Chapter 5: More troubles for Jessie

Jessie sat on the ground alone in her cell. She had her mother's bracelet on.

"Mom, don't worry, it all will be over soon. I promise you that Giovanni will pay," she whispered to herself putting the bracelet near her hearth and closing her eyes.

To Jessie, the revenge was so close but yet so difficult to reach. She felt like she knew everything but could do nothing.

Jessie was almost to fall asleep when she heard someone opening her cell. It was a room with no lights but a small opening on the ceiling which enabled Jessie to see all the perimeter. There was nothing inside. Just the floor, the ceiling and her.

She rose her head to see who had just come in and saw Giovanni. He walked slowly towards her, laughing.

"Do you like your new room, Jessie?" he laughed. "Oh, no problem if you don't like it. You won't stay here for a long time," he said sinisterly.

"Why are you here?" Jessie asked not scared at all.

"I thought about it many and many times… and I've come to a decision,"

"Then what is it?"

"Do you see this gun, Jessie?" he asked pulling out a gun from his pocket and showing it to her. Giovanni got closer to Jessie. His mouth was only a few inches from hers. It was like he was going to kiss her.

"I've decided that maybe it's better if you die as soon as possible. I don't want anybody to bother me again," he whispered slowly to her ear. Then, he grabbed Jessie from her collar and rose her. "I've never liked you, Jessie, even when you were an innocent little girl. I was just pretending to like you in front of Melissa…" Then, he pointed the gun to Jessie's forehead. "But before I end your life, I want to tell you a secret, even if I think you already know…".

Jessie closed her eyes. She was wrong. Her revenge wasn't close at all. She would have died there, alone and silently. Nobody would have found out about her. Just like her mother.

"Yes… Yes, it was me who killed Melissa. I killed her, I killed her, I DID KILL HER!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "I was deeply in love with her… but she refused me so many times. I wanted to make her mine. Why did she refuse me? WHY?" Jessie kept her eyes closed. "She used to say that I scared her. She didn't like me at all. But tell me, Jessie, do I scare people? Are you scared of me?" He stopped his delirium. Jessie said nothing and didn't move a muscle.

"ANSWER MEEEE!" He threw her against the wall. She fell to the ground, her nose bleeding.

"You are crazy," she whispered.

He began to laugh. He laughed thunderously.

"Also Melissa told me. We were alone in the cabin. The other agents were all out and she was the only one who remained there. I said I was going to the city… but actually I didn't," Giovanni confessed her. "I pretended to go out but I came back after a while,"

"I hate you…" Jessie said weakly. She was not sure Giovanni had heard her.

"I swear I didn't want to hurt her… I don't know what I was grabbed by. She pissed me off, it was her thousandth refusal. She had to be mine! I knew there was some chemistry between her and her partner… I should have killed him and not her!" he screamed. "Oh Melissa… my Melissa, would you ever forgive me?" Giovanni wanted to clear his conscience. "I made her mine… eventually I managed to make her mine".

Jessie spat on Giovanni's face.

"You… bitch…" he slapped her in the face. Hardly.

In response, Jessie kicked him hard in his stomach causing him to fall back on his knees. Jessie got free of his grab and ran out of the cell. She ran through the entire corridor and reached the main door of the undergrounds but when she tried to open it, she realized that it was locked from the outside. She couldn't escape. She turned back and saw Giovanni slowly walking outside the cell, holding his stomach in pain. He still had the gun pointed to Jessie.

"Is that all, girl? Is that what you can do? You won't be able to escape. I got you. Say your last prayers, Jessie." He said as he slowly walked towards her. "Oh and one last thing… say hello to your mommy for me, when you'll see her in hell".

Jessie watched in horror as Giovanni was getting closer to her… she still couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that she was going to die. She had lost her match against Giovanni.

'I'm sorry mom, I'm very sorry. I didn't make it, I tried but I didn't make it. I promised you I would have avenged you but I failed. I will pay with my life now. Please forgive me mom,' Jessie closed her eyes as she mentally talked to her mother.

Giovanni was about to pull the trigger when he heard the sound of broken glass. The man turned back to see what was going on and saw two figures jumping into the room by the window.

"Prepare for troubles!" said the first.

"Yeah, and make it double!" the other one said.

"Jake, James!" Jessie exclaimed relieved.

Both her friends smiled at her. "Hi Giovanni, do you remember me?" Jake said in a sarcastic tone.

"YOU! It's better for you to stay far away from me or I'll kill her!" Giovanni pointed again the gun at Jessie's forehead.

