.Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 60: is this equivalent to a crush? .Gianna waited until Sal was out the door to ask, “Did you think I would be okay with my brother going off to torture and do worse to someone in my name?”.“To someone,” Giovanni corrected angrily, “who tried to kill you. Who nearly did!”.Gianna shook her head and shuffled her way towards the room’s bathroom, dragging her IV pole with her. “You can do what you want, Giovanni. I’ve told you repeatedly that you’re an adult and you make your own choices. But don’t you dare try to justify what you’re about to do to this person, as something you’re doing for me. If you do this, don’t you attach me in any way. I don’t want you to do this. I don’t condone it.”Giovanni asked, “So you just want me to leave this person alone? You want me to let them off the hook, give them a free pass, and let them probably try to hurt you again?”. Gianna nudged the bathroom door open with her food and called back, “You do whatever you
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 61: are you bitter ... or jealous? .“So,” Gianna tried, “you rile me up, poke fun at me, and are a jerk at times because you like that I snap back at you? How does that make any sense?”.Rio didn’t answer, instead he hid a smile of some sort behind a hand.Eventually, Rio confessed in a strangled way, “It wasn’t a big deal for me to be there with you at the flower shop. I didn’t have anything else to do that day, and the truth is, you are one of us. You’re one of Mariposa, even if it isn’t official or anything. You take care of us, you patch us up, you cook for us and hang out with us and you’re our friend. So, me watching after you wasn’t even something that Cypher needed to ask me to do. I just put up a fuss because you were paying more attention to the flowers than me.”Gianna gave him an incredulous look. “Please tell me you’re not saying you were jealous of the flowers I was buying for the graves of my mother and sister.”Rio looked horrified.
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 62: weakness of affection.Gianna felt the frown on her face deepening. “He didn’t drag me into this kicking and screaming.”“No,” Rio agreed. “But the blame here really goes wholly to Cypher. Because Giovanni wouldn’t have ever brought you near Mariposa’s territory. He wouldn’t have introduced you to us, or let you learn our names. He wouldn’t have taken the risks that Cypher did with you. Cypher put a target on your back. He’s the reason someone tried to kill you. And that’s why you can’t feel guilty about whatever he’s going to do. He’s just cleaning up his mistake, almost at the expense of your life.”Carelessly, Gianna called over to him, “I don’t understand why you’re so callous all of the sudden. You sound … bitter.”Rio reached or the nearby remote and flicked the TV on, immediately hitting the mute button. “I’m not bitter.”“Then what?”With an exaggerated sigh, Rio said, “I just know that if I were Cypher, if it were you and me, I wouldn’t
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 63: Ferrari Dante is in love .*GIANNA* “But please, I’m begging you. Don’t let Giovanni be the one to end his life when the time comes. Don’t let it be my brother. Please.”Dante’s hands were big and warm at Gianna’s waist, the heat from his fingers cutting through the pajamas she wore.Dante told her, “Giovanni already asked to be the one to do it. He’s taking this more seriously than you think. He realizes now how close he came to losing you, and how it could happen again if we don’t do this now.”“Please,” Gianna begged. “Please, don’t let him. He thinks he wants it, maybe he does, but I don’t know if his soul is ready.”Dante hugged her tighter, probably as tightly as she dared. “Okay. I’ll have Sal take care of it, or I’ll do it myself. After we have all the information we need.”Uncertain, Gianna pulled back to ask, “A confession?”Dante guided her back to the bed and corrected, “I’d rather know why. Mariposa is a family. We don’t let people
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 64: a united front.Technically speaking, she was leaving the hospital a day sooner than Maria wanted. She’d been the one to set her discharge date, and had very vocally expressed her dislike of Gianna leaving sooner than that. But truthfully Gianna felt like she could recover just as well at home now, and some things were more important than squeezing in a last bit of rest before she went back to the clinic at least part time.“Well,” Giovanni asked from behind her. “How do I look?”In the last few moments that Gianna would spend in the hospital room that had been her home for a little over two weeks, she turned to look at her brother emerging from the bathroom.Giovanni looked utterly uncomfortable in the formal black suit he was wearing, and all the evidence was there in his awkward stance and how he tugged on his cuffs.A huge smile blossomed on Gianna’s face. “You look handsome.”Giovanni blushed. “I wasn’t sure it would fit from last year.”
