Chapter 34
MADALINA
M y instant reaction was to go for the gun, but the bastard's body falls on top of it when I kick him in the face, so instead I go with plan B and run.
Or, at least I try to.
I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings when we arrived here, but I did see a few other boats and surely that means there are people here who can help.
I somehow manage to climb off the boat and back onto the wharf, refusing to look back when I hear him calling out behind me.
I run toward the car at the top of the walkway. Screaming at the top of my lungs for help as I clutch my bump and try to run faster.
I have to stop and catch my breath as I make it to the car and when I fling open the door and see no keys in the ignition my heart falls into my stomach. I’m out of oxygen, I have a stitch in my side and when I look up and see Cassio racing toward me, I have no choice but to keep on running.
I remember how long and lonely the road from here to the main street seemed and there's no chance I can make it in my condition. But for my babies’ sake, I have to try. I hold one hand under my stomach and continue to run, hearing his yells getting closer as he stays in my pursuit.
“Madalina, stop running!” he calls out and when I see two cars in the distance, speeding down the straight road in front of us, my relief is short-lived when I feel his hand wrap around my arm and drag me into the woodland.
“I don’t want to shoot you but I will,” he warns, as he shoves me hard in the back and forces me deeper into the trees. My feet get shredded open by the fallen branches and rough ground, and when I trip and fall I manage to use my hands to stop me falling on my front.
“Get up!” Cassio takes a fistful of my hair and tries to drag me on my feet.
“I can’t.” I stroke my stomach and wince in pain. “I think the babies are coming.” I look up at him and watch his expression switch from anger to panic.
“No, they can’t be. You have weeks left. They can’t come yet, it’s not part of the plan.” He shakes his head.
“Well, tell that to them.” I keep hold of my stomach and breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, just like Dario’s been making me practice.
“Madalina!” I hear his voice echo through the trees and close my eyes with relief. I was sure the car was his but I couldn't be certain, now I know that it was and that he’s seen us. I have some hope.
“Cassio!” I hear Serena calling out too and when my husband, my stepmom, and my brother all come to a standstill in front of me, I wonder why they aren’t doing something to help me.
“Don’t move, pretty girl, you’re going to be okay.” Dario looks white and very, very afraid.
“Don’t make her promises you can’t keep, Dario, you're starting to sound like our father.” I feel the gun press against the back of my skull and realize why they are all paralyzed.
“Get away from my sister, you sick son of a bitch!” Nic goes to step forward but Serena holds out her arm to stop him.
“Cassio, sweetheart.” She forces a smile. “Let Madalina go, you don’t want to hurt her.” She takes a step closer and I feel the gun push deeper into my skull.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I waited, Mama, I waited all those years and then he… he just made his demands and took her.” I hear Cassio’s voice getting weaker.
“I know, but Madalina’s happy, and if you truly love her you’ll let her go. Look, you're scaring her. You don’t want to scare her.” She smiles at him as if everything’s going to be okay.
“We should be together,” he whispers and when he shows no sign of dropping the gun to my head, I decide to try myself.
“Cassio, please the babies are coming. I need to go to the hospital,” I plead with him.
“The babies are what!? ” The look of Dario’s face changes from worried to petrified. “Listen to me, you shoot me if you have to. But let Serena and Nic take her to the hospital.” He looks at his brother desperately.
“I need to be with her, she’ll be scared,” Cassio tells him.
“Right now, the only person scaring her is you,” Serena tells him a little more firmly. “Cassio, this isn’t the way. Let me take her. We can talk about this once she’s safe and the babies are here. Just, please , put the gun down,” she begs him.
He tugs tight on my hair, forcing me to get up on my feet and when Dario goes to step forward, Serena has to stop him too.
“Madalina.” Cassio spins me around to look at him and I see the pain in his red-rimmed eyes.
“Answer me this with all honesty,” he whispers, holding the gun to my temple with a trembling hand .
