Shane knocked on the door and called out as I abruptly put the letter back, still in slight shock from the revelation I had received. With a 'come in' from me, he opened the door and popped his head in. He looked around the room in caution before sliding in with a tray of food.He set it down on the desk in front of me after I put away the letters, he was quick to turn around, ready to leave but I stopped him. In need of company to take my mind off of things."Are they okay?" I asked.He stiffened, turning around and offering me a weak smile that weakened my own."We can't get in contact with them right now Donna, they're engaged in combat at the moment." Shane replied.I nodded slowly, loosing whatever appetite I had developed over the span of 2 hours which I had spent fretting, overthinking, a bit of crying, and a lot of praying."They're going to be okay Donna, they've dealt with things like this before and came back perfectly fine."I swallowed to moisten my dry throat and looked up at him, he seemed unsure and that didn't assure me at all. Noticing my gaze, he sighed, running a tired hand through his hair before his face went fully blank again and he straightened his posture."It was never this severe before." he said.My heart dropped at his words, eyes widening as I stared up at him. I could've sworn that he regretted saying that the moment he noticed my glistening eyes."W-What happened over there?" I asked.Shane's face softened as he looked at me. With a sigh, he turned around and walked to the door before closing it.He came back to stand before me and with a gesture from me, sat down on the couch furthest from me."Do you know of the abductions the boss's father conducted?" he asked.I nodded my head, forgetting all about the food as he started explaining everything to me."Well, by the time the boss found out about the girls his father brought here, they were already dead and the practice had stopped a few years back so the boss couldn't do anything about it."
This was the part that Julian and Edward had already told me about. I remembered Julian regretting not being able to protect them and swearing to protect me.
"After your wedding and the boss taking over, the issue didn't cross anyone's mind and with all the new threats and challenges, they couldn't even spare enough time to think about it or confront their father." Shane was saying.I guessed that he was talking about the days when Julian wasn't around. According to the guards that I had eavesdropped on, their had been a bit or maybe a lot of danger and violence involved."A few of the alliances had weakened because the old boss had been supplying girls to them. But the boss didn't do the same so they started revolting against him. There were a some incidents where they attacked one of the gangs hideouts and killed our men. The boss tried to talk it out with them but barely a few of them reasoned like normal, the others pulled out their guns at the sight of boss."Shane stopped.
I froze, starting to see the danger Julian had faced in a much different light. In a world this bizarre, any man trying to make a difference will be shot, killed or tortured till he gave up his beliefs."Things only deteriorated from there at a very slow pace and it gave boss enough time to prepare our men for any other sudden riot. Those were the days when he was around here more often, even if they were few and numbered, he managed to make the most out of them and protected you all together."He paused as if silently apologizing for reminding me of the old boss's actions. I only urged him to continue, wanting to know exactly what had led to this in the first place."A month back, when more than half of the men had taken the oath, boss made a change in the rules. He decreased the time given to anyone who hadn't taken oath. He took this step because he caught a few of his fathers moles and spies. The moles would turn their guns on us during any fight we had with another gang while the spies would keep a constant eye on you."he said.I froze, the moles and spies part I knew but I didn't know that's what they did. That was probably how that man managed to catch me alone and off guard."Some resented openly and when they threatened to resort to violence, the boss kicked them out and started to look for new recruits. During that time it seemed that one of the ex-allies had hired a hit man who wanted to get back at boss's father, and what best way to destroy the gang than killing the Donna."Julian had mentioned something about a hit man who wanted to get back at the family for some misunderstanding with his uncle."The man was caught by one of sir Edward's team members and annihilated soon after. The new recruits were easy to find with sir Edward checking their backgrounds and hand picking them and the boss going over their situation and interviewing them. The exiled members on the other hand had started to scheme with some of the members inside the gang, which is why boss prohibited anyone who wasn't under the oath from entering the estate."No wonder I hadn't spotted many men around lately, those that used to once defy the rules and make eye contact with either me or Julian, weren't around anymore. And no one dared to greet us in a way even remotely disrespectful."The smaller gangs under contract with the ex-boss had started kidnapping kids again and the boss had to remove them from the pact after crashing their main bases. They joined hands with the exiled members and picked up the children of our gang members. They locked them up in one of our main warehouses and boss had to contact one of his best men in the government to deal with the issue."I interrupted him there, having a faint doubt in my mind."The children they kidnapped were of their friends?" I asked.He nodded as I frowned at the new found information. This was what Julian and I had wanted to protect any of our children from. If need be, these people would turn against their own and if someone helped them internally or externally, they could've attempted to take away the heir.
"And the man in the government, is he in the army?"I asked.Shane nodded again, looking slightly surprised that I had figured it out."The call boss received earlier in his office was to relay that they had managed to get some of the kids back but the others were being held hostage and they weren't able to get any closer. The enemy had backup and he didn't, so he called the boss for help."His phone rang as he finished telling me the facts, I saw 'Sir Edward' flash on the screen and knew it was my brother in law calling. Shane stood up, accepting the call and hastily rushing to the door after excusing himself."Eat up Donna, I will be away for a while." he said.He closed the door behind himself as I slowly focused on the now cold food placed in front of me. I stuck with the sandwich and juices, not sure if my stomach could digest anything properly after hearing what I just had.
Around fifteen minutes later my attention was drawn away from the letters as I heard sounds from outside. Sounds that quickly escalated to shouts and the last thing I heard before the door burst open were gunshots.The papers dropped from my hands as I stared at the ex-boss standing at the doorway, Edward stood right behind him but from the look on his face I knew he wasn't going to here to help or save me and Shane wasn't around.