Chapter 37 #2
He’s right by my side and I know he’d be by the side of anyone he cared about when they needed help.
He wouldn’t flee and leave those most loyal to him to die.
A cool, stone stairwell becomes our path up to the roof thanks to Felix remembering how often he and Nico would have picnics up there as a kid.
A soft, sweet memory now tainted by the horror of a man that Nico became.
I promise myself I’ll make it up to him as he charges through the last door and stumbles onto the roof, only to be tackled by one of the few men Caterina brought up with her.
“Felix!” I cry out and Toph darts past me just in time to shoulder the blow from another guard.
“Go!” Felix yells, his voice strained as he wrestles with the guard, determined to plunge a knife into his chest. “Don’t let her get away!”
“We got… this!” Toph goes down from a hard punch just as he says those words but he rolls, scrambles back up and tackles the guard back onto the ground with him.
Love begs me to stay and help, but the slow, weak beat of propellers fills the air, and the helicopter at the end of the roof is moments away from taking off.
If Caterina leaves, there’s no telling when I’ll see her again and I’m done running.
I’m done living in fear of ghosts.
“Caterina!” I bellow her name at the top of my lungs and sprint across the roof.
Small stones and debris cut up the soles of my feet, the rising smoke claws into my lungs with every frantic breath, and the heat of flames creeping over the edge of the roof threaten to take me out before I reach her.
I run like I’ve never run before.
“Go!” Caterina yells at her pilot and she slams her hand against his helmet. “What are you waiting for, fucking go!”
“Caterina!” I’m five feet away and closing. “Get back here you cunt!”
“You’re fucking crazy!” she screams back. “Fuck off and die!!” She ducks her head and reaches for something under the seat but she doesn’t have a chance to get it because I’m right at the edge of the helipad.
Launching myself forward, I collide with her and we crash into the helicopter seats together.
“You crazy bitch!” Caterina screams and her perfectly manicured nails claw down my face. “Why won’t you fucking die!? How many times are you going to keep coming back?!”
Scrambling over her, I lean up and ball my fist, then I punch her as hard as I can.
Again and again the blows land while a deep sense of satisfaction settles in my gut.
Finally I can give her what she deserves.
“You tried to kill me!” I roar at her with another punch. “You murdered my family. You tried to kill my son! There’s no future for you, Caterina!”
“Me?” She coughs up a mouthful of blood, then catches me on the chin with her thin, sharp elbow. I reel backward, then fall further as the helicopter lurches and starts to lift. Caterina slams her heel into my gut as she tries to kick me out.
“You killed my son! My baby boy! He was mine! I wanted you to feel an ounce of that pain. And then you came back and killed my lover! You’re a fucking cockroach, Dove. Die, bitch! Fucking die!”
She kicks me over and over with each blow landing hard in my gut. Clinging to the door of the helicopter to stop myself from falling, I have no choice but to take the blows until the next one misses due to the struggle of the helicopter trying to take off with such an updraft of heat from the fire.
I grab her ankle and let my weight shift to try and drag us both out of the helicopter.
Caterina screeches and grabs onto the belt buckles to stop herself falling while doing everything she can to kick me free.
“I’m ready to die here,” I snarl at her through bloody teeth. “I’ll do everything to keep Alex safe if I die while killing you, it will still be worth it!”
“You’re insane!” She screeches so high her voice cracks, then she slips and finally reaches for whatever she wants under the seat. With a grunt, Caterina twists her torso to look at me clawing my way up her leg, then she aims a gun at me.
“I wanted to kill you slowly,” she pants as the helicopter lifts. “But this will do!”
The helicopter lurches suddenly as Caterina fires her shot and her arm jolts wide, but before I can register the pain - or lack of - the helicopter suddenly careens to the side as the pilot screams and screams.
“You shot me! You fucking shot me!”
My stomach lurches up into my throat as the helicopter tips to the side, then sparks fly while metal screeches and creaks as each helicopter blade smashes into the roof. The entire vehicle shudders and Caterina locks eyes with me.
It’s the last thing I see before the helicopter flips over itself and I’m thrown into the air, landing several feet away with a crack echoing through my ribs and hot pain blooming across the back of my skull where my head cracks on the ground.
Distant gunfire fades in and out as the world around me blurs to darkness.
A loud pop follows, then heat washing over my body as if I’m basking in the sun. Then… silence.
It’s rather blissful.
Wind brushes over my bare legs and catches on the hem of Felix’s shirt, followed by another rush of heat that’s too strong to be comfortable.
Blood coats the back of my tongue and I’m forced to swallow it as I slowly open my eyes.
I’m near the edge of the roof with the carnage and chaos spilling out of the Estate and across several streets below. Bree’s team seems to be winning, judging by the impenetrable line of black cars, and… is that a cement mixer?
A crunch on the ground next to me draws my attention away from the battle below and I slowly roll my head.
Caterina stands over me.
Her sky blue dress is scorched and burned, covered in streaks of soot, oil and blood.
Half of her hair is plastered to her head as a large head wound pours blood all down the side of her face and across her shoulders.
I notice that before I notice the gun aimed at me.
“The Irish,” she sneers, casting an eye beyond me to the war below. “I should have wiped them all out after I took out your father but I didn’t want to make it obvious.” She wobbles, balancing on one broken heel. “Mother to mother, I almost respect you.” She lifts one shoulder. “Almost.”
I should move but my limbs feel like lead. Everything hurts, and yet the pain is so intense that it’s almost fading out of focus.
“I’m going to kill Alex next. I’ll tell him you died—!”
A deafening crack explodes next to her head and Caterina’s lifted off her feet, eyes rolling into the back of her head.
I watch her body stumble, then crumple like a deflated balloon as she collapses and topples right off the edge of the roof, leaving Felix standing behind her with his gun aimed at where her head had just been.
He immediately drops it and falls to his knees beside me, “Dove!”
“I’m okay,” I reply, even as blood continues to leak into my mouth. Felix drags me into his arms and cradles me in his lap, petting my hair and caressing my face over and over.
“Oh my god, I thought you’d died! I thought—!” He cuts himself off by kissing my forehead repeatedly, then down to my lips. “Oh god—!”
“I’m okay,” I repeat with a small smile in between the feverish press of his mouth. “Although… I think I broke my ribs.”
“You’re okay. Toph is getting help. You’ll be okay I swear.”
“You might have been right.” Small pants follow each word. “It was kind of risky going after her.”
Felix’s eyes lock with mine and then he laughs softly. “You think?”
“Oh baby…” His gorgeous, inked torso is covered in several new lacerations from the knife-wielding guard he was fighting, and my heart squeezes. “You’re hurt.”
Felix preens slightly as he very slowly climbs to his feet while keeping me in his arms, bridal style. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Is now a good time to flirt with you because I totally wanna kiss it all better.”
“Did you hit your head again?” Felix smirks down at me. “Because I think you should see a doctor first.”
I cradle his jaw with my hand and nod. “You can be my doctor.”
“I’ll be your doctor any day.”
“Take me home?”
We reach the door and Felix gazes down at me with the twinkling night sky battling through the rising smoke. Then he leans down and tenderly covers my mouth with his in a deep, tired kiss.
“I’ll take you home,” Felix promises softly.