Vivian Flammery.
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I am being tortured in my own hell, which I created with my very own hands. It's been two days since I talked to Moly about my feelings, and it's been almost three days since Gabriel and I avoiding each other.
Everything is normal; we eat breakfast and dinner together, but it is not the same anymore. He came to school with me to drop Daisy, but he never talked to me, not until it was most necessary, and when he did, it felt cold and distant, and he only addressed me formally.
I have started to hate my last name by now.
He didn't kiss me or touch me at all; he always maintained a few feet of distance whenever we were in the same room. Though he still opened the car door for me, he made sure I had all my meals on time, like ordering Grace and others to make sure I didn't skip my lunch or dinner when he was not here, and after that breakfast incident, I didn't even dare refuse and anger him further.
It's not like I don't want to talk to him, but every time I gather enough courage to talk to him, I just take a look at his stone-cold face, and it's all gone as soon as it comes.
I don't know what to do anymore.I sigh
I want my Gabriel back, the one who was gentle and showed affection toward me, not this one who always had an emotionless expression on his face.
"Are you alright, Vivi?" I look in front of me towards Daisy, and her eyes are filled with concern.
"Of course, Angel." I said that and gave her a small smile. Daisy and I were playing in the living room when she told me that she wanted to draw something for me. So we are coming to her room and sitting on her bed while she is drawing something facing away from me. She doesn't want to show me it until it's finished.
Once she was done with her drawing, she put it aside and came to sit in my lab. I put both of my arms around her as she rested her head on my chest, not saying anything.
She was being awfully quiet because she is not the kind of child who stays put in one place for so long without doing anything.
I raise my hand and caress her hair, gently soothing her hair down. I just comb her hair, give her a new hairstyle with half of her hair tied to the back of her head, and let it fall on her shoulder.
"What's happened, Angel? What are you thinking about?" I asked her when she didn't talk for a few minutes but stayed still on my lap.
"I was just thinking." She said she was not moving from her position. Her voice is so quiet and holds none of the brightness that is usually there. Which makes me a little nervous.
Something is bothering her, I can tell. My subconscious said:.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked. I know something is not right here. I try to pull her head back to see her face, but she just burys her head more into my breast and shakes her head.
"Come on, Angel, tell me what you are thinking about.?" I ask again, now that worry has taken over my body.
"You and Daddy." I took a sharp breath when I heard her. What does she mean?
"Are you going to leave me?" She asked in the most innocent voice. Her words are a little shakey as she speaks, like she is going to cry.
"What? No, of course not. Why would you say that?" I said it in horror. I never wanted her to think like this.
"Because you and Daddy are not talking to each other, and what if you leave me and Daddy? Daddy and I will be sad because we love you. I don't know who will stay with me after you." Her voice was breaking, and she was sobbing lightly and tightening her hand around me as I rubbed her back and tried to clam her down.
"Why would I leave my little Angel?" I gently try to understand why she was thinking like that as I rest my chin on her small head, wanting to take her pain away.
"My mother also leaves me." She said that, and her voice broke silently. I could feel my top becoming a little wet from her tears.
I thought I knew what pain and loneliness were and how much its hurt when I lost my parents. I thought I knew what heartbreak felt like in these past few days without Gabriel, but this, her words open a gate of agony that I can't explain in words, and I can't help the tears that fall from my eyes.
I have cried way too much in the past few days, and I hate it. I don't like crying, especially in front of people, so I wipe it as soon as it falls.
For her to say those words and know the meaning behind them at such a young age is something heartbreaking; no child should feel like this.
"Angel, look at me." I pull her away gently, hold her chin, and turn her head to me so I can see her face, and she looks up at me with her red eyes as tears keep falling one after another down her sweet face that turn red.
This is pure torture to look at her like that. I wanted to take all of her pain away from her.
I cup her face, wipe her tears away from her cheeks, and kiss both of her eyes as she closes them.
"I will never leave you, never. There is nothing in this world that can make me leave you. You hear me." I said it as gently as I could, but with little firmness in my voice, looking directly into her eyes to erase this stupid thought from her head.
