"Are you sure you don't need a bandage or anything?" I said, attempting to sound nonchalant but concern poured from my words, highlighting my uneasiness to Luke.
"Yes," he sighed, readjusting his shirt. "I've had worse, trust me. As for now, we need to get you the hell out of here." He moved swiftly over to the door, catching hold of my hand in the process. "We'll head downstairs, but it won't be long until they find Blake and well, realise he isn't me."
Luke stilled by the door, waiting a beat before giving Ed the go ahead to continue down the hallway. "Do you know where my father is?"
"Him and a team were heading to wait out front, that way Legrenzi can't leave without us knowing," he replied, gently squeezing my hand in reassurance.
"I'm sorry Luke," I murmured throughout the silence that had presented itself as we meandered throughout the corridors in a bid to reach the staircase as soon and as quietly as possible. "I didn't mean to panic or worry you by being here, I just couldn't carry on, you know that right?"
"Of course I do," he whispered, and although I couldn't see his face for confirmation that he was being truthful, his tone alone told me that he had no feelings of resentment towards me. "You saved my life Adelaide, you did what any other selfless person would have done."
We came to a standstill as we reached the stairwell, Ed being cautious and listening out for any susceptible sounds, while Luke twisted his body to face me. He trained his eyes directly onto mine, his free hand moving to cup my face. "You were brave too. I know what all of this does to you, especially after what you've gone through, but yet you're here fighting my corner. I can't thank you enough for that. We're going to get you out of here, I've got you. Just remember what I said. You need to be strong for me okay?"
I nodded meekly, knowing what I needed to do, but not being able to promise him I would be able to maintain it.
"I love you," Luke said suddenly, moving to press a chaste kiss to my lips before I could respond.
"Luke," Ed whispered from where he stood, positioning his gun ahead of his chest as his feet took on the first few steps of the staircase. He motioned his head toward the ground floor, where a hushed murmuring could be heard.
My heart picked its pace up instantly, knowing for certain that the men uttering below us weren't on our side. Legrenzi and his men were considerably carless for their level. Luke evidently sensed my shift in control over my emotions, his hand clenching my hand tighter against his palm, encouraging my body to silently advance down the stairwell.
Not a single one of us left an inch of our presence behind, making our journey imperceptible to anyone in the vicinity. We were light on our feet, maintaining quiet breathing to avoid anything seeming out of place to the people stalking the room below us. Despite all of this, as we neared the bottom of the stairs, it was evident they had been aware of our presence before we had even stepped foot onto the floor of the corridor.
The haunting sound of guns being loaded, along with their safety caps being lifted bounced around the walls in a sinister manner. Luke and Ed instinctively raised their weapons higher, drawing me to pull my own from my back pocket.
Ed's feet landed noiselessly onto the floor as he reached the bottom, Luke going to do the same but pausing in the process. He rapidly whipped his body around to face me.
"Duck!" he called, forcing my body to the floor in an instant. He left no time for hesitation as he flicked his finger twice in succession against the trigger, sending two deadly bullets to the top of the stairs. I refused to let my eyes glance at what he had fired at, with the sound of two bodies falling heavily to the floor telling me more than I wished to know.
"Down to seven men in what, less than an hour?" Luke hummed, helping me to my feet before boldly continuing the journey down the final few steps. My gaze rose as I searched to confirm who his comment had been directed at.
Legrenzi stood in the centre of the hallway, members of his side scattered along the walls. His face wore a chilling smirk, not a single inch of his body showing any sign of apprehension. I couldn't decide whether he had aged greatly since the last time I had seen him, or if the malevolence streaming through his veins had affected his physical appearance.
"Not everyone can be as skilled as you son," Legrenzi replied, though is eyes chose not to linger on Luke for long and instead drifted slowly over to mine as Luke moved to shielded my body behind his. "Adelaide, I had an inkling you were here," he said, throwing his head toward the corner of the room where Blake stood restrained by two expressionless men. "I'd considered the fact that you may be the one to figure it out. I just hoped your memory would have held off for a little longer. The Blake idea was smart too, I'll give you that, but we're always one step ahead of you. When are you going to realise that Adelaide?"
