"Beyond a doubt truth bears the same relation to falsehood as light to darkness." Vinci
Tom knew what he had to do then.
He rose from his seat silently as slowly, not even giving attention to the other people in the room who stared at him. All of them worried about what his next step would be. Harrison knew Tom wasn't one to act on impulse and when he did - it wasn't pretty. Harrison was angry and disgusted by John Sinclair. He couldn't believe a man had a daughter and treated her that way.
Alexie hated how they spoke like she wasn't there. She hated how they belittled her. She hated how her own father, the one man who was supposed to love and support her, was so willing to screw her whole life up for his own benefit. She couldn't believe her life had come to this, mobs and lies. Before Tom could do anything, Alexie grabbed his wrist and tugged on it.
Surprised, Tom stopped his movements and turned to her. She felt all eyes on her, but she couldn't bring herself to care anymore. It had gone too far. She got up and walked confidently around the table, stopping right next to John who made a point to not look directly at her. Ryan was on edge, ready to react if she took it a step too far.
Harrison kept his eyes on Ryan, noticing how much he watched Alexie. Tom, on the other hand, kept his eyes on John - who stared right back at him. They were all concentrated on each other, too much to notice Alexie smoothly grabbing John's gun from the table.
All eyes turned to her as she examined the gun, none of them expected her to touch the thing- not even John who finally looked ay her.
"All my life you played me like a fucking puppet." She toyed with the gun, trying it out in front of her but never actually pointing it at anyone. "But you know what, John? I'm done letting you control me and my life." Alexie pointed the gun at him and Tom's eyes widened as she took off the safety. Her finger hovered over the trigger but she didn't get to even press against it before John threw himself at her. She fell backwards as he knocked the gun out of her hand and slid it backwards.
Without thinking twice, Tom and Harrison sprung on their feet but apparently not fast enough. John's fist repeatedly hit Alexie's side and face before Tom even got to him. As soon as she saw Tom by their side, she used all of her strength to kick him off of her and with Tom's help it worked. Tom hit him square in the face, not holding back this time. Though he didn't notice Ryan with the gun in his hand, and he didn't notice it until it was planted on the back of his head.
Tom instantly rose up, holding his hands up in the air. Harrison had pulled out his gun as well, pointing it directly at Ryan. Though it was impossible for him to get a good shot because Ryan held Tom in a way that any bullet would hurt Tom as well. What they missed during the whole commotion was the two men who walked in, with guns, ready to grab anyone in their way.
Turns out that person was, Alexie. The taller and stronger man held her close to her chest by the throat - a gun to her head as he choked her slightly. The girl coughed, trying to catch her breath as much as she could. Tom mentally pleaded for Harrison to react and save the girl- but he knew better. He knew Harrison would never risk getting Tom hurt and he knew Ryan would shoot the fuck out of him if something were to happen to Alexie.
"Let go of her." Tom growled, ignoring the guns pointed at him as soon as he opened his mouth. The man didn't move from behind her and it made Tom's blood boil. "Let fucking go of her."
"Knock 'em out." Was the last words they heard before guns hit their heads.
-
Tom woke up, his head feeling like it had been stepped on way too many times. He groaned as soon as his eyes slightly opened. Tom's breathing quickened when he remembered what happened, yet his head hurt to much for him to actually force his eyes open. He heard movements from besides him, along with a groan. It was Harrison.
"What the fuck happened?" Harrison managed to get out as Tom still worked on pushing through the headache. "Tom?" He pushed, opening his eyes to see Tom looking pretty damn hurt. He had a gush right over his eyebrow as blood ran down his face. No wonder he had trouble waking up.
"I don't fucking know." Tom groaned, finally managing to open his eyes without hurting himself too much. He tried moving, but discovered his hands and whole body was tied to the chair he was messily sat on. "Fucking hell, this couldn't be easy."
"I tol-"
"Don't say it." Tom hurried out, tugging on his wrists as he tried to set himself free. He groaned loudly, quickly getting pissed. "I still didn't expect to get a damn concussion."
"Stop doing that," Harrison mumbled, gesturing to Tom's wrists with his chin, "It's useless. I've been trying for the past hour."
"Well I've got to do something. They got her." Tom spoke back, tugging harder on his wrists. As he was inevitably cutting his wrists with the plastic they were tied together with, the door of the dark room opened up.
John walked in with a smirk plastered on his face. The simple sight made Tom's blood boil and all he wanted was to hit the man all over again. Tom was mad. He thought he had it all under control and it went downhill so fast - faster than Tom imagined. The man regretted letting Alexie pull him back like that - it gave John a chance to learn his one weakness and it pulled his guard down when it should've been all the way up. That's what happens when you don't follow a plan.
