And now we finally get to the rescue!
Chapter Eight
Carmen could hear some kind of ruckus going on outside further in the house; the sound of a lot more voices than there should have been. She had no idea what this meant, but didn't suspect that she wanted to find out.
She had spent the last few hours looking for some way to escape, but the door wouldn't budge, and the window was locked and barred as well—a new addition since the last time she had been there. There wasn't even anything she could use as a weapon. Drago had been careful. If she had time, she might be able to pry something loose from the bed or closet or something, but what good would it really do? Drago would probably find out before she got anywhere with it.
She was just checking out her options when she heard the lock at the door opening and whipped around, falling into a defensive position.
Drago appeared, a leer on his face. "I hope you're not trying anything, bella. It would be better for you not to get any ideas into your head. Now listen up, I have some guests over tonight and I think you'd make the perfect entertainment."
"Go to hell," Carmen snarled.
Drago's eyes hardened. "You think you have a choice, putanna? This would be a great way to start repaying the debt you owe me. If I get my guests drunk enough they might be really generous. Now clean yourself up, you look horrific. You can pick something from the closet to wear."
Carmen sat down firmly on the bed, glowering, pointedly making no move. Drago strode over to her and grabbed her face, leaning close.
"You are really pushing your limits with me, Carmen. You know I don't give a shit about hurting you. You want me to give you something to make this experience go better for you? Hm?"
Carmen pulled away and pushed herself up to go to the closet, hiding her trembling lips. It looked like she didn't have a choice here. She grabbed the first skimpy dress she saw and held it up for Drago to see. "This good enough for you?" she growled.
Drago smirked. "Whatever you want, bella. You know I'm not picky." He left the room and Carmen's hand clenched in the dress, yanking it roughly from the hanger.
A metal hanger. Carmen studied it carefully. She might be able to do something with that.
She hurriedly put the dress on and slipped the hanger under the covers on the bed, sitting down on the edge next to it. She didn't care what chance she got, she was going to take it, no matter the consequences. She would still feel better knowing she tried.
She sat there tensely for an indeterminate time, during which she could clearly hear the sound of drunken laughter outside and tensed as she heard the door unlock again, opening to reveal Drago and another man, already flushed with inebriation.
"Here she is, have fun," Drago grinned, before leveling his eyes darkly at Carmen. "Be good, Carmen. Make our guest feel at home."
Carmen sneered and cringed as the door shut again, eyeing the man as he lurched forward with a leer.
"You're a pretty thing, aren't you?" he said, reaching out to instantly start groping at Carmen, hands clumsy.
Her hands slid under the covers. He leaned in for a sloppy kiss as Carmen's fingers wrapped around the hanger and swung it up.
The hooked end she had unraveled punched directly into the man's eye.
He fell back with a scream and Carmen leapt up, kicking him away. The man wouldn't stop screaming and the door was wrenched open, Drago storming in, taking in the scene.
"What the hell did you do?" he demanded.
Carmen made a rush for the door, but he caught her, wrenching her arm around until she dropped the hanger. One of the guards came in and dragged the screaming man out.
"Get the hell off me!" Carmen snarled, kicking out at Drago.
His only reply was to slap her hard enough to see stars and throw her on the bed, holding her down as she thrashed. "You're going to pay for that!" he snarled.
Abbacchio and the others met with Mista and Narancia outside the house.
"Is this the place?" Bucciarati asked them.
Mista nodded. "Yup. We got eyes on Drago himself when he came out to meet some guests." He glanced toward Abbacchio. "No sign of Carmen but I doubt he's probably letting her outside."
Abbacchio's jaw clenched. "What the hell are we waiting for then?"
He started forward, only to have a wave of pain crash over him. He staggered, nearly going to his knees.
"Leone!" Bucciarati caught him, a worried expression on his face. "Perhaps—"
"No," Abbacchio grunted, taking a breath and straightening up, turning to Giorno. "Can you give me another energy boost?"
Giorno looked conflicted. "I don't know if that's wise."
"We don't have time to worry about that," Abbacchio snarled and gripped Giorno's shoulder. "Come on, kid. Please."
Giorno sighed and summoned Gold Experience who administered another energy shot directly into Abbacchio's veins. He shuddered at the power and opened his eyes to see everyone watching him worriedly, but he shook himself, straightened up, and jabbed a thumb at the house.
"Let's go."
