“Now, now, Mellisa… Don’t you think you are rushing things a bit too much?”
I tensed up as a tall, lanky brunette walked up to our table. He was dressed messily, with his buttons done in every which way, similar to his wild hair. But the thing that caught my eyes more was the gun that he was haphazardly twirling in his hand.
Ms. Mellisa’s expression dropped at the appearance of this man, making no indications of releasing Liam. She unamusedly replied, “Stop acting so condescending, Albert. I’m the one holding what you need. Personally, I would’ve preferred getting rid of this annoying child from my sight, but you and Margarett still need him for your plans, don’t you?”
The atmosphere dropped 10 degrees colder as the man stalked closer to the pair. Stopping abruptly in front of Ms. Mellisa, he lowly questioned, “Who do you think you are to threaten me?”
Roughly pushing her aside, he grabbed hold of my son. Liam’s eyes grew two times wider as he took in the sight of the man before him, clearly recognizing him. Albert smirked at the realization and maliciously dug his finger into Liam’s cheeks, eliciting a whimper out of him.
Watson tried to step out from behind me out of reflex in trying to protect my son but was immediately halted mid-step when the crazy man swiftly pulled my son in front of him like a shield and threateningly pressed the gun under Liam’s chin.
He lowly warned, “There’s no need to rush, Mr. Bodyguard. I was just greeting my son, whom I haven’t seen in so long.”
My eyes widened at his revelation. He was Liam’s biological father?
Watson pursed his lips, clenching his fist by his sides, clearly torn between what to do next.
Noting Watson’s barely noticeable movements, Albert narrowed his eyes and roughly pressed the gun further up against Liam’s delicate skin, eliciting an insuppressible yelp in pain from my son. “Don’t think I don’t know about the other guards circling the perimeter. Call them off if you want this worthless annoyance to stay alive.”
I immediately grabbed onto the edge of Watson’s shirt, trying to pull him back. I couldn’t risk it when Liam’s life was on the line.
Watson hesitantly glanced between the three of us, unsure of what to do.
I shook my head at him, silently begging him to listen to the crazy man.
With a heavy sigh, Watson waved his hand, signaling to the other guards to back off, and took a step back, resigning himself to covering me with his body at the very least in an attempt to protect me.
I nervously peeked out from the side at his body, unable to take my eyes off of my son in fear of losing him.
An evil grin spread across the crazy man’s face as the other guards backed off from the perimeters. Loosening his hold on Liam every so slightly, the man smirked and turned his attention back down to the boy below him. “Did you miss me, son?”
Liam’s face went completely pale as the man leaned down closer to way. Unable to put up any sort of a fight, he shakily replied, “Y-Yes, f-father…”
The man’s eyes darkened. “Liar.”
A startled yelp escaped from my lips when the crazy man suddenly whipped the back of his gun against Liam’s head, effectively knocking his little body to the ground with no effort. He slammed his foot down on Liam’s chest, keeping him on the ground, and threateningly shot the gun at the ground right in front of us with a loud bang, warning Watson, “Don’t you even dare think about coming over here. This is strictly between me and my son.”
Watson’s jaw tightened as he helplessly took in the scene next to me.
Wasn’t there anything we could do to save him?
Turning his attention back to Liam, a malicious glint flashed through his eyes as he took in the sight of Liam’s trembling body. “I see that you have grown more since I last saw you. You must’ve been living well, pretending to be the treasured son of that wretched Nikolaos family. But it’s time to go home now.”
Blood trickled down the side of Liam’s temple as he fearfully looked up at his so-called father. Struggling to breathe under his heavy foot, he was only able to brokenly wheeze out, “I-I… t-thought… I wasn’t… of any use… t-to you anymore…”
Albert rolled his eyes. He applied more pressure to Liam’s chest, making my heart squeeze as I helplessly watched my son choke in pain. “That was before I found out you were a little genius in hiding. I don’t know how you hid it from us before, but I will be sure to use it to its fullest potential as I tear down these wretched families.”
Glancing back at us, narrowing his eyes specifically at me as he raised his gun up toward us, he continued, “And I plan to start with getting rid of the Cordova family first.”
I tensed up under his gaze.
Did he really think that Achilles’s family would fall that easily?
Liam’s eyes worriedly fluttered from his biological father to me. “W-What are y-you doing?”
