Redemption

chapter 9

Dante's expression fell immediately when he saw a red laser light dot appear on Rose's forehead. She was obviously not aware of what was happening. As a reflex, he snaked his arm through her waist and pulled her away from the spot to his chest. Almost that instant a bullet went off and Rose screamed at the sudden fire. She was surprised at what just happened and looked baffled when she saw the bullet that was now stuck in the middle of the same wall she was standing in front of, not seconds ago.

Almost instantly many gun fires were heard and Dante immediately pulled Rose behind a pillar all the while shielding her body. There was panic in the hall and people started screaming as they heard the gunshots. He pulled out a gun from his waist band before slipping it into Rose's hand.
"Use this if necessary," Rose nodded. It was not the first time she was holding a gun. Her father had trained her and her sister well for situations like these. Dante was about to leave her to deal with the bastards who caused it when Rose suddenly grabbed onto his arm.

"Wait! You'll be unarmed then," she panicked in worry. Dante caressed Rose's cheek lightly, happy to know that she cared.

"Trust me angel, I'm never unarmed," with that he left. Rose only hoped he was not joking.
She was hiding in her spot when her eyes moved towards the dance floor. There lying in the middle of the floor was the crystal chandelier, the one that was hanging right above her sister when she was dancing with the other man. It was now shattered into a million pieces with its glass scattered on the floor. Rose immediately understood. Whoever was doing this had planned to get rid of her sister and herself. And this was a warning. But why would anyone want that?

Lily was not scared of the situation since this was not the first time she was in it. However she was scared for her father and her sister. However, she knew they could take care of themselves.

After Vincenzo had pulled her out of the way just when the chandelier was about to crash, he took out his gun and told Lily to not come out in the open until he told her to. He then pushed her behind one of the tables and went to deal with the situation.

But Lily was not the one to be told what to do. She was her own master. She got out from her hiding and frantically searched for Rose. She was relieved to find her standing behind a pillar with a gun in her hand. Where did she get the gun from? Lily wondered.

Exactly at that moment Rose's eyes found Lily's and they widened. She immediately pointed a gun in Lily's direction and pulled the trigger. Lily acted within seconds and moved out of the way knowing what it was. When she turned to look behind her, a man was lying on the floor with a dagger in his hand and fresh blood oozing out of his forehead.
Perfect aim, Lily nodded impressed by her sister's aim. Rose smirked.

Lily took the dagger from the man's hand and slowly moved towards the main area where all the fighting was going on. But it was already over by the time she reached the scene. Great! Just when I was about to get into character! She thought. She saw a bunch of men lying on the ground, lathered in blood. There were also bullets scattered around every here. She couldn't lie the sight was gruesome but nothing she hadn't seen before. She saw her father talking to Vincenzo along with the other handsome man. He had some blood over his white shirt and Lily immediately frowned in concern. But then she figured it was not his blood looking at the pocket knife in his hand also coated with blood. Probably one of the men's who is dead now.

The situation had made James even more worried about the safety of his daughters. After he took care of those men alongside with Vincenzo and Dante, he looked around the room for his girls when Vincenzo and Dante assured him they were fine.
"It's already happening," Vincenzo pointed out. James nodded knowing what he was saying. But the only thing playing in his mind was how to keep his daughters out of all this. How could he possibly take care of them when they were the main target in this situation, and if not for the boys standing in front of him, he wasn't even sure if he would have had the chance to see his daughters again.

"I know what you are worried about James. It's written all over your face." Vincenzo pointed out. "Don't worry; your daughters are now our responsibility. We will not let any harm come to them." He finished giving a determined look along with Dante. James understood where this all was leading to.

Lily and Rose joined them shortly after making sure there was no more threat. Their father hugged them instantly. "Are you both alright?" He asked roaming his eyes over their figures searching for any possible injuries. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw none. The girls nodded in response.
"What was all this about?" Rose asked warily.
"I'll explain everything later. For now I want you both to go with them," James pointing towards Vincenzo and Dante.
"What about you?" Lily questioned frowning in worry.
"I have a few things to take care of here. My men will be joining me shortly so you don't have to worry about me," James replied knowing his daughter was obviously worried about him. But he knew he had to investigate the situation and check all these men that were lying dead on the floor. At least someone would give them a lead.
"Why can't we go back to our house?" Rose pointed.
"I can't have you unguarded even for a second now. It's not safe since I won't be there. They will keep you far from danger." James could not let them know that he got a call from one of their house guards informing him about the attack on their house. Rose sighed before nodding in understanding. She knew she and her sister were very much capable of taking care of themselves but their father won't listen to anything for now.

Vincenzo knew he had to do something soon as their enemy knew of the girls and would use them as a weakness at every chance they get.

They were on their way back to the De Connor mansion with Lily in the passenger seat and Vincenzo driving. The silent was sharp when Vincenzo finally decided to start a conversation, keeping his eyes trained on the road.
"You are not hurt anywhere are you?"

"Of course not. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle." Lily sassed.
Her phone rang and she picked it up.
"Lily here! How may I help you?" She spoke as if nothing happened a few minutes ago.
"Don't you remember me baby girl?" A manly voice spoke from the other side of the phone.
"Ugh! Not you again," Lily mumbled rolling her eyes. "Listen Adam," this had Vincenzo's head whipping in Lily's direction for a fraction of second with a frown on his face. Why was she talking to this man? Was he her boyfriend or something? The thought did not settle well with him and his grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"It's Nathan." The man replied.
"Umm yeah, sorry Nathan. It was a one-time thing. I'm not interested plus where did you even get my phone number?" The man had been worrying Lily for a month now. She regretted sleeping with him. It's not like she was a slut. But a woman got her needs too. She only did it once in a while.

"Wait! I don't care where you got my number from. Just don't call me next time. Bye!" with that she blocked the number but knew he would call her soon from another number, just how he did now.

"Who was that?" Vincenzo asked trying to compose himself.
"Oh nothing just a one night stand," Lily dismissed as it meant nothing. For her it obviously meant nothing more than a one night stand but for Vincenzo.....he did not like the idea of other men had a chance to look at her before him. That thought bothered him and for some reason he even got irritated as to why was this bothering him so much. It wasn't like he hadn't been with girls before. He had his fair share, so it only made sense if she did too. After all who wouldn't be attracted to this beauty? But why did it bother him so much?
He tried to calm down. Tried. But he desperately wanted to know more about these boys who've been with her.
"So who are you dating right now?" He asked trying to be casual.
"I don't date. Well not after all my experiences with my ex-boyfriends ended up in a disaster." Lily scoffed.
This got Vincenzo's attention. "Why what happened?"
"Well my first boyfriend was a pussy cat and ran off when he heard my family was in the mafia business. The second was just after the money. The third one was actually the one I liked the most. I thought we had something special at least."

Vincenzo pondered over what she had said. She liked him! Did she love him? Not now Vincenzo! Get over it!
"What happened to him?" He asked wanting to know why he left.
"He joined the military and we decided to call it off."
Vincenzo prayed for him to be dead now if he was in the military. But even then why did he call it off if he joined the military. They could still be together. Strange, he thought but decided it was good for him that they did.
"Oh and the last one was just a fling, well kind of... He was a pushover so I dumped him. That's all." Lily finished looking out of the window.
Vincenzo nodded. He wanted to find all these men and personally have a small chat with them.