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 65: a proper rhythm.With Gianna’s hospital bag already sent ahead to her apartment, she was free to stroll from the hospital room without having to carry anything with her.The moment she was through the door, Giovanni pulling ahead to chat about wanting to go to the nearby amusement part that would only be open for another week or so, Gianna felt a serious weight lift from her. She was out of the hospital finally, almost fully recovered, and she’d dodged a bullet. She had beaten the odds and it felt great. Sure, her ribs would need some time to heal completely, but she was breathing almost normally, and everything else was manageable.”“You two look good,” Dante commented when he met them in front of the hospital in the loading zone. He had the car idling behind him and was leaning against it causally. More importantly Gianna could see that he was dressed nicely in a pair of dress black slacks that had been pressed recently, and a collared, de
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 66: the wrong target all this while . Once more Dante tugged Gianna into a hug, though it was much firmer the second time around.“No kid in that situation is responsible for their family member’s deaths,” Dante said sternly, kissing Gianna’s temple. “And no parent should ever blame their child for something that is far beyond their control.”Gianna finished wiping at her own tears, sniffled a little, and then gave a brave face. “Thank you, Dante.” She put her hand on the door. “Thank you for listening.”“I will always be here for you,” Dante said seriously. “I’ll always be someone who listens to you, or someone you can just vent to. Never doubt that.”The ache in Gianna’s chest at Dante’s words wasn’t anything bad, and it took her a second to realize what it was instead. The fondness and attraction she felt to Dante was quickly evolving into something more.“Now,” Dante said, clearing his throat. “Do you want me to stay here, or go with you?’.Gia
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 67: loving a gang leader .Slowly, Gianna asked, “Someone shot at my brother because they were … jealous of him?”“Because,” Dante admitted slowly, “this person thought that Giovanni had been unfairly promoted. The shooting happened because he thought Giovanni was doing something to influence his promotion, and needed to be eliminated for the sake of Mariposa’s future.”Gianna closed her eyes. “So Giovanni knows?”“Yes,” Dante responded.“Did this person work alone?” Gianna, filled with fear. “I mean to ask, is it safe for Giovanni to be out there with you? Are there others who share this ridiculous sentiment?”“I think,” Dante said evenly and with a careful tone, “that it was just the one person and his accomplice. I’ve been very dedicated in rooting out anyone else, and I’ve come up with nothing. I’m keeping an extra eye on Giovanni for a while now, just to be safe, but I think this was a one-time incident. And I handled it.”Dante brought the bla
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Epilogue: Time to start living .If six months ago, when Gianna had been worried that her father would pull funding for the clinic, and that they’d have to close their doors to an ailing public who needed them, anyone had told Gianna that not only would her clinic be surviving, but also thriving and expanding, she would have laughed and then likely wept.But with the summer heat beating down outside, Angelo sending post cards regularly, Harry a fulltime practitioner at the clinic, and full community support, the clinic was now officially relocated to a building that was three times its original size.It was a surreal moment for Gianna, walking through the front doors of the new clinic that was set to open in less than two days, looking around at what her hard work and dedication had finally landed her.Infinite being flushed out of the area, regardless of how it had happened and the part Gianna felt she played in it, was the best thing that could have happe
Helping Mr. Gang Leader.Chapter 109: crying for the rest of my life .Maddox was in the apartment.Maddox was in a personal, private space that was supposed to be safe. And if he’d gotten past the men standing guard outside …Wiggling her toes a little against the water, Gianna asked quietly, “What are you doing here?.”She didn’t want to wake Dante. She couldn’t. If Dante came out here to where Maddox was with a gun, it would only put him in danger. Gianna couldn’t risk that. She wouldn’t.“It’s all gone,” Maddox eased out, moving forward fully into the light, gun raised to Gianna’s chest level. “It’s gone and it’s your fault.”“My fault?” Gianna questioned. She shook her head a little. “No. I …”“Clyde,” Maddox said morosely, more like a sad wail than anything else. “Clyde. He’s gone.”Gianna took that as confirmation that Clyde was likely dead.“I didn’t kill him,” Gianna said evenly.Maddox looked … worrisome. From where Gianna was standing she could see that Maddox’s eyes wer
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 108: Maddox .“Gia!”Gianna was jarred away from her conversation with Rio as Giovanni nearly barreled into her side, exclaiming, “This party is awesome!”“You just like it because of the food,” Gianna accused, but she gave Giovanni a playful nudge to the shoulder. “Go ahead and eat as much as you want. I hear that the person who’s supposed to be looking after your eating habits hasn’t been doing a good job.”Giovanni made a surprised squeak, damaged eyebrows going high. Rio scoffed.With the speeches over the floor was quickly becoming a small dancing area, music playing softly. It was a sure sign that the night was starting to conclude.Giovanni dashed back to the food table and Gianna turned to Rio, asking, “Do you want to dance?” She would have loved if Dante had been able to come. Truthfully, Gianna was a bit desperate to finally be able to show off the person who held her heart. But Dante had been extra busy with Axel lately, and she was tryi
