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Steffany'S pov cont'd
".. I was only a seven months old when my dad left us, mom and I back in the U.K, mom knew nothing about his whereabouts or even what he's been up to..."
His dad is a cruel man, how could he leave his wife and seven months old baby without a word.
"... but mom didn't read too much into it, she thought he left to do some kind of work and would come back to us soon"
He paused, he took off his jacket and dumped it on my shoulders when he saw me shiver.
"Were your mom and dad having issues before he left?" I asked.
"I don't think so, but mom said my grandfather, her father never approved of their relationship because my dad's poor and uneducated"
My mind flashed back to when Justin and I started our relationship too, we were also poor and uneducated -but having graduating high school doesn't count as being uneducated, right?
"It was only mom and I until I turned twelve, that was when mom found out dad left us for another woman..."
Awwwwn, that's just sad and sick!
"...she tried reaching out dad to talk things through but dad wouldn't give her a listening ear, then,she filed for divorce when she got tired of waiting, but unfortunately she wasn't able to get dad to sign the papers, because we encountered a very fatal accident on our way going to his place.... "
No wonder there were bloodstains on his white t-shirt when he arrived at the orphanage, and he wouldn't let anyone touch him or smile at anyone or even let anyone come three feet near him -because he didn't trust anyone.
".. a trunk hit our car and it went off a cliff, I watched as my mom bleed to death because help didn't come in time"
His eyes turned red, the veins on his temples bulged out and he exhaled roughly as if he's recalling the accident. I moved my chair closer to his and reached for his hand, then gave him an encouraging squeeze.
"Then how did you ended up at the orphanage? Did nanny Grace stumbled across you by chance?"
He shook his head.
"No, it seems like mom had some kind of relationship with nanny Grace, before she died, she dialed nanny Grace's number and gave me the phone to talk to her, I told nanny Grace about our accident and begged her to come over to rescue my mom, but it was already too late when she arrived, mom gave up and that's how I ended up at the orphanage"
Cold breeze blew past me as I felt his sadness, I sniffled and blinked a few times to force back my tears.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had such a traumatizing experience"
He shook his head.
"It's fine" he sighed. "I know the accident wasn't a coincidence, it's a planned work, but I don't who planned it or what was their motive"
Hmm, I'm having a wild guess, I'm thinking his father might be behind it, but I don't think it's possible, I mean, why would he wanna kill his wife? Even if he doesn't want her anymore, it doesn't mean he'd kill her, right?
"Hold on, what about your dad? Is he still alive?" I asked.
He nodded with an unsure frown.
"Then why aren't you looking for him?" I asked again.
He twisted his lips and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't remember his physical appearance"
"Huh?!"
He doesn't remember his father's physical appearance? How is that possible?
"Mom didn't let me see any of his photos after he left, she locked everything related to him in a room and threw the key away"
"Oh"
"Yeah, and I haven't gone back to the U.K since her death, therefore I haven't search that room"
Hmm, he's got such a sad story.
"There's something else you need to know about me"
"What?" I asked.
He stayed silent for a few moments, studying my face as if he's waiting for a particular expression from me.
"What?" I asked again.
"It's... it's a very dirty secret about me, please don't scream when I say it"
I tilted my head and frown slightly, then a crazy thought crossed my mind and I gasped as I banged on the table.
"Don't tell me one of your flings has successfully become your baby mama!"
He reached for my hand and rubbed it softly as he chuckled lightly.
"My queen, I wouldn't dare cheat on you"
I scoffed.
"As if you haven't been cheating for six years now, stop playing the faithful husband's card"
He raised his right hand up.
"I swear on my life, my queen, I didn't fuçk any of them" he said strongly.
I rolled my eyeballs.
"Tell that to the paparazzi"
"Trust me, I've remained pure for you and..."
"Tell me your secret" I cut him off.
He licked his lips as he stared deeply in my eyes, then sighed.
"I'm a Mafia lord!" he dropped the bombshell.
I stared at him without blinking immediately he said that, I withdrew my hand from his and waited for him to burst into laughter and tell me he's joking, but he didn't.
"How?" was all I could ask at that moment.
"Ok... your reaction is nothing like I had imagined" he said.
