*Splash!*
My consciousness is shot back at me like a bullet, as soon as a ton of water collides with my face. I open my eyes and see three men standing in front of me, one holding a bucket. I try to stand up, only to realize that I'm tied down with ropes.
I look around to realize that I must be underground, since there's no light, other than a single candle in the corner. And judging by the bar that are beside a barred door, I believe I must be in a cell of some kind.
"Where am I?" I ask, feeling a lump of anxiety climb up my throat. One of the men chuckles and lets out a single note of a whistle. And at that moment, another man enters the room. He has dark black hair, with a tan-ish complexion and two sky blue eyes, staring right into my soul.
"Is this seriously one ah da people on ah tails? A kid? Christ sakes, I'm disappointed in yis" The man says in a deep voice, which sounds more like the low note on a tuba than anything a man could sound like. He sighs and kneels down in front of me, glaring daggers into my soul. "Listen, here's the deal: I don't wanna kill a kid, and you don't wanna be killed. So, you stop investigating for da bulls, and I won't kill you, or your red headed pal."
I freeze up at his words. 'He knows a lot'. If he knows Albert, that means that while we've been stalking them, they've been stalking us.
"How do you know about him? And how do you know that we work for the police?" I ask, worried less for myself, and more about him. The man in front of me lets out a chuckle before staring at his calloused hand.
"Albaht? You guys ain't that hard tah find. A red headed boy, and a pretty little gal, newsies by day, investigators by night? It's easier than you'd expect. He's a good kid, ain't he?" The man asks, and I nod my head nervously. "So you wouldn't want him tah die, now would ya? No. So hey, if you just hop off the case, we might even give ya an extra fifty bucks tah stay quiet."
"It'll be a cold day in hell when I stop getting rid of scum like you," I say, spitting in his face. I can his his attitude completely change from merciful to angry.
"Listen, kid, I'm jus' doin' my job. In fact, I should've killed you by now. But I'm givin' you an out. Some investigations don't need tah be solved, they just need to stop," he says, rolling his eyes and clenching his fists.
"Andrea Higgins,"I say, bringing up a name I never though I'd say in years. "What?" He asks, clearly stunned by the name I just said. "Seven years ago, you killed a woman named Andrea Higgins. I saw it. It was the Manhattan Mafia, or at least that's what I told the police. But no matter how many times I gave them evidence, they threw it away. Her death never got avenged. If someone had gotten arrested that day, I doubt I'd even be here. Because I wouldn't be risking my life just so that people don't have to experience the same shit that I did. So seven years ago, you made the the greatest mistake of your life. You killed my mother."
"There ain't no way that she's Higgin's kid, boss," one of the men in the room says. But the boss holds up a hand to shush him, before getting closer to my face and scanning every inch of me.
"I should've known you was her kid, since you two are practically the same person," the man says, because letting out a chuckle and leaning back. "Oh yeah, man she was a real pain in our ass. She was a private investigator, just like you and ya friend. In fact, we wouldn't have even known about her if it wasn't for a not so little clue by a mister 'Ed Higgins'."
I freeze up at even the bare mention of his name. 'No. It couldn't have been him. My... Father would never have gotten her killed. Her loved her for christ sakes!'
"I'm guessin' you know that name, right? Well, I'd hope so, since he's your fatha. But yeah, he sent us a letta, sayin' dat she was real close to findin' our location. Ed, well, he was a part of the mafia for quite a while. But he left once your brother, Anthony, was born. Couple ah years lateh, and he reaches out, so of course we took out ya mom. I guess you could say, 'like mother, like daughter.'."
I'm about to yell through the countless tears streaming down my face, when another man enters the room. The man walks up to the boss and leans in to try and keep quiet, even though I can hear.
"Boss, the letter has been sent to the other kid, Albert DaSilva," the man says before walking away. 'How the hell did they find out his last name?'. I look up at the boss, shooting daggers with how intense my glare is.
"What. Letter?" I ask through gritted teeth. The boss lets out another chuckle before standing up.