"Oh no, you won't," the ex Rocket agent said as he practically flew towards Giovanni and kicked the gun away from him before he could do anything. Then he took it and put it in his jacket. Giovanni had never been a good fighter.

"I'm still a good Rocket, aren't I?"

Jessie immediately ran to James and hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you've come to save me," then she gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned away before she noticed that James was almost melting on the spot.

"Hurry up, you two. We have a job to do," Jake called them and opened the locked door with a powerful kick.

"Where do you believe you are going?" a determined Giovanni yelled to them but James didn't waste time as he kicked him on the back causing him to fall unconscious.

"I've always wanted to do that," he said blushing.

Quickly, Jessie ran outside the undergrounds, James and Jake following her. They got upstairs to reach Giovanni's office.

"Let's go to Giovanni's office, I have to look for something!" Jessie said to them.

They got to the boss's office. Of course, they were alone. James had always wanted to snoop around Giovanni's office and that was his time. The large, dark office of Giovanni was probably the most extended and the most furnished room in the whole Headquarters. In front of the ebony desk, there were two chairs of the same finish. A flat computer screen on the top of the table and a gold penholder next to it. Giovanni had a more classical taste than his mother and had transformed completely what in the past had been Madam Boss's office. As long as Jessie could remember it.

Jessie reached for the desk and tried to open the only drawer but it was locked.

"Damn, I need the key!" She looked everywhere together with Jake and James. But they found nothing.

"Let me try one of my best moves," Jake announced. He kicked the ebony drawer with all his strengths and it finally got open. They all looked inside.

"I found it!" Jessie hugged what she was looking for. Her favorite teddy bear of when she was a child.

"Wait a second Jessie, that's not all. Look at these," Jake said pointing at some papers hidden in the drawer.

"What the…" the three of them widened their eyes as they saw all the pictures of Melissa that Giovanni had secretly kept. Lots of photos of her… more than a hundred! Perhaps, she didn't even know Giovanni had all those pictures. He probably had taken them all secretly.

But what they found next was more shockingly.

A poem written by Giovanni for Melissa and probably never been read by anybody. It said:

Whenever I see you, my hearth suddenly opens

you are so beautiful that I don't even think you're real

and I just stay here

while I'm all shocked.

The feelings I have for you are so huge and great,

don't worry my love, one day we'll run away from here

just me and you, going towards our fate.

Love Giovanni.

None of them spoke. They couldn't believe that Giovanni had wanted her so much.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by someone bursting inside the office. It was Giovanni of course.

"You three are in troubles…" no matter if his nose was bleeding and his back was almost broken, he wanted to kill them because he was sure they had found out about his secret.

Jake instantly pulled out from his pocket the gun he had stolen before and pointed it to Giovanni.

"Oh, you won't do it Jake…" the boss said with a smile. Giovanni showed them a remote with an only red button on it. He kept it in his left hand.

"See this? If you don't throw away the gun right now, I'll push this button and the Headquarters will explode. It's your choice, Jake,"

"YOU BASTARD! Not only you killed my sweet beloved partner, but also you want to kill us, yourself and the rest of the Team! You are crazy Giovanni,"

"You aren't the only one who thinks it. My mother always told me that I was crazy and so did many other people. Including your sweet beloved partner. Now do what I ordered or say bye to your friends!"

So Jake threw the gun away.

"You and Jessie have to die!" Giovanni went on. "The day I fired you, almost 13 years ago, I felt so satisfied… no more bothers around! Finally, I had nobody accusing me for Melissa's death anymore. I felt free,"

"BASTARD! YOU KILLED HER!" Jake screamed. He knew he could do nothing.

Giovanni burst out laughing. "Oh, yes you are right. You and Jessie have always been right. And now that we are dieing together I can confess the truth," Jessie was crying while James held her close. "The most beautiful Rocket agent ever… the most beautiful girl I've ever met… you had to see the look on her face while I was possessing her. She was so terrified! She threatened me to tell everything to you… but she never got to see you anymore! She even threw her bracelet on the ground when we were in the cellar. What did she think to do? Perhaps she hoped that somebody could find it and realize everything," Giovanni laughed again. "I swear that I hadn't planned of killing her. It just happened. I didn't want to choke her with a belt. It was all her fault! Things could have gone in a different way if it was for me. Eventually, I threw her body in a frozen lake not far from the cabin we were staying,"

"The avalanche was just an excuse… you bastard…" Jessie said with a feeble voice.

Jake, Jessie and James more frightened than ever didn't know what to do to escape their boss.