“For all he’s done, and for what he will continue to be, do you love him?” he whispers weakly, with a glint of hope in his eyes. And as I glance over to the man I married and see all the anguish and pain he’s staring at me back with, I smile through my tears.
“I do,” I whisper back. The words I said to Dario on our wedding day meant nothing to me, but so much has changed since then. To admit that I love him, despite everything he is, feels like I’m making a vow of sin, but it’s the truth.
“Then so be it.” Cassio’s words force me to glance back at him and I see the pain I’ve caused him when he nods his head back at me. The pressure from the gun releases from my temple and as I breathe a steady sigh of relief and glance back to my husband I’m confused by the horror I see on Serena’s face.
“ No! ” she rushes forward, and suddenly that familiar popping sound is followed by warm splatters of blood that settle on my face and stain the lace on the dress I’m wearing.
“ No…No. ” Serena slides onto her knees and lifts her son's head up from the floor and I stand and stare at his limp body and the brain matter that slips down the trunk of the tree beside me.
“Madalina!” Dario grabs me and kisses my face, despite the blood I can feel on my skin. “Fuck, we need to get you to a hospital. I’ll call Dr. Walsh.” He presses one hand against my stomach while he takes out his cell.
“No.” I shake my head still in a complete trance from all that's happened.
“What do you mean, no? The babies are coming!” he yells at me.
“I lied, I thought it might convince him to let me go,” I admit, watching him clutch his chest and breathe a long sigh of relief.
“I still want to get you checked out. Nic, you stay with Serena.” He wraps his arm around me and starts guiding me away but I stand firm.
“Did you know?” I look down at Serena, still in shock from all that I’ve learned.
“I knew he cared for you, I’ve always known that, but I had no idea he was so dangerous.” She strokes her hand through his hair. “He was just my sweet boy,” she sobs, and I drag my hands out of Dario’s and move toward her.
“I’m so sorry.” She looks up at me full of regret.
“I wish you’d have told me what you went through all those years ago,” I tell her.
“And risk being another one of the DeMarco whores that went missing?” She shakes her head. “I was one of the lucky ones. At least I got to know him. I swear to you he wasn’t all bad.” She looks down at her son.
“Come on, Serena, we have to get out of here.” My brother shows some compassion when he tries to help her up, but she refuses.
“I’m not leaving him out here alone.” She shakes her head defiantly.
“Then I’ll wait with you.” I use the trunk of the tree to support me as I slowly kneel beside her.
“Madalina, you can’t stay out here. I need to get you checked over,” Dario argues.
“I’m not leaving her here, I promise I’m fine.” I look up at him.
“Nic, run up to Vito and tell him to call out a recovery team,” he tells my brother, before taking off his jacket and wrapping it around my shoulders. Then, crouching down between Serena and me, he wraps his arms around us both.
“Thadeo killed my dad,” I say my thoughts out loud after a few minutes of silence.
“I had my suspicions,” Serena admits, “so did Cassio. ”
“Cassio was blackmailing Dad over it. That's what my father texted me about, earlier. I promise I had no idea until then. But it’s the reason I left you alone and allowed this to happen.” He looks broken.
“Don’t blame yourself.” I stroke my hand through his beard.
“How could I have been so stupid?” I feel his fingers tighten against my shoulder.
“Because you’d started to trust him, and you liked the idea of having a brother.” I smile sadly. The two of them were becoming so close and all along it was part of Cassio’s twisted, little plan.
“My father won’t go unpunished. I swear to you. I’m done. I promised you I’d kill the man who killed your father, and I will. I’ll kill him, then I’ll leave his dynasty to rot. All that matters now are the three of you.” Dario kisses my temple and reminds me that just minutes ago I had a gun to it.
“I want to speak to him first,” I tell him, looking at him square on so he knows how important that is to me. Thadeo DeMarco no longer scares me. He’s a coward.
“All in good time.” Dario tucks my head into his neck and strokes my hair. “For now, let's just be happy that you and the babies are okay.”
