Mafia love

I fought with all the energy in my being, but there were too many of them.

“Give up, girlie. Great show and good fight,” biker guy taunted. He coughed as he came out of the room.

One of the guys landed a fist in my jaw, and I staggered backwards seeing stars floating before me.

I thought I was going to collapse from the impact. My stomach felt queasy again, and it was all I could do not to keel over and vomit.

I moved away, still trying to break away from them, but two of them grabbed me before I could even pull in a breath.

They ushered me to biker guy, who’d been watching me fight off his goons. The smile on his face grew wider and turned into a laugh.

A very haughty, satisfied laugh that sent shivers down my spine. I kicked out at him, using the guys holding me up for balance.

Biker guy, however, was quicker than I expected, and sharper than he looked. He bared those disgusting teeth to me as he grabbed my leg and stabbed my thigh with something sharp.

I screamed. The thing pierced through my skin and felt like a needle. It was a needle, a syringe with a big needle on the end, and shit…

No…

My leg… I couldn’t feel it.

When he dropped my leg, it dangled with no life, and I couldn’t move it.

“What did you do to me!” I screamed.

“Just a little something to calm you down. A general anesthetic, if you will. This paralyses you, so we can torture you with ease.” He laughed.

“Come on, boys.”

I tried to break free of their hold on me to no avail. Even if I did manage to free myself, where would I run? My leg…

Not feeling it was the strangest sensation ever.

It was awful, just awful.

What was worse was being taken back to where I’d run from. The cell.

But we didn’t go inside. They walked me past it and into another room. It looked like a waiting area. Tag sat on a sofa and stood as we came in. Victor came through the door on the opposite side of the room and started hollering with such deep laughter there was no doubt he was crazy.

Completely and utterly crazy.

“Amelia,” Tag hissed. “I am not amused by your little stunt.”

“I didn’t do it to a amuse you, so fuck you.”

The guy holding me the tightest tightened his grip even more.

“Really?”

“Fucking asshole, let me go. Let me go!”

I didn’t care that I might have sounded just as crazy as Victor. This was the end, and I didn’t care.

“Victor, go get the other one,” Tag said.

“No!” I wailed.

He ignored me and continued speaking to Victor. “Kill her ass. She’s served her purpose. Was going to use her a little more, but I’m accelerating things. No need to keep pets when you don’t have room. Here, there is no room for insolence. She couldn’t have gotten far.”

“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with you.”

Tag just looked at me. “I don’t care. She’s linked to you, and you are linked to Raphael. Plus, she knows where we are. That’s bad. Real bad.

Now… the question on my mind is this: How’d you escape so easily?”

“Fuck you,” I screamed.

“That’s not an answer.”

I pushed back against the guys holding me and kicked out with my good leg like some wild, feral creature.

Like before, my leg was grabbed, and Tag plunged another needle in.

This time, the paralysis came quickly. Before I could get over the numbness, he stabbed me in my right arm.

I cried out from the pain.

Tag laughed, and the men set me down on the ground.

“You know, I just thought of something.” He put his forefinger to his temple.

“Raphael thinks you’re alive. He has the diamonds, and he’ll be here by eight with them. As long as he thinks you’re alive, that’s all that matters.

You don’t have to be alive anymore.”

I started shaking when he pulled out his gun. I would never beg for my life. That was the last thing that would sink me to the abysmal black hole my life had become.

I had happy moments though. Happy moments with Luc.

I actually fell in love. It didn’t matter who he was or what he was. He loved me.

I hoped he knew that I’d always loved him. He’d saved me right from day one. But the biggest thing he’d saved was my heart. I’d found myself because of him. And now I would die.

I love you, Luc…

I watched Tag raise his gun. Adjust it in line with my head and pull the trigger back. He released it, and I waited to welcome the bullet straight into my head.

Will it hurt, or will I die instantly?

I’d never know because someone shoved me out of the way…

Someone shoved me hard, and I rolled over onto my side. A scream of terrifying anguish echoed through the room. I flopped over to see Millicent grabbing her chest and screaming. Wailing in agony.

The bullet…

It hit her… it hit her in her chest. It hit her.

She took it for me.

Saved me.

“Nooooo!” I screamed.

Blood spurted from her lips.

I tried to move. It was so hard with just one arm, but I moved to her, pulling and sliding until I got to her. Tag started to laugh.

“Millicent. No…”

“Amelia, I’m sorry.” Her voice was just above a whisper. Soft and searching. Barely there. Blood covered the whole front of her pink cardigan.

“Stay with me,” I begged.

“It’s my fault. All my fault. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to. They were going to kill my husband. I love you, sweet girl.”

I watched the light and the life leave her eyes. It literally was like someone had switched something off. Something deep inside her.

I screamed and tried to wake her, but nothing. “No, oh God. No.

Please.”

Millicent…

She’d been so dear to me. Always. In my mind I could see her with me as a child. She’d always been there. From as far back as I could remember.

With her milk and cookies taking care of me.

She’d been there when I’d brought home my first leotard, there to pick me up when I felt down. She’d cleaned up all the things I broke in the house as I practiced my moves, and covered for me because my parents didn’t like me prancing around the place for that very reason. She’d been the only person I’d told about the first guy I crushed on, and my first kiss. My parents would have gone apeshit at me, and things like that had best been reserved for Millicent.

She’d been there when the letter came from Julliard, accepting me. It had been the two of us who were the first to know and celebrate.

She’d been like a mother to me.

Now she was gone.

“Pity, pity. I really wanted her to see me kill her husband. It’s no fun now that she’s dead. You people are so fickle. I can almost guess your price.

Haven’t you heard about guarding your secrets with your life? Or rather your weaknesses. With her, all I did was threaten to kill her husband. That was her price, and look where it got her. Never did like her though. Always, she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong. Damn nosy bitch.”

“You bastard! Why did you drag her into this mess?” I could barely see him through my tears.

“Dear old Millicent here was the one who gave the game away. She was the rat, the person who started this whole show. She notified me of your father’s knowledge of my affair with your mother, and from that, I realized what happened years ago. Your father set me up. He’s to blame for why you don’t have a mother and, of course, your current predicament.”