CHIARA
Gunshots! Gunshots everywhere!
I sat abruptly. My eyes opened wide as I took in my surroundings, groaning with my throbbing head. I was in an unrecognizable room. My breaths faltered and my heart was racing as footsteps approached from what I'd collected in a short time… was a washroom.
I heedlessly reached for the flower vase on the nightstand and held it ready. The moment the person came out… I flung the vase. Just in time for him to move back an inch. The vase smashed against the wall instead and scattered down. Thunders roared outside and the rain poured harder.
"Whoa! Sweetie, calm down." Carmelo said, raising both of his hands up. My eyes narrowed at him, "Why the fuck am I here with you?" I asked, reaching for something else inside the nightstand. He eyed the gun in my hand before meeting up with my gaze. "Yeah, we don't have to go down that road. Just listen to me first." He said.
I groaned, feeling a shooting pain that had me shut my eyes. I shook my head and aimed at him. "You better start talking," I uttered, no hint of emotion in my tone. Last time I remembered, I was caught up in a gang fight. I almost lost my life and then passed out. How did I end up with him inside this damned room? I had no idea in hell.
"Alright." He moved forward and I cocked the gun making him stop in his tracks. I heard him mumble something under his breath, but I only wanted to hear his end of the story, so I know I was not losing my mind this time around too. Alex was enough of a mystery.
"Fine. This evening, I happened to be in a fight. Aiding my younger brother taking down some sick fuck who thought he could run away after cheating on our agreements. Then I don't know how but you came in the picture at the wrong time. And both of the sides thought you were sent and so the shootout began at your arrival." He narrated. I looked at him so hard as though I was looking into his soul instead. I detonated a fucking shootout.
"Then I saw you heading over to our enemy's side with your car, giving us a perfect entrance for an ambush. Although I couldn't understand why you didn't just drive away. So I followed after you once we took everyone down. Only to find you losing consciousness." He dropped his hands to his sides and sighed.
"I obviously couldn't bring you to your home and declare a war right after having one. So I took you here to my hotel room and had my doctor treat your wounds. I… I also changed your clothes. I… didn't see mu…" His sentence fell short, and he looked away.
My nose flared. "You bastard!" I began to shoot at him as he jumped around the room, avoiding getting shot. The gun was a silencer. "I had no choice!" He shouted. I got up with my wobbly legs, holding the gun with both of my hands and continued shooting as he jumped around the huge room. "There is always a choice in that matter!" I shouted back.
"It was either me, my younger brother or the doctor! Would you rather they changed you instead?" he asked, dropping a couch and hiding behind it. I shoot at the couch, causing it to scatter a mess around until the bullets are over.
I screamed and threw it away, breathing heavily. I sat down, touching around my head. A bandage was wrapped around it. "If they find out you're here with me, you're as good as dead." I uttered. He peeked up from the couch, "Nobody saw me bringing you up here," he said and slowly came out of his hiding place after seeing the gun was down and not in my hands.
"What gang were you fighting with?" I asked, pulling the cover up to wrap myself. I had blue shorts on and a white shirt, definitely his. "Enzo's mob. That bastard stabbed us behind our backs and joined forces with someone else when we were about to ship in our things." Deep lines formed on his forehead as he spoke.
A scoff left me, "Let me guess, Antonio Marino?" I said and he nodded. "Yes, and that changes everything with my brother's Mafia business. But we don't let our cheaters walk freely after what they'd done to us. Enzo would get what he asked for. Jr. would make sure of that." He said with such steady trust in his words. He trusted his brother with his life. I could tell just by looking at him.
I guess I now knew why those men kept coming after me. They were Enzo's men after all. My enemies and I walked side by side. I just wished they could kill him before I did. Because I would sure as hell make it a very painful one. Carmelo assessed the mess I'd created inside his suite in a span of a few minutes.
"What time is it?" I asked. "Six thirty. You can stay the night. It is storming hard out there." He said, hands casually crossed on his chest. Instead of answering him, I laid down and covered myself better.
A silence passed by before his voice came again, "I was going to make some coffee. Want some?" he asked. "Sure." I replied, sighing silently as his footsteps went further from me. I'd seen death flash right through my face from time to time, but my reaction would always be the same. Nobody was fond of death even if some of us wished we had died from time to
time. If—If I had died today, then I would've spent my entire afterlife in hell regretting not saving my mother before I left.