"How?" I repeated my question.
"It was after Norman's record signed me, the man behind Norman's record, the big boss, Mr Liam digged into my background and discovered everything about my past.. "
He paused and studied my face again, but I guess my face was blank of every expressions, then he continued.
"He came to me with another offer and that was..."
"To join his gang" I completed his words and he nodded.
"Yes, he wanted me to join his gang and they'll help me find my mother's murderer, I didn't think too much about it and accepted his offer because I wanted to find my mother's murderer at all cost"
I closed my eyes.
"Are you a fool? Why did you accept such an offer?" I queried him.
"My queen, like I said I didn't think too much about it because I really needed his help"
I wanted to be mad at him, I wanted to beat him and curse at him, I wanted to call him a fool and walk out on him, but then I realized it's not his fault -drastic situations takes drastic measures.
If I was in his shoes and desperately need to find who killed my mother, why they did it, I wouldn't care about anything and accept the offer too.
"Have they found the murderer?" I asked.
"No" he answered.
Aren't those mafias all powerful and well connected? Why is finding his mother's murderer taking so long? Or could it be...
"My Queen, say something, your silence is scaring me" he said.
"What should I say?"
"Anything, shout at me, beat me or even try to walk away, anything is fine"
I stared at him quietly for a moment, then got up, went behind him and hugged him.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Shh" I shushed him. "All you need right now is a hug" I told him.
"But... "
"Just shut up and let me hug you!" I snapped at him.
"Oh, sorry, ma'am" he apologized and kept his mouth shut.
We stayed silent for a moment, until I broke it.
"Are you still in his gang?" I asked referring to Mr Liam.
"No, I quitted yesterday but I have my own gang now" he replied.
"Have you killed someone?"
It took a few seconds before he answered me.
"Yeah, and that's when I stopped coming home, I was feeling guilty and didn't know how to face you"
I placed a kiss on his head, I squeezed my eyes in attempt to hold back my tears but it didn't work, my tears started flowing down my cheeks.
"Are you crying?" Justin asked me.
"No" I answered.
"But your tears just dropped on my head" he said.
"I'm just sad that you suffered alone"
He unwrap my arms from his body and got up, he wiped my tears and kissed my cheek.
"I was thinking you'd be mad at me, aren't you mad at me?"
I shook my head.
"No, just sad" I replied.
He released a sigh of relief.
"Had I known you wouldn't get angry at me, I would have told you earlier and..."
I hugged him tightly and he quickly hugged me back, then I continued crying in his arms.
"Let's stay here for a while before we head back" he said.
I nodded but didn't stop crying.
I'm crying because I've been blaming him unjustly for six years, I filed for divorce without trying to find out what's going on in his life, I believed what the reporters and paparazzi said about him instead of having a normal conversation with him and hearing his side of the story.
I failed as his wife!
>><<
We've been driving for what felt like hours already, there's a torturing silence in the car as Justin was busy typing furiously on his phone, he said it's matter concerning his company -Stefftin's entertainment.
"Sir, we're being followed" Julius suddenly reported as he looked at his side mirror.
I turned around and looked behind, there were truly two cars trying to catch up with us but Julius kept increasing his speed and wouldn't give them a chance to catch up.
"Who are they? And why are they following us?" I asked.
Justin squinted his eyes as he focused them on the license plate and tried to catch one of the car's licensed number, then he clenched his jaw and did a sharp intake of breath.
"It's him! He's trying to force me" he muttered.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"Him? Who's he?" I asked.
"Liam" he answered.
Isn't Liam his ex boss? Why is he sending his men after Justin? Is it because Justin left his gang?
Yeah, that must be the reason.
"What should we do, sir? Should we stop and fight?" Julius asked.
"Are you crazy?!" I exclaimed frighteningly. "What stop and fight? Do you know how many they are?"
Justin wanted to say something, but we suddenly jerked forward as one of the cars bumped into ours from behind, which made me bite the tip of my tongue and tears brimmed my eyes.
"My queen, are you ok?" he asked me.
I rolled my eyeballs mentally, of course I'm not ok.
It's very clear to me now, I finally understand why he didn't wanna bring me into his world, it's full of dangers and I'm sure gonna be living on tenterhooks everyday from now onwards.
