The heart in my chest is going crazy, pumping in my ears like I have it in my head instead of my ribs. Nando is right in front of me, whining about something I can't even understand, and Joe's amused smile is making my rage grow. The gun is still pointed at my head, but the anger suddenly blows away the fear.
I drop on the floor the gun, making a noise echo in the empty room. «I am not going to shoot him,» I raise my voice, turning my head over to Joe, staring at him. «Come on. Kill me right now. Tell him to pull the trigger, to shoot me. I am not afraid of you or your threats,» I taunt him. «I'm sure you're aware of what happens if my life ends right now, right here.»
Joe's eyes are narrowed, and I catch Giovanni hesitating, darting his gaze from me to his boss, waiting quietly. I am not going to play his heartless game. I am not folding just because he thinks he is the number one and the most powerful man here. The more I look scared, the more he is amused by me. I have had enough of all his stupid show.
I tilt my head. «Did the rat eat your tongue?» I step in his direction, slapping away the gun pointed at my head. «Why don't you command him to shoot me? Why don't you tell him to take away the love of your son's life, mh? The girl who made him weak... or the girl who helped him stand up? Who am I?»
Then I finally hear them, the cars, they're not so far away. I listen to the tyres rolling on the asphalt. I know it's them. It's Daniele coming to finish all of this. My smile gets bigger while Joe's expression is stern. «Am I the one who woke him up and made him realise you have no right to treat him like your carpet? No, I am probably just a useless girl.» I flash a gaze to Giovanni, who now looks confused and scared. It's the exact reaction I was trying to get. «You abused your son for years. You put a fucking gun on a fourteen kid just for your pleasure,» I am yelling again now. Right in front of Joe, facing his aggravated glance. «And from that moment, you just kept making him do things he never wanted to, forcing him to act as you wanted him to. What about the other son, mh? The four years old boy who killed himself because of your arrogance and inaccuracy.»
Joe's face becomes pale, and I can smell the sweat falling from his forehead. Nando starts to laugh deeply, and I shot my head in his direction. «They got you, Boss. They got all of us.»
Heavy and fast steps fill the house, and Joe's gaze moves fast from me to Giovanni behind me and then back to me. Now he is full of rage, his eyes dark and his jaw clenched. «You little useless problem,» he rages out, fiercely marches in my direction, and squeezes my neck, making the air in my lungs stop coming. I gasp, trying to inhale as much air as I can, but it's hard, and my head is suddenly compressed. I reach for his hands, trying to jerk them away, but his strength is the double of mine. So I play with my free legs, kicking with my knee in his groin. He groans in pain but doesn't leave me.
«Do I shoot her?» Giovanni screams, totally in a panic now.
Nando is still laughing, and his voice is becoming deeper in my head. I yell to make me hear from Daniele and to try to let Joe leave me, but his grip gets stronger, and when I am sure to pass out, someone smashed the door, opening it.
«Drop the girl. Right now,» someone screams behind me. «Drop the girl, or I shoot.»
Joe darts his eyes from me to the people behind me, and after a second of hesitation, he leaves me, letting me fall on the cold ground, where I start to cough and inhale all the air I couldn't before. Someone grabs my body, and I jolt them away before realising is Daniele. I meet his eyes before letting him pick me up.
«Good job, blonde, good big job.»
I swing my head around, seeing the room filled with an army and Joe, Giovanni, Nando and the other three being handcuffed. The first one is glueing his eyes in mine, and I step over him. He can't do anything to me anymore, and when I'm close enough, I punch him in the mouth. The same side he did to Kevin. I smile when a little cut appears on the lip. «This is from him.»
I turn around, now directing myself in Nando's direction. He is already in the worst condition he could be, but I still stop by him, facing his swallowed and narrowed eyes. His amused smile is still placed on his face like the whole situation is just a joke for him. I am not hitting him. He doesn't even deserve my hands on him. I linger my gaze on him with rage and then turn around.
Daniele is right there, smiling at me as he offers me his hand. I take it, let him help me get out of the room, and reach outside the building. I breathe the full fresh night air before closing my eyes and letting out the frustration of the moment I just lived, bursting into tears. The man hugs me, holding me tightly against his chest while I sob in his shirt. «You were wonderful, Enede. You played well, and I am sure Kevin couldn't have done better.»
I chuckle in tears before feeling my phone buzzing. I pick it up, read the name on the screen, and don't hesitate to answer.
