Josh stared at Victor Gambino, his jaw tightly clenched.“So, it has been you all along,” he said, as if finally able to put the puzzle together, finally understanding who the mastermind behind everything that happened in the last few hours was. And clearly, it was the mafia man in front of him—the head of the Gambino family, if you will. “You deliberately led us all here.”Victor laughed, finally entering the warehouse, his shoes crunching the dirt beneath them.“You know, for someone who claims to be one of the most powerful men in the world, you’re both kinda dumb. But then again, maybe I was that good at putting up an act. I mean, my brother always said I had an acting streak that I could have pursued if not for our family being slaughtered like pigs by those Russians.”Josh glared.Victor turned to face Simon, who lay on the floor with his back against the wall, while Elena sat next to him, crying, tears streaming down her face, her hands pressing the bullet wound, trying to stop
Gambino looked at Josh as if he had been punched in the gut. His eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth curled into a menacing snarl. He charged at Josh and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.“Tell me that’s a big-ass joke!”“It isn’t.”“No!” Victor pushed Josh hard and growled. “No. No, no, no, no. You’re kidding. You’re screwing with me, aren’t you?” He paced in front of him, running a hand through his hair. Once. Twice. Thrice. Then, he stopped and turned to face Josh once again. He pulled the gun and planted it right between Josh’s eyes. “Tell me the truth, or I’ll shoot the fuck out of you right fucking now.”“I don’t know what you want me to say.”“Just—just tell me the system exists, and everything you said just now is a fucking joke. Come on, say it. Or I shoot you. Right now. Say it!”“Well, if that’s what you want me to say….”“No!” Victor yelled again, clearly losing it. “You—you—” his gaze fell on Elena, and he pointed the gun at her instead, knowing she was the weakness of
It all happened so fast, Victor and his men didn’t know what hit them, and it wasn’t long before one by one, all his henchmen started to fall like dominoes.When the last of his men dropped to the floor, Victor scanned all around him, trying to understand what the fuck was going on, how the hell all his men were on the floor and dead. But when the doors of the warehouse burst open and armed men entered, guns drawn, he realized his biggest mistake.He had been so focused on winning, on making Josh admit to his lies and admit the system was still intact, he had forgotten the one most important thing that made the world go around.The High Table.“Shit.”In seconds, Victor was surrounded by them, the sound of the safety of their guns being flicked off the only warning he had. He didn’t move, knowing there was no escape now, knowing that his days were finally up.“Put your hands up.”And he did just that, slowly raising them to his shoulder-height as the blood of his shattered hand drippe
When Simon finally opened his eyes, he knew he wasn’t alone.Blinking up to push the dizziness aside, he turned his head to glance over to his left.As he had already guessed, Elena sat in the chair next to his bed, her head down, her fingers laced with his.A soft smile broke across his lips. His thumb caressed the back of her hand, his heart at peace seeing that she was doing much better than the last time he remembered.“Elena,” he spoke softly, gently, and with so much love that his own eyes prickled a little. “Wake up, darling, or you’ll hurt your back like that.”She stirred awake, and as soon as her gaze found his, she sat up, a look of utter relief washing over her face. Her hand left him and cradled his cheek instead.“You’re awake!”“Yes, I am.” “I was so worried.” She was on the verge of tears again. “The surgery was over, but they told me you’d be out for a while. But it’s been hours already! And you were still sleeping! I thought— I was so—”“Hey.” Simon cupped her face, s
Simon didn’t know what to say.He wasn’t even sure if he heard her right.Did she say what he thought he heard?Did she just—“Simon?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly as she searched his face for any sign of pain or discomfort. Her hand cupped his face gently, her thumb brushing against his cheek in a tender caress. “Are you still here? Are you okay?”“I’m fine,” he mumbled, though the confusion in his eyes was evident. His brow furrowed as he tried to piece together the fragments of his memory. “Can you maybe repeat what you just said? I think I might have misheard you.”Elena scoffed softly and rolled her eyes, a hint of amusement in her expression. Simon stared at her, bewildered. He didn’t understand why she was reacting this way; he was being absolutely serious.“I’m pregnant.”There it was again. She had said it clearly, and he hadn’t misheard her. That’s exactly what she had said. He felt like his mind was reeling, trying to catch up with the magnitude of those words.“
Ouch!” Elena gasped as the nurse applied medicine to her wounds before changing the bandage.The nurse glared, but mostly because her patient deserved it. “I did tell you to take better care of yourself, but you just don’t listen, do you? Every time I come to change your bandage, I find your room empty. Is this how you plan to get well, huh? Because if that’s the case, it’s only going to take more time than you’re already going through right now, and I have the feeling you’re not enjoying it one bit, are you?”Elena just lowered her gaze, ashamed and guilty. She knew she wasn’t a model patient, but what else could she have done? Simon hadn’t gained consciousness for hours, and she couldn’t just lie down here and do nothing. She was going out of her mind thinking about what was happening outside. So, she did the one thing she thought would give her the kind of peace she needed at that moment. She visited him whenever she could, but yes, she might have neglected her own injuries while s
“Mom!”Diana looked up from the book she was reading and couldn’t help but smile when she found her daughter standing at the door.“Oh my God, Carmen! How did you—? When did you—?”Carmen, a woman in her mid-thirties, rushed inside and hugged the older woman.“I can’t believe you got yourself in trouble again,” Carmen scolded, pulling away. “And for whom? That…monster?!”“Carmen!”“No!” Carmen shook her head. “I’m not going to listen to anything you’re saying. You always asked me not to question your weird relationship with Simon, and I didn’t. But this has gone too far. You got hurt because of him, for God’s sake! This is unacceptable.”Diana shook her head, cupping her daughter’s face. “I’m absolutely fine, sweetheart. See?” She pulled away and hoped her daughter could see how great she was. Sure, her head hurt a bit, and there was weakness every time she tried to stand on her own, but that was it. She was sure it was only temporary. “A few days of complete rest and I’ll be fit as a
Elena stepped further inside. Ever since she had asked the question about what Simon had done, Diana and her daughter had been eerily quiet. It kind of frustrated her a little, but she wasn’t going to express it, mostly because she still wanted to know what was going on. She wanted to know what they were talking about and what Simon had done to make this young woman so damn angry.Diana spoke first after a while. “It’s nothing that you need to worry about—”“Are you sure about that?” Carmen chipped in, mostly under her breath, but because she was standing closer to Elena, Elena heard it all.She turned to look at the young woman in front of her. She could tell from the striking resemblances in their faces that they were related. Because Diana had talked about her family members while they shopped for wedding stuff, Elena had a good guess about whom she was talking to.“You’re Diana’s daughter, aren’t you? Carmen, if I remember correctly?”Carmen nodded sternly. “Yes. Carmen it is. You