"Julius, drive faster" I urged Julius.
"Mr Bieber, where should we go? Your home or..."
"Home" I interrupted.
"Mr Bieber?" Julius looked through his rearview mirror as if he's waiting for Justin's approval.
One of the cars soon came neck to neck with us, it violently collided against ours from my side, the window crashed and I hugged Justin in fear as I released a frightened shriek and he quickly wrapped his arms around me protectively.
The rival's car collided against ours again, our car almost somersault this time, but Julius somehow brought it back to balance -he's a good and experienced driver.
Of course he's experienced, he must be familiar with scenes like this -my subconscious mind said.
At once I heard a gunshot, then series of gunshots followed and I couldn't hold back my fear anymore, I ducked and closed my eyes then started screaming and howling agonizingly as if I've been shot, in fact, it's in my head that I was just shot but I frowned in confusion when I realized I wasn't feeling any pains.
I opened my eyes and saw Justin holding a pistol, he's aimed it towards the rival's car and was shooting at them, he'd shoot a few times and duck to dodge a bullet.
"Yo.. you.." I couldn't speak.
"Julius, change of plans, let's go to our base in St.louis" he ordered Julius
By now it's turned into a real gun battle and I watched as bullets are flying everywhere, both from Justin, Julius and the rivals. I could hardly hear human voices, only gunshots and sounds of tyres bursting, I don't know if it's our tyres because our car didn't stop.
I wanted to take a peek even though I was scared, but Justin wouldn't let me, he held me down and continued shooting back at his rivals.
"Fuçk, I've been shot!" Julius hissed.
I took a peek but couldn't see where he was shot, I guess where he was shot isn't in my line of sight.
"Bloody stop shooting back and focus on driving!" Justin growled frustratingly.
"Yes, sir" Julius replied and focused on driving.
He stepped on the gas, increasing his speed way above the speed limit and left the rivals' cars behind, but strangely enough there wasn't much distance between us and the rivals, they were following very closely and wouldn't stop shooting at us.
"Why aren't we going home? Why are we going to St.louis?" I asked which I recalled Justin's words from earlier.
"The staffs at home are all innocent people, going home will drag them into this mess and they might lose their heads for what knew nothing about" he explained.
Mrs Madison and Dan flashed across my mind immediately he said that, he's right, going home at this point is useless and very dangerous.
"They are catching up, we...."
"Duck!" Justin shouted and pushed me down, then hugged me and used himself as a shield to cover.
He grunted and held me tighter as he clenched his jaw, the veins on his neck and forehead bulged out as if he's in pain.
"Do-don't raise your head for now" he spluttered. "If it's possible sleep, ok?"
"I can't sleep"
"Then stay down and don't raise your head" he said.
He raised his head slightly and turned around to shoot back at them, that's when I realized he's been shot -there's a hole in his back and I believe the bullet is inside.
>><<
It wasn't long before they caught up with us again, this time, there wasn't any way out for us.
Four cars suddenly stopped in front of us and almost caused an accident for us because Julius was on a very high speed, but he was very fast in stepping on the brake, hence bringing our car to an abrupt stop, thankfully the brakes didn't fail him.
He was about taking a U-turn, but another four cars also parked behind us and blocked our way, leaving us no way out.
"What's going on?" I asked as if it's not obvious enough.
Another gun battle is about to begin, and from the look of things I could tell it's gonna be a fiercer battle this time -some people are gonna die.
"Ju-Justin" I stuttered.
He hugged me possibly closer to himself, he planted a lingering and comforting kiss on my forehead, then wiped my sweaty forehead.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here with you" he whispered.
I nodded and looked out the window, it's so dark outside, the cars's headlights were the only source of light and we're trapped in the middle of nowhere.
"Mr Bieber, I've called for backup, they'll be here soon" Julius said.
Backup? When is the backup gonna reach here? What if the backup is too late? Don't tell me they don't have a plan B.
"We have plan B" Justin answered me, I guess I voiced out my thoughts.
"What's the plan B?" I asked.
"We'll fight our way out" he gestured at his gun. "But I'll run out of bullets soon" he added.