"But.. But why are you and Daddy not talking then?" She asked me again in the most innocent and small voice I ever heard. She hiccuped in the middle of the sentence.
"I was stupid and did something that hurt him, and he is angry with me, but I promise that I will make it alright. I will make everything alright." I said detriment as I pulled her close, and she buried her head in my chest again, as I didn't want her to see tears fall from my eyes.
I hug her tight and try not to cry loudly.
I have to fix this somehow. I thought and wiped my tears.
"Do you love Daddy?" She asked and looked at me. She is not crying anymore, but her face is still red, and her big blue eyes are a little lighter in the shade than they usually are.
"What?" I ask in shock.
"Do you love Daddy?" She tilted her head to the side and asked again, blinking her eyes innocently. I open and close my mouth slowly, not knowing what to say.
What do you say to a little girl who asks you if you love her dad? I ask myself.
The truth. My subconscious said.
"I...I...." She cut me off.
"Because Daddy loves you, you know?" She said it with her eyes shining brightly again.
"What did you say?" I asked in complete shock.
"Daddy told me one night when he tucked me into bed, he said he loved you." I think I am going to faint from how hard my heart is beating right now.
Her words are echoing in my ears, and I don't know how I should react to it.
Was what she said true? Did he feel the same way I feel about him? Or I am just imagining all this, but why didn't he say anything about it? I ask myself. I was completely and ultimately shocked.
Well, you never even gave that poor man a chance to talk, did you? I subconsciously said she was rolling her eyes.
Well, she is not wrong. I just did the stupidest thing possible.
Daisy got off my lap and crowled on her bed, where she was drawing, and picked up a sheet she was drawing on.
"Here you go." She said as she gave me a piece of paper with her drawing and set it back on my lap like she did before.
I looked down at the paper and saw a drawing of a man and a woman. The man was wearing a black tax and the woman was wearing a long wedding dress with a veil.
I chuckled as I saw the color of the dress. It's pink.
They are holding hands and standing in front of a big cake. On the left side of the paper, there is a big heart, which
surrounding by little colorful flowers, and in the middle of the heart, writing two initials G weds V.
I gasp and look up at her as I understand the meaning of what she draws.
The couple is Gabriel and me. She made a drawing of him and me getting married.
"Angel, what is this?" I whisper in disbelief because I don't trust myself to talk right now. She looks at me and almost seems nervous.
"Will you be my mommy and marry my Daddy Vivi?" She asked nervously and yet so innocently, and to say I was shocked would be an understatement.
I would be looking so funny with my mouth and eyes wide open, like a fish out of water.
"Oh my God, Angel." I take her in a hug and hold her tight because I don't know what to tell her. I mean, she practically purposing me on behalf of her father, who didn't know anything about this, and not to forget, I don't even know if he loves me or not. For all I know, he could hate me after the shit I pulled that night.
"Where is all of this coming from, sweetheart?" I need to understand her to know why she is asking all of this so suddenly, so I don't hurt her more than I already did.
"Daddy and you are fighting. He is sad, and you are also sad. I don't want that. He always smiles when he's with you. I want him happy, and he is always happy when he is with you." She said, and my heart clenched and tears slipped from my eyes again.
How did I become so selfish that a 4-year-old asked me if she could have her daddy marry me because she thought I would make him happy when he was sad in the first place because of me? It's been three days since Gabriel and I fought. I can't even call it a fight because it's not. It's my stupidity, and because of it, I hurt him and now Daisy.
"Angel I..." I don't know what to say to make it right anymore or how to explain everything to her.
"You and Daddy are not talking to each other, and then you will leave me because you both fought." She whimpered, and a fresh stream of tears streamed down her face.
"No, Angel, didn't I just promise that I would never leave you? I love you; you are the reason why I worked here in the first place. I promise to you that I will make up with your dad, but always remember that you are the most important thing in my life, and I will never ever leave you for anything." I said. I put everything on the words that come out of my mouth to make her believe them because it's the truth; there's nothing that can make me leave her.
"Promise?" She held out her small finger for me to promise her.
"Promise." I said that and intertwined my fingers with hers.