“Getting rid of that whore. What else?”
Watson immediately pushed me back even further behind him and shouted back, “Do you really think Mr. Cordova would let you get away with this? He won’t let it go if you lay a single hand on the madam.”
Albert frowned as he slowly removed his foot from Liam’s chest. “Why would I have to worry about such a thing? He isn’t dumb enough to carelessly harm me as long as I have his so-called ‘son.'”
My breath hitched when he roughly yanked my boy up by his hair until his toes were barely on the ground anymore. He continued, “But I guess I wouldn’t mind letting this worthless pest go in exchange for his woman. He would be less likely to attack me when I have his woman in my hands.”
Pressing the gun up against the base of Liam’s neck, he directed his attention toward us and asked, “Now, who is it going to be?”
Watson’s eyebrows furrowed, unsure of what to do.
It was too much for him to handle. I knew that he would never be able to make such a decision. He was tasked by my husband to protect both my son and me.
But it was a decision that I could make.
Mustering up as much courage as I could, I stepped out from behind Watson.
Watson’s eyes widened. “Madam-”
Patting his arm softly, I gave him a reassuring smile. “You did your best.”
He tried to argue, “But-”
I shook my head. “I’ll be okay. He won’t kill me since he needs me as leverage. Just please keep my boys safe while I’m gone.”
Watson’s shoulders slumped as he gave in to my words. He glanced warily between me and the crazy man as he hesitantly released his grasp on my arm.
I turned around the face him and calmly replied, “I’ll go with you.”
A disgusting grin spread across his lips as I stepped away from Watson and made my way across the field.
Stopping a few steps away from the crazy man, I defiantly looked up into his eyes and commanded, “I’m here now, so release my son.”
My hands clenched by my side- anxiety rising- when he made no moves to remove his paws from Liam’s fragile body. Why wasn’t he letting him go?
Rather, his grip only tightened dangerously around Liam’s arm, keeping his gun firmly pointed at my head. He muttered darkly, “The madam of the Cordova household… Someone who constantly has guards assigned to her and undoubtedly has more tracking devices attached to her than anyone else in that family… Do you really think I’m stupid enough to take someone as dangerous as you?”
“You really are pathetic. Powerless without the Cordova name to the very end. But I won’t be like you. I plan to tear down the Cordova household with everything I have.” His eyes hardened when they lowered to my eyes. “So please be useful for once in your life and die for me.”
And that was all it took.
BANG!!
BANG!! BANG!!
“Mom!”
“Madam!”
“Danary!”
“Liam!”
My body instinctively flinched, waiting for a sharp burst of pain to pierce through my body, but it never came.
I hesitantly cracked one eye open at a time, expecting my sight to be completely dark, but I was only met with the same sight as before. The only difference was that the crazy man who was delusionally waving his gun around earlier was now lying on the ground with two new bullet holes decorating his lifeless body, one to the head and one to the chest.
Blood poured out all over the field, straining the once vibrant green grass.
Except he wasn’t the only one bleeding out in front of me.
My hand shakily reached out to his limp figure, wavering over the gaping hole in the left side of his little chest. Slumped against my legs, unable to hold up his own weight anymore.
A deep red hue crept across his shirt, inch by inch without falter, staining my hands with his blood.
No…
Why him…
It was never meant for him…
Why did he do it…
He didn’t deserve this…
My mind went completely blank, almost as if I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.
I didn’t even notice when Achi’s men flooded the field and arrested those remaining.
All I could think about was Liam.
Liam offered me a weak smile, “I’m so glad you’re alright, Mom…”
Tears poured down my cheeks as I cradled his little body into my chest. My entire body was in so much pain that I couldn’t give any words in reply.
Reaching up, he cupped my hand on his cheek softly with his thin fingers and calmly replied, “Please don’t cry, Mom… It doesn’t hurt…”
Why was he always like this?
How could it not hurt? Did he really think that I would believe such a clear lie?
Why was he always worrying about me as if he wasn’t the one dying right now?
Why did he take the bullet for me?!
His eyes slowly fluttered my features as if he was trying to look at me one last time.
No… He can’t die like this…
Not when everything was finally over…
His cold fingers slipped from my hand as his eyes fluttered closed with a soft smile.
“I love you, Mom.”