I facepalm myself and sighed deeply, it seemed as if I can't breathe anymore, I began gasping for more oxygen but I still couldn't get enough.
"We're gonna die here, we're gonna die here, we're gonna die here" I chanted quietly.
Since when did I become a coward? Or was my bravery was just a facade, maybe I was never really brave but pretending to be, because I had no one to lean on over the years, my weakness is showing now that I have my husband by my side.
"We're not gonna die, I'm here" he assured me again.
My eyes subconsciously moved to his injured back, it's still slowly gushing out blood.
"I won't let you fight with them, not when you're already shot and bleeding" I said firmly yet worriedly. "And the bullet is still inside"
He smiled, but grunt quietly.
"I'm fine, I'm used to this"
I frowned at his words.
"It's just a small injury" he said.
"How's getting shot a small injury?"
He reached forward and caressed my cheek softly.
"I'm just gonna stall them until my boys get here, ok?"
"But you're bleeding heavily and... "
"My queen, calm down" he cut me off. "I need to protect you or I'll blame myself forever if something happen to you, I'll hurt even more if you sustain any injury right now"
I know it's not the time, but I couldn't help but blush at his words.
"Beside Julius is here to help me too"
I looked at Julius who's watching the rivals in front of us.
I was about saying something, but I heard a sudden gunshot and Justin grunted in pain and held his right shoulder that started bleeding heavily too and the gun battle begin again.
He pushed the door open and jumped out, he pulled me out but quickly stood in front of me protectively and started shooting back at them randomly.
Julius quickly jumped out of the car and joined Justin in firing at the rivals, his left hand was bleeding heavily too -that was where they had shot him earlier.
"Holy shît!" Justin cursed and staggered back slightly, but quickly kept his balance.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing, just stay behind me" he replied.
My searched his body until they landed on his thigh, it's bleeding heavily, even heavier than his back and shoulder.
I wanted to do something, I wanted to help but I'm completely helpless and can't even save myself right now.
Suddenly blinding lights shone in everyone's eyes as cars approached us, which stopped everyone's action for a split second and I grabbed Bieber's's shirt tighter.
"Back up is here, Mr Bieber!" Julius informed Justin.
Guys started jumping from the cars, and were firing at the rivals, soon some men formed a circle around us and blocked us from the rivals.
"Sorry we're late, sir" a very, very familiar voice apologized.
I quickly turned around to confirm if I heard correctly or if it's just an illusion, but my jaw dropped and my mouth fell open as I locked gaze with the owner of that familiar voice.
"Divya?!" I exclaimed in total shock and confusion.
Divya is part of Justin's gang? Isn't she supposed to be my innocent friend? How come she's a gangster? And she's even working for Justin? Does that mean our friendship isn't real?
She quickly looked away from me and kept a straight face, then bowed respectfully when Justin glared at her.
"We'll talk later" Justin and averted his glared towards the rivals. "Get one of them alive, I need to know who sent them"
"Yes, sir" she replied. "The getaway car is ready, it's gonna take you and Mrs Bieber to your mansion in st.louis I have also informed the gang's doctor and she's waiting for you there"
"Hm"
Divya bowed at Justin once more, she glanced at me very briefly before joining the others in the gun battle.
Justin turned back to me and smiled, exposing his bloody teeth.
"Quick, follow me" he said.
He grabbed my hand and we ran towards the getaway car, no, we leaped there because his thigh was shot.Julius helped Justin and I get into the car, then rounded the car and got into the passenger' seat.
"Drive" he told the driver after getting in.
Justin turned to me, he's breathing heavily by now and his face has turned pale.
"Are you ok?" he asked weakly.
I nodded.
"Yeah"
He smiled, but coughed out blood.
"That's.. that's good" he said.
He rested his head on my laps.
"I'm tired, let me catch some sleep" he whispered.
"No, no, no, don't..." I quickly grabbed his hands. ".. don't sleep, don't sleep, get your wounds treated first"
But he didn't listen to me or he didn't even hear me and his eyes closed. I leaned down and listened to his heartbeat, but I couldn't hear anything and my eyes grew wide as fear gripped me at once.
"Drive faster, my husband is dying!!" I yelled at the driver.