"So you will marry Daddy?" She said she was smiling again, showing all of her teeth.
"Daisy," I said, warning her playfully. She needs to understand what it means to marry someone.
"I can't marry your daddy."
"But why?" She was almost whining.
"Because we are not together."
"But he loves you." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and pouted.
"Why are you so eager for me to marry him?" I ask with a frown on my face, and I can hear frustration in my own voice.
"I ask Mrs.Smith how I can have mommy." She started with a shine in her eyes.
"She tells me if my daddy decides to marry someone, then she will become my mommy. Then I ask Gracey, When do you marry someone? and she tells me when you have a strong feeling for someone and want to spend your whole life with her. Then you marry them, and they will become your life partner whom you stay with and love forever." She said this as she repeated everything she remembered.
"So if you love Daddy and Daddy loves you, then you both marry each other, and then you can stay here with me forever." She shrugged her shoulders and clapped like she had solved the biggest mystery of all time.
I let out a tired sigh, not knowing who to make her understand.
"It's not that simple, sweetie. When people marry each other, they do it because they are in love. And your daddy doesn't love me; he was just being nice and caring. That's how he is." I said.
"But he told me that he loved you." She pouted, looking down and her lip trembling.
"Oh Angel." I didn't know what else to say, so I held her close to me and kissed her forehead.
Why would he lie to her that I couldn't understand?
We sat like that for some time with her on my lap, and I was rocking her back and forth. There were many questions running through my mind, but the biggest one was why he would say he loved me.
Was he only being nice and didn't want to break her heart?
Or does he really mean it?
But I really hope he means it. I never wanted anything as much as I wanted to hear those words from his mouth.
I looked down and saw her fall asleep. I sigh and make her lay on her bed. It's 5 in the evening. She usually takes her nap at these hours of the day, tired from school and all the playing around she does all day.
I lean down, kiss her forehead, and stand to go, but she holds my hand and opens her eyes.
"Don't go, Mommy." She said it in a sleepy voice, and I was shocked to hear her calling me Mommy, but I lay beside her. She turned to her side, facing me, and put both of her hands around me.
"Please don't leave, Mommy." She said it again and held me tightly, like she was afraid I would disappear, as her eyes filled with tears.
"Never Angel. I will never leave you." I said to kiss the top of her head and put the blanket on us.
"Now be my good girl and go to sleep." I said gently, pulled her closer, and started stroking her head, smothering her to sleep, and hummed a lullaby for her.
Soon enough, she settles down, and her breathing becomes even as she falls asleep and becomes lost in her dreamland.
I can't describe the feeling I get when she calls me mommy; it feels like a new kind of warmth fills my heart, and I get this proactive feeling that takes over my whole being as tears drop from my eyes, but this one is from happiness and not sadness.
I love her with every single cell of my body, and I can't believe this sweet and lovely girl just called me her mom.
I don't know how long I lay there holding her in my arms proactively as my hands kept on caressing her head. As I bathed in this new feeling, letting it consume my whole being,.
Even though there is still sadness in my heart, I can't believe she noticed the distance that grew between Gabriel and me, and I couldn't help but curse myself for the tears that fell from her eyes because of me. I never wanted to be the reason for her tears ever again.
I know what I need to do now; I can't let this go any further than this. The first thing that I am going to do is talk to Gabriel when he comes back home.
He can yell at me if he wants, but I will not stop until we talk, even if I have to beg him to forgive me on my knees.
I don't know why, but her calling me mommy, it's just feels right.
I look at her and smile.
"I love you." I said and lean down to kiss her forehead, got off the bed carefully without waking her up, and walked out of the room with a new determination this time.
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Gabriel Armstrong.
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"Gabriel." I heard a voice from a distance.
"Gabriel.." I heard it again, but more clearly this time, and I opened my eyes to see Archer standing in front of me.
I rubbed my two fingers on my forehead to get rid of the headache that didn't want to go away.
"Man, are you alright?" He asked, and all I wanted to do was yell that I was not, but I didn't do it, and I ignored him.
"What is it?" I asked, wanting to know why he was here and disturbing my peace.
