"Son of a bitch!" I heard someone cursed but I wasn't sure whether it was real or just a friction of my imagination. Being beaten up by a dozen men reminded me of that time when I was beaten up by Blake Ryan, the asshole who was working for Villain X, except that this time it felt a hundred times worse. Although each man only hit me twice, as instructed by their boss, those men were strong and each blow felt stronger than the previous one.
I felt a hand grasped my arm and started to shake my body. "Man, wake up." Another set of cursing. "Santa Madonna! I can't believe they did this to you. You're just a boy."
I tried to open my eyes but they kept fluttering as my lids felt so heavy. I felt so tired and worn out. After a full minute of trying, I was finally able to open my eyes. "Mario?"
I heard him chuckle. "Yeah, who else do you think?" He put one arm beneath my body to support me while the other grabbed my arm. "Come on, man. We gotta get out of here." I knew he wouldn't be able to carry me if I didn't help him so I forced my body to work and pushed myself up using both elbows as footing. We finally managed to put me in a sitting position.
"Why are you here?" I asked and couldn't help the sarcastic tone in my voice. "Why are you helping me?" For these last few days, he had never shown anything resemblance care or offered me his friendship. All he has ever done was ordering me around and scolding me when I wasn't on time. Now as I looked at him, trying to help me back on my feet, I had to admit that he wasn't the person I would expect to rescue me from this godforsaken place.
Mario crouched beside me, his arm was still supporting my back as if he was afraid I would fall back if he let go. "Does it matter? We need to get out of here. I'll explain everything later," answered him a deep low voice that I could barely hear.
I gave him a firm nod and let him support me all the way to his car outside.
Once we settled in, he punched my arm lightly. It was a very light punch but my worn out body screamed nonetheless. "What's that for?" I glared at him from the seat beside him.
He spared me one look as he put the key in the ignition and turned. "For being stupid. I've told you that you must come instead you were being stupid and refused to do the job." He waved his hand at my bruised body. "Do you think I want this to happen to you? I don't. But you made your goddamn choice so it's all on you."
We stayed quiet as he drove out of the alley and into the New York busy traffic. The sky above has turned dark and I wanted to kick myself for making Autumn wait for me. "What time is it?" When he didn't answer, I pulled out my phone and stared at my cracked screen. "Shit!" It was eleven PM. I've told her that I wouldn't be long yet I left her for nearly five hours.
She sent me several messages asking where I was. I quickly sent a reply, telling her that I wouldn't come home tonight and that she should have dinner without me.
As the screen dimmed, I was able to see my reflection. I had bruises all over my cheekbones and when I looked down and pulled up my sleeves, I could see bruises everywhere as well. I was sore and battered and there was nothing I could do about it.
I looked up at the road and realized where we were heading. "No. Don't take me home," I quickly informed Mario which earned me one quizzical brow. "I don't want my girlfriend to see me like this." The last thing I wanted was to cause her worry. I knew if she saw me like this, she would cry and that would break my heart.
To my surprise, he didn't say anything but he drove past the building where Autumn and I lived. He only stopped a few miles outside Manhattan, in front of a tall building with red painted bricks. He helped me get out of the car and supported me all the way to a room on the third floor.
"You should sit." Carefully, he put me down on the couch and walked towards the front to close the door. I shrugged off my coat and made myself feel comfortable on the couch. "Tell me, how many rounds did you get?" He took a seat across from me and put his arms on top of his knees as he leaned forward and slid his gaze on any visible bruises.
"Two."
Mario nodded thoughtfully. "Not so bad. I've suffered three."
I looked at him in disbelief. How could twenty-four hit by baseball bat considered as not so bad? "Are you joking? I wasn't even sure how I managed to stay alive."
"The big boss won't kill you. You're a good asset, he won't let you die if he thinks you're still useful." He stood and walked towards the fridge and when he came back, he had frozen peas in one hand. "Here." He handed the bag of frozen peas and I shoved it against my back where it hurt most. "I prefer peas over anything else." Mario shrugged. "They fit better to my back, knees, or shoulder, and when they're hard they kinda massage my muscle like cold beads."
I nodded. I preferred a bag of frozen peas as well. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you? Is that why you sounded like you didn't want me to come?"
He brushed a few strands of hair from his forehead. "Yes. I feel bad for leading you into a lions' den." He dropped his gaze to the floor and I watched his jaw tightened. "But big boss' order. I can't do anything about it."
"So you knew they sent photos of my girlfriend and threatened me to come?"
His brows scrunched and his dark eyes narrowed with thought. When he finally answered, his reply was unexpected. "I didn't know but I would guess that's what they'd do."
I leaned forward, causing the bag of peas I put between my back and the back of the couch dropped. "What do you mean?"
Mario lips set into a grim. "That's what they did to me."
I pondered his words for a few moments, then realized what happened. When I sat with him and Faith in the cafe yesterday, I was so distracted by trying to protect Faith that I didn't realize his longing eyes whenever he stole a glance at her. He still loved her. Mario still loved Faith. I should've seen the signs. "Faith."
A bitter smile appeared on his lips. "Yeah."
"What happened?" I paused and quickly added, "I know it's none of my business but if you don't mind telling me."
Mario scratched the back of his neck and stood. "We are going to need some drinks if we're going to talk about that." He moved to the fridge again and yelled, "do you prefer chilled beer or shots of tequila?"
