Love and Sacrifice (14 page)

             
“What makes you think Tommy is going to want to save me?”

             
“Aw, come on, you’re a smart girl. Besides, I’ve been watching you two since the moment you met. He’s in love with you. Unfortunately, that love is going to be the death of both of you.”

             
I can’t even factor what he says as he punches me in the face, knocking me out cold.

Tommy

              I pull up in front of the hospital and see I’m too late. Cops are everywhere, questioning people. I head to Mickey’s factory across the Brooklyn Bridge with a hidden safe house under it.

Slamming the buzzer on the gate outside the factory, I glare at the security camera on top of the gate as it turns my way. The gate opens and I drive up to the factory. When I step out, two men slide the giant metal door open. 

I walk into a room full of men and guns pointed at me. Terry shows up with a bruise on his face, probably from Claudia defending herself against him. Mickey walks up and behind him is Russell. His smile annoys me more than Terry’s.

             
“You really disappoint me, Tommy.”

             
"What do you want?" I ask him.

“What do I want?” he laughs to himself.
"What do I want?” he asks me. “I want you to do what you promised!" he screams. "I want you to bring Roman Pierce, dead or alive."

"Okay."

“Just like that, huh? Damn Russell, you were right.”

“Yep, HK got it bad,” Russell says. I really hate that damn nickname.

"Terry, you drive him," Mickey orders him.

"Gladly, boss
," Terry says, walking over to me.

"You have four hours.
Every minute late after that, I cut a limb from the girl."

And with that motivation,
Terry and I exit the building and get in his car. While we drive, I can feel the smirk on his face.

"Don't worry Tommy boy, everything will be okay
," he lies. "You know that Claudia chick was a feisty one. I'm so pissed I didn't get to have her. You think Ella's a fighter? I mean, was she rough in the bedroom, or on the kitchen counter?"

Motherfucker!

"Russell informed me of the fun places you two liked to fuck. Must suck knowing those moments weren't special." He pats my shoulder, causing my eyes to blur. "Don't worry about it, buddy."

****

Surprisingly, it’s not that hard getting to Roman. It’s like the guy told his guards to go home or something. We just hopped the gate and walked right in.

“Something isn’t right about this,” I tell Terry.

“Shut up. This guy isn’t going to do anything stupid if he wants to see his daughter again.” It takes everything in me not to shoot Terry in the back of the head right now.

Terry breaks into the side door that leads into the kitchen. We walk through the main floor of the house until we get to Roman’s office, where he is standing and looking out the window. He turns around and sees us with our guns out, pointed at him. He just stands there, calm and waiting, like he knew we were coming and that he knew he wasn’t going to survive this.

              “I assume you’re here to capture me, alive,” he says.

             
“Well, Mickey’s orders were to bring you dead or alive, so I guess it just matters how I feel.” I shake my head at Terry’s arrogance.

             
“Me for my daughter,” Roman says, staring at me.

             
“Of course, Tommy boy has already made that deal for you, you for his lovely friend. She will be safe and sound once you come with us.”

             
Roman sighs coolly. “You do know that when you take me to Mickey, he will kill her.”

             
Terry laughs at Roman’s words. “Tommy isn’t that dumb. He knows Mickey.”

             
“Yeah, I do.” Without hesitation, I point the gun at Terry’s head and pull the trigger. He falls flat on the floor, his eyes wide open as blood appears on the carpet, surrounding his head. I’m just glad I finally got to kill his ass.

             
I place my gun on the table and stare Roman in the eye. “She’s at one of Mickey’s factories across the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s called Eckhart Inc. He has about fifteen men in the warehouse, thirty outside of it. You’ll need all the men you can get. You can contact Detective Joey Manning, my brother. He’s not crooked, I swear. He can help if you want to go about this legit, but Mickey will kill her no matter what. He wants you to suffer. You could go in underground, there’s a hidden hatch under a shed on the property. You’re smarter than Mickey, so if you make him think he has the upper hand, he’ll get arrogant. He’s vulnerable when he gets cocky.”

             
“Mickey Valentine has always been a selfish and arrogant son of a bitch. It almost makes me wish I had killed him instead of his brother. So, what now, I kill you?”

             
“Yeah, come on. I lied. I slept with your daughter. Kill me.”

             
“Even though you just admitted that you slept with my daughter, I’m not going to kill you because you can be of some use to me, help me get Ella back.”

             
“You don’t need me.”