Peace. I laugh at that word because I don't know what peace is these days.
Well, there is one place I can find this peace, but apparently the world hates me, and I think so does she, and I was banned from touching her or even coming close enough to smell her scent.
And all of this is fucking with my head. I can't concentrate on anything around me, and I did not have enough patience for anything, like nothing at all. All of my anger is getting out on the people around me.
I fired at least 12 people in the office on the first day. Archer had to drag me to Wearhouse so I didn't mess up the launch on Sunday and do my work for me. My men from the underworld knew better than to cross me when I was in this state, so they stayed away as far as possible from me. They could sense my anger and tension these past two days.
I never thought I would end up in this situation. Being the most feared Mafia leader, I was used to being in control of every situation. But my own feelings are getting out of control this day.
And there is only one person to blame, but I can't even stay angry at her. I know there had to be a reason for her behavior. I can see her struggle every day, and her eyes held the same pain that I am feeling. I also felt like she wanted to talk to me, but something was holding her back, so I decided to stay away from her, giving her space and time to come around and talk to me on her own.
But it doesn't mean it's easy for me; it's still hurting all the same, and I am angry. Anger is not the right word for what I am feeling, but I can't hurt her, no matter how much pain she has caused me with her words.
All of this feels, they are new to me, but I am trying to handle it as much as possible without getting crazy.
"Gabriel." Archer called out again, trying to get my attention. He had a serious look on his face, something I had not seen since the day at the club.
"What is it?" I demanded, and now he had my whole attention, my voice laced with impatience.
Archer swallowed hard before he spoke. "We just received a call that someone ambushed our latest gun shipment."
"Who?" I clenched my jaw and spit the question through my teeth as my hands balled into fists. I don't want to deal with this now.
"We don't know yet. But we believe they have inside information," he replied.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my rising agitation. The last thing I needed was a loss of profit and guns. The shipment was worthy of millions, but that was not about money but respect. I have planty of money that a few millions lose not going to do anything to my bank account, but it was all about fear and the power that I had.
If people see me losing my shipments and one of my own people betrays me, it will mean they will see a crack in my armor and try to test it and try something funny, which will only lead them to their grave sooner than they are supposed to, and I don't want to waste my time on that.
"Is anyone get hurt?" I asked.
"Not seriously, just a few cuts and broken bones, but no one died from our side." He said calmly, trying not to poke the beasts that I have become these past two days.
"Good, get everyone and track them. Find out where the fuck are they." I said angrily, I won't let anyone fuck with my reputation and position in here. If they take something for me, they are going to fucking pay for it with their lives.
"Well, we already had their location," he said with a smirk on his face.
I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head slightly. "Explain"
"Well, they are the overconfident sons of a bitch and party in a strip club, thinking they fool us." He said it with a proud look on his face.
I smiled for the first time in two days, but it's not the happy one, more of the sadist.
It's good because that's what I need—some blood on my hands. I need to kill someone to get my rage out. So I can go home and pretend that everything is alright.
"Let's get them then. What is the name of this strip club?" I ask him as I stand up and take my gun, strip it into my gun holder, and wear the suit jacket that was hanging from behind the chair.
"Pandemonium," he replied.
Pandemonium is one of the most notorious strip clubs around here, where most of the small gangs do their dirty work. I never went to this place because I don't like strip clubs; they always disgust me, and I thought I would like to know what it feels like to get lap dances. Maybe Bellissima will give me one, one day.
Yeah, she didn't even talk to you. Good luck with it. My inner self rolls his eyes.
A man can dream. I tell myself.
"Okey, let's go." I said that and started walking towards the door, and he followed me.
This is going to be fun. I thought.
We take a few of our men with us, and when we step outside from the car, everyone's eyes turn on us, and I am not complaining.
"Are they still in?" I ask Archer.
"Yep. I just asked one of the men that followed them; a few of them left, but one is still in." He said, and I smirked, One is enough; if he doesn't speak, we always know where the others are." As soon as they hear what happened here, they will run back to the hole they crawled out of to find their leader.