«Are you okay? Did he hurt you?» Kevin's urgent voice throbs in my ears.
I smile. «I am fine. Not a scratch,» I reassure him, massaging my neck. «Just a bit shocked.»
«You have no idea how shocked I am,» he tells me. «I thought the worst. Mostly when I understood his plan.»
«I am coming there, okay? I don't want to stay here a second more.»
«Make it quick.»
A man from the army had the duty to drop me back to the hospital, and I asked him to leave me out of the building, not wanting my father to see me coming inside with a gunman. He is already in shock and full of questions. I'd rather avoid other concerns.
The man from the army agreed but stayed outside until I entered the hospital to be sure I was safe. I wave at him once I am behind the glass door, and he smiles at me before driving away. I drop my hand and turn my body to speed in Kevin's room but halt as soon as I see my dad. I start to walk slower and give him a little smile.
«Your neck,» my dad quickly says and reaches me, brushing my skin with his fingers. «What happened?»
I inhale sharply. «I need ten more minutes, and I'll tell you everything. I need to see him.»
My dad's eyes lift on me, giving me a stiff gaze. «He tried more than once to leave the room. I almost called security, but when I threatened him with the sedation he sat down and stayed quiet.»
«Don't hate him, please,» I beg. «I know you think he is the reason for everything, but believe me, it's all because of me. I was the one starting everything. He has no reason to be blamed at.»
«Oh, I know that,» my dad points out. «You're stubborn like me. I am pretty sure whatever you are into is because you put yourself in, and that's why I am mad at you, not at him.»
I huff, shaking my head. «Ten minutes, okay?»
My dad dwells his look at me before stepping aside and letting me walk towards Kevin's room. I take the stairs and then turn the corner before facing his room's door and entering without knocking. It's not even visiting time anymore. There are just a few nurses and doctors. My dad's shift was also over, but he stayed here to check on Kevin. When he sees me, he smiles and pushes back his head in relief.
I close the door behind me and reach the bed, stopping right next to it. «You should've seen his face.»
Kevin bows his brown. «I don't care about his face,» he comments and cocks his hand. «I just care that you're here, safe.»
I take his hand and hold it tight before his gaze drops on my neck, and I put my other hand on it, covering my bruised skin. «It was inevitable,» I speak up. «It is the less hurtful thing he could've done.»
Kevin tugs my hand making me lay closer to him, and with his other hand, he pulls away mine. He brushes his fingers against my coloured skin. His expression is tough, and his lips are a straight line. I lay down to kiss him, distracting him from what his father did to me.
In a week it will be gone. I have had so many bruises these months. I don't even care about them anymore. We're free. We're finally free. There is no need to be afraid, not anymore. I can walk around the city without jerking my head, afraid they can be there watching me. Afraid Joe hits Kevin or makes him do some sort of job he doesn't like.
Kevin's hand leaves my bruises and puts it behind my neck, pulling me closer as he kisses me with greed like he hasn't done it for years. I feel my heart pounding in my chest, and smile against his lips, feeling the adrenaline divorcing me. I rear my head back, resting my forehead against his. «We won.»
«You did an amazing job,» he whispers. «You were a force. You didn't sound scared at all.»
«I wasn't,» I admit. «Only when he placed the gun in my hands, but it quickly was gone.»
«I can't believe he did that,» he asserts. «It wouldn't be surprised me if I was there, but he kept the script with you too. Wanting you to prove something because that's what he is made of.»
I raise my hand and place it on his cheek. «I knew he was plotting something. Somehow I didn't feel that much surprised.»
Kevin's eyes meet mine, and I smile. «Never do something like this anymore,» he broaches. «Never try to protect me in this way. I don't want to feel what I felt these last hours. Not anymore.»
«There is no need. You can finally have the life you always wanted.»
«With you,» he adds. «I want you in my life from now on. I'll wait if I need to. But I'll keep being selfless and not letting you go away.»
«I don't want to go away,» I warn him. «You just need to wait for me to graduate.»
«I can do that,» he chuckles, then kisses my lips again. «I love you.»
I am about to reply, but the door behind me opens, and I turn my head to see my dad walking in. I sigh, closing my eyes and preparing myself for what's next. «Ten minutes passed,» he warns me, then darts his eyes over Kevin. «Now I need to know what's going on.»
I nod and flash Kevin a look. He also agrees before I sit on the chair next to the bed. «Lock the door and sit down, please,» I demand him and wait for him to do all the requests.
