I lost Vittore.
I didn't mean to but between the shots fired, running through the back lawn over dead bodies and through the large barricade of men at the front door, I couldn't exactly hold his hand.
The team had split into two... well the ones who weren't dead or injured yet. I was with two other guys as we walked through the sliding glass back door. The two guys split, going down each of the halls, their guns pointed but I went straight for the back staircase that led to the top floor.
There was a guest room up there that my dad never allowed us to go in, saying it was just an empty storage unit. It was a good place to start as any. My steps were slow as I went up the stairs, my gun pointed and my finger ready to pull the trigger.
There was chaos in the lower levels of the house so when I stepped on the floor, it was dead quiet. No lights had been turned on but I moved closer, passing pictures of me and my siblings on the walls. It reminded me of the good times we had. They weren't many or frequent but they existed and well...
They are my half siblings.
Imagine that.
A creak of a floorboard, that definitely didn't come from me caught my attention just as a shot rung through the air and a bullet caught me right in the chest. I stumbled back, landing on one knee and rolling to the side to hide behind one of the flower pots in the hall.
I looked down at my now damaged bulletproof vest and cursed. Any closer and the bullet would've gone right through.
"Antonio!" I shouted. "I know you're out there!"
"It isn't exactly a secret now is it?" his voice sounded, from somewhere behind me.
"Nope but I have a few secrets you'd like to hear, trust me!"
"Oh really. And what would those secrets be. Enlighten me."
"How about my true identity? My real name? My parents, my connections..."
There were a few moments of silence and then the loud sound of the cocking of a gun.
"It won't matter now would it? You're going to die anyway."
"I'd beg to differ," I said and a smile made its way on my face. "You had an affair with Emily Gates did you not?"
Silence rung through the dark hall and I shifted my position, knowing I had his attention.
"All that talk with her about having kids. You wanted the names Malan for a boy and Mallory for a girl."
"Let me guess, you killed Emily to get this information right? Please, like it's changing anything."
"Oh it changes a lot fo things because she had a child after what you two had been through together. You thought it was your brother's so you did what was best and disappeared from both their lives as much as you could. Did you know her last born was your kin Antonio?"
"If you think you can play mind games with me little girl you have another thing coming," Antonio snapped and I used that moment to roll to the other side of the room.
Six shots rung through the air as I got behind one of the decorative tables, flipping it so it fell to the side and provided me with more protection than the plant pot would.
"Her name was Dalia Mallory Gates," I whispered loud enough for him to hear. "Anything ringing a bell."
"Shut up!" Antonio snapped and I knew I was getting through. If he was going to die, he might as well know the truth.
"You though she died, hell everyone did besides Emily and Andre. They sold her to Matteo Martinelli. I'm sure you've helped and aided him in the past. She was part of operation SIREN. You've heard of it, most of the mafias have."
"Emily wouldn't do that. Not to me."
"You sure because your affair with her caused a rift between her and her husband when he found out the child wasn't his. He sold her and Emily let it happen. We both know she preferred the older two of her kin," I said with a scoff then something clicked in my mind. "Wait... you didn't love her did you?"
The silence that followed was all I needed to let out a laugh. "Oh you poor thing," I gasped out.
"Anyway I'm in the mood to ruin your night so I'll just tell you what I learnt as of a few hours ago," I shifted, getting ready to jump up and shoot when opportunity presented itself. "Dalia Gates a.k.a Jade Scythe a.k.a Dalia Martinelli a.k.a me."
"That's... that's impossible... you died... you..."
"You didn't see my body dad now did you?"
At that second, I peeked over the edge, lifting my gun and firing it in the direction I heard his voice. There was a loud grunt, hopefully I'd hit him and the opening of a door where he stumbled through and a loud thud echoed through the dark hall.
I was breathing hard as I stood up, my arms out with my gun pointed to go and make sure he was dead. I peeked through the door, not seeing him but spotting some blood on the floor. I walked inside the room, it was a bedroom and turned in a circle but failing to spot Antonio.
Oh fuck where did he go?
I turned just in time to see Antonio with a lamp gunning for my head. I dropped and hit him in the stomach. He let out a sharp gasp and fell, pulling me to the floor with him. I pointed my gun to him and tried to shoot but when my finger pressed down on the trigger, he had pushed the gun towards the wall.
We fought, both of us trying to get a hold of the gun as it shot in different parts of the room. I punched and kicked, even resorting to biting which got a loud yelp from Antonio. The gun was ripped from my hands and Antonio's elbow hit my jaw.
I was blinded by stars for a second before I focused again. The gun as pointed right at my head.
I jumped up, grabbing the gun and twisting it as a gunshot so loud it caused ringing in my ear echoed through the house.
***
You don't know how tempted I was to stop here but anyways, on with the show.