"Tell the other to keep close eyes on them. Tell Jake I wanted to know everything there is to know about them—who they meet, who they talk to, their friends, and about their family everything there is to know." Archer nodded his head and pulled out his phone to call Jake.
Okay, then it's time for some action. I thought and started walking inside.
As I walked into the dimly lit room, the heavy scent of sweat and alcohol immediately hit me. The loud, thumping music drowned out any sense of conversation, leaving only a constant buzz in my ears. I could feel the vibrations of the bass pulsing through my body, adding to the already overwhelming atmosphere.
The stage was lined with flashing neon lights, illuminating the scantily clad dancers as they moved with seductive grace. The audience was a mix of drunken men, their eyes fixated on the stage, and a few women who seemed out of place in this environment. I could see the dollar bills being thrown onto the stage, with the dancers expertly picking them up with their stiletto-clad feet.
The air was thick with a mix of desire and desperation. The men sat with their wallets open, eager to catch the attention of their chosen dancer. This place has always disgusted me because some of these men are wearing wedding rings on their fingers. It's an direct disrespect toward a relationship as sacred as marriage.
As soon as people saw me approaching, the mood in the club changed as people looked at me with fear and respect, knowing who I was and what I was capable of. I didn't waste any time, and I pulled out my gun and removed the safety before pulling the chamber back.
I signal one of the men to turn off the music. He walked away, and the room fell silent and the light turned on. The dancers stop and look around. A few of the people complain, but as soon as people notice me standing there with a loaded gun in my hand, the room falls silent, and people step aside, out of my way.
I look up at the stage, point my gun at the dancers, and gesture for them to go away from here. They didn't waste any time and ran away. I never look anywhere but at their faces. Not just because I remember the morals my mother taught me, but also because there is only one woman who I like to see in this little less clothes on or naked, and none of them are her.
There is only one woman for me, and she is not talking to me right now. I shook the thought away. I can't get distracted right now.
I grab a chair from the side as I walk and drag it to the middle of the room. The room that once buzzed with music is now so quiet that the scratching sound of the chair on the floor sounds annoying and makes my headache worse. I sit down on the chair and lean back on it, with everyone standing as far away from me as possible, almost by the wall of the club.
"One of you here forgot who I am. So tell me which one of you motherfuckers stole my shipment." I asked loudly; the rage that was building up in me was making it harder for me to control myself.
Nobody answered, and all I could see was the fear and confusion on their faces.
"You better speak, or I will kill every single soul here." My voice was calm, but everyone could hear the threat behind it. I sighed, leaned forward, and rubbed the nuzzle of the gun on my forehead when no one spoke. My headache got worse as time passed.
The owner of the club came running into the room and stopped when he saw me.
"Mr.Armstrong..." he tried to speak.
"Shut the fuck up." I snapped at him, and he quickly shut his mouth.
"Anyone has anything to say." I asked again, not wanting to kill someone unnecessarily.
"I swear we don't know anything about your shipment." One of the men from the table stood up and started yelling.
I remove the nuzzle from my forehead and pull the trigger. The bullet hit his shoulder, and he howled in pain as he fell back on his chair. His friends, I guess, come to his side.
"Shut up if you don't have information for me, or the next bullet will not be on your shoulder." I growled.
"Anyone else have anything to say?" I asked in a boring voice. They know none of them are going out of here alive if I don't get what I want.
"Please have mercy." A man came and fell on his knees and started crying.
Pathetic.
"Then tell me what you know." I said that and raised my eyebrow.
"It was the black wolf," he said, and I frowned.
The Black Wolf? That was an odd name for a gang.
"What is Black Wolf?"
"That's all I know. Please have mercy." He was begging me now.
"Okey, then tell me who knows something." I said I was not going anywhere until I got some information.
"Matto, he knows about them. He was with the people who stole from you." He said.
"And where will I find this, Matto?"
"In the room upstairs, in the VIP section." He said that and pointed his hand towards the stairs.
"Thank you." I said that and tapped his shoulder before standing up and walking upstairs. Archer followed me with a few of my men.
The room was full of people who seemed afraid enough to shit their pants and step back as soon as I stepped into the VIP section with my people.