When he sits, I can see the tiredness in his eyes. «Don't make it too long.»
I chuckle. «You want to know everything or not?»
«Lemme start with a question: are you writing a book?»
I shake my head. «I lived what I was supposed to write.»
My dad crosses his arms against his chest. «What?»
«My dad is Joe Adonis, which stands for Giuseppe Doto. He is... was a mafia leader. My whole family has worked in this for ages, until me,» Kevin speaks, but his eyes are flying around, unable to meet my father's. «I should've been the next one, but I was born into the wrong family because I never wanted to be part of it, and my father knew it. He knew it but still forced me. He thought that somehow if I saw the whole reality of it, I would've changed my mind, but I didn't.»
My eyes dart from the man on the bed to the one sitting in front of me, realising that the story may sound even more crazy than I thought, but I lay my back on the chair and relax my muscles, noticing how tensed I was since I entered the forsaken building with Joe. I realise my breath, cross my hands against my lap, and keep listening to Kevin's voice.
«I always wanted to leave, but I couldn't. I was always attached to my father like there was an invisible rope. Then I met your daughter, and she opened my eyes.»
My dad moves his eyes on me, and I toss him an ironic smile, knowing he is furious. He stays still, shifting his eyes back to Kevin. «Keep going.»
«She made up a whole plan to expose my father without making me risk jail, and since almost all the police are corrupted by him, we needed someone to trust on. Someone we knew there was no risk to dare.»
«Daniele,» my dad says before Kevin keeps going. «That's his role in this whole mad story.»
I nod, sighing. «I knew he would help us. I remembered when you told me about him and how he wanted to fight against injustice and especially against the mafia. He wanted to catch him as much as we wanted to.»
«And we started this journey where I had to convince my father to trust me, dragging me into his affairs until we knew when we could've attacked. We needed something big, where my father would've gone in person since he never moves from his studio,» Kevin explains, and he moves nervously on the bed. «Until he realised a meeting to our first enemies.» Avoid the attack, avoid the attack. «And it was today. Where she went because I got shot by this gang and couldn't be able to go.»
I shrink in the chair, the gaze of my father shadowing me. «You went to risk your life to save his?»
«It is less crazy than it sounds,» I justify myself. «Daniele was supposed to come and end it before it was too late, and he did. It was part of the plan.»
«The bruises on your neck were also part of it?»
I cover the skin with my hair. «Part of the risks,» I murmur. «I know you're mad, and I am so sorry I didn't tell you, but I couldn't. There was too much danger around it, and I didn't want to risk your life.»
«I am not mad,» he suddenly says. «I am furious, even more of it. I risked your life once and almost risked you a second time without even knowing it.»
I whiten, closing my eyes and crying out. I feel Kevin's eyes on me, and I want to be invisible right now. Disappearing and hiding everywhere but not here. He doesn't know about what happened after my mom died. I didn't want to tell him even if I knew there were no worries about doing it. I just.. didn't feel the need to tell him. I also forgot about all we had to deal with.
«What happened? Why she risked her life?»
I open just one eye, facing my dad. «I thought he knew.»
I sigh in frustration and shake my head. «I— I forgot.»
«You forgot what?» Kevin asks directly to me.
«After my mother died, I had a dark moment in my life where I stopped eating. I refused to live, basically. I went underweight and needed recovery,» I admit, looking at my fingers. «My dad and Antonio took care of me until I was able to be a person again.»
The silence drops, and I feel compressed between them, almost like they're so close to me when there is enough space for me to breathe. My hands start to shake, and I feel the panic attack before it starts, but I weirdly manage to control it.
I finally raise my head and turn towards Kevin, seeing his gaze planted on me. He is not mad or disappointed, his eyes are soft, and he sighs. «You had all the right not to tell me,» he informs me. «It's not something easy to let out. I get why you didn't want to tell me. I am sorry you had to live that moment.»
«I was afraid she was falling again,» my dad speaks, calling my attention to him. «The way she panicked while you were here made me live back again those days, and I didn't want to see her in that way.»
«You told me he was out of the risk, and there was no need to worry that much.»
My dad shakes his head, placing his elbows on his knees and passing his hands on his face. «The fear is something we can't control, Enede. And you're my family, the only daughter I have and will have. I'll always be scared for you, even when you'll be forty and with your own family.»
