Hi guys! I bring you some action! Let me know what you think. Just wanted to say this is so not the end, it's more like the beginning! Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoy! C.
I continued down the stairs in an awkward crouch. We tried to be quiet, but the stairs were probably older than us, and upkeep was clearly not a priority. No one on the floor seemed to hear the creaking of the stairs. They just kept shouting at each other. But the guy at the bottom had to hear. He gave no sign of it. When we got closer, I realized why. The dumbass was listening to his iPod. Vito was going to kill him. Literally.
I pointed to Dyson and then pointed to his hands. He nodded. Then I pointed to me and covered my mouth. We were so good at hand signals. At the bottom of the stairs, we moved fast. Just like I planned. Dyson grabbed Dude's hands. I covered his mouth. He tried to jump up out of his chair, but Dyson pulled down hard on his hands so he couldn't move. I cradled his head in my arm so he couldn't jerk away and start shouting. Then I yanked out his headphones and wrapped them around his wrists. Dyson let go with one hand so he could feel the dude up. He found a knife. He pressed it against the guy's throat.
"You can stay here," He whispered in his ear. "And they'll probably kill you. Or you can run and you'll have thirty minutes head start."
The guy nodded. Or tried to. I was still holding his head. And Dyson had a knife at his throat.
"Blink once if you want to stay. We'll knock you out and you may not wake up. Blink twice if you want to go." He started blinking rapidly. "Good choice. Be very quiet. If they hear you leave, you're dead. Bo is gonna check you for weapons. Make a noise and I'll kill you."
There was a gun on his belt and another in his waistband. And he had a small revolver strapped to his ankle. Also an assortment of knives. This dude was carrying a small arsenal. We kept it all, we were gonna need it.
The second we set foot in the room, I knew it wasn't going to go well. The whole crew was there. So I figured I should just go with it.
"What is wrong with you, Vito?" The room went silent. "I heard you lying to Lauren." I grinned and shook my finger. That would really piss him off. "You had me and Dyson tied up in that little room up there. And she was all worried. Were you just going to surprise her later?" Lauren was to my left. I could feel her. But I didn't look. Instead, I made eye contact and greeted everyone in the room by name.
"Evony, honey." I heard Lauren say, her voice made me smile. "Listen, I know we need to talk, but the thing is you're a horrible person. That's why it never would have worked between us. It's not just 'cause I have this thing for Bo, well, there is that, but it's you. Not me. I lied before. I didn't want to hurt your feelings when you threw yourself at me, but now I know you don't have feelings. So I figured I should just be honest." I looked at her then and gave her the most sincere smile.
I looked at the only guy in the room I didn't recognize. He was old. Wearing a better suit than anyone else present. "You must be the boss. I'm going to call you sir because you're old, but definetely not my boss."
"And you must be the little crazy one. Bo, is it?"
"That's me. I've heard a lot about you. None of it good, I promise." He laughed at that. It was a good sort of laugh, deep and rich, but with a bit of a wheeze at the end. The cigarettes.
Evony cleared her throat and nearly every person in the room produced a gun, which they pointed at Dyson and me.
"Put down the guns, you two," Vito said.
Most of the time, Dyson and I were relatively stupid. But I had a gun in my junk so we did the smart thing. Ejected our clips, slid open the chambers, displayed them with very visible hands, then carefully put down the guns. It was a cute little show, really.
"Boys," Vito said. Men stepped forward and grabbed us. Bobby came up and patted us down. He emptied the knives from our pockets. But he didn't have the balls to check my underwear. Good for me I kept one of that guy's gun there.
"Damn, guys," I said. "This feels a little unnecessary, ya know?"
"I agree," Dyson said.
Dyson smirked at me. "A little heavy-handed. And then my sister comes in here looking for us and you lie. That's pretty lame."
"Lame," I echoed. "So why don't you let us go?" "Be quiet, Dyson," the boss said. "Oh, hey, grandpa." Dyson gave him a head nod. "How's it hangin', old man?" His fucking grandfather? I tried not to look surprised, but, really, their grandfather? Then it hit me, he looked a lot like their mother, the same as Lauren too, Dyson was different though, his features seemed more like his fathers. She could have told me she was like a fucking mafia princess sooner.
"I told you to be quiet." The boss replied.
"Yeah, it didn't work when I was five. Why would it work now?"
