THIRTY-FIVE
W hen my feet hit the bottom of the stairs with Hanna behind me, I scan the room for my friends. Sam has his tongue down Mary's throat, and I notice Damien standing in the kitchen taking shots with Bailey.
My eyes move around the room, but there's no sign of Ace. I mean, there never is—he hides or he takes a girl and disappears. But ever since we introduced him to the mafia world, he has been even more distant than usual.
He said he wants to do this, that he needs it—his words, not mine. But since we initiated him, he's been off. Like a screw is loose, he's unhinged, waiting for his next taste. My mind plays back to the initiation.
"Ace Deems, repeat the words back to me." My mother's words are like a whip as she slides a knife into his bare shoulders, leaving a slight cut and a blood trail. "Every breath is taken through vengeance. Every move is considered war. You come in alive, you leave dead."
His words are sharp, like he has been practising his whole life to be here. Damien and Soren stand next to me as we stand behind our mother off to the side. All the soldiers are in front of us behind Ace, and a lot of them snarl as they watch the rookie.
Most of them were against a mundane becoming made men. Yet they didn’t argue when my mother offered them death; they accepted it. "Now I accept my fate," Ace finishes as my mother takes the hot poker with the famiglia-branded symbol on it and stabbed his left peck.
There is no sound, just the gritting of teeth as the smell of searing flesh fills the room. Ace is now a famiglia soldier. He killed one of our traitors just twenty minutes ago.
The smell of blood is still potent in the air where the corpse lies headless behind him. Soren enjoys watching pain inflicted. He enjoys creating it more, but I think my nineteen-year-old brother has a hard on for death.
My eyes fly back to Ace as he turns to the soldiers. "Always leave dead! Always leave dead! Always leave dead!" Is chanted through the room as my friend stands there shirtless, showing off his famiglia branding to his new family.
I just pray he doesn't lose his humanity after he kills twenty or more liabilities.
Hanna slides her hand into mine, snapping me from my thoughts and back to the present. "Now what?" She smirks with a twinkle in her eye.
Fuck . I can't believe she just did that. I mean, I didn't expect that from her and there she was, blowing my mind. Smiling, I grip her hand. "I want to show you something…" I want to show her a place that is absolutely everything to me.
"Didn't you already show me lots just now?" She winks at me.
Jesus .
Grabbing a handful of her hair, I yank her head toward me. "This is something different," I whisper.
She smiles, allowing me to lead her out of the condo, away from the half-naked people all over my kitchen and living room. Sliding into the front seat of my car, and once Hanna is buckled in, I slam into first and speed out of my parking spot.
I glance over at Hanna as she stares out the window, probably wondering where I'm taking her. Shifting into second, I take a corner quickly as I head for my jet. Averting my eyes from Hanna, I stare at the road ahead as I drive. Pulling up next to the jet, I put the car in park, turning it off.
Once we're settled in the jet, I wait for take-off with a smile. Chicago awaits and so does my favourite place in the entire world.
"Where are we?" Hanna whispers, climbing out of my car two hours after the flight and twenty minutes to the river's edge.
She follows me toward the riverbank. "I used to come here as a kid. When everything got tough, and I didn't want to be around my mother anymore. This was my safe place," I whisper, staring off toward the dark river.
I feel Hanna's hand slip into mine, gently squeezing it. "It's okay. You're here with me," she whispers.
A smile takes over my face as I look down at her. This woman is seriously the best thing I have ever had in my life. Out of all the women I could have ended up with, she's the one that caught my heart. Her green eyes peer up at me through the darkness as she watches me with a smile.
"You know, when I started tutoring you, I never guessed this is where we would be months later. What I would know about your world and my own," she whispers softly.
Gently, I lean down and press my lips to hers. Gripping the back of her thighs, I lift her into the air. Her legs wrapped around my waist. Laying one hand on her cheek, I continue to kiss her. My lips crave hers. Hanna's nails dig into the back of my neck as she pulls my face closer. I need more.
"Well, well, well, look who's a long way from Princeton," a voice rings through the air.
Mother.
Hanna's arms grip onto me. Gently, I set her down, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close. "I thought after everything that went down with Emily, you'd learned your lesson. I was wrong. Wasn't I?" My mother's voice fills the clearing.
Shit. I had forgotten this river was on the same land as Mother's mansion. Hanna's whimper sounds beside me.
My eyes glimpse a black dress as she walks into the moonlight, showing her face. "So, what the hell are you doing here?" my mother growls.
Hanna sticks to my side like glue as Margarita gets closer to us. "Mother," I address, not wanting to mention Hanna's name.
