Picture== New cover!!! Thank you to @TheGreatEscapeX it's amazing. I love it! <3
Song== Better Off by Next September
~~Collect your tears~Gather your things~Watch this room collapse in place~You leave a note to say: you have to get away~To burn to ashes, your pictured past and say~ What have you learned today?~The world begins to shake~The mind begins to race~Say is this right for you?~~
Chapter 23~ Nahuel’s POV
Rage.
Hot, boiling, sizzling…it commences from the bottom of my gut, then slowly, agonizingly, does it make its way up into the back of my throat; deliberately choking me with its molten heat.
I was at a breaking point; all I see is red. It’s been one week. One week! And Elaine is yet to be found. I spoke with Ian, as soon as I had received news of her abduct, but he has not moved a single finger to help aid me. He said I could trust him with anything, just as he could trust me, yet he has not proved himself worthy to me at all.
Tonight there was to be a meeting in an old warehouse in which we have set as our headquarters now. Ian ordered we all be there to discuss an issue over the stolen money of the school. If I can help it, I’ll set apart a searching party to look for Elaine. To hell with Ian!
I charged into the room, not even bothering to knock. The warehouse was rather densely crowded with the majority of our members of this district. It surprised me that everyone even bothered in showing up. Perhaps Ian’s intimidating demands got to them this time. The meeting had already begun—or so it seemed that way—for as soon as I barged in, they all parted to give me a perfect glance of Ian pointing out on a game plan he set on a thin wooden table set under the cone of the ceiling light. Quiet murmurs surged among coalesce of guys; ignoring them I continued to stalk forward—my glare nailed on Ian.
From my peripheral vision I saw as most of his homeboys made a subtle move toward the waistband of their baggy jeans. I smirked to myself, internally rolling my eyes at their idiocy. Ian noticed my lack of hesitation and straightened himself up from his crouching position across over the table. He matched my glare with as much venom as he seemed to garner before smoothing out the planes of his features into an award winning poker face.
“Glad you can make it, Corona.” He nodded; his stormy grey eyes slicing down to the papers splayed out on the table. Up close I realized it was made of some sort of cheap wood that had already begun to chip and splinter from constant misuse. This pathetic excuse for a table stood as the only hindered that kept me from ripping Ian’s arms out of their sockets at the moment, however, I can change that just as easily. He swiped up the sheets of what seem to be ordinary computer paper, scrawled on messily with red ink pen. Well I’d be damned, who would have ever guessed for Ian—out of all people—to be so organized. In spite the given situation at hand, I would have found the site to be mildly humorous. Setting the papers in a neat pile, he set them back on the table before reaching over to his waistband where he retrieved a 10 mm semi-automatic revolver, its sleek charcoal black surface glistened with deadly promises under the cone of light. My reflexes kicked in and just as fast did I swipe out my own pistol—the barrel aimed, unwavering, at his heart. If Ian was scared, he didn’t show it; typical Ian, always having to keep an impassive demeanor. There was an echo of audible clicks as his posse mimicked our moved and too retrieved their weapons—each aimed with fine precision at me. I might succeed in killing Ian if I pulled the trigger, but there was no way in hell that I would make it out of this alive—or even in one piece for that matter.
Bracing myself, I cleared my countenance from any stray emotion and dared inch my barrel closer to Ian. To my utter surprise, he cocked and eyebrow and lowered his revolver to the table before sliding it over to me, then he motioned for everyone else to lower their weapons. From the corners of my eyes, I witnessed them comply, some more tentatively than others, but with a chilling hard glare from Ian they cooperated without another thought.
Ever so calmly, Ian sliced his concrete hued eyes back to me. “Nahuel,” he stated, nodding toward his gun that rested just at my reach, “if you plan on shooting me, then you might as well use a proper gun. I’d hate to die over that shitty, half-assed gun of yours.”
I blinked twice, completely taken aback by his response. Composing myself after a minute of shock, I continued with my rage and gave my gun a threatening thrust, lightly tapping his chest with the barrel.
“Don’t you play with me, Ian,” I growled. “I fucking swear, I’ll—”
“Go ahead.” He dared, crossing his arms loftily, “I’m waiting for my death sentence. After all, I deserve it right?”
No. He didn’t deserve it. In fact, if this was graded over guilt, then I best aim this gun at myself. In the end, I was the one who wasn’t there to protect Elaine and her brother. She wouldn’t have gotten abducted, and her brother would be alive…I abdicated my job. I summoned death to their door.
Ian scrutinized me with wise eyes, calculatingly so, as a war erupted within me—pushing me further over the edge until my sanity is disrupted. The resolution was well known too. I decided to not conflict myself, so I lowered my own pistol and dropped it resentfully on the table.
“Smart choice,” he grunted, reaching over to retrieve his own gun to tuck it safely back at the waistband of his jeans. “Now, back to what I was saying before I was rudely—”
“Where is she?” I murmured softly but audibly enough for him to hear. I kept my eyes on the spot where his pistol used to lay.
Ian remained silent for a short while before shrugging, “how the hell am I supposed to know? She’s not my priority at the moment, man. This stolen money is.” He jammed a finger at the pile of papers on the desk. “We’ve lost a good amount of cash and it only earned us war with The Bulldogs. They think we have this dough, all while we thought they had it. Many of our members may die. The location of one stupid girl is not important.”
My hands balled up into fists and I began to tremble in fury, “It’s been two weeks Ian. You gave me your word.”