We step back into the house three hours later, all of us tired and drained from today's events. Serena decided to have Cassio buried in the woods where he shot himself. She wanted to grieve for her son without having to hide who she was. Dario says he’ll come up with a reason for his disappearance tomorrow when his head is a little clearer. Serena decides to go straight to her room for a lie down and I’m about to head up for a shower when I hear Greta’s voice .
“Mr. DeMarco, your father is waiting in your office,” he tells him, and although she looks a little concerned, she doesn’t appear shocked by the state I’m in. I’m sure she has seen many things during her employment.
“Please, tell him I will visit him tomorrow. I have to take care of Mrs. DeMarco tonight.” I can hear the restraint in his voice.
“No.” I shake my head, starting to make my way toward Dario’s office.
“Madalina, wait, he’s dangerous.” Dario rushes to put himself in front of me.
“I guarantee you that, right now, I’m more dangerous. Get out of my way.”
“I can’t let you.”
“Get out of my way!” I shove past him, knowing there's no way he’ll put up a fight with me in the condition I’m in and when I burst through the doors and see Thadeo DeMarco sitting in my husband’s desk chair with a scotch in his hand, I swear the heavy load I’m carrying is the only thing that stops me from charging at him.
“Leave us.” I can sense that Dario is close behind me, as I stare my father-in-law straight in the eye.
“Your wife forgets who she’s talking to, Dario.” He chuckles to himself.
“His wife forgets nothing. You’ll do well to remember that when you're lying in your bed at night, wondering if it will be your last.”
“That sounds like a threat.” He smirks at me.
“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise. You killed my father. You separated a mother from her child. No wonder Cassio turned into a fucked-up psychopath. You’ve picked him up and dropped him back down his whole life.”
“ Dario! Control your woman! ” he bellows .
“Screw you, I’m liking what she’s saying.” I hear his voice come from behind me, and it builds up more strength inside me.
“Your son has offered to take me away from all of this, to start a new life and leave the DeMarco name to diminish with its reputation and all its power.”
“He wouldn’t. Tell her Dario.” He looks past me to his son for some reassurance
“I’d do it in a heartbeat.” He moves forward to stand by my side.
“You only have one son left, Thadeo, no replacements. The blood I’m wearing on this dress is proof of that.”
“So, what are saying?” He smirks at me as if he’s unaffected by what he hears.
“I’m telling you to stand down, it’s time to retire and let Dario make this city a safe place for us to raise our children.”
“Me? Stand down?” He scoffs a laugh.
It’s your choice. You can watch your family grow into something magnificent, or you can destroy it, but we won’t be around to watch it fall.” I leave him to think about his options before spinning on my heels and making my way upstairs for a shower.
“You need some help with that?” Dario steps into the room while I’m attempting to unzip my dress, and failing.
“Would be nice.” I manage a smile for him and after closing the door he spins me around so he can release me.
“Where is your father?” I ask.
“He left,” he assures me, kissing my neck as he slowly lowers the zip. “Do you want me to draw you a bath?” he whispers against my skin.
“I think I’ll take a shower, I don’t want to bathe in Cassio’s blood.” I close my eyes and recall the harrowing look in his eyes when he was talking to me.
“Of course.” Dario sounds deflated.
No doubt Dario will be mad at me for how I spoke for him downstairs. I get that it was out of order, but my rage got away from me.
“Dario, I’m sorr–”
“Don’t you dare!” He grabs my shoulders and spins me around. “Don't you dare apologize for a single, damn thing.” He looks like he’s battling with as many emotions as I am right now.
“I’ve never seen anyone stand up to my father like that. I’ve never met anyone in my life as selfless as you. What you said back in those woods. I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve for you to want to stay here and let me be who I am, and you sure as Hell deserve better than what I can give you.”
“Dario.” I lift my hand up to stroke his cheek. “I’m happy. I’m in love with you as well as very tired and covered in blood. I just need you to take care of me.” I put it to him simply.
“I can do that.” He smiles, finding his calm as he takes my hand and leads me to the bathroom.