Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine 

Jamie

“Jamie, I think I know where he could be,” Ryan said looking at me warily.

“Well come on, let’s go then!” I say grabbing my shoes to put them on.

“Jamie you can’t come with me.” I look up at him with the harshest glare I could muster.

“He’s my brother Ryan! I am going!” He sighs rubbing his hand on his forehead.

“Jamie there’s something you don’t know about your brother. And before I tell you, just know he threatened to kill me if I did.” I don’t understand what the hell he is talking about right now. My eyes widen at him, what could he possibly be talking about? Josh wouldn’t kill anyone. He’s always had a temper but he was just a sixteen year old kid.

“Do you remember Marcellus? The guy that apparently saved you at the bar?” There is no apparently about it, he did save me, and there has not been a day where he hasn’t crossed my thoughts.

“Of course I remember him,'” I say. He narrows his eyes at me and then continues.

“Marcellus is a very dangerous man, my family has known his for years. A long time ago, my uncle had a thing with his dad’s sister. I won’t go into detail because we don’t have much time, but let’s just say his dad didn’t like it very much so he got rid of my uncle.” He’s talking crazy, and wasting my time, is he seriously suggesting that Marcel has a family of murders?

“What do you mean? Are you saying that he killed him? Who is to say that Marcellus is the same anyways? Seriously, what does any of this have to do with my brother? We should be out looking for him instead of standing here talking about nonsense!” I yell in frustration, holding my head in my hands.

“Your brother is working for Marcellus, and his family Jamie!” He yells. Alright, he is confusing me even more.

“Jamie, how could you be so blind?” he yells again, looking at my confused expression, and getting way too close.

“He is in the Italian Mafia Jamie! For fuck sakes! And he’s not just in the mafia, his father is the Italian Don!” I look at him in horror, my eyes going as wide as they possibly could go as I back away from him.

My brother joined the mafia… How could I have missed this? I sit down on my couch, not being able to stand due to the buckling in my knees.

I don’t even know what to say, Ryan is right. How could I be so blind? I was never cut out for this, I thought that I had lost control over Josh, but the truth is I never had control over him. Eliza is dead, and my brother is in the mafia, everything is falling apart. I saw Ryan out of the corner of my eye looking down at me with a sad expression. He walks over to me and kneels down putting his hands over mine.

“Jamie this isn’t your fault. I’m sorry I yelled, but if you really think that he is in trouble, I know where to find him. I deliver alcohol to the warehouse where his crew, or whatever you want to call them, usually hides out at. I don’t want you coming but I have a feeling that I can’t stop you.”

I pull my gaze towards him. I don’t have time to even think about any of this. I have to find him.

“Let’s go get my brother.”

Josh

I hide patiently in Roger’s dark office, barely even taking a breath, not wanting to risk anyone suspecting someone might be in here. My knives were strapped to every conspicuous place on my body, while I held my gun ready to hold to Damon’s head.

Roger has a meeting with him tonight, he is the only way I will be able to lure Marcellus here. My plan is to threaten him to call Marcellus, and say whatever he needs to say to get him to come here.

It’s not a very good idea.

I’m pretty sure Damon will come into the office alone without any of his men, which is what I am counting on. If he doesn’t, I will be in a lot of trouble. Not that I expect to come out of this alive anyway

I hear the door knob starting to rattle, and some muffled voices outside, until the door is opened wide, and the lights are flicked on. My hiding spot is in the small closet caddy corner from Roger’s desk. Now the only thing I have to do is wait for the right moment to strike to make myself known. I hear footsteps walk in, along with Roger’s raspy voice.

“Our warehouse isn’t the one being attacked, they wouldn’t dare attack us Damon.”

“Don’t you get it? All of us our suspects here Roger! Even me, and I won’t hesitate to kill everyone in this territory if it’s what I have to do. There is a rat somewhere, and Marcel holds me responsible, so that means I hold you responsible Roger. Got it? If I don’t start seeing results I won’t hesitate to replace you.”

“Good luck finding someone that makes this family money like I do,” Roger responds. Damon can technically kill him for that but he won’t because he knows he’s right. Damon has honestly proven to me that he is nothing but a coward with a silver tongue, which is the only reason he became an underboss. I am surprised that someone like Marcellus tolerates him.

“Remember who you are talking to you old fool, I won’t hesitate to kill you.” I guess now is as good as time as any. I slam open the door with my gun pointing to Damon’s head.

“Josh, what on earth are you...”

“Shut up Roger, and don’t bother grabbing your gun, I already removed it from your desk,” I say, not even sparing him a glance. My eyes stay fully locked on Damon.

“Don’t make one move Damon, keep your hands in the air.” I walk over to him cautiously, patting him down for any weapons, I find some knives strapped to his legs, and two guns in their holsters at his sides. I quickly remove them and throw them in the corner. Roger still sat there looking extremely confused, and pissed off. 