"Oh I already have," I replied calmly, taking a small step forward. Legrenzi raised his eyebrow in question, almost as if testing me. "You have quite the habit of underestimating me."
"Considering you were probably on your way to flee the country an hour ago, then I highly doubt that Adelaide," he toyed, keeping his smirk trained onto his face.
"Doesn't mean I couldn't have made plans before I left," I suggested, casting my eye line toward Blake and his detainers. I sent the two men a subtle nod, resulting in them releasing Blake, instantly moving their weapons to point them directly at Legrenzi.
"Make that five," I turned to Luke, who much like his father, had confusion filling his features, though a smile taunted Luke's face as he watched me.
Legrenzi's faced morphed into one filled with anger, whipping his body around to face his traitors. "All they wanted was double the price they were getting from you," I informed. "Which was pathetic considering that over half of them now aren't even hear to collect it."
"Don't patronise me Adelaide," he said tensely. "You don't want this to get nasty."
"It already has," I stated honestly.
"And who's to blame for that?"
"You," Luke sourly butted in. "I left for a reason. Cut all my ties to you for a reason, forgot I knew you for a reason."
"To focus on your bird over there?" Legrenzi fired back.
Luke rolled his eyes, "She's got nothing to do with this, you know that but this is your sick minded way of trying to get back at me. You know the real reason, but in your eyes you never set one foot out of place."
"I provided you with a comfortable, sustainable environment Luke," Legrenzi taunted. "You really think that she'll stay with you? That's pretty naive for someone with your mindset. You don't deserve to be happy."
"Comfortable?" Luke scoffed. "You consider a childhood of violence and punishment comfortable?"
"You had to be trained that way Luke, it's what made you who you are today. I couldn't leave the co-operation in the hands of someone who was unstable and could be manipulated at the touch of a hand."
"You're a sorry excuse of a man," Luke spat. "A man that doesn't see the needs of anyone but himself. You're not my father. I refuse to believe that any part of your sickening-self has anything to do with me. Not someone that shamelessly beats his wife and son! You're a dead man Legrenzi."
"Says the guy that's somehow one of the most wanted agents in the world," Legrenzi mused. "Wasn't a smart move joining her father. That's an industry that you don't get out of alive, and for what? You achieve nothing."
"I couldn't give two shits about the money you illegally make," Luke dismissed. "That isn't important to me. You should know that. I'm not going to sit on my ass my whole life getting other people to do my dirty work like you do. Instead I'm making a difference because I have the power to."
"A bit like making all the difference in her life?" Legrenzi tormented, waving his finger in my direction. "Because you fucked that one up-"
"Stop bringing her into this," Luke asserted, his voice rising uncontrollably as the words were thrown from his throat. "You don't even know her."
"But I know you," Legrenzi corrected.
"No, you know the boy that used to cower under your every gaze, your personal punch bag. You don't know the person I've grown to become because you were only interested in using me for your sorry excuse of a business."
"You know better than anyone that I can't have ex-workers wondering around the place, not with what they know. You made the decision to leave, meaning you made the decision to put Adelaide in danger. Same can be said to you Ed, you don't get to leave when you wish, switch sides as you please. This business doesn't work that way."
Ed refused to falter under Legrenzi's harsh gaze, his eyes turning to stone as if impassive to Legrenzi's words completely. "There's no way out for you," he said in a cold tone, disgust lacing his voice. "Take a look around Legrenzi, you're cornered. You'd be beyond foolish to think your five remaining dipshits would be able to get you out of here alive. This is a lost war."
Legrenzi was silent for a minute, leaving the air full of trepidation before he lunged his arm in the air, pointing his handgun directly toward Ed's chest. I reacted quickly, swinging my arm to mimic his stance, aiming the barrel mercilessly onto his features.
