"L-Lucas?"
Gabriella rubbed her face, hoping to stir herself from her slumber. She cracked her neck to the side; the couch was not meant for multiple nights of sleep. Though this did beat being kidnapped and tortured, so she wouldn't complain too much.
A loud bang had woken her up from her sleep and since Lucas and her were the only people who were supposed to be there... She was really fucking hoping it was Lucas making all the ruckus. Since it was dark, she couldn't make out anything.
Though she could tell someone was sitting not far from her.
"Lucas?" she tried again.
"Don't, it's fine."
His voice sounded anything but fine. Instead of listening to him, she sat up on the couch and reached for the small lamp next to her. She flipped the switch, basking the area in a warm, yellow light.
Gabriella shut her eyes, shielding them from the light. After a second, she reopened them and saw that Lucas was sitting on a chair nearby, his back facing her. He was shirtless. Why would Lucas be shirtless?
Okay...
"Gabriella, go back to sleep."
Yeah, there was definitely something off with his voice. She tossed the soft brown blanket off her body and hopped to her feet. Ignoring his warning - his second warning - she rushed by his side.
As she kneeled in front of him, it was evident what he was trying to hide from her. Injuries. His left eye was black and swollen and had a few cuts. She couldn't see it completely since he had an ice pack on it. The knuckles on both of his hands were battered, bleeding, and covered in cuts as well. He had a huge laceration on his neck, which she assumed came from a knife. Blood was still pouring out of it - too much blood.
What happened?
"Lucas, what the hell?"
He offered her a half-grin. "You said you needed the journal."
Her eyes widened. "You got it?"
He winced in pain as he nodded. She saw him trying to twist around to get something, and she reached out for him. The journal. Covered in dirt and blood... but there it was. Seeming relatively intact.
Fine. The book was important but not right now. What the heck happened to him? "How did this happen?"
"I miscalculated," he explained as he dropped his arm, the icepack clutched between his fingers.
"Miscalculated what? How many fists were coming at you?"
"That's a good one," he said as he turned around to grab a small pouch from the table next to him.
"What is that for?"
"To sew my neck."
"Lucas. You're not gonna sew yourself."
"Why, are you gonna do it?"
Well, alright. The thought of it was completely disgusting but... he got injured retrieving her journal so that she could get out of a deal she made. One he strongly encouraged she didn't. Everything he did so far was for her with no gain for himself.
She could at least sew his neck.
"Yes, I will."
Lucas popped his lips. "Have you ever sewn someone's flesh before?"
"Not... skin but... fabric." And it didn't end in a good, polished result but... Honestly how much better could he do on himself?
"Gabriella, I can do it myself."
"No," she hurried to reply as she reached for the pouch, snatching it from under his grasp. Since he was limited due to his injuries, it was a little easier to get the upper hand.
Gabriella turned around and grabbed a nearby chair, dragging it closer to his so that she could sit down next to it. "Do-hm, I guess I have to clean it?" she asked with a grimace.
"Open the pouch, everything is in there."
"Right."
She began digging through, pulling out everything that she needed. "So, do I wanna know how it really went?" she asked as she dabbed the injury with the alcohol swab.
"I got the journal."
"I got that part."
"Your family is still there. Guess it's their vacation home now."
Assholes. They knew the Mancini family was working with the Devil, but this was the final, tangible proof. Why else would they be staying there? They weren't looking for her, they didn't care.
Her disappearance was probably good for them if it led to her death. She wondered how happy the Devil was that they let her slip through their fingers. Hopefully, he intended on punishing them.
Not that she was on the Devil's side or anything. But, what a bunch of fucking backstabbing pricks. No wonder her grandmother hadn't wanted anything to do with them. Good for her that she left them behind.
"They caught you?"
"One of the goons."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Fine, a few of the goons."
"Do you think they followed you?"
"Gabriella, do I look like an amateur?"
She didn't know what he looked like. This was the most time she had ever spent with Lucas and honestly, if she thought Niccolo was hard to figure out sometimes, he was even worse... He was supposed to be out of the game, but he knew how to pull off a suicide mission.
He seemed to be one foot in, one foot out.
"Why did you do it?"
"Did you not want the journal back?"
She nodded. "I did, I just don't know what's in it for you."
If there was one thing she had learned since wrecking her life was that no one did anything for free. No one was kind, no one gave their time or their energy. And they certainly didn't risk their lives unless the price tag was right.
"Nothing."
"Come on, Lucas," she pressed as she threaded the needle. "You did it because it was fun? Just to help me?"
"What if I did?"
"I'd be calling bullshit."
"I told you, I owe Niccolo."
"Niccolo isn't here. We don't even know if Niccolo is gonna make it. You're doing this on the off chance that you see him again?"
"What if I am?"
"Then I'd say you need to find new friends. This isn't the life for you."
"I could tell you the same thing."
She chuckled. "Yeah, I think it's too late for me."
Lucas leaned back into the chair, enough to look her straight in the eyes. "If there's one thing I learned... it's never too late to change your life."