Ian’s patience cracked and he slammed his fist against the table, causing it to chip even more, “forget about her, ‘ight!? She’s probably dead by now! You better than anyone should know just how ruthless The Bulldogs are! You’re only going to find a corpse and it’s best to leave that to the damn cops, they good at finding bodies! Now stop acting like a bitch on her period and start helping us find this money. Elaine is dead—probably already mingling with her dead brother.”
That struck a nerve.
Without forethought, I got hold of the table’s edges and hauled it over to the side. The stack papers went out flying out of proportion as the table somersaulted in the air before hitting a handful of unfortunate bystanders. Ian’s eyes flared as I stood nose to nose with him, pumped and ready to kill if I must. In all honesty, I didn’t even know how I managed to keep myself composed and not haul myself onto him, swinging punches.
“You…crossed the line,” I spit out through clenched teeth, seeping as much venom in those four words as I could possibly garner. Taking a step forward I shoved Ian back before catching myself and retreating. Now wasn’t the time to start up a fight with him—not when the situation was fifty against one. I started toward the door, but not before Ian got hold of my shoulder and whirled me around, nailing me with a left hook to my mandible. I staggered back but managed to keep my balance enough not to fall on my ass.
“Son of a bitch!” I hissed out, rubbing at my jaw gingerly. My eyes sliced back to Ian who stood with raised clenched fists.
“You forget you work for me, Corona!” he barked, rolling back his shoulders. “I can easily get these bitches on your ass if I felt the need. But I trust you to do the right thing. Guess I was wrong. So now this is how the game is going to work from now on. You forget about Elaine. You forget about everything but the task at hand. If you walk out that door…don’t expect to remain alive to see sunrise tomorrow.”
Blood trickled from my split lip down to my chin, but I wiped it away with the back of my hand. “The I guess I better use these last few hours wisely.” With that being said, I swallowed back my craving for bloodshed and retreated once again.
“I’ll have your mother killed.” He tried again, “a sooner death that expected, eh? Might as well get it over with than wait as she slowly suffers more every—”
He didn’t get to finish, I had hurled my body onto him and began to punch wildly, psychotically. Another pair of hands got hold of me, ushering my body back away from Ian. I resisted; my arms flailing to the point that they met other flesh and I broke free. Just as I cleared my vision, I locked eyes with Ian and stalked over once again before getting held back again.
“Nahuel, just walk away! You can’t win this fight!” a desperate voice hissed into my ear. It was Lucas. That sparked a reaction from me, causing me to halt momentarily.
“Lucas let me go,” I murmured with a deadly undercurrent, “no one threatens my mother and lives to see the next five minutes.”
His hold didn’t loosen, “he’s trying to break you. Let it go and walk out.”
I let out one final growl before shrugging off Lucas and jabbing a finger toward Ian. “I’ll kill you. I fuckin’ swear it. Don’t you forget that I don’t just have connections within the gang—I also know people on the outside. You’d be dead before you get a chance to even contemplate my mother’s death.” With that, I whirled at my heels and stormed out; Lucas at my heels.
This was getting out of hand. Not only did I manage to jeopardize my own life but now the life of my mother. She was severely ill, I couldn’t afford her to get hurt further more—and all because of my callow acts for Elaine. Elaine…was she truly dead?
My mind flooded with images of Elaine’s faces—each one holding a different emotion. Happiness, sadness, boredom, pain, and lastly fear. Guilt clenched at my chest as I could imagine her face while being held hostage. Did she feel betrayed, or did she leave this world hating me?
I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. I need to forget—I had to! She wasn’t the first innocent life that has so easily slipped through my fingers. Many others before her have died, either by my hand, or by incidents of being with me; wrong place, wrong time.
“God, I’m so sorry Elaine.” I murmured, hoping that at least her soul could hear my apology and forgive me. I let my eyes flutter open with new determination in moving on and protecting my own kin from the tragic mistake I had made. Perhaps if I talked to Ian…rekindled…accept a proper punishment; he would let my mother slide of any harm.
“Phew, that was close,” Lucas whistled, resting a hand on my shoulder. Immediately, my instincts kicked in and I whirled around, got an iron grip on his shoulders before pinning him against the nearest wall. My forearm struck out, pressing down on his neck to the point that his arteries were hindered by immense pressure; my free hand balled up in a tight fist and jabbed him in the gut. Lucas’s eyes widened as he made feeble attempts to claw my arm away from its death hold on him.
“Wait….I needa’…” he wheezed out, his breath shortening even more, “Elaine…about…” at this point his lips were only moving but no sound came out, his face began to morph into different hues. Realizing what I was doing, I leaned away slightly, allowing him a chance to breath once more.
He gasped out, gulping up air like it was going out of style, “The fuck…is your…problem…” he wheezed.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, “reflex.”
“No shit!” he continued to gasp, rubbing at his throat, as if hoping it was still intact. I rolled my eyes slightly at his dramatic acts, sauntering my way back out to my car. “Hold up, Nahuel.”
I paused, not bothering to turn back around, “What?”
“Earlier…when you almost tried to kill me. I needed to tell you something…”
Elaine’s name rung in my mind, and slowly I turned around to stare at him.
Copyright © 2013 Cynthia Montoya
All rights reserved.
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So...hey I uploaded! ^~^
Sorry I've been gone for a while. School hasn't been merciful. However, I'll try and make some time to gradually update and write. I already have a new idea to the next story I'll begin after this one is done. It'll be called "The Mercenary's Concubine" and trust me...it'll be something else. Anywho. I promise I'll try and update ASAP for you guys.
VOTE, FAN, COMMENT.
With lots of love,
Cynthiaxx