"Always love to crash a party!" Narancia said gleefully as they all made their way forward.
When they got to the door, Bruno stepped forward. "Allow me," he said. Without ceremony, he summoned Sticky Fingers and tore the door apart with zippers.
It took the raucous party members a few seconds to even notice they had broken in, so Mista raised his gun and shot it into the ceiling.
"Hey, bastards! Where's Drago?"
Drunk gangsters started to scatter, only to be intercepted by the members of Passione standing in their way.
"Narancia, guard the door, make sure no one gets out!" Abbacchio growled as he rushed into the fray, delivering a roundhouse kick to the first man he saw. One of Drago's guards ran up and tried to tackle him from behind, but he summoned Moody Blues to punch him in the face and spun around, grabbing the guard by the throat and slamming him against the wall.
"Where's Drago!" he demanded. "Where's the girl?!"
The man refused to talk and Bruno strode up, unceremoniously using sticky Fingers to zip the man's arms off. He started screaming, having no idea what had just happened.
"You had better answer his questions," Bucciarati said darkly.
"B-Back of the house. Third door on the right," the man stuttered.
Abbacchio shoved him to the ground and Bruno turned. "Giorno?"
"We've got it covered out here," the blond said, casually strangling one of the men with a lamp he had turned into vines.
Bruno nodded, grabbing Abbacchio's shoulder as they rushed further into the house.
Abbacchio could hear Carmen screaming, and Drago's abhorrent tones. The bolt on the door was undone, and he wasted no time in kicking it in, feeling a slight jab in his side.
The scene he found made Abbacchio see red. Drago was pinning Carmen to the bed as she clawed at him, his face already a bloody mess, Abbacchio saw to his satisfaction. They both stopped to look when the door was broken in.
"Leone," Carmen whimpered, grateful.
Drago staggered back off the bed, eyes widening in shock.
"You…" he snarled. "How the hell are you alive, let alone on your feet?"
"It doesn't matter how I'm alive, only that you're going to be dead soon," Abbacchio snarled and lunged forward, slamming a fist into Drago's face.
The man collapsed over the other side of the bed and Abbacchio was on him instantly, one hand clamped around his throat, throttling him as he slammed his head against the ground brutally.
"You son of a bitch," Abbacchio snarled. "You don't touch her!"
Drago choked, clawing at Abbacchio's hands before he shifted and somehow got a knee up to slam into Abbacchio's broken ribs.
Despite the boost Giorno had given him, Abbacchio felt the pain sharply, stealing his breath. He choked and allowed Drago to wriggle away, kicking Abbacchio in the ribs again before he could get up.
"You think I'm going to just lie there and take it from you?" Drago demanded, raising his foot again. Abbacchio summoned Moody Blues to block the blow, and felt it rattle up his shin. He grunted, staggering to his feet, or tried to. He only got halfway before Drago buried his foot in his abused gut.
"Abbacchio!"
Drago suddenly gasped as a flurry of punches from Sticky Fingers sent him sailing across the room, multiple zippers opening up on his body. He slammed into the wall, shock on his face.
"W-what the…"
Abbacchio dragged himself to his feet, clutching his ribs as he reached into the back of his belt and pulled out his pistol.
"As much as I'd like to beat you to death with my bare hands, this is a lot more efficient. And let's be honest, you're not really worth the time and effort."
Drago raised a hand. "No, don't! Please!"
"Don't? Please?" Abbacchio snarled in disgust, leveling the pistol at him. "You think I'll have any mercy for you? You think you deserve any? Give the devil my regards, you piece of shit."
Three shots rang out as Abbacchio squeezed the trigger. Drago's body slumped to the ground, leaving a smear of red on the wall.
Abbacchio turned around, seeing Bruno with his arm around Carmen protectively.
"Are you okay?" Abbacchio asked her.
Carmen simply rushed forward and threw her arms around him. "Leone! I knew you weren't dead!"
He held her close, bending to kiss her forehead. "No. I promised I would look after you, didn't I?"
Bucciarati grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around Carmen's shoulders as she shivered.
"Come on, we need to go," he said.
Abbacchio wrapped his arm around Carmen's waist and led her out. He was starting to feel heavy, his breathing sharp. Gold Experience's energy boost was wearing off again. He would be lucky if he could get out to the car before he collapsed.
The fight was still raging, their team holding their own, but still, there were a lot of men.
Giorno glanced up and saw them, nodding to the others. "Everything good?"