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 107: Unrequited love: The most painful kind of love to be trapped in .There was something to be said for persevering through adversity.Because for the first time in a very long time, Gianna managed to have an amazing Christmas.Christmas time for Gianna was typically not a huge event. She knew a fairly large number of people who celebrated the holiday, both religiously and in the secular sense, but with Gianna’s reduced family size, there weren’t a lot of people to celebrate with. She might go to a party or two, and see Giovanni for a few hours, but that was it. Most years she bought Christmas presents for the people she knew—almost in a compulsive way, and received a few only from the people she tended to be closest with.When she’d been a child, it had been the house keepers and nannies buying both herself and Giovanni presents with a prescribed budget from their father. Gianna couldn’t remember the last time her father had handed her a pres
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 106: Mariposa takes care of family .For the first time in a while, Gianna saw some kind of amusement in her father’s eyes. The kind of emotion that Gianna thought had been carefully cut out over the years.“I’ve lied a lot over the past week and a half,” Her father said, looking Gianna in the eyes. “I lied about where my information about Infinite came from. I lied about Mariposa’s association with what happened. I lied about Mariposa’s identities. I lied about you being there at all, other than coincidentally, and I falsified information to make certain people disappear from the records. Not only that, I’ve … provided certain incentives to other individuals to make sure no important names ever come up or can be tied to this.”“Oh, dad,” Gianna sighed out, tears in her eyes.“Considering I deployed the national guard,” his father continued, “to offer back up to one gang over another in a conflict that spilled out onto the streets and ended up inju
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 105: a medical mystery .Gianna screamed. She screamed her throat raw until it was painful to even breathe, and then she kept screaming, eyes locked on Rio’s body.“Shut the fuck up!” Clyde demanded, stalking towards her, the gun still raised.No. Not Rio. There was no way Rio was dead. He couldn’t be.“I said shut the fuck up!”Gianna couldn’t. She couldn’t stop screaming. She wasn’t in control of her body anymore.Clyde fired off a second shot, inches from Gianna. The bullet imbedded into the ground and Gianna fell quiet maybe out of an inability to do anything else, more than the fear.“Christ! Finally.” Clyde let out a long breath.Gianna gasped out a sob, and then she was crying openly, reaching out trembling fingers for Rio.Blood was seeping out around Rio’s body at a slow crawl, but from the way he’d fallen Gianna couldn’t tell where the bullet had gone in. She couldn’t even properly address the injury. She couldn’t do anything but collapse
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 104: infinite bastards .The moment she injected the morphine into herself, feeling the buzz of the drug kick in, chasing away the pain, she sighed in relief. It made her a little loopy, relaxing back against the bed in a useless kind of way, but she was so thankful to be free of the pain she’d felt constantly for a day, that it was worth it.And it was hard, so terribly hard, with how exhausted she was, and lonely and scared, but after that Gianna forced herself to sit up and keep going.In the other syringe she loaded a likely lethal dose of sedative. It was hard to tell though, even for a doctor, as Infinite employed various sized people. The dose she’d filled would kill someone like Donald, put someone like Clyde into a coma, and likely only knock out someone Hagrid’s size.She wasn’t looking to kill anyone, but if they sent Hagrid after her, Gianna couldn’t take the chance that a smaller dose would barely have any effect. Hagrid was strong, in
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 103: Karma? .When they locked her back in her room that night after the phone call, instead of taking her downstairs, it was absolutely clear to Gianna that they planned to use her as bait. They were going to dangle her out in front of Mariposa in the coming days and reduce her to mere fodder.Gianna, who cared more about Giovanni and Dante, and the rest of Mariposa, than anyone else in the world, was not willing to let that stand.She wasn’t just going to roll over and let things happen. Infinite had the advantage now, but Gianna was creative. She was creative, and above all else, she was desperate.So that night, using a pair of grooming sheers she found in the bathroom, she tore up the sheets on her bed. They were thick and of an extremely high quality, the kind of thread count that Gianna had grown up sleeping on. The best money could buy. But most importantly, it meant the material didn’t have much give. And she could wrap her ribs tightly an
Helping Mr. Gang Leader . Chapter 102: Gia is Mariposa now . “For Gia, right?” Giovanni asked, staring hard at Dante. “We’re going in for Gia, right?”And not for Maddox. The second half of the question was left off, but implied all the same.Rio said hotly, “If I come across that bastard, I’m going to take a shot.”“You’re not alone,” Ezekiel interjected.“Of course,” Dante said, voice going rough. “If any of us has the chance to end this by cutting the head off the snake, take the shot. But this is about getting Gia out. Leave Axel and his men to gun for Maddox. If we get Gia out, then we can hit Maddox later, on our own terms, and without him dangling someone we love over our heads.”Jovani leaned back, unease on his face, and said, “There’s one thing I’m really worried about.” He looked to Sal. “The cops.”“They could be a problem,” Sal agreed.“They will be a problem,” Jovani corrected. “They’re not just in Infinite’s pocket. They’re owned by Infinite. There isn’t a cop on th