             
“You’re right, I don’t. And I don’t trust you, but for some reason I trust your feelings for my daughter, regardless how beneath her you are. And you’re not beneath her because of what you do for a living or the place you come from, you’re beneath her because you threw away the best thing of your life and you will forever have to live with that. But first, let’s go get my daughter back. I do have one question for you Tommy. What are you willing to sacrifice for my daughter?”

I only know one answer to that question. “Everything.”

Chapter 22

“Sacrificial Showdown”

Ella

             
They remove the bag from my head and I look around the bright room and see the guy who took me, Russell. I look to my left and see Mickey Valentine. I've only seen him once in my life and that was at a party when I was eight. He looks the same, except older, still creepy and scary.

             
"So, you’re the one that turned my boy against me, huh?"

             
"My father is going to kill you," I spit at him.

             
"Is that right?"

             
"Yeah, just like he killed your punk ass bitch of a brother."

             
Mickey backhands me and my head flings back. I feel the sting from the slap, but cannot revel in it as he grabs and yanks my hair, wrapping his fingers around my neck.

             
"Listen, you little bitch!" he yells in my ear. "I'm going to enjoy cutting your sweet ass, limb by limb while your father watches! Assuming Tommy and Terry bring him back alive!"

             
He lets go of me and exits the room, leaving me and Russell alone.

             
Taking a huge army knife out and setting it down on the table, he takes off his jacket and drags a chair from the corner of the room in front of me and sits down. He smiles and presses the blade of the knife on my knee, gliding it between my legs.

             
"You know, you’re very beautiful. I totally get why he became so infatuated with you. Along with beauty, you’re a feisty one. I like that."

             
"So how come Tommy didn't know about you?"

             
"Well, Mickey is kind of a paranoid guy. Always been, so he decided to recruit boys from broken homes. He takes them in, clothes them, feeds them, and becomes the father they never had. Did Tommy tell you how they meet? I guess not, but it was around the time Tommy killed his father. He had this horrible lawyer and one day, in comes Mickey with this hot shot attorney to take over Tommy's case. Mickey felt that anybody who could kill their own father had to be the most unlucky son of a bitch in the world. Mickey thought Tommy was just like him, but it turned out he was just like his brother, Eddie. But apparently, Tommy will sacrifice his loyalty for love because when Eddie was told to kill Roman’s mother, he did it. But Tommy can't hurt you; his heart has always been his weakness. Me, I have no heart. That's why Mickey keeps guys like me hidden. We’re the ones that can blend in with anyone and anything; the ones that will become your best friends, confidants, everything. And when the time comes and we’re given those orders, we are the ones that will not hesitate to take you out. Mickey thought Tommy could do that, but when I saw him stare at you that night at the party, I saw pain written all over his face, pain of having to hurt the one thing that made him rethink his corrupt world."

             
"But he's still going to kill my father."

             
"Yeah, but only because he thinks if he kills him you will be set free."

             
"But he won't have me."

             
"He knows that, but he doesn't care, Ella. He’d rather you hate him for the rest of his life than see you die. Now what would be really surprising and noble is if he just decided not to kill you or your father, but he isn't that strong or stupid. Trust me, I know. I got my degree in Psychology."

             
Russell smiles at me and lifts the hem of my tank with the tip of his blade. The metal against my stomach is cold. He stares at my body like he’s in a trance and all I can think about is my family. The things I never got to say or the things I've never gotten to do. I don't want to die, and what is even more messed up is that I can't help but to also think about Tommy. I hate him.

             
The damaged thoughts on what he wants to do with me are interrupted by the door being opened.

             
"What?" Russell asks with an attitude.

             
"They're back," the man says.

             
Russell sighs, "Well, to be continued." He throws on his jacket and tucks his knife in the strap under his jeans. "Let's go see Tommy and daddy."

             
He unties me and pulls me up. With his arm hooked into mine and his gun pointed at me, he walks me out of the tunnels of what seems like a factory. We head up stairs and soon end up on the main floor of the building surrounded by rust, old equipment, and probably about twenty men.

Standing between Mickey and Russell, I see the large door open and a car backing up into the factory. Some
one gets out of the driver’s side. It’s Tommy... He looks worn out and tired. He looks at me and the pained expression on his face almost makes me feel sorry for him. He lowers his head and walks over to the passenger’s side, opening it and pulling out my father. He points his gun at him and pushes him forward.

             
"Dad!" I yell, trying to run for my dad, but Russell yanks me back.

             
"It's okay sweetie, everything is going to be fine."

How can he say fine
? The guy I'm in love with has a gun to his back and we’re surrounded by psychos. How is any of this fine?

             
"Mickey," my father says.