“What the fuck is going on Roger? Who the hell is this kid?” Damon yells incredulously. Roger doesn’t answer, and neither do I.

“Damon, I need you to call Capo, and tell him there has been an emergency, and that he must come here. Say whatever it takes for him to think it’s important enough that his presence is needed, but if you don’t comply I will blow your brains out, and trust me, I don’t care what will happen to me afterwards,” I tell him through gritted teeth, I’m honestly terrified but I think I’m pretty good at hiding it. 

I squeeze my hand on the trigger, losing my patience as he just stands there with a daring smirk on his face.

Damon is what women would call handsome with his platinum blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and lean, muscular frame. His facial structure is very defined, but there is something dark, something off about the look in his eyes, even if he is a killer, it’s like there is something else there that I can’t quite put my finger on.

“I’m waiting, Damon, my finger is getting really trigger happy. I would hurry if I were you,” a knife is pressed into my neck before I could get my own threatening words out.

“I told you Josh, I can’t protect you from them. You have made a huge mistake, you will die for this. And no one! I mean no one points a damn gun at me!” Roger says with the knife pressed to my throat. “Drop the gun now,'” he orders. 

“You just admitted I will die anyway, maybe I should kill Damon before you get the chance,” I reply, still pointing the gun in his direction. He has the most disgusting smirk on his face, as if he is enjoying this.

“Whether you kill him or not Josh, your death won’t happen today, you will die a slow and painful one, the Giodanos would want it that way.” Flashes of my sister spread through my mind like a movie, I didn’t even warn her what could be coming her way, she can’t even run! What was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking at all!

When I didn’t say anything, Roger interrupted my deep thought.

“Why didn’t you listen to me Josh? I tried to warn you to leave well enough alone. Put the gun down now, or I will call someone to go and get your sister right now, and I will kill her myself!” he says pressing the knife further into my neck.

I close my eyes tight, not even wanting to look at my defeat… my failure. I finally release the gun, and drop to my knees, not even caring what happens next. Grief, and fear blinded me, and now my sister will pay the price for my mistakes. I have failed her worse than I could possibly imagine. The sound of footsteps get closer to me until finally I feel the hot breath of Damian in my face.

“Roger was bragging about you, said you were wise beyond your years, and strong like a grown man. But you are not a man are you? You’re just a pathetic little boy that thought he could play with the big boys.” I open my eyes to look him back when those words are spoken down to me as if I am the dirt beneath his shoe.

“If it just so happens I make it out of this, I will remember your face, and those words, and I will cut them out of you with every single knife I own,” I told him, looking at him in a way that only a cold blooded maniac could. 

And then abruptly the door burst open, and who stands there is the last person I thought would be there or wanted to see.

Jamie

We pull into a gravelly driveway, hearing the crackling of the rocks beneath the tread of the tires, an old rusty fence surrounds the entire premises, while long grass overgrows all around the building. It looks dark, dirty, and like it hasn’t even been touched or looked at in a millennia. 

We park the car as close as we can, and start approaching the light brown, bricked structure before us. It is beautiful in an old, historical kind of way. 

We walk up to a steel metal door, with a code on the door to unlock it. Ryan punches in the code and the door clicks.

We walk in to find a tall, very large man with grey hair, and casual clothing sitting in front of yet another door. He is reading a book titled, ‘Till We Meet Again.’ I laughed silently to myself at the ridiculous irony of the situation.

You really can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

“I’m just here to go check your guy’s stock in the bar,” Josh explains to the large man.

“Who is the girl? You know we don’t let strangers in here,” he tells Josh.

“She’s not just any stranger, this is Josh’s sister.” Ryan is doing a wonderful job of knowing exactly what to say. The guy looks back at him, and back at me, and then waves us in without another word.

That was way easier than it should have been.

We walk into a large room with a bar area, and TV area with a couple of guys standing around playing bar games. There is even a kitchen that has all stainless steel appliances. Needless to say you would never know that it’s this nice inside, which is probably their tactic.

There are a couple of different doors and elevators that seem to lead to other parts of the building, but the ones that seem to catch my eye the most are a group of finely dressed men all smoking cigarettes standing around as if they are guarding it.

They seem to be laughing, cracking jokes at each other as if they don’t have a care in the world.

“That’s Roger’s office, he would know where Josh is if anyone does,” he says pointing at the same door I’ve noticed.

A couple people at the bar take notice of us, and are giving us weary stares.

“Will they let us in?” I ask him.

“They should,” he automatically starts walking towards the group of men, I follow quietly behind him. When we finally approach them, they are all aware of us now, immediately changing their careless demeanor. One of them promptly places his hand on his gun as if preparing to shoot if need be.