"Girls, please go back to your changing room." I said this to the few girls that are in here. They were only wearing lingerie. I gestured with my head to the door and stepped aside, giving them space to walk out.
All of them walk away from their faces, except one who walks seductively and is going to touch my chest, but I step back before she can.
"Get the fuck out of here when you have a chance." I growl, and she flinches back and runs out of there.
I looked around, searching for this Metto. No one dares to meet my eyes out of fear and look down; all of them are afraid, but no one moves from their place. But there's one man who steps back, trying to hide away from me.
It looks like we have our man.
"Everyone out, except him." I point my gun at him. Everyone practically skips from there. He tries to run, but Archer goes behind him. I sit down on the couch there, and Archer comes back, dragging him into the room by the back of his caller.
"Sit." I said, and he quickly sat on the couch. In front of me, shaking.
"Please don't kill me." He said he was sweating and looking around for escape, but it was his bad day. My men are already surrounding the whole area and standing at every exit.
"I will let you live. Tell me where the shipment is." I said that and leaned forward.
"I..I...I." He shutter.
"I will kill you if you don't talk thought." I said it matter-of-factly.
"They are going to sell it to the other gang members." He said that, making me frown.
"Who is selling it?" I ask because I need a name.
"The Black Wolf." Here is this word again.
"Okey, and who is the Black Wolf?" I asked.
"It's not a person. It's a group, and we don't know anything about them. They only contacted us once for the shipment, and they don't reveal themselves." He said he was practically shaking right now. I can't blame him; I have quite a reputation in the underworld that I will be offended if he doesn't.
"Do you know where they are going to meet and where they had the shipment?" I ask.
"No, we don't." He said.
I stood up and walked toward him, and he flinched as soon as I got near him.
"Then you are useless for me." I said and pulled the trigger, causing his body to fall from the couch and blood to come out of his forehead between his eyes. He didn't even have the time to reach. This was probably the easiest way I have ever killed someone. He is lucky I had a headache; otherwise, I would have enjoyed his screaming.
I walk downstairs with Archer, who is frowning at his phone. He seems awfully quiet for some reason.
On the main floor of the club, everyone was still standing where I left them. I looked up at my men and nodded my head to signal them that it was time to go back, and they all left one by one. I turned back to the audience that was still standing where I left.
"Sorry for your inconvenience, but please enjoy your remaining night. The drinks on me." I wink, and I walk out of the club. I look at Archer.
"Is everything alright? You seem disturbed about something." I ask him if he is not someone who can stay quiet for too long.
"Yeah, when we are inside, I get a call from Jake, but the signal was bad, and now there is no service here at all." He said this while looking at his phone. I took out my phone and saw that I also had no service.
"Maybe they have some problems with towers." I shrugged and put my phone back inside my suit jacket.
"Let's go home." I said today was a long day, and it's already 1:30 a.m. I just wanted to go to sleep. I wasn't able to sleep for the past three nights, which is the reason why I have this bad headache. I hope I get some tonight, or I will have to take sleeping pills, which I avoid as much as possible.
"Archer, let's go." I said this while he still looked at his phone.
"Hmm, you go; just give me a minute, and I will come back." He said that and walked away toward the men who came with us.
I sigh and walk toward the car. I was standing just a few feet away from it when I heard a familiar voice yelling my name. I look to my left and see Jake running toward me.
"BOSS, GET AWAY FROM THE CAR THERE, BOMB IN THERE." My eyes widened when I heard him, and I took a few steps back fast in shock, but before I could turn and run away from there, it's too late.
A huge explosion took place right in front of me. It's like the world suddenly stopped as my body flew across a few yards and rolled on the road. I feel the sharp pain on my right shoulder as a sharp stone cut through my suit, and I feel it cut my shoulder.
"GOD DAMN IT." I heard someone yell as my face smashed against the pavement.
I didn't feel any pain for a moment as the shock took over me.
After a few seconds, the pain took over, and I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and stomach. My ears were ringing, and there was a metallic taste in my mouth.
"Gabriel." I heard voices around me as I spit the blood from my mouth, and I placed my left hand on my right shoulder where it hurt. I feel hands on my back as they help me stand up.
