Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 79: assemble .“Stetson survived too,” Giovanni threw in. “We’ll just have to console ourselves with that broken arm he has.”Gianna gave a slow nod, but she couldn’t help saying, “Of all the people who I came into contact with, Stetson wasn’t cruel. He didn’t hurt me.”Looking irritated, Rio snapped, “How many times do we have to tell you how dangerous these people are?”“Oh, please,” Gianna returned immediately, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been dealing with Infinite for quite a while now. I know exactly how dangerous they are. Don’t infer that I’m a child who’s incapable of comprehending the very notion.”“Then you should,” Rio said, his voice rising, “stop acting like we can give any kind of leeway or sympathy to these people.”“Rio,” Dante warned, looking prickly.Rio spun on him. “What? I’m supposed to just sit here and listen to this stupidity? Gia wants to make friends with Stetson, when we all know the truth of the matter is that if Maddox or Cl
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 80: how open are your eyes.When she was finished, still towel drying her hair but having changed into fresh clothes that felt great, she emerged into a fully clean-living room and all of Mariposa assembled once more.Plus, another guest.“This is Charles,” Dante introduced right away, gesturing to a man that stood and bowed to Gianna. “He’s going to take you back to the clinic and check things out to make sure it’s okay before she leaves.”Gianna returned the bow, her dirty clothes tucked into the bag she’d taken the clean ones out of. “Okay,” She said easily enough. “I think I’m ready to go, then.”“I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to see you,” Dante said when they were able to steal away for just a brief second to the bedroom as the rest of Mariposa and Charles conversed in the living room. His hands caught at Gianna’s waist like they often did and he hugged her close.“You can still call,” Gianna laughed, kissing Dante’s mouth. “If I’m no
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 81: a fool in love. .Gianna had to ask, “How did you know to call my brother? Why not just call the police? And exactly just how open are your eyes?”Angelo scoffed. “The police. There’s a reason we call them incompetent and untrustworthy.”Gianna gave a reluctant but agreed nod, just in time for Angelo to speak again.Angelo was telling her kindly, “I know the major players around here, Gianna. I may not make that protection payment ever month that you do to Infinite, but I make a point to understand where the power is around here.” Angelo pursed his lips for a moment, clearly debating something internally, before he offered up, “I almost got sucked in, you know.”“Sucked in?” Gianna asked with a frown.“Sucked in,” Angelo repeated. “I had a couple of friends growing up—good guys, I swear to you, in the grand scheme of thing. Jordan … he was … he was something special to me. He could have been everything to me. He and the others and my other frien
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 82: if you were in my shoes .With both Rhiannon and Rihanna sitting in front of her, Gianna was almost dumbfounded by how much alike they looked. She and Giovanni shared a great deal of similar facial features, but Rhiannon and Rihanna even more so. They also seemed to share a lot of the same mannerisms, though Rhiannon was definitely more outspoken, and Rihanna was far more reserved, watching her with an assessing gaze.But Gianna liked them. She liked them a lot and she thought they’d be a great addition to the clinic, especially in light of Victoria’s departure in the new year. The simple truth was that patients, especially younger ones, tended to be more candid, more honest, and more comfortable with female doctors. Not to mention more than once several of Gianna’s female patients had requested a female doctor for more sensitive examinations, and Gianna had felt like she was letting them down with being unable to provide.Rhiannon and Rihann
.Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 83: everything I’m worth, is yours.Across from her, her father had thin, pale fingers wrapped around his tea cup in an almost desperate way. And it was a lengthy pause before he told Gianna, “This world is a cruel, hard place, Gia. The world outside these walls is unflinching and certainly unforgiving. Your brother is too easy in his nature, and you?”“Me?” Gianna prompted.Her father answered bluntly, “You’re too kind. If I don’t push the two of you, the world will eat you up.”“That’s not fair,” Gianna argued back, amazed at what kind of conversation they were having. They almost never talked candidly like they were now. “Giovanni and I are our own people, and we should be just the way we are, without you feeling like you have to fix something in us. I agree, the world is mean and tough and terrible at times, but being easy going or kind isn’t a deficit. Being the way I am doesn’t mean I’m going to get torn apart by the real world, like you see
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 83: everyone eventually dies.“You’re my oldest surviving child,” the man said, making Gianna flinch. “Everything I have, everything I’m worth, is yours after I’m dead.”And her father, Gianna knew, was notoriously stingy. He spent money when there was someone to impress, but otherwise he hoarded his money close. If Gianna had to estimate, and she hated that she was at the moment, her father was worth a substantial amount. The apartment was paid for as well, and Gianna’s father own two luxury cars aside from the government issued one that he drove to work every day. Her father had properties in the states and in Europe, and possibly one in Japan, though Gianna wasn’t certain about that.If her father was serious about leaving her his wealth, Gianna was about to come into a significant amount.And she would use it for her clinic. There was no doubt. She would use it to expand and buy new equipment. She would use it to hire new staff and give bonuse
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 84: Words fell the wayside .Gianna knew she must have ruined her brother’s appetite.“He told me himself,” Gianna said, reaching for Giovanni. “He was diagnosed eighteen months ago, but prostate cancer is very aggressive and he said his treatments ended up being ineffective. There are still options, but frankly, it’s true that they’d probably end up doing more harm than good at this point. He’s in stage four, and he’s been officially classified as terminal.”Giovanni jerked away from her almost exaggeratedly, shouting, “Don’t touch me!”“I’m sorry,” Gianna, in pain herself to see her brother hurting so badly. “It’s the truth and I’m sorry.”“How long?” Giovanni asked, chin trembling. “How long does he have? If it’s terminal, if the treatment isn’t working, it can’t be long.”Gianna wanted to soften the blow, but there was simply no way to do it. “Dad told me three to four months. At best. I haven’t seen his scans, but that sound about right, for th
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 84: I just don’t love you in the way you love me.Gianna knew she must have ruined her brother’s appetite.“He told me himself,” Gianna said, reaching for Giovanni. “He was diagnosed eighteen months ago, but prostate cancer is very aggressive and he said his treatments ended up being ineffective. There are still options, but frankly, it’s true that they’d probably end up doing more harm than good at this point. He’s in stage four, and he’s been officially classified as terminal.”Giovanni jerked away from her almost exaggeratedly, shouting, “Don’t touch me!”“I’m sorry,” Gianna, in pain herself to see her brother hurting so badly. “It’s the truth and I’m sorry.”“How long?” Giovanni asked, chin trembling. “How long does he have? If it’s terminal, if the treatment isn’t working, it can’t be long.”Gianna wanted to soften the blow, but there was simply no way to do it. “Dad told me three to four months. At best. I haven’t seen his scans, but that soun
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