and drag a hand down my face.
Between DeLuca's murder, being interrogated at the police station...and Ford pulling a dick move and getting Jackson arrested for killing the asshole who beat his little sister to death. It's been the day of all fucking days today.
But none of that compares to the hollow feeling lying smack-dab in the middle of my chest caused by her absence.
She's gone.
I close my eyes and force myself to breathe as I ride out the pain. She deserves this. I did the right thing.
Even so... I still can't seem to shake this unsettling feeling that's currently nagging at me.
Our last conversation in the church plays throughout my head and I feel my chest sink as I recall what she told me.
"No. I don't want to travel, I can't have babies anymore...and I don't want anyone else in the world but you. "
I spring up like a slingshot as five little words ricochet and pummel me over and over again.
I can't have
babies anymore.
That wasn't DeLuca's doing. It couldn't have been. It wouldn’t make any sense.
My head throbs and my blood turns cold as I run out the door.
The lights are off when I enter the fight club...with the exception of the cage which is illuminated in the background.
I take another step into the darkness...the sickness deep within me is rising and my veins are turning to pure ice the closer I get to him.
His back is turned to me when I approach him and my fists clench at my sides.
"I only talked to Ford to protect you—" Emilio begins but he doesn't have a chance to finish that statement.
When he spins around I punch him in the mouth. The sound of his jaw cracking and his teeth breaking only serve to awaken the demon inside me.
I'm out for his blood and I won't stop until I steal every last drop of it.
He curses and leans over to spit a few teeth out and I strike again. This time, I bring my knee to his nose. "You know, I can forgive you for Ford," I grit low and deadly. "I can understand how you thought that was the only way to protect the both of us."
His hands move in front of his face when I advance toward him again. He attempts to twist away from me but I grip his hair and bash his head into the hard floor. "But I will never forgive you for what you did to her. What you did to our baby."
"It was the only way to protect you—" He pants out. "DeLuca would have killed you if she had that baby." His voice breaks. "I've always looked out for you, Ricardo. You know that."
The crunch from my fist sinking into his mouth causing him to choke is satisfying...but I'm far from finished with this traitorous motherfucker.
I laugh and the sound echoes throughout the room. "Say your prayers, Emilio....because you're a dead man."
His eyes flash and he lifts his chin. "You can't kill me, Ricardo." He pushes me. "You know why I've made it my mission to protect you all these years? Huh?" When I don't answer him he stands up and says, "Because I promised your mother I would. She knew what being in DeLuca's world would do to you and she made me promise to intervene before it changed you."
He spits blood on the ground and glares at me. "You can't kill me Ricardo...because I'm your motherfucking conscience." He opens his arms wide and gestures around the room with a big smile. "I'm your moral fucking compass in this life full of sin and you know it."