"What?!" Celeste had exclaimed, covering her mouth, tears continuing to flow from her eyes, all the way down her cheeks. Bran had taken over from his father, carefully squeezing her shoulders, consoling her. Even in his eyes, it was apparent that he too was broken and grieving.
"I'm really sorry but it's the truth. Craig's been involved in a life similar to mine and Cassie and Brie knew about it. The reason he was staying with us was because people were trying to hurt him and it turned out to be the very ones that tried to execute me." A quiet voice confides.
"And what about Brie, she wouldn't just disappear without saying anything to anyone, so that means she's in danger right?" Bran questioned, his brows were creases to create a frown. Raye could see the emotions emanating from glossy grey eyes.
"Yeah," she responds, staring at the floor of her apartment all the colour drained from her face. Listening to the cries and the displeasure from her in-laws really tore her apart. She felt like the villain and each second that went by it was proven that she was.
Her heart was breaking apart piece by piece, her eyes watered, her body felt tired and shaky and she felt queasy.
"I'm absolutely sorry," she mumbles and Brian paces around her, a hand in his pocket.
"Seems like I waited a little too late to render my assistance," he speaks and the vicinity between them all went quiet. The man's wife and two children were waiting for him to elaborate for they had no clue what he meant by those words.
"I tried to help them you see, searching deep within this old mind to find what could be of use," his voice was gentle but he still appeared lost. He looked around the sitting area, everyone sat in couches except for him and his daughter in law.
"I didn't want Brienna and the rest of us having to look over our shoulders for the remainder of our days because of Rachel, so I offered to come up with a strategy to help them fight their adversaries. They weren't to do anything but ignore the Irish and mind their own business or it was what they were expected to do.
On the backside, the Irish would've been infiltrated and ratted out to the feds slowly and they'd do their jobs for them. While it seemed like the cops were onto them because of their own shortcomings they would've been on the side bestowing what was just."
Luca sat there and remembered when Brian had mentioned it to him, which was just a short while ago. He was actually impressed and for a moment and believed they were going to follow through. He felt like they were going too only for those sons of bitches to strike first.
"You were going to get involved in this?" The man's wife asked, appalled that he would even contemplate such a thing. She was a mixture of livid and confused.
"They were getting frisky Celeste, brazen with their targets. They sent things to our house. They wanted us to know that they knew who we were. It was only a matter of time before they did something worst."
"So we're all in deep shit?"
"Yeah," Luca replies, staring at Bran, the one who asked the question. He looked nothing like his siblings at all. He was bigger and hairier, taller.
"And what about Brie?" Cassie's husky voice was barely audible. She sat in a chair next to Charlie who said nothing but observes the whole time. Cassie wipes at her runny nose, a lack of zeal had left her eyes looking droopy. "I'm convinced those assholes did take her, so what are we going to do? How are we getting her back? Do they want money?"
"They don't want money," Raye answers scratching her head. She was moving and speaking on autopilot. She felt like an empty vessel the more she thought about Brienna. Her heart couldn't bear thinking of the girl getting hurt at all. If she did Raye had no clue how she was going to cope with that.
"An eye for an eye, I believe is the conduct they abide by, similar to us."
"No!" Cassie whispers harshly, her eyes wielding up with tears yet again. She plopped her head into her hands and cried, Charlie, reached out and placed a hand on her trembling shoulder.
"I will be burying one child in a matter of days and I don't intend to bury another! Do you hear me?" Brian growls and it didn't even faze Raye. She didn't seem to have heard a thing for her thoughts were a gargantuan mess. She didn't know how to respond, what to do and how to do it.
Saving her from having to speak so soon, a call came through to her phone and she hurried to answer it.
"Yes?" her tone was bored and the rush of adrenaline she felt at the device going off dissipated leaving her to feel inert when the person on the other end wasn't Brie as she was expecting.
"We found the car but no sign of her, boss." The man on the other end speaks and Raye clenched her jaw for the millionth time that night.
"Where was it?" Her voice was a mere whisper. Her throat was closing in on itself rather quickly and Raye needed a release to all the pent up rage and sadness that enveloped her from the inside.
"Parked in front of a store a little over ten minutes away from you."
"What did you find?" Raye was holding her breath, lingering at the brink of her emotions which threatened to collapse.
"Nothing, it's empty. I'm sorry."
The girl wasted no time to end the call. She started to break down right there in front of her in-laws, Charlie and her uncle. The pain she was fighting had won, eating her up whole. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she covered her mouth with her hand, slowly pacing the carpeted floor. Luca had moved over, putting his hand on her shoulder and she yanked herself away violently.
Luca saw the intent to murder and hurt everyone standing in her way, keeping her from finding the girl. He saw a fiancè pleading with the universe to safely return her love, he saw his little niece worried that the person she loved the most was going to be taken from her the same way the important people in her life had been taken. He saw her panic and he tried to stop her.