"How's the head going, Tom?" John taunted Tom for the hundredth time in only a few hours, making him want to roll his eyes and hopefully get then stuck backwards. But that obviously wouldn't happen - unfortunately.
"Where's Alexie?" Tom asked, expecting a truthful answer right away. Which was exactly what he got but not quite in the way he expected.
Ryan practically dragged the girl inside the room. She was gagged, a little blood running from her nose as her clothes looked a little wrinkled and slightly bloody. It thankfully didn't look like it was hers, it was more like someone wiped their hands down on her clothes and got blood all over it. But what truly alarmed him was the look in her eye - pure fear. He had never seen her so scared, not even when he kidnapped her or when the explosion occurred. Her chest heaved up and down heavily and quickly as she breathed through her nose, almost hyperventilating herself.
Tom wanted nothing more than to reassure her and make it all better so her wide eyes and trembling body could finally rest - but he had to figure something out with Sinclair. It was his only way out.
Ryan pushed her forward so she'd fall to her knees, obviously hurting her in the process as he held her by the hair - smirking at Tom like he was proud of the way he held her. "Don't hurt her." Tom spoke through his gritted teeth, subtly messing with his wrists in hopes to set himself free at some point - preferably very soon.
"Listen, Tom. All you gotta do is agree to our terms and all of this is over. You do whatever the fuck you wanna do afterwards - the girl's mine anyway." John spoke up, shrugging his shoulders as he watched Ryan holding her close to him. "Well- his." He corrected himself, patting Alexie's hair like she was a fucking dog - insulting both her and Tom.
"You're fucking delusional if you think I'll even consider your dumb ass offer. She's not handing over her first born to you - boy or girl." Tom spat, leaning forward in his chair - well as much as he could manage to anyway. John's smile only grew at this, worrying Tom.
"You know, that's not actually up to you anymore, Tom." John smirked, glancing at Ryan who pulled on Alexie's hair so she'd look at Ryan instead of looking at Tom. "Alexina can make her own decisions. I was just asking you to be polite."
"She doesn't owe you shit." Tom scoffed, keeping his eyes on the woman he tried so hard to protect. At this point he knew it was useless to hide the fact that he cared about her - John saw right through it anyway.
John tsked at Tom, shaking his head at him with the smirk never leaving his face. "It's too late now, I've come to new terms of agreements. Give me your mob and I'll leave her alone." John changed it all, Tom's heart skipping a beat as he heard the new suggestion.
He couldn't help but admit it was tempting. Tom did consider wanting a normal life out of it all, maybe that was his chance? His chance to give it all up and move on with his life - give Harrison a chance to move on as well.
But at the same time, he couldn't imagine handing over so much power to a man like John- who clearly wouldn't use it for good. Plus, he betrayed him so many times that he had no way to know for sure if he really would hold onto his part of the deal.
"How am I supposed to know that I can trust you on this? That you won't just stab me in the back as soon as you can." Tom bargained, surprising both Alexie and Harrison. They both didn't think he'd even consider it. John was also surprised, he never thought the man would give it up so easily - not even for a woman.
"You can't know for sure. But you know I am a man that strives off power, son. If you gave it all to me, I would never forget it." John took a step forward and reached out to untie Tom's hands and feet as someone else worked on Harrison's. Tom's best friend looked at him with wide eyes and a frown on his face. Tom was doing this out of anger, fear and exhaustion. Harrison knew that deep down Tom hated this life, the power and everything that came with it. He had a bright future before he was handed over the mob and he had to give it all up. But he felt like the bright woman that came into their lives gave him back the hope that it was all still possible - hence his consideration for John's offer.
"And you'll leave her alone? No strings attached. I don't give a fuck how you make your generation mob survive after all that - she's out of the question and same goes for her future family." Tom argued, rubbing his wrists as he watched Ryan loosen his grip on Alexie under his glare.
"Yes." John agreed without missing a beat. Tom bit his lip, looking at the girl in front of him. She still looked scared and hurt, but she had a slimmer of hope shining in her eyes - the ghost of a smile on her lips. That was all Tom needed to make a decision.
"Let's get this deal on paper then."
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wtffff tom? no more mob!tom? *teary eye emoji*
There is only a few chapters left of this story. What do you think will happen?
Q: Are you still in school? If yes, what are you studying or where? If no, what do you do for a living?
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