Suddenly the entire room was crowded with loaded death granters, their positioning varying between either Legrenzi or the three of us that still stood edge toward the staircase. An extra five or six appeared from seemingly no-where, but soon I caught sight of my father as he advanced into the room.
"Loverboy taught you how to defend yourself?" Legrenzi smirked, taking note of my threatening stance. "You wouldn't dare pull the trigger Adelaide, so don't act as of you have the balls to."
"Someone has to. There's no chance that you're making it out of here alive. Take a look around you, we've got you surrounded."
"Are you forgetting the five men that are currently pointing a bullet at your head too?" he said, his tone laced with a patronising venom. "Any of you fire and we're all goners."
I felt Luke flinch to the side of me, edging forward as his grip on the trigger in his hand tightened significantly. I clenched his hand in my hold, signalling my next move to him. His eyes cast subtly over to the object that I had been indicating, just to the side of Legrenzi.
I waited a beat or two, giving the tense silent a chance to suffocate Legrenzi's mind before Luke gently tapped his finger, giving me the go ahead. My finger slammed heavily onto the trigger, void of hesitation.
Legrenzi had little time to react, both Luke and I ducking instantly as the bullet fiercely infiltrated the fire extinguisher hung on the wall, sending the room into a raucous scene of chaos as it filled with a heavy fog.
Legrenzi found himself off guard, stumbling slightly before frantically swinging his body around in a bid to find his men, but my shot had initiated a succession of other pellets being fired from both sides of the room.
I lost sight of nearly everyone in the room, the fog spreading throughout the area rapidly and restricting my view, all aside from those closest to me. Luke gripped me tight, ensuring I was safe as we remained sheltered on the ground. We turned to our side, watching Ed clamber to his feet, his eyes trained solemnly on one area of the room. Luke whipped his head to catch sight of who Ed was aiming at, a clearing in the mist allowing him to do so.
I hadn't needed to look to see who their eyes were intently stalking. There could only be one person that sent their bodies into the level of distaste they were presenting.
Luke shielded my head to his chest as his throat erupted in a piercing yell, "Take the shot!"
Ed complied instantly, aggressively slamming his finger onto the trigger, which in turn spiralled the room into a menacing silence. With the only sound that followed being one that left my lungs reeling with air and body empty of terror.
His body crashed to the floor in a heap, the noise alerting every head in the room to the motionless corpse in the centre of the room. A succession of guns were discarded on the floor as the remainder of Legrenzi's men came to the conclusion that this was game over. He was gone.
Luke squeezed my body tight to his chest, planting a kiss to my hair line before he slowly raised himself. He paused, but only for a minute, almost as if confirming what he was seeing was really true. His feet edged slowly forward, the remainder of the room watching in pure heartache as he advanced toward his father. No-one could comprehend what seeing that could do to someone, even if their hatred for their relative ran deeper than the ache in my chest at the sight.
The fumes from extinguisher were dispersing from the room, clearing my vision and no longer giving me an excuse to avoid the sight in the centre of the room. My eyes first caught sight of the blood pooling around his body, trailing metres from where he lay and carving a path to his chest. His once white shirt was now a blood red, but not one part of me felt remorse toward his death.
I watched Luke's back as he tenderly moved closer to his father. I wanted to comfort him, to provide him with the warmth that he had sent my way too many times before, but I knew that he just needed his own space to fully accept what had just happened.
I watched him decrease the distance between him and his father, but before I could comprehend what I was seeing, my heart had already dropped down from my chest, my entire body going uncontrollably rigid. Legrenzi's body had flinched, clasping the gun to his side as he took his last few breaths.
"Luke!" The name was ripped from my throat in an agonising plea for him to react and shield his body. My voice bounced around every room in the house but failed to reach him fast enough.
In that moment, the seconds had elongated themselves as if thriving from the agony that my body went under, causing the scene around me to play in half speed.
My entire body crumbled in that split second. The only reply my ears received being the torturous crash of Luke's body as it shattered to the floor. My mind couldn't process the sight, leaving one signal tear to shred from my cheek as a dispersing of blood remorselessly reeled from my lover's lifeless body.