My breath caught in my throat, as I watched in horror when she quickly lunged forward grabbing ahold of the man's holstered gun as he squatted beside her. As her hand grasped the gun firmly and pulled it from its holster, someone behind the camera muttered a string of what I could only assume were profanities in Russian, quickly tried to rush to help his boss, but unintentionally hit or disconnected something causing the video to stop broadcasting, but the sound kept broadcasting through my speakers.
As the screen went black, I was able to make out the sound of struggling between who I couldn't tell. Whoever it was they were on the ground. The sound of the gun discharging so close to whatever they were using to relay the sound made it sound louder than it actually would have been if we had been in the room with them. Loud enough in fact that I felt myself stumble backwards over my own feet, and any air that had been filling my lungs gushed out leaving the feeling as though someone had bludgeoned me with a baseball bat to the chest.
No sounds of voices were coming from my speakers now, but you could still people shuffling around, and possibly some heavier footsteps. My lungs felt like they were about to catch fire they were burning so bad with the lack of oxygen I had been denying them since I heard the gunshot. I finally took a breath just big enough to utter a short burst of words. "Mia is the sound still working on your end too? Mia? M-Mia?"
I tried to wait patiently and listened carefully, hoping maybe she would have had to whisper to answer me but when no answer came from her after several minutes I collapsed onto the floor of my office, my chest heaving up and down heavily. My stomach churning viciously, as the little bit of lunch I had managed to remember to eat today threatened to come back up. 'You know she would have told you she was okay before you asked. You know you might as well make peace with this situation before you end up doing something you'll regret later.'
But my entire body refused to either accept or even contemplate the possibility that she would have lost in any attempt to fight back against at least two men, even in the physical condition she was in, due to the fact that I've seen my girl disarm and eliminate upwards of four men their size alone, but that day she was with me, she was healthy, she hadn't said goodbye the way she had just before her body lunged for that man's gun.
"Please tell me that, that didn't just happen. That she didn't really just do that, that she didn't all but tell me goodbye. Tell me I imagined the gun going off, or that I missed her saying that she's alright." I begged looking up, while glancing back and forth between my father and my brother.
The expression written on their faces and the vacant yet pitiful look in their eyes with tears refusing to fall from them made me very aware that they couldn't do what I was asking them to do.
"I didn't just hear them pull that trigger and kill her without being able to tell her goodbye. Tell me I'm going to get a chance to tell her goodbye. Tell me this is all going to be alright!"
Both stood silent above me, not knowing what to say or how to respond. There was no possible way that they could tell me any of the things that I wanted to hear right now, which was Mia's voice telling me she is okay.
Mia's POV
I looked at the man that lay on the floor beside me. As soon as the bullet struck him, I was thrown to ground, the blood pooling on the floor around his skull. Grabbing at that man's gun was insane, but something had to happen.
"You're either the bravest or the dumbest little bitch I've ever met." A man spat holding my arms behind my back while shoving my face against the cold floor. "I sincerely hope you enjoyed that conversation with your family because it will be the last time that they hear you do anything but scream for mercy. If you're lucky they'll get to hear those. Boss is particularly cruel when it comes to giving people what they deserve. I would definitely hate to be you today." He stated as he pulled me back up to my knees.
Swallowing hard I just looked at him with wide eyes. "He can be as cruel as he wants, he still won't get what he wants from Deacon."
"You call Vazclav?"
"Oh yeah." The other man grinned. "He's on his way down now. Needless to say, he isn't in good humor today. He did ask if the little bitch was still under the assumption that she has some kind of authority around here or if she needed to be shown that we have too many mouths to feed now, so one less wouldn't change anything."
The man's words sent chills down my spine, the shiver reaching to my feet. He looked me straight in the eyes while a gleaming smile crossed his lips. I felt my entire body grow cold as it drew back away from him. "I j..j..just want to be able to w... watch my b..b..babies grow up." The words came out lightly as tears ran down my cheeks, and my eyes faced the ground, trying to fight back the memories of what it was like to grow up with no family at all. Knowing that these men were not just capable of taking me away from them, but that there was a chance that they could take Deacon from them too.
The metal door creaked open, allowing a wide beam of bright light to pour through the door. The man was tall at least as tall Deacon, his shadow falling directly over me, I might not have been able to see his face but I could feel his eyes locked on me. My entire body trembled wildly from head to toe. He took a large stride forward, I swallowed harshly as his long strides were leading him straight to the empty space in front of me. I fought to keep my eyes on the floor, still trembling.
"Look at me." He demanded.
Fear took over me at that moment, I'd heard both Deacon and his father say that right before shooting someone execution style. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I lifted my head to where he would be standing.
"Open your motherfucking eyes when you look at me bitch." He snapped out angrily.
"There now that we are seeing eye to eye this will go quicker. I've been informed that you've been giving my men a hard time since you've arrived, and now... I hear that you've killed one of my men. Not just any of my men, but my second in command of all people. So now we have to figure out what we're going to do with you." He squatted down in front of me, leaning even closer into my face. "As you know, there are rules that go along with businesses like ours. Now I don't know how the Lombardi family works, but in this house, when someone takes one of ours, we return the favor. Now since you took my second in command, my right hand shall we say, on a normal basis we would take the life of yours. Though I'm going to assume you may be willing to negotiate to keep that from happening."
I wasn't lightly trembling any more, my body was rocking with spasms. Terror made my blood run cold. Why did I do that? What made me think it was a smart idea? I just made things worse, I killed this man's right-hand man. What is he going to want now? He's already ransoming my life, and he wants everything Deacon has control of in order to return me alive. Now this.