I sadly smile, standing up and walking in his direction to hug him strongly. «I am so sorry about everything,» I whisper while he wraps his arm around me and holds me. «But I knew what I was doing. I wasn't in danger, never a day. He was my shadow. Wherever I was, he was there, never letting me.»
My dad lifts his head, meeting my gaze. «It doesn't change that I am mad at you,» he warns me. «And you're grounded. You go out of the house only to go to University and then straight back home to study.»
I give him a guilty look, backing up to my chair. «I dropped University,» I admit, and he stands up quickly. «But I re-joined it for the next semester. I have a few exams to catch, and I am back on track, I swear.»
«I feel like you're a totally different person.»
«It wasn't my year and not because of what happened,» I explain, rushing with the words. «The year already started with the wrong step, I just couldn't focus anymore, but now I am ready. I'll graduate.» And move away with Kevin, back to England. The words are so heavy in my chest, but I keep them there, swallowing the truth and giving him an apologetic smile. «I swear, I am gonna graduate by next year.»
My dad's eyes dart to Kevin. «And where is your father now?»
«On his way to jail,» he answers, and I turn my head to look at him. «He'll be transferred in Abruzzo to the Costarelle.»
I move back my eyes on my father, and he has his narrowed. «He was the one hosting the Gala, right?» Kevin nods. «And he invited my department just to have her there, right?» Kevin nods again. «What for?»
«See my reaction,» the man on the bed answers. «He has this concept where women make men weak, and I tried to tell him that she was not in my life anymore, but he never believed that.»
I sense my dad's disappointment in not being invited because of the Hospital's fame but just because of me, but I stay quiet, not wanting to make this moment even more tense. I have no idea when he will trust me again after this, and I don't blame his choice. I wouldn't either trust back someone easily. And when he'll know about my plan for the future, it will be even harder. But he is my father. We always fight and then make out because I only have one dad, and he only has one daughter. It's not a long trip for forgiveness.
«You really have your mom's charm,» my dad jokes, but his expression is still stiff.
I chuckle. «No one can have her charm.»
«You're going to keep your eyes on the study. All day until you have the paper in your hands,» my dad warns me, pointing Kevin behind me. «Not anywhere else. Eyes on the study, that's the only thing I'll ask you for all you have done in these months.»
Yeah, sure thing Dad. «My purpose was already that,» I fend off. «I want to graduate, I told you. I wasn't going to drop anything. I just... took a year of break.»
He shakes his head. «I don't know what to think or say, Enede. You really put yourself somewhere you don't fit, and I need to wrap my mind around these events. You shall give me some time to absorb everything and be able to come back to you.»
«Dad,» I start, but he stops me with his hand.
«You needed ten minutes. I need some days,» he whispers, and then I sigh, nodding.
I know it will take time for him to analyse everything and decide to push it away, going back to the life we had. I don't know what he thinks of me right now, but I know he is disappointed in me and in all the choices I did. They were imposed by the love I feel for Kevin, which is why I did everything. I am sure my dad can understand it, and maybe he would've done the same, but it's different when the one risking his life is your kid and the only member remaining in the family you created. After losing the love of your life, your wife, and your daughter's mother, the fear of losing your only daughter is a nightmare that follows most parents in the world, if not all of them. And maybe when I have mine, I'll understand his concern, but now I still feel I have made the right decision. The only way to avoid what happened would have been to never open that damn app, and start to talk with Kevin. But nowadays, I don't regret that because except for what I had to do and what Kevin was living, I feel like he is the right one, the only one that made me feel the real me and love again. And I know it may sound cliché since it's only three long months, but after almost losing him, I realised how attached I am to him and how much I want to keep him next to me as long as I can.
I have the usual chest feeling that says Kevin is my person. And it will be that way for a long road.
It is so funny that it started with him being my online lover.
—
AUTHOR'S SPACE
WAAAAR IS OOOOVEEEEEEER.
Joe is kaputtttt. Finally. Enede did an amazing job! She was fabulous! They she tricked Joe was good. And I am really happy to have given her the last hand, instead of Kevin. I had a lot of ends in my mind but i decided to give the girl the spot, instead of the man or them together.
I wanted you all to get how strong she is and how she grew up in the book. I am so proud of what she achieved. She deserved to face Joe, even if also Kevin needs his last words but this is not the last chapter, ehe.
ONE CHAPTER TO GO + THE EPILOGUE!!!!! BE READY.
Love ya, Benny. <3
CHAPTER COVER MADE BY ME