"Well, we can't just kill you, since ya little friend is also on ah case. Which is why we decided tah write little 'DaSilva' a letta tah lure him to a secretive location, and then bring 'im 'ere so dat you two can finally be rid of. In fact, I believe we have a copy of his letter right here, so allow me to read," the boss says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a note. The only thing I can do is close my eyes as he begins to speak.
Albert's POV
"Albert, it's Y/n, I need ya help. There's these men who ah threatenin' tah kill me if I don't pay 'em ten dollahs. We're in the same alley dat the body was found in. Please, help. I don't have much time. Hurry," I read aloud to myself.
'Y/n's in danger! I have to go help her!' I think to myself as soon as I push ten dollars into my pocket and begin running.
I feel my heart racing faster than anything at the Sheepshead. I can't let her die. I won't let her die.
Just as I look into the very alleyway that started everything, and see a couple shadowy figures waiting there. I can't tell if any of them are her, though, so I step closer.
"Have any of ya seen a goil wit' e/c eyes, h/c hair and some men come through 'ere?" I ask, stepping fully into the alley. My words seem to get their attention, as one of them mutters a "Yeah". I let out a sigh of relief as I run closer, trying to get any clue as to where she is.
But as soon as I'm within a foot of the people, one of them tackles me to the ground, while the others pin the rest of my body down. The man who tackles me laughs as he looks at my face.
"Hahaha! Is this seriously the one hot on our ass? He's just some punk!" He yells to his friends before letting out another glass shattering laugh. When he laughs, I can see his crooked, yellowed teeth poking out, and I'm almost afraid that he might stab me with them.
"That's what the boss said about the gal. And trust me, fah kids this age, they sure is smaht," another one of the men says. My heart aches when I hear him mention a 'gal', knowing that it must be Y/n. I just pray to god that she's unharmed. "Let's just get 'im back to the base before the boss gets upset at how long we'se takin'."
With that, I'm hoisted up. But before I can even think about running, one man punches me in the face, while another ties my hands behind my back. I'm about to yell for help, but one man punches me in the face again before leaning into my ear.
"Don't even think about callin' fer help, or else your little gailfriend might get hoit," a man in a slimy voice says, and I can tell that he feels proud about himself.
While he's speaking, another man ties a gag around my mouth, basically stopping me from talking altogether. But none of that matters to me. I just need to make sure that Y/n is okay.
Y/n's POV
"I don't have much time. Hur-" the boss nearly finishes reading the letter, but is interrupted by muffled yelling and a door opening. The boss pokes his head out of the room and into the hallway, before looking back at me with a disgusting smirky smile. "Looks like ya little friend is here."
My eyes go wide as I realize that Albert fell right into their trap. A couple of men laugh, making a joke about Albert being stupid.
"Sorry, Y/n! I was bein' stupid! I'se so sorry!" Albert yells to me. At the sound of his voice, my heart breaks, and a warm tear rolls down my face.
"It's okay, Albie! It's okay!" I yell back, my voice cracking from sadness and fear. The strange men leave my cell, and I hear a cell door shut from the next room over.
The head mafia member comes back and stands outside of my locked cell, smirking at me like he just won. Which he did.
"Your execution will be in one houah. Wanna tell me your preferred style of execution?" He asks, taunting me by trying to make me think that I have a choice. I let out a sniffle before glaring directly into the monster's soul.
"Go to hell," I say through gritted teeth, my spit shooting out of my mouth.
"Well then, I'll see you there. Anyways, you'll be sleepin' with the fishes by sunrise," the boss says before leaving.
It's only now that I realize that it must be midnight, or something. Which means that Race still probably doesn't know that I'm missing. His last words to me are permanently etched into my skull, "If you ain't there by sundown, then don't even think 'bout comin' back at all"
I wonder how long he'll be thinking that I just didn't want to go back home. I wonder how long he'll think I hate him.
"Y/n, you hurt?" Albert's voice breaks me from my dreaded thoughts. I shake my head, even though I know he can't see.
"No," I say quietly. It silent for a couple seconds, apart from my sniffling. "Are you?"