Gabriella didn't know his whole story entirely. Bits and pieces only. Yet, she wasn't counting on anyone saving her. She also wouldn't trust anyone to save her. Maybe Lucas had been hovering over the line for too long and it had gotten blurry.
There was such a thing as too late.
"Now, let's do this because my hands start shaking," she said with a smile, hoping to change the topic of conversation.
Lucas was fine, they had the journal, and tomorrow they should hear from Vincent. For now, she would focus on that and nothing else. One task at a time and then, she would deal with the next hurdle in front of her.
It was all she could handle at this time.
***
A kick to the rib.
That was a good way to wake up.
"Come on, fucker. The boss has some questions."
Niccolo's face was glued to the floor, a bit of saliva dripping from the side of his open mouth. That was the way he had chosen to sleep so that he could hide his little friend in his mouth.
Sure, sometimes, he'd accidentally closed his mouth too much and cut the inside of his cheeks but... it wasn't any worse than all the other pain he had going on. So he could deal with it.
He took a small breath - anything bigger and he would feel the broken ribs - before dragging himself to his knees, half-standing.
"Faster, we don't make the boss wait."
He'd make that fucker wait forever. Anyways, what the fuck did he want with him? To kill him? Niccolo wasn't in a hurry to go to his own execution. It could wait. He couldn't deny that there was a swirl of disappointment in his chest.
After finding the little blade, he thought something else would come. A plan, something. Perhaps it had been a mistake. Perhaps it had been pity on part of the cook. Kill yourself before the Devil kills you.
As if he would ever be such a coward. If he ever died, it would be because someone else killed him, not because he killed himself. He would never take the easy way out. He preferred the pain and the suffering. The knowledge of knowing he fought until the very end.
Another kick.
Fuck. He was getting up, he was getting up.
Niccolo gathered whatever strength he had left, and pushed himself standing. He leaned to the left for a brief second but he managed to steady himself. Fuck, he was done for. He had no energy left.
The man grabbed his arm, dragging him forward. "Don't try anything."
Yeah, yeah.
The little blade wouldn't help him much in this case. The guy was dragging him so fast that his feet were barely touching the ground. For a second, he felt relief wash over him as he stepped outside what had been his little cage for who-the-fuck-knew how long.
Good riddance.
If the Devil was pulling him out, he would either kill him or torture him in some new way. He wasn't coming back here.
"You have it?"
The words were spoken so low, so near his ear, that Niccolo almost thought he imagined them. Did he have what?
Wait. He didn't mean. He couldn't mean...
Was this it?
Niccolo offered a nod that was like a head bobble, as to mask it. He didn't know if he heard right and he had no clue if someone was there, watching, waiting. He had to be careful.
"You gonna need it."
Need it for what? What the fuck was he supposed to do with this? Take down the Devil?
"Duck."
Duck?
Oh fuck.
***
"Gabriella De Luca."
She was somewhat familiar with Vincent, but she didn't need to be to hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice as he used her new last name. Niccolo hadn't been kidding when he said they pissed off a few people by getting married the way they did.
Gabriella had to hold back a shiver at the thought of what Vincent might have done... or what he could do now that she owed him one. Thank god for the journal. She didn't want to give it up but...
Well, Lucas had put some not-nice ideas in her head and she had spent nights awake going over the possible worst-case scenarios, and she didn't like any of them.
"Vincent," she greeted back as she stepped out of the vehicle.
Vincent was not alone, not that she expected him to be. He had three cars, and four men had gotten out of the same car as him. Gabriella on the other hand had come with only Lucas. It was both because Lucas didn't trust a lot of people, especially since as he had explained, Niccolo would be in a vulnerable situation, but also because looking weak was an advantage.
Or so he said.
If they came with more people, they could appear as though they were trying to challenge him, and there was no way they could get enough people to win in case of a fight. So, it was best to do the polite thing, and appear as though there was a trusting bond here.
According to Lucas, no one would ever play the trust card, but since it was her and he knew her outside of this world, plus she reached out to him... he might fall for the whole she was too dumb to know better.
She didn't quite enjoy playing the dumb girl card, but if it was what she needed to safely get Niccolo back, so be it. She'd gone too far now to walk away with nothing.
"I see someone's been taking care of you."
Vincent looked right past her to make eye contact with Lucas. He knew him. Did he know him from before, or did he know him since he became an ally of Niccolo? Now that she thought of it, Lucas was never really around. Was this relationship something they kept secret?
"I find it surprising. I always thought Niccolo was a... jealous man."
"Do you have him?"
The phone call hadn't included much information. The call hadn't even come from Vincent. Someone had told her a place and location and they had come. In the car, Lucas warned about the possible scenarios. First one; they had Niccolo and they would hand him over. Second one; Vincent decided he wanted his payment first. Third and last one: Vincent had betrayed her and the Devil would be waiting for them.
Considering the number of cars present, she couldn't scratch the third scenario off the list. The second one wouldn't be great, but she would much prefer it to the betrayal. She had gone to him specifically because she thought she could trust him... enough.
