Athena
“Raven!” Luciano yelled behind me. I could hear the anger in his voice. HYe must be pissed that I hadn’t taken the opening he had created for me. Like hell I would. Frederick’s killer stood right before me, smug like the arrogant little bastard he was. There was no way I would just turn away and walk out like a damned coward. I was going to avenge him. If it would be the last thing I’d ever do, then so be it! Q
“You bastard,” I gritted through my teeth. My head pounded with a rather massive headache and my vision was a bit blurry. It had to be from the hit I had taken earlier. The faster I got this over with, the faster I could get the hell out of here.
“What’s wrong Raven,” Damian taunted, a sly grin on his face, “You look a little… out of sorts.”
“Out of sorts? I’ll show you out of sorts!” I screamed, shooting wildly at him. The bastard jumped out of the way, turned on his heels and dashed out of the place. Without a second thought, I bolted after him.
“Raven!” Luciano yelled again.
“I’m going after him!” I yelled without looking back. “Don’t try to stop me, Luciano!”
Without waiting for his reply, I raced after Damian.
He had deceived me. He had fooled me, used me for his selfish goals and had the audacity to remain nonchalant about it. Frederick… a sob caught in my throat as I raced deeper into the woods that surrounded the cabin. The sky was dark as ever, illuminated with only a crescent moon and Damian’s black clothes would make it harder to spot him through the dense forest.
But I sure as hell was not giving up. IU paused momentarily, trying to listen for the sound of rustling. Luciano had shot the fool on the leg, there was no way he could run properly without making a sound. My left ear picked up the sound of leaves crunching and I whipped around to shoot in that direction.
“Ah shit!” I heard him curse and trained my eyes to see him;. “That almost hit me right in the balls, you witch!”
“I’ll make sure not to miss next time!” I yelled into the night, listening in for any movement he might make. He was wounded. He had to know he couldn’t make it, if I pursued any further. He was most likely ready to attack and I had to be ready to stop it anytime.
“Next time? Ah sweet Raven Gonzalez… If that even is your real name,”
“I’m sure you know it isn’t already,” I hissed. “Come out here, where I can see you coward,”
“And let you kill me? No thank you very much. The Castello would miss my absence no?”
“I’m sure they would not care about a damned insect like you!” I spat.
Slithering through the shrubs, he moved behind a tree. The moonlight caught his frame and I raised my gun ready to put a bullet through his exposed arm. I pulled the trigger and my eyes widened when only a clicking sound reached my ears.
Damian burst into wild, loud laughter and stepped out where I could see him. To think I had worked with a backstabbing bastard like him, costing me the only family I had left was sickening. I hated him.
But I detested myself even more.
How had I not read between the lines? I was so confident that I was using him to achieve my goals. But in the end, I had only been a mere pawn. Ready to be tossed aside after a few moves. It was my fault that Frederick died. I would never, I couldn’t forgive myself for that.
“You’re out of bullets,” He grinned, leaning against the tree he hid in earlier.
“Like that would stop me,” I growled, tossing the damned firearm aside and raced towards him with my clenched fist.
His eyes widened as he barely managed to duck from the blow just in time. But I was ready. When he crouched to dodge, I slammed my knee right into his stomach. He groaned, shoving me away from him and hobbled away. My hands grabbed his hair, yanking him back and pinned him against the tree.
“Spill!” I yelled, slamming his head into the bark. “Why the hell did you betray me? Why did you kill everyone?!”
He chuckled when I pulled his head back, his eyes slightly closed and already bruising. “I thought you were smart, Athena. I guess there are a lot of disappointing things about you. You betrayed me first, didn’t you?”
“What the hell are you talking about?!” I hissed.
“Our deal was you would always supply me with that bastard’s whereabouts, but three days in Sicily and you’d started giving me the wrong ones. Thought I wouldn’t find out, didn’t you?”
I furrowed my brows. He was right. I had been supplying the wrong location to him. I had no idea why I did that. Maybe it was because I had begun to enjoy the dates with Luciano and I feared that Damian would try to disrupt them if he knew where we were. I hadn’t considered the fact that he could have someone else in the mafia. Someone closer to Luciano himself. Someone like Luca.
Luca must have revealed it all to him. Hell, that meant he had known all along. So all the calls, all the texts, all the plans we had made, he had simply played me and I danced to his tune like the fool I was. Frederick was right. I grew cocky and it had cost me dearly.
Lost in thought, I had no idea when my grip on him loosened. He turned around suddenly, slipping out of my hold and shoved me to the ground. I crashed on my arm and belly, hissing as pain exploded up my arm. I tried to rise to my feet, but his booted feet came down heavily on my back, slamming me back to the ground and making sure I remained there.
“I am such a good actor, No?” He gloated, pinning me to the ground with his foot. “I played along with whatever you said, whatever you wanted. Watch you sit and decide what happens like you really were in charge. It was so damn funny to watch.”
“You’re mad!” I spat and groaned when his boot slammed down on my back again.
Ah hell, that stung like a bitch!
“Mad?” He chuckled and scoffed. “I wasn’t even angry you’d lied to me. I was intrigued. You’re my little plaything and as long as my playthings were good, I’d always take care of them.“
“I am not your plaything!” I fumed. “I was never and would never be!”
“Yeah sure, keep deceiving yourself no?” He mocked, “I was going to keep you by my side forever. You would have been a perfect queen for the kingdom I plan to make. Beautiful, deadly, dangerous. I was going to save you for my use and mine only! But you let yourself be defiled by that bastard everytime! It was clear you had begun to bat those damned eyelashes for him and it disgusted me. How could you do that to me, Athena?”
What the hell was he rambling about, I thought, trying to breathe through the pain that spread its tendrils throughout my body. Was he psychotic? He sounded very psychotic. Keep me by his side forever? He had to be out of his fucking mind.
“You’re delusional!” I said with as much bite as I could infuse into my words. “You’ve gone crazy!”
“Have I now?” He hummed. “Well this crazy man is about to raise the Castello family high up to the fucking skies of Italy! I always detested that bastard. He became such an important figure and he was just eighteen! Eighteen! He infuriated the crap out pof me. The Castello could only pick up the crumbs that fell off the mafia’s table and I swore that would fucking change. I would end that bastard Moretti and lead the Castello to Victory.”
“You really are delusional if you think Luciano would let that happen.” I muttered, trying to keep still. I was getting used to the feeling and that meant I could concentrate better.
“That’s what you think,” He replied and I could just see him shrug in my mind’s eye. “It will be a reality soon. And you know where that leaves you, Athena?”
Dead.
That would leave me dead. Along with the police and the FBI members whose body remained piled up in the exploded cabin.
“You’ve stopped struggling, good. In wish I could save your life. But you’d sworn to kill me and I don’t exactly hold it against you. Your foster father’s dead and I had killed your pops back then too. Kind of sucks, but on the brighter side, they were sacrificed for a greater cause-”
“What,” I said in a dark tone. “Did you just say about my father?”