Ashton gaped at the woman in front of him, as if seeing her for the first time. Her admission completely had him dumbfounded. While he had been wondering about the elusive Francesca, the cause of all his troubles, she was right there in front of him all the time. Every part of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place. No wonder her father’s men were ready to kill him every time she was jealous of Hayley.
“What the f*ck? So you are Francesca Gambino, the root cause of my problems? It was because of you that Antonio abducted me, broke my bones, and abandoned me on a deserted beach. It was because of your jealousy that Gambino’s men are chasing me everywhere. Don’t fu*king call yourself my savior. I can’t believe that I associated with a criminal’s daughter!” he groaned in agony while Francesca looked hurt by his allegations.
“You know what? You’re the biggest as*hole I’ve ever met. I won’t protect you anymore from now on. My dad was right. You don’t deserve my love. You deserve to die. Goodbye, Ashton. Have fun saving yourself and your dad from us.” She laughed bitterly and walked out, leaving him totally confused.
Was she telling him the truth? Was his dad still alive? “Wait, Madison!” he yelled after her, but she ran out without listening to him. Ashton wanted to bang his head in frustration. He had the perfect opportunity to use Francesca to get to his dad, and he somehow wasted it. How foolish could he get? Why did he have to react to her?
There was nothing else to do but to repent his foolishness. He tried calling her, but she had switched off her phone. Maybe she had left already.
The next few days, Ashton immersed himself in work. There was no news of Madison nor any of Gambino’s men, and he wondered what they were up to now. It wasn’t in Madison’s nature to keep a low profile after threatening him. Was this the silence before an attack?
He expected a call from Hayley after his confession and phone call, but strangely, she didn’t. It had been almost a week since he had last seen her. Worried, he picked up his phone to call her. His duty was over for the day and he just sat down in his living room to relax. She accepted his call right away as if she had been waiting for it.
“Ashton, did you see the news? I’m sorry that I didn’t inform you. Dad asked me to keep it a secret,” she rambled on while Ashton tried to understand her. With the television volume up in her background, he couldn’t hear her clearly.
“What news?” he asked, perplexed. Hayley reduced the volume.
“Switch on your TV now. Gambino is dead!” Ashton couldn’t wait to hear the rest. His heart clenched with fear as he rushed to switch on the television.
It was the news of the hour and he watched with horror how one of Gambino’s men gave him away to the DeLuca mob family who was their rivals. Their mob boss attacked Gambino’s Cypress Hills mansion, taking Gambino and his men by surprise. The US Navy SEALS special team chose that moment to attack Gambino’s property. In a well-planned attack, they killed both Salvatore Gambino and Enzo DeLuca, the Don of both mafia quarters and their men.
Ashton watched the gruesome pictures being broadcast of the attack. He couldn’t believe his eyes that it had actually happened, Salvatore Gambino was no more. This was what he had been wanting to do for years, but his concern for his dad had held him back. He didn’t know if his dad was alive or dead.
He watched the attack, which was a top-secret mission, executed with precision, wiping out the entire mob families. However, no channel mentioned anything about Francesca Gambino. Was she dead or alive? They captured or killed all of their men and freed the hostages from the torture chambers in the basement.
His heart constricted with pain as he kept surfing through one news channel to the other for some news about his dad. Was he rescued? Was he still alive? One of the news channels mentioned that the hostages rescued were critical and admitted to the Brooklyn Medical Center. There was only one way to find out about his dad. He needed to go over to Brooklyn Medical Center and see for himself.
Without wasting a minute more, he bought his flight ticket and packed up a backpack of essentials for himself. Next, he spoke to the Deputy Manager at the hotel and left for the airport. Throughout the way, he prayed his dad was alive. Although he knew it was an impossible wish, his heart couldn’t stop hoping even once.
It was almost midnight when he reached Brooklyn. There was no other option than to check in to a hotel near the hospital. After spending a restless night, he went over to the hospital in the morning. This time, he didn’t inform anyone of his arrival, not even Alexander or Hayley. There was tight security in the emergency unit where the hostages were all admitted. He blindly rushed towards one officer on duty.
“Officer, I’m Ashton Pierce. Gambino held my dad, Steven Pierce, captive for the last fifteen years. Have you found him? I haven’t seen him since I was thirteen. Please help me identify him,” he begged, his eyes filling up with tears.
“Mr. Pierce, come along with me. We have rescued around thirty prisoners alive. We couldn’t identify some of them as they were not even conscious. You have to identify your dad if he is among the ones rescued,” said the officer, leading him inside. There was a sea of brutally injured, mangled men, some with chopped body parts, some mutilated beyond recognition. Some of them were conscious, while others were in a coma. It was clear Gambino was an inhuman monster who had tortured these people mercilessly. Ashton closed his eyes to get a grip on himself. Was his dad in the same condition?
“Are you okay? Do you want to leave? I should have warned you.”
“No, I’m fine. Let’s do this. This is the last hope I have of meeting my dad in this lifetime,” said Ashton, strengthening his heart and going through the identification.
“You’re a dutiful son. No one has come forward to identify the rest of these prisoners. We will have to rehabilitate them if they survive,” said the officer, leading him from one bed to another.
“I wish I could rescue him, officer. Maybe I’m not as good as you think me to be.” Ashton checked each one of the rescued prisoners closely, but didn’t find his dad among them.
“It wasn’t in your hands. Why didn’t you seek police help?” asked the officer.
“I wanted to, but I was afraid that he would kill my dad if I complained. He promised to release my dad if I repaid the debt. But Gambino extorted more than the actual amount with interest, yet he didn’t release my dad nor gave me any update on him. I stopped paying, and he sent his men after me.”
“That’s all over for now. You should thank Mr. Barclay for taking the initiative to launch this mission.” Ashton gaped at him since this was news to him. So it was Hayley and her dad who made this happen. He was truly indebted to them. Now if he could find his dad.
“Oh, is that so? I’ll definitely thank them later.” They came to the last man and Ashton sighed with hopelessness.
“He isn’t here, officer.”
“There are some more men in the other room. Come this way,” said the officer, leading the way. “These people are more critical. They have very little chance of survival.” Ashton’s heart constricted with dread and he followed the officer into a room where patients lay like corpses with most of their body parts missing. All of them seemed to be in a state of coma. Tears pooled in his eyes imagining the torture they had to go through. Why couldn’t Gambino kill them already? Death would have been easier than this.
They checked every one lying there, but his dad wasn’t among them.
“No, my dad isn’t here, officer.”
“There are two people in the OT. When they are transferred to their rooms, you can check if your dad is one of them.”
“OT? Why? Are they more serious?” asked Ashton with dread.
“One of them had three bullets lodged in his body. He’s battling with his life. The other one has multiple organ failure because of excessive torture.” Ashton’s heart sank, and he sat in front of the OT, waiting to identify his dad. There was no hope left in his heart. Maybe Gambino has killed his dad after all.
As he waited with his head held in his hands, one of the OT doors opened and a nurse emerged. A patient was wheeled away, completely covered from head to foot with a white sheet. It was obvious that the man had died in the OT.
“What happened to him? I’m looking for my father. Please, can I see him?” he asked the nurse.
“He had a multiple organ failure and died before we could treat him.” The nurse removed the white sheet and Ashton released the breath he was holding. It wasn’t his dad.
His only hope was now on the wounded man who was battling for his life in the other OT. Was he his dad?