"Shut up, you little bastard." "Don't call him that," Lauren said. And I just had to look at her. My knees got weak. Literally. She was wearing a fur coat, which was a little weird, but hot. Under that was a dress, of sorts. It stopped about an inch short of decorum. Her hair was pulled back in some sort of knot. Dangling earrings caught the lights and sprayed her neck in a series of ever changing patterns. The heels were what made it, I decided. They were like high. And totally hot. And black. Her eyes were dark too. And shining like those earrings. She was classic Hollywood. But slutty. And way sexier than those broads ever were. There's just something about a classy girl dressing up trashy. And I knew she did it to piss off Grandpa. Damn, I loved that girl.
"I will call the bastard whatever I want to call him," the boss said. Back to reality.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Dyson shouted. "Really, all of you. What the fuck did I ever do that made you hate me so damn much?"
No one answered. So I thought I would. "You looked like your father," I said. The room got quiet. "What?" Dyson asked. "You looked like you father." I looked at the boss. "Lauren looked like Elizabeth, his daughter, but you looked like your father." I looked at Lauren, she nod.
"So, you did learn something from us, you learnt to think at least." The boss said calmy. "Ah, Lauren, did you know she's been working for us?"
"You're lying," Lauren said.
"No, honey," Vito told her. " She worked with me, Vex and Evony all this time."
"I'm sorry." I looked at Lauren, then Dyson. "I'm so sorry, it was the only way."
"But..." Lauren had tears gathering now. "Why?"
"There's more. Come on, finish the story."
"Shut the fuck up," I told Vito. I turned to Lauren. "I lied to you when I called you." Lauren looked at me, but I couldn't read the expression on her face.
"Okay," She finally said. "I'm sure there's more to it, but I trust you. So that's enough for me."
"What?" Evony screeched. "You're just going to let that go?" Lauren turned to her. Her eyes were sharp and glittering. "Be quiet." "I will damn well say whatever I want to say," Evony shot back.
"Yeah, you're good at that," I said. "Excuse me?" "You are good at saying and doing whatever the hell you want. It's a whole elitism thing. Like the world and everything in it belongs to you. Except it doesn't," I explained.
"That's enough," the boss spoke again. "I did not come here to listen to my family argue. Lauren, would you like to stay with us this time?"
"No." Simple. I liked it.
The boss gave a little hand signal and two guys stepped forward.
"Wait, Boss." Evony said. He looked at her, smiled, and nodded. The guys stepped back and she crossed to me. Then she hit me, I wasn't expecting that.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lauren asked. She grabbed her shoulder and made her face her. Next time I looked Evony was on the floor, Lauren had punched her on her nose.
"That was kinda hot," I said. They both glared at me. "Sorry."
"What is this?" Lauren asked her grandfather. "You beat Bo until I agree to run your business?"
"Of course not." He frowned at her. "I am simply hoping you decide to do the right thing." "Fuck that," I said. "She's never going to work for you. You may as well kill me."
"I am not opposed to that," the boss said.
"Go for it," I told him. That was probably not a smart thing to say in a room full of people with guns who very much wanted to kill me. They were kind enough to confirm that for me by putting a gun to my temple.
"Shut the hell up, Bo" Dyson said. "We came back to get you. Not kill you."
I smiled at him. "It's okay. Get out. Don't come back." I looked at Vito, then the boss. "One thing."
"What?" Vito asked.
"Dying wish and all that." They waited. "Let me kiss her. Just once."
And the crazy fuckers gave me a nod.
"I am not doing this," Lauren said.
"Sure you are," I told her. I very slowly put my fingertips on the gun one of the guys was holding to my head and turned it so it was pointed not at my head.
"No, stop it." Lauren looked panicked. "It's okay." "I'm not letting you die," She said. I wiped the blood off my mouth with the back of my hand.
Lauren took a step backward. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into me. And then I kissed her.
It was like coming home. It was worth leaving home. She didn't kiss me back right away. And then she did. Her lips moved over mine, exploring, teasing. She didn't open her mouth. Just kissed me. Her back arched. She moaned. The tip of her tongue traced my bottom lip. I groaned.
Someone cleared their throat. Then I remembered why I was supposed to be kissing her. I angled my hips forward into hers. Lauren paused. Good, she felt it. Her hands, which had been grasped in mine, moved to my stomach. I wrapped my arms around her waist to cover her movements. Deftly, she removed the gun. The backs of her fingers trailed over my stomach.
I stopped kissing her.
Lauren pressed her cheek to mine. "Follow my lead." "All right, hotpants." I nodded and kissed her cheek. Then I stepped back.
"This is how we're going to do this," Lauren told the room.
"Bo, Dyson, and I are going to leave. You are going to let us. When you die"—she looked at her grandfather—"Evony will probably take over. She's crazy and you like crazy. You will never see us again. And you'll never even try to see us again."
"No." The boss smiled.
