Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 22: My name … my real name. It’s Ezekiel.. There was the oddest expression on Rio’s face when Gianna gave him one last look. It was unlike anything Gianna had seen from him before. She didn’t know what the look meant, or why she was getting it. But then there was the barest hint of a smile, and it was even more unsettling than the look before.Upon consideration, it wasn’t as if Gianna could deny that Rio didn’t have a very handsome smile when he let himself. The evidence was there, even if Rio seemed like he didn’t smile a lot. And Gianna thought Rio would be a lot more agreeable if he just smiled more.Eventually, Rio said, “Let me know when you’re ready to go and I’ll take you back to the clinic.”Gianna felt herself go pale. “On your motorcycle?”Now Rio just looked amused. “How else?”Assuredly, Gianna said, “I’ll just wait for Dante.”Rio bristled a little. “You’re too good to accept a ride from me?”“Maybe I’d be more interested in the idea
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 23: You’re special to me, Gia.“Ezekiel.”Gianna stopped. “Huh?”On the bed, Zeke finally detached himself from a sleeping Jovani and sat up slowly. “My name … my real name. It’s Ezekiel.”It meant something. It meant something utterly profound and important that Zeke was telling her what his actual name was. Because more and more Gianna was starting to understand why Mariposa went by the ridiculous, almost laughable names. Dante did it to protect his family. Ezekiel obviously did it to put a barrier between anyone who might hurt his friends and himself. Names were shields with Mariposa, and only the most trusted were let into the fold.Formally, Gianna bowed towards him. “It’s nice to properly meet you, Ezekiel.”“That’s Nurse Ezekiel.”“Of course,” Gianna said with a chuckle. “Take care of Jovani, okay? And call me for any reason if need be.”When Gianna was back out in the living room she was surprised to see that almost everyone was present,
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 24: you are like an empty can .Dante looked pained. “You’re special to me, Gia. If anything happened to you …”“Danger will always be there,” Gianna said knowingly. “And that’s just a part of the life we lead. But I can’t have you standing over me. I can’t have you so scared of that danger that you treat me like a child.”“And what should I do instead?” Dante asked, sounding desperate. “Wait until either of us slips up in the slightest? Wait until someone in Infinite gets a little too nosey and spots something out of the ordinary? I’m supposed to just trust that you won’t get snatched off the street and disappear?”“Dante--”“No,” the other man said quickly, “that is a very real possibility to us associating, and you want me to pretend like it isn’t there. You want me to think that nothing will happen if anyone draws a connection between us, and that’s not the truth. But if Rio is there, or Sal, and Infinite tries to make a move against you, they c
-Helping Mr. Gang Leader.Chapter 25: overprotectiveness . Gianna asked her brother, “So I take it you’re sufficiently plied with food, drink, and comfort?”Currently Giovanni was stretched out on Gianna’s bed, a can of soda on the nearby bedside table, a bag of chips mere inches away, and a mound of pillows behind him. From Gianna’s tiny kitchen the smell of something delicious, which would be Giovanni’s dinner in about a half hour, came drifting in.Giovanni flashed her a thumbs up. “You’re officially the best big sister ever.”From nearby Gianna reached for a bag of gummies, tossed it to him, and tried not look smug.“Seriously,” Giovanni said, “If this were an anime, I would have little hearts in my eyes right now. And I’d probably be calling you my love.”Gianna snorted, though she was secretly pleased, and she turned back to her wardrobe.It was the night of the gala and she’d been in an intense staring match with the dress she was supposed to wear for several minutes. Gian
.Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 26: An old friend, you say? .“He said that if any of Mariposa went around you, if they even just happened to pass by an area they knew you were in, they’d be out.”“Out?” Gianna echoed. “Out of what?”Giovanni’s eyebrows ran high on his forehead. “Out of the gang.”Gianna’s mouth went dry.“Has that ever happened before?”Silently, Giovanni shook his head.Once more Gianna said, “He’s trying to protect me. That means he isn’t learning. Because if he was, if he was paying attention at all, he’d know that I’m not the kind of person who’s delicate or in need of that. I need him to trust and believe in me, to take chances with me, and to be patient with our relationship. Not this.”Giovanni blew out a breath of air. “I think he thinks you’re delicate. He was asking me, you know. About your heart.”Gianna groaned. “That’s my fault.”Her condition wasn’t exactly anything she went around advertising. People who knew tended to either treat her as if she
Helping Mr. Gang Leader.Chapter 27: surprise surprise . Gianna blinked in surprise at the sight of her old friend rushing towards her.“Harold,” Gianna greeted him quickly, and then laughed when she was swept up into a tight hug. She regained her senses a second later and introduced, “Victoria, this is one of my oldest friends, Harold. We did our residencies at the same time and were close.”Harold, who’d always been such a free spirit that Gianna had envied him greatly, gave Victoria a bow and said, “I’m honored to meet you. Also, do you have a sister?”.“Victoria is a friend and a neurosurgeon,” Gianna said, clearing her throat. “She’s smarter than the both of us put together. Chew on that.”“Oh!” Harold bowed even more deeply than the first time.Victoria brushed the comments off. “I’m new to the city. Gianna was kind enough to invite me along to meet some of the doctors in the area.”Harold looked skeptical. “Gianna is about as social as a recluse.”Gianna rolled her eyes. “N
Helping Mr. Gang Leader.Chapter 28: I feel like Superman when I’m with you.“Actually,” A new voice cut in, deep and tentative, “I was hoping Gianna might want to come with me instead.”Gianna turned so quickly she got a little dizzy, and she could hardly believe that Dante was standing in front of her.Dante, looking dashingly handsome in his own suit, cufflinks shining under the florescent light, was looking over at her with a pinch of nervousness, but a whole lot of hopefulness. His hair was slicked back in a stylish, debonair way, and he looked like someone’s prince charming. God, and the smile, it was still the smile that was getting Gianna.“How … why …”. Gianna didn’t know where to start.“Hi,” Dante said, smiling a little. “You look nice.”“How did you know where I was?” Gianna asked, unable to concentrate on anything but Dante standing in front of him. “And how did you get in here?”.Dante put his hands in his pockets and said, “After your brother got done yelling at me f
Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 29: There is no cure for her heart condition . Gianna sighed contently as warm lips trailed across her bare shoulder, sparking all the nerve endings along the way.Because it was so early in the morning, and probably because Gianna had slept so well aided by Dante and alcohol, her reply came out a little rough and not unlike a rumble. She said, face half burred in a pillow, “I’m not normally this easy.”Dante, who was crowded up against her, smiled against Gianna’s smooth skin. “Trust me, there’s nothing easy about you.”Light was just starting to filter its way into the bedroom Dante called his own, and Gianna wasn’t looking forward to getting up and breaking the illusion of perfection they’d managed to achieve.But fondly she recalled the night before … or the early morning hours. They’d kissed and kissed until Dante was panting and Gianna’s lips hurt. Then Dante had brought them to his place, and Gianna, so lost in the overwhelming feelings she
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