I couldn't handle tequila right now. The hangover would be painful so I told him I preferred the beer. Mario put down one pack, containing six bottles of beer, on the table. He seemed to know that I was totally worn out and wouldn't be able to open the cap so he opened it for me before he handed me the beer. He clinked his bottle on mine and we took a drink.
"When I first met Faith, I thought she was just another pretty face. I thought I would date her for a month, maybe two, and broke things off when it started to get serious." Mario leaned back on the couch and held his beer on top of his right thigh. "But she's different. She's simply the most amazing girl I've ever met in my life and I like her a lot. Two months become three and before I knew it, we've been together for ten months, longer than any relationship I've ever had." He brought the green bottle to his lips and took a long drink.
"She was kind and so pure, she lived her life in the right way and it inspired me to change so one day, I decided to leave the organization."
I took a sharp intake of breath. It was a bold move. I did the same thing a year ago and was lucky Santiano let me go. Although he clawed back to me after graduation. I remembered what the big boss said about giving me for his unpaid loan and curled my hand into a ball of a fist. Damn that man!
I turned my attention back to Mario's story. "They didn't let me go that easy, in fact, they didn't let me go at all. So when I started to refuse to do the job, they sent me a picture of Faith and the rest, was the same as what happened to you today."
My body froze at the mention of Faith. "Did they do anything to her?"
Mario shook his head. "They didn't but I did."
I frowned. "What?"
He shrugged one shoulder and said, "I dumped her." He shook his head and there was sadness in his eyes. If I didn't know better, I would've thought he was going to cry. "In the cruelest way possible so that she wouldn't even think of being friends with me let alone getting back together."
I told myself that I would let the man say what he wanted to say but I was curious about what he did. In the end, I let my curiosity get the best of me. "What did you do?"
"I made out with her best friend..." Well, that wasn't so bad, I thought, until he continued, "in our bed." Fuck!
I stared at him, wide eyes and gape-mouthed. "You did what?!"
"She walked in on me with her best friend in our bed," said Mario with a sigh.
"Why the fuck did you do that?" I wondered if punching him now would be too late. I might not have any feeling left for Faith right now, but she was someone I'd considered as a very close friend. And the thought of Mario hurting her, even if it was for her own good, still drove me mad.
"It was the only way." Mario's eyes warned me that he didn't like the tone of my voice. "If I continue to be with her, she'd forever followed by Manzini's men. They wouldn't leave her alone to make sure I behave."
"Manzini?"
Mario nodded. "That's the big boss."
I gave it a thought as I tried to recall if I've ever heard Santiano mentioning that name. "I've never heard that name. Until today, I thought I was working for Santiano."
He shook his head. "You're sold by your old boss." Mario gave his head a little shake. "I don't know if I'm jealous or take pity on you."
I shot him a questioning look. "Why?"
"You're dragged into this mess. You didn't want to be here, you didn't want this job." He paused and took a drink. "But I walked myself into this mess when my father—" he abruptly stopped as if he couldn't bring himself to finish his story. When he finally spoke again, it was a different topic. "You need to make a choice, Ty. You need to man up and make the damn choice because this organization, Manzini, they weren't joking when they said they'd blow your girlfriend's head off."
I lifted my brows. "Why? I thought they'd keep Autumn alive so they could order me around." Autumn was the real reason I was doing this and if she was gone —I shuddered at the thought of that—I would stop doing it. I didn't care if Manzini was going to chase after Santiano or me. Autumn was the most important person in my life and if she was gone, there was no point for me to keep living my life.
"That's what I thought as well until I saw them blowing Pietro's wife when she was on her way to the market the next morning after Pietro told her about the organization." Mario put his empty bottle on the table and leaned forward. "And Pietro was dead the next day. One thing this organization isn't lack of is men power. None of us is irreplaceable, man. They can put a bullet in our head anytime they want."
"That means I can't tell Autumn what's going on," I muttered to myself. Shit. I was tired of lying to her but there was no way I could tell her the truth and it sucked.
Mario seemed to hear my words as he said, "you can't. The minute she knows, she's dead."
I never felt as hopeless as I was feeling right now. I looked up and let out a deep sigh. "What should I do?"
Mario opened another beer and took a long drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and put the beer down. "You have two choices. You continue what you've been doing so far but make damn sure that you won't make any mistake. Not even a small one because it could cost you your girlfriend's life. Or, you break up with her and let her live her own life, far from danger. And when the organization sees that you're on your own, they will stop following her around. If you stumble and accidentally make a mistake, they will take it out on you. They probably will give you more than just two rounds but they will not harm your girlfriend." Mario leaned back and held his palm up as he waved his hand. "The choice is yours. Choose wisely, my friend."
"Is that what happened to you?" I asked. "Whenever you made a mistake, will they take it out on you and give you a few rounds?"
Mario pulled the sleeves of his sweater up, revealing two black and blue bruises on his arms. "These two were from this afternoon when you refused to do the job."
I flinched as I stared at his arms. "Damn. I'm so sorry, man. I didn't know they would hit you too."
He pulled his sleeves down and folded his arms. "You're my responsibility." Mario cocked his head to the side, he looked so forlorn. "We both are dogs on the leash and when a dog makes mistake, it would be beaten."
I lifted the beer and took a long drink as I tried to decide which course of actions I should do.
*~*~*
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