"Yes. Because if you don't let us go." Lauren pressed the revolver to her temple. "Then I'll be going with them."
"Fuck that." Dyson tried to throw off the guys holding him. It didn't work. They were bigger.
"Holy fuck, Lauren. Put the gun down." I tried to step forward to take the gun away. But Evony grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back. Ouch.
"Go ahead," Evony said.
"Psychotic bitch." I elbowed Evony off me. She punched me in the back of the head. I saw lights and colors I'd never seen before.
"Stop it," Lauren said. "Make a choice." I turned to look at the boss. Everyone turned to look at the boss. "Give her your keys," he said to Vito. "You may go," he told us. "Thank you." Lauren cocked the gun. "Everyone move slow, okay? My finger is on the trigger. And these things go off with so little motivation. Let go of Bo. Good. Bo, the keys. Let's go." Dyson and I preceded her out the door. We ran for Vito's car. I hurled from all the running, then got in the driver's seat. And drove the fuck out of there. "Are you insane?" I asked once we were on the main road. "Madly," Lauren said. "That was so un-fucking-cool," Dyson contributed. "It worked." But it didn't, my plan was to end it all, now they would chase us. They'd lost the money, they'd lost Lauren, there was no way they would let it go. But she was here, and that was more than enough now.
"Dyson can you switch with Bo and drive?" Lauren asked, winking at me.
"Yeah sure." He was still on shock, we could have told him anything, he would have done it.
I stoped the car and join Lauren on the backseat, I was smiling, I could finally get a real kiss without audience and maybe some touching. Nothing further from reality, instead she slapped me.
"What the…" " Don't you dare do that again!" She was yelling now. "I told you to go somewhere save! And what did you do? Join the fucking mob! And working with Evony? For fuck's sake! What the hell were you thinking?" Ok, she was pissed.
"I just…I needed you back!" "Ok, let me get this straight…so instead of do as I told you and wait for me to come to you, you joined the family to used them to get me for you? Are you out of your mind?" Really pissed.
"You went on a suicidal mision Lauren!" "I knew what I was doing! They would never kill me, I'm his granddaughter, but they could have killed you. And for what? To get me back? I was gonna get rid off them and then find you, you asshole!"
"My plan wasn't only getting you back, do you think I'm that selfish top ut you in danger for that? I was gonna kill your grandfather, well, I didn't know "the boss" was your grandfather. You could have told me you were like a fucking mafia princess by the way!" Her jaw dropped, the anger in her eyes vanished. "I had to earn their trust, so they'd let me meet him."
"Bo…I… I'm sorry" She began to cry in silence. " I shouldn't have let you get into this in the first place. I'll never forgive myself for that. I left cause I thought that would be the best for you." "I've missed you more than you can imagine." "I miss you too."
Dyson had already woken up from his shock. "Lauren, I think we deserve an explanation. The long version."
"Yes." She took a deep breath. "Last year of high school I heard mom having a conversation on the phone with our grandfather." She started, her voice almost broke when she said the word 'mom'. "They were talking about me and mom was refusing something, later I found out he wanted to train me to be his predecesor. As Bo said earlier you look like your father, I'm his real granddaughter. One day they found me in my way back home from high school and took me home in one of those cars. The boss was there too, he tried to convince me, he promised me everything you can imagine, he would pay for uni…but I refused, he was kind, but I didn't trust him after hearing that phone call. When Nadia disappeared I didn't know what to do, so I went to him, asked him to help me, help her and I accepted to work for him." Tears running her cheeks, I removed all of them with my fingertips and slid my arm around her body.
"Everytime I asked about any news for the Nadia's investigation they would give me some excuse. I tried as hard as I could but I couldn't stand it, so I left, I hide and tried to find Nadia myself. Nothing, it was like she had vanished. I felt hopeless. And well, I think you know the rest."
Dyson and I didn't know what to say, but that wasn't it, too many questions left.
"Ok, so, where is Christopher? Why hidding the money in the wall and not safer elsewhere? And..Am I the only one who thinks they might have Nadia?" I was talking so fast I didn't even pronounce all the words properly. Dyson looked at the driving mirror I could tell he wanted to kill me.
Lauren looked at me, she was clueless. "I'm sure it was a trap, they kidnapped her and that way you'd need them." She nod. "It sounds like them." She said.
"Anyway, we have the money, who cares about fucking Christopher, we'll leave in the first plane." Dyson said, he was worried we wanted to stay to solve the whole thing, I was worried too.
"That would be for the best." Finally Lauren said thoughtfully, she wanted to solve the whole thing, I was sure, that was how she always was, and anyone could never change that. But for now, I was taking her somewhere safe.
TBC.