Bruno nodded. "Yes."
Fugo stepped away from Mista, nodding to Bucciarati with a determined expression. "Go, I've got the rest."
Carmen's eyes widened. "What is he…?"
"Come on," Abbacchio murmured to her and led her outside with the others.
"You're just leaving him in there?" Carmen demanded.
"Fugo can handle himself," Giorno told her quietly, wiping some blood off of his face from a cut. "I'm glad you're safe."
Abbacchio opened the back of the car for Carmen and bent to duck inside after her before it felt like something gave inside his chest, the pain and exhaustion crashing down on him.
He doubled over with a cough, grabbing the roof of the car.
"Abbacchio!" Narancia cried.
"Leone, what's wrong?" Carmen demanded, hand pressing against his back. "How badly are you hurt?"
He glanced down at his hand and saw blood in his palm.
"Shit," he growled.
"I did warn you," Giorno said with concern as he grabbed Abbacchio's arm to steady him.
"Narancia and I will wait for Fugo," Bucciarati told them. "Get Abbacchio home."
Abbacchio wanted to protest but didn't have the breath. His head was also aching in earnest again.
Giorno and Carmen eased him into the back of the car and Abbacchio rested his head on Carmen's lap, forced to curl his long legs up in the small space. Mista got behind the wheel and started the car. Abbacchio closed his eyes as the car started moving, trying to fight off the dizziness and impending nausea.
Carmen's fingers carded gently through his hair, as he buried his face in her lap, trying to focus on breathing without causing himself any more damage.
"Thank you, Leone," she whispered.
Abbacchio reached up to gently squeeze her knee but after that he was unable to hold onto consciousness a second longer.
The first time Abbacchio woke, it was to an annoying painful prodding.
"How are you even doing that? Is he going to be all right?" a worried voice he should have been able to place said.
"He'll be fine, Giorno's helping him," another female voice said soothingly.
Abbacchio tried to say something, but couldn't get anything more than a groan to come out of his throat. Something flared in his chest and he gasped, blacking out again.
He briefly came to sometime later to soft lips brushing against his and a hand stroking through his hair.
He fought to crack his eyes open, even thought it was a lot of work, and saw dark hair and golden-brown eyes hovering over him.
"Leone?"
He tried to smile for Carmen but figured it was probably more of a grimace.
She slid her fingers through his hair and rested her hand gently against his collarbone. "Can I get you anything?"
"Mmn," he murmured, reaching up weakly to take her hand. "Jus' stay."
Carmen leaned in to kiss him again before she carefully crawled into the bed, cuddling up against his less injured side. Abbacchio shifted slightly to face her, burying his face against the crook of her neck and closing his eyes again with a sigh of relief, focusing on the feeling of her gentle fingers stroking through his long hair.
"I love you," he thought he heard her say right before he passed out again.
When Abbacchio woke again, he was warm and comfortable and the pain was just a dull throb. He experimentally took a deeper breath and only felt a slight pull in his side this time. He blinked his eyes open, and took in his blurry surroundings, vaguely recognizing his own room.
"You're awake," a soft voice said and he blinked again to focus on Carmen sitting propped up beside him in bed, cradling a sleeping Rose in her arms. "How do you feel?" she asked with concern.
Abbacchio grunted. "I've felt worse," he admitted.
"Giorno patched you up—though he failed to explain exactly how."
Abbacchio smirked a little. "I'll explain all that later if you want."
"I'm just glad you're okay," Carmen breathed. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't…" She stopped, biting her lip and holding Rose tighter. "And I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."
Abbacchio sighed and reached out to rub his hand over her arm. She tucked Rose into one elbow and took his hand in hers, squeezing gently. "Me either," he admitted.
They were silent for a long moment until Carmen carefully lowered Rose down onto the bed between them. Abbacchio stared at the little pink face and couldn't help but reach out and stroke the soft skin. "Carmen. You can stay here you know. If you want."
Carmen played with the sleeve of her sweater. "I don't know if I can," she admitted.
Abbacchio reached out and tugged her down. "Then think about it later. Just don't leave before I wake up again."
Carmen sagged in agreement and slumped down on the bed, facing him.
Abbacchio reached across Rose's sleeping form to brush the hair from Carmen's face, leaning forward to kiss her softly. "Just stay here at least for now, please," he said.
Carmen reached out and laced her fingers through his. "I guess I can manage that."