             
"Roman, it’s been a long time."

             
"Yes, it has."

             
"How is that lovely wife of yours?"

             
Dad doesn't answer him.

             
"Oh, don't worry. I’ll be paying her a visit soon."

             
"You said if I brought Roman you would let her go, that means leaving the rest of her family alone, Mickey," Tommy says.

             
"You don't make any demands here, kid. I'm disappointed in you; the fact that you thought that I was just going to let your betrayal go."

             
"You can do whatever you want with me, but just let Ella go."

             
"You would spit on everything I have given you for this little bitch?!" Mickey pulls me by my hair and I let out a small whimper from the pain on my scalp.

             
"You take your hands off my daughter," my father grits out.

             
"No, I'm going to make both of you watch what I do to your baby girl. Then I’m going to make her watch while I cut both of your throats! And then I'll feed her to my soldiers and they will break her and then maybe I’ll kill her to end her suffering."

             
"Thank you for making this easy, Mickey," Tommy points his gun to one man and shoots him while my father pulls a gun from behind his back and shoots at another. A loud crash comes from inside the factory windows and two men, Benny and Lionel, jump out of the trunk while three trucks drive in with my father's army blazing out like warriors. Russell grabs me while gunshots are fired. I try to fight him off, but he’s too strong. He drags me through the back of the factory. Tired of me trying to fight him, he pushes me to the ground.

             
“You know, I wanted us to get to know each other a little bit better, but you’re starting to irritate me.” He pulls out his gun and points it at me.

             
“AHHH!” Tommy tackles Russell to the ground, punching him repeatedly. Russell wraps his arm around Tommy’s neck and bangs his head against the ground. I swing on Russell, but he easily leans back and delivers a slap to my face. I fall down on the ground as Tommy gets back up.

Tommy

            
 
I clench my fists as I see Ella fall down. Russell looks at me and smiles. I’m gonna kill him.

             
“We could have shared her, HK. Me and Terry had planned to, but since you killed him. I’m in need of a friend. I don’t have too many friends.”

             
“I wonder why.”

             
“Well I guess I’ll get satisfaction when I kill you, because you’ll die knowing you failed her.” He throws a punch, but I duck down and hit him in the stomach. I push him to the ground and swing over and over until an intense pain sears through my thigh. A military knife sticks in my leg.

             
Shit.

             
The pain distracts me and Russell sucker punches me. I fall back and a sharp pain runs through me as Russell rips the knife out of my thigh.

             
I see Ella try to run up on him again, but he laughs and pushes her back down. He looks back at me and wipes the blood from his nose.

             
“Wow, you really are a disappointment. Everyone talks about you like you’re this badass. But you’re weak.” I get on all fours and look at Ella who stares at me.

             
“I’m really going to miss you, HK.”

             
I close my eyes briefly and stand up, blocking the pain in my leg. I feel him raising his knife, ready to kill me.

             
I quickly turn around and dodge him, grabbing his wrist, bending it back, snatching the knife and stabbing him deep in the chest where his black heart is. He stares at me with his eyes and mouth wide open.

             
“My name… is Tommy,” I tell him, and he falls to the ground. His breathing slows until it stops. I look at Ella, still on the ground. I reach out my hand for her to grab. She is hesitant at first, but reluctantly she grabs it and I help her up.

             
“Ella.” We turn around to see Roman with Mickey next to him, his gun pointed at Roman’s head. "Mick!" I raise my gun at him. "Let him go!" Mick stares at me in disgust.

"You would choose him! Over me?! After everything I have done for you!"

              "What about everything I’ve done for you?!" I throw back. "I went to prison for you! I have tortured and killed for you! Isn’t that enough?! He killed your brother because you murdered his mother! If it was me, I would have done the same thing. It’s just the same bullshit, Mickey. It’s always justified when it’s you, but for anyone else, it’s not okay. This needs to stop.”

             
"All this... for that bitch!" Mickey points his finger at Ella standing behind me. "She turned you against me! I told you not to get too close!"

             
"I am asking you... please, let it go. It’s over."

             
"You’re dead. Everyone you love is dead. Your girlfriend, your brother! His family! Everyone you love will die, Tommy! Everyone!" He points his gun in my direction and I pull the trigger, firing two shots at his chest. He goes down on his back, gripping his chest. I slowly walk up to him with the gun still in my hand, twitching from the feeling of what I just did.

             
Mickey stares up at me with wide eyes, holding onto his life.

             
“You just fucked up,” Mickey says.

             
“I know.” I raise the gun and fire two more bullets into him.