He held her arm tightly and she pulled away.
"Don't fucking touch me!" She hisses, her hazel pools bloodshot red. Everyone in the room was taken aback at the iciness that emanated from her. Brian eyed her intently, Cassie and her mother confused at the sudden change in the girl.
"Hey, calm down," Luca puts his hands up the air a little. "What's wrong?"
Raye says nothing, quickly exiting the apartment causing everyone to spring up from their seats. Bran and Luca bustled out after her, leaving behind the other occupants of the room worried for the girl. Charlie, in particular, had never seen her new boss act that way at all and it was frightening, that dead look in her eyes as if she was a soulless entity.
* * *
With her chest rapidly rising and falling, Brienna sat on the uncomfortable chair that felt like it was poking needles into her bottom. She sat there staring across to the man behind her abduction. Sinewy and quiet with a few tattoos on his arms, the man she remembered vaguely from an encounter almost two years ago smirked at her.
Quinn stroked his beard with the fingers on his left hand which had been propped on the arm of his chair. The other hand carefully spins a knife around and the girl couldn't take her eyes off of how effortlessly he did it. It scared her still.
Dread. It flowed through each and every last one of her veins, pumping excessively. She had endured three panic attacks since being brought to the man who stared at her in the silence. She needed Raye more than anything else, but couldn't have the girl and she felt like her inevitably demise was nearer than she expected.
Brienna cursed at herself for stopping at the store when she shouldn't have. She should've gone right home, but unfortunately, she was possessed by the notion of appeasing to her girlfriend and such a pure thing backfired terribly.
"You're a lot prettier than I remember," Quinn says and she jumps at his sonorous voice. Rich blue eyes pierced into hers like ice, searching, taunting her soul and Brie wanted to break down under the pressure.
"No wonder she went nuts for you. You're like her little exotic trophy, one that was just waiting to be plucked."
"I'm not a trophy," Brie speaks softly but stern enough to hear the man chuckle after looking away from him. He had smiled for a few short seconds, showing the gap in between his teeth. He leaned closer, putting away his fingers that were covered in obscure rings that were stroking his beard.
"Oh you're right, you're much, much more than a trophy baby. You're my ticket." He gets up, walking slowly until he was standing at the side of the girl, towering over her like a domineering mountain. She cowered, hugging herself even tighter.
"You're my ticket to get to that lanky ass bitch of yours to come to me. What I would pay to see her face right now. I know for a fact that she is livid."
"She's going to hurt you,"
"Right!" Quinn cackles like a fool. "Your bitch has gone soft Brie-Brie. You turned her that way or can't you see?"
For a moment Brienna waved his words around until she realized that he was right, even she saw it. Raye wasn't the pugnacious and somewhat brutal girl she'd met two years ago. She was more considerate now, mushy and sweet and she'd grown to love that but what she did was leave her love flawed Brienna realizes. Soft Raye was absolutely amazing but deadly for all of them.
"Ah, so you see?
I must thank you." Quinn sticks his hand out and tenderly strokes the side of the girl's face with his fingers, inciting a flinch.
"You've done good, watering down Raye, leaving her nothing but this pathetic excuse for a mobster. Need I also mention that washed up uncle of hers. You know, I really feel bad for them," He drags a chair causing Brie to whimper. He puts it really close to hers, taking his seat. He could see right into her glossy grey eyes; they were pretty. She was pretty and he liked it. Too bad it was going to waste away before her little princess charming comes riding on a horsey to save her.
"Ever since Paul Mancini died," Quinn continues and Brie pays careful attention. "Things have been awful for them. They lost allies, millions of dollars. All thanks to me of course."
"Why, what do you get out of doing that? I thought you guys did the same things."
"We do, but I'm much more greedy and vindictive."
"Fine, take over the city, the country, whatever but why go after Raye, haven't you hurt her enough?"
"Old grievances Sweetheart. Unfinished business and a deep hatred for her because you have no fucking clue how embarrassing it was being cheated out of what was mine because of some little girl."
"So that's it, misogyny? You want me dead, my fiance and potentially both our families dead because of your contempt over her being a woman?"
Quinn laughs, getting up and shoving the chair away with his feet and dragged against the wooden floors again.
"Baby, it is much more than just my dislike for your little girly friend. Much, much more. Also, I go all-in when I have too. Death is a sure thing once you cross my path, ask your brother Craig he'll tell you." He moves away but still kept his icy eyes on her.
"Oh wait, he can't." He slips.
Brie's eyes widened at the mention of her brother and his possible demise. She didn't know if it was true or not but her chest ached from hearing the man say such a thing. Her thoughts tangled themselves together but she prayed. Hoping that whoever in the sky got her prayer. She needed more than a miracle at this point.