by K. C. Crowne
The others followed us.
There was no talking, nothing. Only the sound of the earth crunching beneath our feet. I stared at the path, which really wasn’t much of a path anyway. There had been foot traffic here, that was clear. Broken branches and less brush than the surrounding areas, but still fairly dense and difficult to walk through.
It would be worth it, though.
Graham stopped ahead of us, and the rest of us did as well. We listened, and I heard footsteps coming toward us. My heart jumped into my throat, and I leaned into Jack, holding onto his arm now, not just his hand. I knew the time was coming when I was supposed to leave him to whatever fate was awaiting him - and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.
We’d said goodbye far too many times already for my liking. But this would most likely be the last time.
I could hardly see over Graham and Samuel, but I could see between them. At least three men stood in our path. All of them large men - almost as large as the ones surrounding me. They wore black masks covering their faces, everything but their eyes. Their hair was covered too. There were no discerning features, nothing that would give away their identities.
“Where’s the mother?” the man in front asked.
I tried to squeeze past Graham and Samuel, but they continued to block my way.
“Where’s the baby first?” Graham asked.
In the distance, I heard a soft cry, and I knew right away that my son was close. I pushed even harder at Graham and Samuel, but they weren’t budging. I tried to walk around them, but Jack grabbed my arm. He stopped me, and I glared at him for doing so.
“I need to get to him. He needs me,” I said.
“Soon.”
The men parted, and another masked man stepped forward. I nearly fell to my knees in relief as I stared at my son nestled in the man’s arms. I was relieved but not completely. My son was alive and well, but he was still in the arms of a stranger.
“Let her through. We’ll pass the child to her but understand that you’re surrounded in these woods. One wrong move and everyone here will be killed. Including the baby. Do you understand?”
“Yes, just give me my son,” I cried out.
Graham and Jack nodded. The others did as well.
Reluctantly, Samuel and Graham parted, and I stepped forward. Jack held my hand for as long as he could before finally, we had to break free. I glanced back at him and mouthed, “I love you,” fearing this might be the end for him.
I walked over to the man holding Owen, and I prepared for the worst. It seemed too easy. But he handed me my little boy. I had almost forgotten just how tiny he was until he was in my arms, and I held him close to me, inhaling his scent and cherishing his soft skin against my face.
“Cassie, you need to go,” Graham said softly from behind me.
The leader said, “You will walk the way you came, get into your vehicle, and drive away. Do not get any other ideas, do you hear me?”
I nodded, even though I couldn’t really focus. Owen fussed in my arms, letting out a cry. My feet felt heavy, but I managed to put one foot in front of the other. I walked past Jack, and he kissed Owen’s forehead and whispered, “I love you,” to both of us.
I leaned in to kiss him as well but used the opportunity to whisper words against his lips. “Get back to us, Jack.”
He didn’t say anything, but the leader cleared his throat, pulling our attention back to him. “You need to go now.” His voice was chilling, and every hair on my body stood on end. I couldn’t hesitate a second longer.
“Go, Cassie. Protect our son.”
As much as it killed me to do so, I had to walk away from Jack. I had to leave the man I loved behind to protect our son.
I hurried along the path, my legs feeling like they weren’t working properly. I was shaking but trying not to cry - I didn't want to upset Owen any more than he already was. He was still crying in my arms. I imagined he was hungry in addition to being scared. I needed to get him to safety so I could feed him, comfort him, and take care of him.
“I’m never going to let anything happen to you again,” I whispered as I stumbled along the path.
I was so focused on my footing, making sure I didn’t trip, that I didn’t notice the movement in front of me at first. But out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something, or rather, someone moving in the bushes.
I knew people were there, watching us. That’s what we were told. I talked to myself, reminding me to keep it together for our son’s sake. We were almost to the car at the end of the road. In the distance, I heard a gunshot, and my heart nearly exploded.
I looked back, even though I couldn’t see anything through the brush and the trees. I didn’t stop moving. I couldn’t. I had to keep going.
I turned back around, the road in sight.
I saw another masked man, blocking my path.
I stopped a few feet away from him, not wanting to get any closer.
My breath caught in my throat as I heard footsteps all around me.
I was surrounded.
“Change of plans,” one of the men said. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Jack
I sighed with relief as Cassie disappeared into the woods with our son. The rest of this didn’t matter as long as they were safe. Whatever happened, I was prepared for it. And after looking around, I could tell my brothers were too.
“Search them,” one of the masked men said. “Make sure they don’t have any weapons before we take them to the boss.”
We were surrounded. There was nowhere for us to go, and if we did step out of line, it would put Cassie and Owen in danger.
One of the men stepped up to me and rammed the butt of his gun into my chest. He didn’t have to say anything to make his point clear - if I stepped out of line, he would pull the trigger. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could see the smile in his eyes. He was enjoying this.
“Boss said we could have some fun with ‘em, right?” one of the other men asked.
“He gave us free rein to do whatever we deemed necessary, as long as he gets to watch them die personally.”