My vision was blurry as the ringing didn't stop in my ears. My body felt so tired, and everything hurt.
"What the fuck?" I said to myself as the ringing stopped and I could see more clearly.
"God, Gabriel, you are bleeding." Archer said, and I looked to my shoulder, removed my hand, and saw the white shirt turning red. I remove my jecket carefully, and one of my men takes it from my hands and examines the wound, which is not deep. So it didn't need stitches. I touch my hairline when I feel blood runing down my forehead and show blood on my fingers, but it does not hurt badly, so I don't think I need to go to the hospital. I think I can take care of it myself when I reach home. Archer, give me a white hankerchief. I take it and press it on my head to stop the blood.
"Let's get you out of here." I said after convening Archer and Jake that I didn't need to go to the hospital.
"It was a trap; someone wanted to kill you," Jake said as soon as we sat inside the car.
"Who are they?" Archer asks as I lean back on my seat and rest my head on the headrest.
"Three guesses," Jake said, sighing.
"Marko fucking Vuković." Archer growled his name; he is angry, for sure.
"Bingo, he figures out that we are on his trail and gives a bounty to kill Boss." Jake said and start the car.
"But how, how did he know we were following him?" Archer asks with his teeth clenched.
"I don't know; maybe he got his intel, or maybe the leak is in our own people." The thought of someone betraying us made my hands clunch into fists. My head had started to kill me by now.
"How did you find out about this attack?" I ask him out of curiosity as I press a towel on my shoulder that was in the car to stop the blood there.
"One of my informants told me about it. She told me that someone spent a big amount of money on one of the websites on the Dark Web. The website name is The Black Wolf." I and Archer shared a look.
"Black wolf again." He said.
"They are contract killers and take a contract to kill you, and she just called me and informed me that they create deception by stealing the shipment to get you out and set the bomb in your car to kill you." He finished, and his knuckles turned white from how hard he was holding the steering wheel.
"This is all my fault." Jake said that and hit the steering wheel hard.
"What do you mean?" Archer asked.
"I should have been more careful. I called you, but they set the device to jam the signal so no one can use the phone." It's not his mistake. He can't do everything by himself.
"Jake, it's not your fault; you had no way of knowing." Archer tried to convince him.
"But I should have known." He insisted.
"Enough, Jake. It's not your mistake. You can't have control over everything. You did your best, and you saved me." I said, and he fell silent, but I can still feel him blaming himself for this.
"Get the men and check every single corner to see if you find anything about the bomb. Bring it to me; check every CCTV camera in the whole area." I said this as he stopped the car in front of the mansion.
I wish I could hold Bellissima in my arms. She has this power to make all my worries go away, but on a second note, it's good that we are not talking right now because I know her. She used to wait for me to come home before going to sleep. No matter how late I come home, I don't know how I will explain myself to her if she sees me like this, all covered in blood and wounds on my body.
"Take care of yourself, and if you need anything, just call, please." Archer said I just roll my eyes and wave him off.
The mansion lights are off as I walk in, and the guards around the mansion give me a worried look, but I ignore them and walk inside.
"Oh, my god, Gabriel." I heard it as soon as I stepped inside. I heard her gasp from somewhere, and before I could do anything, I heard footsteps running toward me.
Okey, I am fuck because I know this voice very well.
Vivian.
She stopped as she stood in front of me; her eyes widened as she took the sight in front of her.
"Jesus Christ, Gabriel, what happened?" She came to me and cupped my face with her hands, and I closed my eyes as I felt her soft hands run on my face frantically. This is the first time we have touched since that night, and it feels like heaven. I feel my body lose helf of its tension just by her innocent touch on my face.
I miss her touch and the warmth it give me, and I don't know how long I can respect her decision and give her space. I don't know what will happen if I keep avoiding her; our silence is making me crazy.
"Come with me." She said that and removed her hands from my face, and I missed her touch as soon as I lost her warmth from my face. She took hold of my hand, and I let her drag me upstairs.
Good luck to me, explaining to her about this. I groan.
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It looks like Gabriel has to give some explanation to Vivian.
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