“Who the hell let you two in here?” one of them says in a demanding tone.

“This is Josh’s sister, she just came along with me. I’m here to go over with Roger what needs to be done about more stock for the bar,” Ryan says confidently.

“You will have to wait, he’s in a meeting, besides I don’t even know who Josh is,” he replies with what sounded like an Italian accent, as if knowing that name would be beneath him.

I give him a glare, daring him to touch me as I try to storm through the group of men shoving them, and  not giving even the slightest thought that they all have loaded guns on them. The man grabs me by the arm in an unyielding grip, that makes me wince.

“Who do you think you are little girl,” he says menacingly. “How about you wait patiently, until the meeting is over huh?” he practically growls at me. 

“Get your hands off of her!” Ryan yells. Another one of the men took his gun and whips it on the side of his head knocking him out cold, to where he lay limp on the floor.

“Ryan!” I cry.

The man then takes both of my arms in his tight grip, I can feel the imprints of his fingers digging in my arm. I don’t care about the pain, I can only feel the frustration of not being strong enough to get away from him.

“On second thought, I think the boss would love to meet you,” the man proclaims with a sickly smile. As the man drags me through the entrance, I take notice of Jordan, looking at me with a horrified expression, until he slowly disappears as the door closes behind us.

The man whips me around, pulling a gun to my head while holding me tight in his arms. I see two men standing there looking down at what is my little brother on his knees looking the most defeated I have ever seen him as he stares back at my presence in disbelief.

“Jamie…” he says standing up.

“Please… don’t hurt her… I will do anything,” he begs. I have never heard him sound so desperate in my life. The man standing closest to us looks at me with an even more devilish, sickly grin, while the other closes his eyes, and shakes his head, as if we are a bunch of school children getting into trouble.

“Well this must be the sister Roger. Boy did I not realize how much fun tonight was going to be, especially with such a pretty specimen,” he said walking up to me, running his hand down my chest, and up towards my mouth.

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” Josh roars, pointing his finger in my direction.

“Look, she has nothing to do with this, you want me, here I am. Just leave her alone, she knows nothing about any of this.” I already know Josh’s pleads are useless, I feel it in my gut.

“Oh but Josh… Marcellus, I’m sure, would gladly take this beautiful young woman in exchange for your life, he would take good care of her too,” he says in a mocking tone.

His life?

They were going to kill him… there is no way that I will let my brother die for me!

Besides, Marcellus will not let them do this, he will send me back! Maybe he will forgive my brother for whatever he has done if I could just talk to him, maybe he will let us both go! He saved me once, why wouldn’t he do it again?

“If you guys touch my sister, Marcellus will kill you,” the anger in his voice radiates throughout the room. The man who keeps speaking, his expressions on his face give me a creepy feeling, as if this was all a game to him, and he loves to win.

I don’t know why Josh would say something like that but I have a feeling that there is something that I don’t know.

“Just take me!” I manage to blurt out.

“I will go willingly, just forgive my brother for whatever he has done.” I can not let him  risk his life for me, no matter the price I have to pay. Josh is in this position because of me, I am the reason everything has gone wrong.

The man that radiates insanity starts to laugh hysterically at my proposal.

“No! Jamie! Leave her alone or I swear I will-!” The man interrupts him as if he is nothing but a speck on a wall. 

“Roger what do you think? I mean I know I wouldn’t mind playing with her, she is beautiful, would go for millions if we were to sell her. I wouldn’t mind letting this sorry excuse go, for a beauty like this one.” Roger stands there blank faced, as if he is trying to hold himself back, he has his arms crossed over his chest almost too tightly.

“I think you need to stop playing this sick little game of yours, and call Marcellus to see what he wants to do,” Roger exclaims in a harsh tone.

“Naah, I want it to be a surprise, boys knock this mother fucker out and dump him somewhere,” they all saunter toward my brother, as he starts screaming bloody murderer, the look on his face is filled with so much hate, I can’t even recognize him.

“Please don’t hurt him!” I plead.

“Jamie, look away,” Josh says urgently. All of the men except for the one holding me in place start beating my brother to a bloody pulp. I cry, scream, and wail for them to stop but they wouldn’t stop, they just kept going like raged animals. Kicking him in the stomach, the other punching him in the face, another focusing on his ribs which I know are already broken. It’s the sickest thing I’ve ever seen, but I can’t look away.

I deserve to suffer as my brother suffers.

After what feels like forever, his body goes limp, and all the men start backing away, all I can see is my brother’s blood covered face... he looks dead, it feels like there is no way he could be alive looking so still, and bloodied.

No matter how many sobs, and cries I make there is no saving my baby brother this time.

I am so consumed with the sight before me I don’t even see a sudden white cloth brought to my mouth, I try to hold my breath for as long as I can, but eventually everything goes black.