"The Devil... is bad for business," Vincent began as he walked towards her. "He attracts unwanted attention, he ruffles feathers - he doesn't play by the rules. Unlike Niccolo, my family has been standing for a very, very long time. Call me old fashion," he said with a smirk. "But I think the rules are there for a reason."
Why was he telling her this?
"Okay?"
He chuckled. "Your grandmother's family has also been playing this game for a long time."
She didn't like where this was going.
"So I've heard."
"Yet, they chose to align themselves with a little nobody."
It was easy to insult the Devil when he wasn't there, but, from what she could say, Vincent had never done anything to take care of the problem. All talk, but not much else. Still, she was glad to know her hunch about her family wasn't wrong. And that the others knew it.
"I've had my eyes on the Devil for a long time. You know what he likes to do when he's done?"
She shook her head as she clenched her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms. Could he get to the fucking point? Where was Niccolo?
"He kills his entire crew. Yet, he always gets more men. It tells you a lot about human nature that some would risk their lives in such a futile way... all of it for some coins."
Money and power always changed people. That wasn't new. It was the way of the world.
"Is Niccolo alright?" Maybe that would help him refocus.
Gabriella saw a flicker in Vincent's eyes. It was brief, but enough to send a chill down her spine. He didn't like to be interrupted. Well, she didn't like when someone wasted her time. After all, was she not paying for this favor?
"For years, I've kept my eyes on him. Infiltrating spies. Keeping them far enough, they wouldn't get killed, but close enough that they would know something. It wasn't easy you know. I lost a lot of good men."
Oh fuck, she knew where this was going and she didn't like it one bit.
"All of that... so that I could waste and lose them to help your husband."
There it was. He was highlighting the cost of her favor. The only reason he would do that was to justify the insane price he would charge her for it. A tiny part of her had hoped that having known her outside of this world would have swayed him...
She was wrong and Lucas had been right. The price to pay would be steep.
"So men died. Men with family. Men with children. That was the cost of saving him. Do you think his life was worth more than theirs?"
Her eyes burned with tears as she kept her expression as neutral as she could muster. Bastard. It was not as though she thought his rescue would be easy. But no, she had not paused to think who would die so that he could live.
"Can I tell their wives and their kids that their husband, their father, died for a good cause?"
It was unfair. She didn't even know if any of it was true. How could she trust that he was telling the truth? He could be, it wouldn't be insane to think so. Except, he always knew that unlike them, her heart was still beating. A life was still a life.
He could simply be trying to play her, and use her emotions against her.
"I guess it depends," she croaked out.
"On?"
"If whatever you'll ask in return is worth it."
Vincent's dark expression shifted as a grin took over his face. Before she could blink, he was bending in two, laughing out loud. "Oh, Gabriella. My son was truly a fool."
She didn't know what it was supposed to mean, but she didn't want to ask. She wanted to leave this place - with Niccolo.
"Boys, let's give the lady her package."
Two of the men walked over to the car, popping the hood open. She watched as they retrieved a long black bag from it. It looked like a body bag.
Her heart was aching in her chest as her lips parted. No, no. Was this why the speech and everything else? She was convinced she had been precise with her request. She had said he was supposed to be alive.
She didn't want his dead body.
The men approached her and put the bag down in front of her. She looked at him, and then at Vincent. "What is this?"
"Niccolo, as per your request."
"Alive?"
He smiled. "Of course."
"Then why is he in a bag?"
Vincent offered her a shrug. "He was a little damaged during the escape and Niccolo is not known for his collaboration. It was easier to transport him this way. You can see for yourself."
Gabriella turned her head to look behind at Lucas. He gave her a quick nod, which she assumed was his way of telling her to proceed. She dropped to her knees and unzipped the bag halfway.
Niccolo.
His eyes were closed, his face covered in blood and wounds. A little damaged? Half of his face was swollen. If she thought Lucas looked back the other day... this was much worse. What the fuck had happened? Had the Devil done this? Or Vincent?
She looked down at his chest, waiting to see him breathe. It took a moment, but she saw his chest rise and collapse. He was alive.
"I keep my promises," Vincent said, his smile fading from his face. "It will be a lot easier for all parties involved if you do the same."
The favor.
Gabriella hadn't brought up the journal yet. She needed to see what the request was first. She couldn't show her cards right away. As a matter of fact, it was her only card.
"What do you need?"
He shook his head. "Not yet. I'll let you know when I do."
With those words, he offered her a wave of the hand before he turned around, getting back in his car. It almost felt too easy.
"Come on, let's get him in and leave," Lucas said as he walked over to Niccolo. He pulled him, the bag staying on the ground.
"You're leaving the bag?"
Lucas scoffed. "I'd beat my ass it's bugged. Wouldn't be surprised if Nico has something on him, but we don't have time to check."
Bugged? She hadn't even thought of that.
"Grab his feet."
Gabriella did as she was told, helping Lucas load Niccolo in the car. If she were being honest, he was doing most of the work. He landed in the car with a thud, and Gabriella squeezed herself in the back with him while Lucas got in the front to drive.
He was safe.
It would have to do for now.