A mortifying realization instantly gave me the sensation that all the blood had been drained from my body. Deacon's right-hand was Alex. What was he going to want from him to keep Alex safe as well? I felt the tears slipping away from my eyes silently. Alex had just told me that he was going to be a dad, they had just found out. I couldn't let that happen to him.
I looked into the man's cold, dark eyes, searching for any possibility of decency I could latch onto if even for a moment. There was nothing staring back at me except disgust. "P..p..please don't ask anymore from him. If he gives you everything, he won't have anything else to give you. I killed that man, no one else should suffer for what I did. He just found out he's going to be a father, p..please if you have to kill me do it, but please I'm begging you, don't take my babies mom and uncle. He should get to live to see his baby born, and to have a family."
He smiled from ear to ear. "I knew you were the smart one." He turned to the other man in the room who had been messing with the camera. "How long until we're up and running again?"
"They will receive the feed as soon as I hit the button."
"Perfect." He responded, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his pocket.
As he locked them around each wrist, tears started to flood my eyes again. I wanted to beg to be able to say goodbye and goodnight to my babies one last time, but I knew that I wouldn't get a last request from this man.
My eyes closed tightly as a vile smelling rag was shoved into my mouth so I couldn't talk. I wasn't even going to get to say goodbye to Deacon. That thought alone made the tears rush faster at the realization that they were going to take their pound of flesh from me, and I wouldn't even be able to say any last words to my loved ones.
All I was able to do now was kneel here, waiting for the end to come and pray that it was a quick one.
"Start the feed."
"Okay, they should be receiving it now."
Deacon's POV
"Son, the camera is back on." My father whispered. "You should be here and seen no matter what we find has happened."
I rested my head against my hands. "Just tell me if she's not dead. There's nothing else I care about right now. If she's gone, I don't want to see it. I can't see it, not her like that."
There was a moment of agonizing silence as I waited to hear what was being seen on the screen.
"Oh Mr. Lombardi." A man's voice teased. "You didn't think that this conversation was over, did you? We were just getting started."
I lifted myself from my position and looked at the screen. She was alive, but she looked worse than before. "What else can I give you? I'll trade places with her. You can have me, but let her go. You would be able to do anything you want to me then and I would have no one coming for me if I went with you willingly. My wife is an innocent bystander in this."
"The aforementioned deal is the only one that there is. We gain control of everything that your family controls and she is set free of your sins against us." He smiled. "But that doesn't fully cover all debts against us."
"What else could you possibly feel that my family owes you for?"
"Well...you see the man that your wife was so remarkably quick to dispatch to his maker a short time ago was very important to my organization. And we are nothing but men who take pride avenging our fallen brothers. Since this man was my right hand, we would usually call for the head of yours in return."
I heard the words that were being said, but the only thing I could focus on is Mia. He had her hands cuffed together in front of her tightly and he had a filthy piece of cloth shoved in her mouth so she couldn't say anything. There was nothing left there except a mix of anguish, defeat and an apology that couldn't be spoken.
"You, say usually, what exactly is keeping you from making that call? Not the typical style for you."
"I already have something that holds more power over you." He rested his hand on top of Mia's head, taking advantage of the moment, he ran his fingers through her hair. His smile brightening, as he never looked away from the camera. "It's still soft. I can only imagine how wonderful this would be to do until I fall asleep. I assume you have been awarded many a good night's sleep with her next to you at night. Am I right? I wonder if the same reward awaits me when I am able to lay with her in my own bed? I wonder which will award me a better sleep, your wife or your sister?"
"That will be something you'll have to wonder about for the rest of your life." I snapped. "You may be using her as a pawn in some sick game for your gain, but my wife will never lay in your bed as yours. So, if you wouldn't mind, I certainly would like you to remove that filthy fucking rag from my wife's mouth so that I can talk to her."
You heard two unseen men laugh deeply, as Vazclav pulled the cloth out her mouth. He leaned down whispering something into her ear, causing her face to look immediately at the floor. I could almost feel her heart breaking as she did so.
I looked at her, but her eyes never met my own this time. She looked so tiny, frail and defeated kneeling there on the floor beside him. She looked as though she was just waiting for the end to arrive. This wasn't my wife I was looking at. My wife, my queen never looked down, she was strong and proud. "Mia, look at me." My voice broke as I watched with no response. "Mia...Tesoro, I need you to look at me."
Her eyes lifted to look at the camera. "I'm sorry Deacon."
"What do you possibly have to be sorry for Mia? I wasn't there to protect you from this happening. I wasn't there when you needed me the most, if anyone has something to be sorry for it's me. I swear I'll find a way to fix this, no matter what I have to do to do so. I swear on my life."
"I'm sorry that I'm not strong enough to make it through this without you and that I'll never get to hold you, Teodoro or Alessia again." She sobbed loudly. "I'm sorry because I'm causing you so much pain. If I would have just been silent, if I would've been still, I wouldn't have made things worse."
"Mia, don't be sorry for something that you weren't in control of to begin with. If this is anyone's fault it's mine. When you walked away that day, I should've let you. No matter how much I loved you, I should've let you walk away, at least you would've been able to live out a normal and happy life. But I was selfish and weak and wanted only what I wanted and that was you.
You did what you had to do. Fighting to keep yourself alive will never need an apology. You just needed to be reminded that you can fight for yourself and that you have a reason to keep fighting. Mia, we're all fighting for you here, fighting to bring you back to where you belong, to bring you back here with us."