"I see, I see. You're lucky you're standing, boy. I should kill you for this." Her voice unleashes like venom.
Hanna presses into my side, trying to hide herself. "I understand. I will stay away from here. Just let her go," I whisper.
Mother laughs, she's fucking laughing. "Let you go? No, no. Death would have been too easy. I think you should suffer," she replies, her eyes shooting to Hanna, who's practically a part of my body by now.
"You really… you don't want to do this." I will surely kill my mother before anything happens to my baby or Hann.
My mother steps up to me, nose to nose. "Actually, I do. You don't deserve happiness. It's a weakness. Taking it away is the better idea." She smiles wickedly. One of her soldiers wrenches Hanna away from me, and my first instinct is to attack. Until two others grab onto my arms and hold me back.
"Please! You don't want to do this!" Her rippled scream fills the clearing. I can't see her, I have no idea where she is. She could be two feet in front of me or miles away. A giant light fills the clearing as my mother lights a fire.
She smirks, her nude-painted lips pulled into a grin. "Much more like it." My eyes drop, Hanna's on the ground next to one of my mother's soldier's feet.
I pull on my arms, needing to get to her. The two goons behind me hold me back tightly, keeping me away from her. "Now. What should I do…" My mother grins, kneeling in front of Hanna.
She flinches away, hitting the man's legs behind her. One of the soldiers tosses something silver toward my mother. To my horror, I realise it's a knife. This can't be happening. I will die first.
"Please!" Hanna screams. A rippled growl escapes my lips as I watch my mother.
Her face turns toward me and she grins. Switching the knife open, she leans into Hanna. "Don't scream, and I might let you live." But I know my mother will kill Hanna, anyway.
A snarl rages out of my lips as I try to pull myself free. "Hold her!" my mother demands. The large soldier behind Hanna grabs her arms and holds her still as my mother leans closer.
I hear a slice as the knife cuts into Hanna's hip. Her scream ripples through the air as my heart tears apart.
I will fucking kill them all.
Snarling, I lunge forward, only to be held back again by the two goons behind me. She moves the knife up to her stomach and eyes it curiously.
"Stop! She's pregnant, remember!" I yell, trying to pull out of their grip. The moment the words leave my lips, the soldiers drop my arms, stunned as I race toward Hanna. She has to live. I will die to protect her.
My mother eyes me closely as I kneel beside her. "I know this, son, but why should that matter to me?" She turns to me and tosses the knife back to one of her soldiers. My eyes turn to slits as I glare at her, my teeth bared in a snarl.
She's a dead woman. "What the fuck do you want from me aside from no emotions!" I snap my sanity barely hanging on.
"Fine! When that child, girl or boy is eleven. You bring them to me. That's the deal, unless you want her dead.'" My mother smiles up at me.
I know what that means. She wants another made man. In her eyes, gender doesn't matter though.
Chills break my body as I think about this offer. I can't give up my child. I also can't give up Hanna. Fuck ! "Fuck! Fine!" I growl, pulling Hanna into my arms. My mother grins at me, getting to her feet.
I will never give my child to her, but I’ll let her think that while I plan her cold-hearted death. "Don't disappoint me," she growls, snapping her fingers for her soldiers to follow her back into the trees.
Picking up Hanna in my arms, I carry her back to the car, setting her in it. Once I'm in the driver's seat, I speed off toward the jet. "My baby! How dare you give it away as a bargain!" Hanna screams. I grip the steering wheel to control my anger as we drive back to the jet.
She doesn't understand the lengths my mother will go to and maybe she never will, but our child is no bargaining chip. At least now I have a chance to plan my mother's death.
I come to a stop next to the jet and hurry my girl into the jet as I bark orders at the staff to take off as soon as they can possibly leave. Hanna's green eyes burn daggers through my skin as she glares at me. "Jesus, Hanna! I'm not giving a child away. How else was I supposed to get you out of there?" I growl as the feel of the jet taking off rumbles around me.
She flashes me a worried look as I rest my head against the back of my seat. "But what are you going to do?" she whispers.
Whatever I have to do. Anything I have to do.
"Me and Damien have eleven years and seven months to come up with that plan," I reply, lifting my head from the headrest. Hanna watches me as a tear falls from her eye.
What the hell am I going to do? The entire thought stays in my brain as me and Hanna stare off into the clouds outside the windows of the jet. Even after I clean her wound, the thought doesn't go away. I won't give my child to that devil woman I share blood with.
Closing my eyes later that night as we lay in bed on the jet, I let my thoughts take over. I'll give myself to her as a replacement. It'll all be fine. It'll be fine. Nothing will happen to Hanna or to our child.