Chapter Twenty Five| Ava
"Fucking. Hell." I whisper to myself as I eye the disheveled woman standing in the large hallway.
Kaden is silent next to me, he reaches out for my hand and intertwines our fingers together.
"K-Kaden." The woman whispers and steps forward on shaky legs.
"Don't step any further." Luciano threatens.
The woman is extremely skinny, her skin looks really bad, clearly from the use of drugs. She can't seem to keep skill, she itches her arms and moves her jaw from side to side.
Kaden still hasn't said a word. He just looks angry, the tips of his ears, a light shade of red.
"Why the fuck are you alive, Beth?" Kaden growls out. I watch her flinch, her eyes starting to water.
"I-I w-want to see my daughter." I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
"Sorry bitch, if you're talking about Lily, she already has a mother. She's stood next to Kaden." Elena pipes up, playing with a knife. She looks at me and winks, I quickly look away.
Beth looks at me and frowns.
"That bitch is not my daughter's mother!"
"She most certainly is! You left Lily as soon as she was born, you chose drugs over her!" Kaden let's go of my hand and walks forwards until he is staring down at her in anger. "My little girl didn't have a mother for four years. Do you know how hard it was to explain to her she didn't have a mother? To have her cry and beg for me to find her one?!" He starts to yell.
"W-Well I'm here now." She give me a crooked smile. "We can be a family. You still love me r-right?"
"Beth, I never loved you. You trapped me but I'm thankful because you've given me a beautiful daughter and in a way, you gave me Ava." Kaden says proudly. "A woman I love, a woman I'm going to marry one day."
Beth clenches her fist and stares at me; an evil glint in her eyes. I glare at her back.
"Avey." I look up the stairs and start to panic when Lily walks down.
Kaden looks back at me with wide eyes.
"Hey, sweetie. Let's go back up stairs, yeah." I pick her up and start to walk up the stairs but Beth's voice stops me.
"I'll shoot you, if you go any further up those stairs!" I clutch Lily closer to me and turn my head. I place her head in the crook of my neck, so she doesn't see all the guns aimed at the woman and then the one aimed at me.
"Avey." Lily whimpers, clutching onto me tightly.
"Beth, put the gun down." Kaden warns.
"She's mine, that's my daughter! Give her to me!" She sounds absolutely psychotic.
"Ok." My eyes widen at Kaden's comment. However I look behind him and see Elena, creeping up behind Beth.
Kaden's distracting Beth.
"I'll let you back into our lives. We can be a family, if that's what you want, right?" Kaden tilts his head.
Beth nods her head rapidly. "M-more than anything." She grins.
However her grin quickly falls when Elena somehow manages to disarm her and pull her into a headlock.
"Don't be ridiculous." Elena rolls her eyes and tightens her arm around Beths neck.
I quickly take Lily upstairs and leave her with Aleksio. I give her stern instructions about not leaving the room until I come to get her.
I make my way back down the stairs and see Beth on her knees, Elena has a gun aimed at her head.
"P-Please Kaden!" Beth cries, staring at the floor.
"You've always been a good actress Beth. So shut the fuck up with your cries and tell me why you are really here!" Kaden grits out.
She suddenly stops crying and looks up at Kaden with pleading eyes. "I-I need some money for d-drugs."
"Unbelievable, fucking unbelievable." Kaden throws his arms up in the air, looking around in disbelief. "Using my daughter, pretending you care, so I would give you drug money!" Kaden then walks up to her and squats down in front of her.
"Please, that's all I need then I'll go!"
"You're pathetic Beth. I should shoot you in between your eyes right now." She starts to shake her head.
"P-Please Kaden, Raymond won't help me." Everybody in the room frowns at her and takes a threatening step forward.
"Raymond? What the fuck do you mean, Raymond?" I watch her face drop.
She chooses not to say anything. Kaden doesn't like that and wraps his hand around her neck and then lifts her up. She is literally dangling in the air, clawing at his arms.
"You're gonna tell me what you know, Beth, because if you don't, you better start praying." He growls out and then throws her on the floor.
She lands on a whimper and looks up with watery eyes.
***
"Avey, are you and daddy okay now?" Lily whispers. I'm sat on Kaden's office chair and she is cuddled up on my lap; her little head resting on my chest. She asked about Beth but I just told her that she was just a crazy lady.
"Yes, baby." I stroke her hair and she looks up at me with her big brown eyes and smiles.
"Good." She nods.
"Don't worry, Lily, Auntie Elena will make sure they stay together." Elena winks at Lily as she sits on the other side of Kaden's office. Aleksio is sat next to her, admiring her tattoos.
"Shouldn't you be with the others, taking care of you know who." I ask Elena and she shrugs.
"I'm on protecting duty, plus they've got Ruben." She casually shrugs.
"What are they going to do?"
"Question her,-" she looks at Aleksio and Lily to make sure they are not looking. "-torture her." She mouths and slides her finger against her neck.
"Okay Elena." I roll my eyes and she smiles brightly at me.
***
Kaden
"I just want d-drugs." Beth stutters and continues to fidget in the chair.
"Shut the fuck up. Tell me what's going on with you and your brother, Beth." I get a knife and hold it up against her neck. She whimpers, tears falling down her spotty face.
"He'll kill me, I can't Kaden!" She tries to lean her head back as much as she can, she looks up at me with fear.
"You're dead either way." Elijah tells her from behind me.
"Speak, Beth!" I push the knife further into her neck, drawing blood.
"No, no, no!" She shakes her head and only makes it worse for herself.
"Five....."
"Kaden!"
"Four...."
"Please!"
"Three..."
"You're hurting me!"
"Two.."
"Okay, okay!" She clenches her eyes shut and then looks at me. "He made me fake my own death, he knew I didn't want Lily but he wanted a child. He wants Lily!" She looks away from me. "I know she's better off without me but Raymond wants to take her from you. He's always been jealous of you Kaden and he wants you to burn to the ground."
"What's his next motive, Beth?" I tilt my head.
"W-Well..."
"TELL ME!" I shout! I can feel my blood start to boil.
"That annual c-congress meeting between all Mafia groups. H-He's planning on targeting you there. Ava as well." She releases a shaky breath. "He's working with a guy named Jamie."
I step away from her and look at Elijah, he nods at me. "I'll start making a plan."
This congress meeting is in two fucking days. We've all got to attend, even Lily and that puts me on edge.
"You're not going anywhere!" I threaten Beth.
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