It appeared that my plan had backfired on me already. It also appeared that I was safer in the store with that crazy guy with the gun, because at least there was only one of him. Now, there had to be a good ten stood in front of me, all of them watching me so animatedly you’d think that I was the star on a reality TV show or something.
“I had a feeling you would try to outsmart us,” the man at the front laughed as he stepped forward. From the briefing the Mancini’s had given me, I could only assume for him to be Juliano Romano, the mafia boss of the Romano mafia.
They had said that he was old, but they failed to mention that he looked to be around twenty years older than Massimo.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I smiled sweetly, my back pressed up against the door. “I’m not trying to outsmart anyone. I’m just here for some fresh air.”
“Fresh air in a closed off place like this?” Juliano snorted, and his men laughed as if he had just said the funniest thing in the world. He hadn’t. In fact, it was far from it.
“Believe it or not, but this is my favourite place to get fresh air.”
“Well, I guess we’re here to keep you company today while you get some fresh air.”
“That’s awfully nice of you but I won’t be able to stick around for long. I have to get back to work soon.”
“Doesn’t your shift finish at six?” a somewhat familiar voice asked, sending chills down my spine.
I would recognise that voice anywhere. That voice belonged to the same person who was responsible for the faded bruises still around my neck.
“It’s you,” I gasped when he stepped forward to reveal himself. “You’re the one that broke into my apartment!”
“Yes, that was me,” he grinned, looking awfully proud of himself. “The name is Henry, by the way.”
“I don’t care what your name is,” I snorted and rolled my eyes, my emotions and bias against this man getting the best of me. “You broke into my apartment in the middle of the night and then you strangled me.”
“You should be glad all I did was strangle you,” he shrugged and grinned. “I was supposed to kill you but then your boyfriend turned up and ruined it all. Why did you have to pick Massimo Mancini of all men to be your boyfriend? Couldn’t find someone your own age?”
“Why does everyone keeping saying that he’s too old for me?” I scoffed.
“Maybe because he is,” Henry countered, but he was quickly cut off by Juliano.
“You two can chit chat later but right now, we’ve got a job to do.”
“Where’s Riccardo?” I asked, cutting Juliano off. “Since he’s the one that started this whole mess, shouldn’t he be here to kill me?”
“My son’s whereabouts shouldn’t concern you.”
“Riccardo is your son?” I gaped in surprise.
“That’s what I just said.”
“Do you know what he did to me? Or what he tried to do to me, anyway?”
“Yes, I do,” Juliano spoke with the utmost conviction. “Riccardo told me everything that happened that night, and what you had your little Mancini boyfriend do to him.”
“So, he told you about how he slipped the date rape drug into my drug?” I asked, quirking a quizzical brow in his direction.
No man or woman would be happy to hear about their child being a rapist, or a potential rapist since he hadn’t actually gone through with the act. Though I wouldn’t be shocked to hear if this wasn’t the first time that Riccardo had slipped something in a woman’s drink in an attempt to knock her out and do with her whatever he wished.
“Yes, he told me all about that,” Juliano confirmed with a firm nod of his head, and I gasped loudly at the admission.
“So, you know all about your son being a rapist and you’re completely fine with it?”
“Don’t act like you didn’t want it, puttana,” Juliano scoffed, and his men broke into laughter. As if there was anything remotely funny about drugging and raping someone. By not condemning Riccardo and the horrific action he intended to go through with, they were supporting him.
These were the kind of men that people were scared of when they thought of the mafia. The Romano’s were ruthless and heartless, and they only cared about themselves.
They were the kind of people that gave the mafia a bad name.
The Romano’s were nothing like the Mancini’s. I couldn’t imagine Massimo ever disregarding a rape claim like this, and if he so much as expressed his disbelief of what had really happened to me that night at the party, I wouldn’t be with him today.
“You’re disgusting!” I spat at him, unable to hold back my anger any longer.
“And you’re as good as dead for disrespecting my son, puttana,” Juliano laughed, the sound hearty and deep, and once again, I couldn’t imagine how a person could be so heartless. “I hope you’ve had a good life, Yasemin Turgenev.”
With a simple flick of his wrist, Henry leaped at me just the way he leaped at me that night back at my apartment. Except, I was far more prepared today than I was that night. Not only was it light and I could actually see what was going on around me, but Massimo had briefly equipped me with his very own personal dagger. I had never used one before and frankly, wasn’t quite sure how to go about stabbing someone in the most effective but unlethal way, but it appeared that there was a first for everything.
When Henry got close to me, I held the dagger up and slit it across his shoulder. Henry screamed loudly and his body jostled from the pain, taking me and the dagger down with him.
I was quick to push myself off him, and when I glanced down at him and the horrible way he was writhing on the ground, I was horrified to find that I had dragged the dagger across from one side of his shoulder to the other. I wasn’t sure how deep the cut was, but there was enough blood to make me feel sick.
Before my coffee from earlier came up, I grabbed the gun from his hand, pushed myself away from him and held it up in front of me, the nuzzle pointed at none other than Juliano Romano of the Romano mafia.
“That was really bold of you, Yasemin,” Juliano chuckled, not the least bit afraid of having a gun pointed at him. I could only assume that this wasn’t the first time he had had a gun pointed at him before. Judging by the nature of his profession, I could only assume that this was more common than people thought.
He opened his mouth to taunt me some more, but only a gargled cough escaped him when I fired the first and it pierced into his upper chest. I had no idea what I was doing with the gun and was propelled back at the sheer force of it, but I wasted no time in pushing down on the trigger a few more times, shooting blindly to buy myself some time before I was able to escape from this life and death situation.
I could go to therapy about shooting and potentially killing a man later, but for now, I needed to focus on staying alive.
A brief glance at the frantic mess in front of me told me that I had managed to lodge another bullet in Juliano Romano, this one in his arm. Another hit a man in the shoulder, and a few grazed those that were smart enough to duck out of the way.
A sick sense of satisfaction washed over me when I realised that one of the many bullets that I had sent flying went straight into Henry’s throat. I liked to think this was what he deserved to breaking into my apartment and trying to strangle me.
I kept low and pushed myself to run as fast as I could as I punched in the code and yanked open the door behind me to lead back into the storeroom. They fired several shots but thankfully, they all missed. One went flying less than an inch past my left ear, and one landed in the door just above my head.
I slammed the door shut behind me so they wouldn’t be able to get in that way without the code. If they wanted to get to me, they would need to rush over to the opposite side of the airport which would buy me a few minutes at the very least.
Thankfully, the man from before was no longer in the store, and I could only assume that he had rushed out of the front to locate his brothers.
My heart hammered painfully in my chest and my fingers circled tight around the butt of the gun, careful to hold it a good distance away from me as I rushed out of the store front. Immediately, I glanced left and right, calculating where the closest bathroom could be for me to hide.
I chose left and absolutely booked it down the airport. As soon as I got into the bathroom, I could lock myself in the stall and stay there until the coast was clear, but it appeared the reassurance came sooner than I expected it to. When I passed down a particular hallway on the way to my bathroom hiding spot of choice, I heard more commotion than was expected at this time of day.
When I heard a few familiar voices, I sighed in relief. The Mancini’s had finally arrived!
-
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Layla Knight
06.02.2022