I stared at the man in front of me, my face a blank mask. I wasn’t afraid, so if he expected to see the fear in my eyes, he was dead wrong.
“I think we should make them pay for the trouble they caused.”
The other man motioned for the one standing in front of me to step back. He raised his gun and aimed it at the center of my body. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst, saying a silent prayer that Cassie and Owen would be fine without me. I had to believe they were safe, that Teddy and Madison would take care of them.
It felt like the entire world stood still as I waited for the gunshot. The sound was deafening as the bullet pierced my shoulder. I fell to my knees, my hand reaching for the wound as blood slipped through my fingertips.
I was no doctor, but I knew I was in shock. It hurt, but not as much as it should have. It was only a matter of time before I’d be overcome with pain or I’d bleed out, one or the other. I opened my eyes and found the men standing over me, laughing.
“Not so tough now, are ya, asshole?” one of them said. “Maybe that’s what we’ll do - limb by limb, so you die a slow and painful death.”
In the distance, I heard more gunshots. I didn’t even look; I didn’t want to see my brothers being picked off one-by-one. I might have only met them, and we’d had our differences through all of this, but at that moment, I felt a loyalty to them. They were my brothers, and they had surrendered themselves to protect my family. I hated that they had to die because of me.
I heard someone call out, “What the fuck is that?”
More gunshots. This time in the distance. In the woods surrounding us. And another sound. A whirring of an engine. I managed to turn my head in time to see the helicopter overhead. Voices called out around us.
“Let’s get this over with.”
“Boss said—”
“The plan has changed
. We need to get this over with and get out of here.”
But then I heard another familiar voice. Teddy’s voice spoke over a megaphone from the helicopter. “Stop where you are, drop your weapons. We have you surrounded.”
I stared into the eyes of the man who’d shot me, and I smirked. I watched as reality hit him. He dropped his gun.
“We’re not giving up that easily,” he growled.
He pulled back his knee and hit me hard in the chin. My jaw clapped together tightly, my teeth clattering as my head was thrown back from the impact. My vision went black either from the impact or from the loss of blood.
One of Teddy’s men, Mike, had the men in front of me at gunpoint now.
“Hold it together, Jack,” I told myself. “It’s almost over.”
Dizziness hit me hard, and I almost fell forward. In the distance, I heard a sound that pulled me back to reality. Cassie’s scream.
I stumbled forward, trying to get to my feet. My right arm was useless as blood continued spewing out of the wound. I used it to the best of my ability but had to rely on my left arm.
“Stay where you’re at,” Mike told me. “Help is on the way.”
I wasn’t about to stay put, not with Cassie screaming somewhere in the woods. What if the men got her? What if they were hurting her or Owen? No, I couldn’t stay put. I had to keep moving.
Graham was next to me, and he saw the look in my eye. He likely heard the scream as well. He grabbed my left arm and helped steady me on my feet. I picked the gun off the ground. Once I was standing upright, I took off toward the sounds of the scream. I heard footsteps behind me, and I knew I wasn’t alone - but I wasn’t sure if it was someone on our side or not. I didn’t care.
All that mattered was getting to her.
My foot hit a rock, and I nearly fell forward. I reached out and grabbed a nearby tree with my right hand, the pain of the gunshot wound ripping through me. I clenched my jaw tightly and kept on running, even as my head was spinning.
I heard Owen’s crying, growing louder and louder. I followed it until I reached them. Cassie still had Owen in her arms, but there was a man with her.
And he had a gun pointed directly at her head.
I aimed the machine gun at the man. “Let her go,” I growled.
“Put your gun down on the count of three, or I’ll shoot,” the man said. “1...2…”
I held my hands up and carefully lowered myself to the ground, depositing the gun at my feet. “Listen, you don’t want her anyway. You want me. And you can have me,” I said. “Just let her go.”
“And why can’t I just end both of you?” the man snarled.
“Do you really want to hurt an innocent woman and child?”
I don’t know why I bothered asking such a question. It was clear I was working with some of the vilest, evil men. I could only see the look in the man’s eyes, but he hesitated. There was some part of him that didn’t want to hurt Cassie. I had to work with that.
“You don’t have to do everything he tells you to do, you know. You could let her go. If you have me, that’s enough for him - more than enough. And you don’t have to hurt her and the baby. No one has to know.”
The man stared at me, and I watched as he processed my request in his eyes. But then he gripped the gun tighter, pressing it harder against Cassie’s head.
“Just please spare my child,” she whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please don’t hurt my baby.”
I was weighing my options. Reach down and pick up the gun, hoping I was fast enough and he hesitated or continue trying to talk him out of it.
The sound of a gunshot stopped my thoughts. At first, I wasn’t even sure where the sound had come from. When I saw blood splattering Cassie’s shirt, I cried out and ran to her, my heart stopping in my chest.
She fell to her knees, Owen in her arms. She was holding him so tightly. It took me a moment to realize that the blood all over her wasn’t her blood.