"Just a bit, but nothin' that I ain't had done before," Albert says with a depressed chuckle, almost as though he's trying to make it seem like he's fine. It's quiet again, before I hear him let out a sob. "So we're gonna die tahday?"
"It appears so," I say with a similar saddened chuckle that he gave me. "At least I got to find out who killed my mom before I died."
"Wait, you did?" Albert asks with an almost hopeful tone. "Who did it?"
"The same fuckers that are scheduling our deaths," I say, which only leads to more silence. "I do wish that I had the chance to see her killer behind bars. God, there's so may things that I'll never get to experience."
"Tell me about it," Albert says. "I always wanted tah find my dad." I freeze up. Despite Albert being my best friend, he has a lot of secrets. One of those secrets is his family, which all I know is that his mom died of Yellow Fever. "He was never around when I was a kid. He left when I'se was just three. I have two olda bruddas that went with 'im, too. So they left me mudda tah raise me on her own. But when I was seven, she died. Didn't even have enough money tah see a doctah. If I was able tah live long enough, I'd find my dad, and give 'im what my mah should've given 'im on the day he left. A ripe ol' beatin'."
I chuckle at the way he phrased it. It makes my heart feel warm to hear him talk about his past, even though it's filled with so much torture and grim.
"If I was to live long enough, I'd get a job. Like a real job. One that no one would expect a woman to get. Like a detective," I say with a smile, thinking about endless career paths I could go down.
"Yeah, you'd be one hell of a detective," Albert says. I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's smiling. "Anodda thing I would do, is kiss the love of my life, and tell her how much she means to me. That is, if she would also be alive wit' me."
"Oh... Who would this 'love of your life' be?" I ask, feeling my heart break even more than is already physically possible.
"Well, she has the most beautiful, luscious h/c hair. E/c eyes that you could get lost in fah hours. And she's trapped in a cell next tah me," Albert says. I feel my heart stop at his words.
"Wait, what?" I ask, obviously shocked at his bold words. He lets out a single laugh and it melts into a happy sigh.
"If I'm gonna die in an houah, I have tah be honest. I'se been head ovah heels in love with yis fah ovah half a yeah now,"Albert says, confidence lacing his words. I scoff, knowing my face is probably as red as a beet right now, because of how happy I am.
"You're kidding me, right?" I ask, shocked at his words. He lets out a single, unsure "Nope", which makes me scoff again. "I've had a crush on you for almost three years now."
"Holy crap. Ya serious?" Albert asks.
"No, that was a lie. I totally don't like you," I say, my words drenched in sarcasm. He laughs, and I can tell that he's happy.
"Holy god damn! How? Why?" He asks with joy. I laugh again and think back to how I knew.
"Ever since we became selling partners. We were already friends at that point, but the first day of us working together, one of the Delancey brothers tried to beat me up, expecting you to just let it happen. But instead of letting me get beat up, you punched Morris in the face and told them to 'scram'. And I knew at that moment, I was in love with you," I explain, feeling my heart fill with joy just by recalling what happened. "And I like you because... Well, you're perfect. you're a gentleman, funny, protective, smart, and insanely handsome among other things. The real question is, why do you like me? And how did you find that out?"
"Well, I found out I liked ya the day we solved our foist case. I had a dream dat I kissed yis, and when I woke up, I realized that I wanted tah kiss you then, too. And why? Well, why wouldn't I? Ya poifect. Woids can't even begin to describe how poitfect you ah," Albert says, his voice trailing off as though he is cought up in his own thoughts. He lets out a long and dreamy sigh before he sniffles, which indicates that he's been crying. I can't blame him for that, because I am too. "I wish we could talk forevah about this."
"Hey, it's okay. We still have at least fift-"
Just as I'm about to finish what I was saying, the sound of a door opening and footsteps coming closer from down a long hall cuts me off. I soon see that the footsteps belong to none other than the head of the Mafia himself, who's standing right in front of me and is wearing a snarly smile.
"Extra, extra, kids. Ya execution is actually soonah than I said. In fact, it's now."