Page 26

Katie

I’ve been in and out of consciousness, hearing bits of conversations.

Jaxon is here, but he isn’t tied up like I am.

He seems to know these people. Although they’re far from friendly in their discussions, each of them wants something from each other.

Jaxon has something they want. Jaxon wants them to be part of something in return.

Hours pass by, and each time I wake, I am more alert; this time, my attention is drawn to Jaxon going through my bag. He pulls out my Snuggly, my teddy.

“Jax, what are you doing?” I cry.

“Aww, look, the baby has decided to wake from her nap. Does the baby want her teddy back?” Waving it in my face, he laughs cruelly.

This is a side to Jax I have never seen.

“You and this pathetic bear. Look, it’s falling to bits.”

He rips his arm off. I sob.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“Remember the morning the police raided my house? I needed a place to hide something.” He rips off the other arm.

“I needed a safe place where it would be looked after. What better place than this stinky old bear that never leaves your side.” He rips off his head and pulls a small plastic square out of his body.

“What are you doing? This isn’t you. Get us out of here, Jax. These people are bad people; you aren’t bad like them. Please, Jax!” I scream as he walks away, throwing my bear on the floor and handing the plastic object to the second Italian man.

“Stop, Jax, no! Don’t give him whatever that is. I’ve heard them talking. They’re going to betray you, take what you have, but not do what you want in return.”

The two Italians glare at me in annoyance.

“She speaks Italian?” the evilest one asks Jax.

He thinks for a moment. “No.” He laughs.

I never did get around to telling him I was fluent. My outburst is punished with a fist in the side cracking a number of ribs. My breath is taken away as the pain of expanding my lungs rips through my body.

“Not another word, bitch!”

A fist to the cheek puts me back to sleep. At least I don’t feel pain while I’m out.

Leo

The sun is starting to come up, which means we have a good visual, but it also means we are ourselves more visible.

Although Marco is an extremely large man, he is very good at the element of surprise.

I, on the other hand, am not so discreet.

Hiding behind a bush, I let Marco go and stake out the area.

It’s eerily silent, bar a few birds tweeting in the distance.

I’ve never been a praying man, but at this moment, I pray Katherine is in here and alive.

It feels like an age, waiting for Marco to return.

I almost leave my hiding spot to go look for him.

“The van is inside to the left of the building. Katherine is to the right.”

“Great—let’s go.”

“Hold on.” Marco grabs my arm. “She doesn’t look good. There are at least three men with her; I didn’t get a good enough look at all their faces.”

My blood boils, but I can take on three with no problem .

“Boss, one of them is Martelé.”

“What?!” I will put a bullet in his head right now.

“Wait, we need to find out what they want. Calm, okay? Just at first. Then we rip their heads off with our bare hands!” Marco growls quietly so as not to give away our presence.

“Ready, boss?”

“Always.”

Following Marco's nimble movements, I try to walk in his footsteps. We enter the warehouse without alerting anyone to our whereabouts. Once inside, we hear voices. Martelé—I’d know that voice anywhere. He just started a war.

My body has a mind of its own. Not being able to wait another second, I kick down the metal door between us and them.

Not surprisingly, we are met with rifles aimed at our heads.

With our weapons drawn, too, we assess the room.

Blood speckles the floor, and what looks like fluff is scattered in a line leading to my Katherine.

There in front of her is a torn-up, limbless teddy bear.

“Guerra! What the fuck are you doing here?” Martelé seems surprised by my arrival.

My eyes are on Katherine. My heart burns at the sight of her.

Bound to a chair, her perfect body is bloodied and broken, her head slumped, too exhausted to lift at the noisy sound of our arrival.

The mention of my name by Martelé, however, has her eyes searching for mine.

I see that glimmer of hope sparkle as our eyes connect.

Rage and instinct take over.

“You steal my woman, Martelé, and you expect me not to come after you?”

“Your woman?!” he splutters, looking over to his left. I follow his line of sight and see a smug-looking Jaxon Adams leaning with one foot up against the wall.

My arm automatically lifts, and I shoot him, shattering his kneecap.

He rolls around on the floor in agony. “Ahhh, you will pay for that, Guerra!”

I don’t bother to reply.

The nearer I get to Katherine, the sicker I begin to feel. My heart threatens to burst out of my chest, and my ears ring.

“I’m here. You are safe now.” Holding her head in my hands, I kiss her, a silent promise that I will never let anyone hurt her again. I speak softly as I untie her. “Who did this to you?”

She looks over at Martelé’s number one, who stands beside him. Without a second thought, I put a bullet between his eyes. The large sack of shit drops to the floor with a thud. “Nobody hurts my woman and lives to breathe the same air! ”

Katherine, now untied, buries her face in her hands.

As I pick her up, I mistakenly turn my back on Martelé for a second, missing the moment when he retrieves his number one’s gun.

He now has one pointed at Katherine and one at Marco. Marco stands strong with his weapon pointed back at Martelé.

“Guerra! You do not kill Martelé men and walk away. An eye for an eye, Guerra. Who will it be?” He looks from Marco to Katherine.

Covering Katherine with as much of my body as possible, I work through solutions in my head.

Martelé smirks as he waves a gun at each of the most important people in my life.

Choosing isn’t an option. Marco is like a brother to me.

He has saved my life on many occasions. Trained and taught me how to rule and survive.

He’s been more of a father to me than my own; in my brother's absence, he is my best friend.

I feel a bead of sweat release from my brow.

I hope Marco has a plan; if anyone knows how to get out of this, it's him.

We need to delay until Damien and the team arrive.

“Who will it be, Guerra? Him or her? Him or her?”

He’s getting more and more angry at my silence.

“COME ON, GUERRA! ”

Hurry the fuck up, Damien is all I can think.

“Him or her, Guerra. If you don’t pick one, I will choose one for you! Five seconds, Guerra!”

Shit, Damien, hurry up. I can’t shoot first, as he will definitely fire at Katherine; in her condition, she doesn’t have much chance of survival, so I won’t risk it.

“Five…. Four…. Three…. Him or her, Guerra—you need to choose. Two….”

“ME!” Marco’s growl rumbles throughout the warehouse.

Guns fire. I dive to cover my Katherine.

We fall to the floor, my body paralysed in protection mode.

I’m frozen until I hear a whimper from Katherine beneath me.

I scan the room now that the gunfire has stopped.

Both Marco and Martelé lay facedown, blood pooling out beside them.

Tears pour from Katherine as she sobs. Picking her up as gently as I can, I hold her head to my chest.

“Close your eyes. We are leaving now.” Carrying my entire world over the top of the bloodshed, I vow never again to let her be part of this violent life. She deserves better. As we reach the fresh air and daylight, Damien and his team surround the warehouse.

“Too late, dickhead! Too fucking late!”

Katherine falls unconscious in my arms on the way to the ambulance that waits around the corner.

I’m not letting anyone take her from me, so the medics treat her in my arms. I’m numb; for the first time in my life, I don’t know what happens next.

All I know is, Marco sacrificed himself to save me from losing the woman I love.

Her safety is now my priority; I will not let his sacrifice be in vain.

When we get to the hospital, I’m forced to let her go. Katherine’s parents and friend Bella are there, waiting anxiously. Painful cries leave their bodies as they witness the trauma she has suffered. Observing their pain and the love they have for their daughter, I realise what I need to do.