The man who held onto her fell to the ground, his hands clasping at his chest. But he was dead before he even hit the ground, I was sure of it.
Cassie was in my arms, shaking and crying. I checked her, staring at her face and making sure none of that blood was hers. I couldn’t bear it if she was hurt.
She kept saying, “I’m alright. I’m okay,” as if to reassure both of us. She kept searching Owen, whose screams sounded so far away thanks to our hearing being temporarily damaged from the gunshots.
But he was crying, which was good. It meant he was alive.
They were both alive.
Graham was by our side in a flash.
“We need to get something on that wound,” he said to me.
“I’m fine.” I flinched as I moved, the pain hitting me hard now that the adrenaline was leaving my body.
“You’re not fine,” he said.
I looked up at him and said, “It’s just a surface wound. Isn’t that what you called it before?”
“Nah, that one’s pretty deep, Jack,” he said. “Ambulances are supposed to be on the way, but let me get Mason to look at it for now.”
He pushed himself up to his feet and started back toward the meeting location. He turned around and looked at me really quickly as if to make sure we were okay.
“I’m fine,” I said. “This is over, right?”
“Yeah, it’s over,” he said, his voice low. “Teddy and the rest of his men were able to capture everyone.”
“Including Hank?”
“Not sure yet. I took off after you,” he said. “But I’m confident they have it under control.”
I heard sirens in the distance. The ambulances were getting close now.
It was over. At least for now.
And even though I had resisted for so long, we had to call in the police. At least those who Teddy trusted. It was an under-the-table operation, but I trusted Teddy and knew that he trusted the men who were there. If Hank could be caught, I had to believe he would be.
I looked at Cassie and Owen. I had to believe that they were finally safe.
My eyes felt heavy, but I managed to peel them open and stare into the blinding light around me.
“Welcome back.” Cassie’s voice spoke from somewhere in the room.
It took me a while to remember where I was. The beeping around me gave it away eventually, just as my eyes opened all the way. I was in the hospital, just getting out of surgery to remove the bullet from my shoulder. Unlike Graham, this was more than just a surface wound. The bullet had lodged itself in there deep.
As my vision cleared, I saw Cassie more clearly now. In her arms, tucked away and sleeping peacefully, was our baby boy. My eyes stung with tears as I realized that both of my loves were safe.
After I heard the sirens, an EMT had rushed over and took us away. I never had a chance to talk to Teddy or any of my brothers.
“Did they…”
“They caught him,” Cassie said, her lips in a soft smile. “They arrested Hank Gillespie.”
I’d never told her his name, not even in the end. So the fact that she knew it said so much. It was true. They had the man at the top.
“Right now, the entire world is going nuts,” she said. “No one can believe it, but Teddy says there’s more than enough proof to convict him.”
It was finally over.
There was a knock at the door, and Cassie turned to speak to a nurse. I heard bits and pieces of what they were saying.
“Visitors? Now?” she asked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Let them in,” I called.
Cassie looked at me and seemed conflicted. But I needed to see my brothers. I needed to thank them. Especially Graham. I had acted like they had failed me, but when it really mattered, everyone came together.
So whoever wanted to see me, well, I probably owed them a thank you.
“Alright,” Cassie said after a moment. “But only for a few minutes. You need your rest.” She returned to my side, and after a
minute or two, the door to the room opened.
Cassie gasped, and I had to admit, I was equally as surprised as she was. “What are you doing here, Dad?” Her voice rose slightly as if she was ready for a fight. “If you’re here to cause trouble, you just need to leave right now.”
He cut her off by holding his hands up, almost as if he were surrendering. “Cassie, I’m not here to cause problems. I just—I needed to see you.”
“You can see me later,” she snapped. “Now isn’t the time.”
Her father continued. “I heard what happened. Everyone’s talking about it, Cassie. Your mom and I were terrified.”
“Well, obviously, I’m fine.”
“And people are saying Jack is a hero. That he and some other men brought down a crime ring that threatened you and Owen, along with others. Is that true?”
She sniffed and said, “It is.”
Her father ran a hand over his thinning hair, and he turned his eyes toward me. For most of my life, I knew the Lorenzos detested me. They thought lesser of Madison and me. They were wealthy and well-to-do, and my family was just trash to them.
But I saw something in his eyes I never thought I would see.
Gratitude.
“Well then, I think I need to say thank you.”
Before I could respond, Cassie piped up. “And?”
“And?” her dad stammered. He seemed confused for a moment before sighing. “And I’m sorry. For everything, Jack. Clearly, you’re not the monster I thought you were.”
“Thanks, Mr. Lorenzo.” My voice was low. I hadn’t been prepared for this. I wasn’t used to having people call me a hero. I was merely doing what I had to do.
Cassie cocked an eyebrow and looked back and forth between the two of us. Finally, she asked, “So Dad, does this mean you’re not going to disown me for being with him?”
The room was silent, deafeningly so. I thought she might be asking too much from her dear old dad, but he surprised us both when he simply nodded.