Chapter 21

Lyle was terrified. But at the same time, he knew that he needed to be the bravest sub in all of New York City. Seeing Antonio arrive to rescue him, Lyle realized beyond any doubt whatsoever that he was tremendously fortunate to have a man like that in his life.

Reed’s words about Antonio being evil now sounded absurd. Antonio sometimes had to do bad things, but he was Lyle’s forever love, that much was obvious to Lyle now.

But it wouldn’t count for anything unless Lyle could help free himself from Sloane…

‘Don’t try anything fucking stupid,’ Sloane said, holding a knife to Lyle’s throat as he dragged him around the ground floor of the warehouse, ducking and dodging past gunfire. ‘I wouldn’t want you to get hit by a stray bullet…’

Sloane sneered and the look in his eyes sent a chill down Lyle’s spine.

Lyle felt like Sloane was losing his mind, and if he didn’t make a run for it now then perhaps his chance would be gone forever.

Okay, focus.

You’ve got to try something.

So… do it!

With that, Lyle yanked at Sloane’s arm and made him drop his knife to the floor. As Sloane bent down to pick it up, Lyle stomped as hard as he could on Sloane’s hand.

‘You little shit!’ Sloane howled, his fingers already throbbing and turning a reddish-purple color. ‘You’ll pay for that!’

But as Sloane was about to slash Lyle with his knife, Reed Silver appeared and dragged Sloane away.

‘Come on, come on, we’re losing this,’ Reed said, panic in his voice. ‘We need to bounce, and we need to do it now!’

Lyle tripped backward on to the ground and watched as Sloane and Reed made a run for it. But following close behind was Antonio – and Antonio looked in no mood to let them escape either.

Lyle rose to his feet and ran after Antonio. He knew it was dangerous, but Lyle felt like he had to follow Antonio and do whatever he could to help him.

However, Lyle didn’t need to run far.

As Lyle scampered across the warehouse toward the exit at the rear, he was confronted by the sight of Reed Silver lying face down in a pool of blood. He was dead, there was no mistaking that.

Lyle looked up from Reed and saw Antonio and Sloane in a standoff, each one pointing their gun at the other. Lyle was scared, he knew that this was a fifty-fifty situation. It could go either way and there was no telling what the outcome would be.

In that moment, Lyle wanted to do something. He wanted to help his Master but deep down knew that there was nothing he could do.

‘Please! Be careful!’ Lyle whimpered, his voice full of genuine fear.

‘Stay back, boy,’ Antonio commanded, his booming voice clearer now that the shooting at the front of the warehouse had come to an end. ‘Reed had to go down. And now it’s the end of the road for Sloane too.’

‘Antonio, I love you,’ Lyle said, his voice full of desperation.

‘Pathetic,’ Sloane said, his voice full of spite. ‘Both of you total freaks deserve to die. But… we have ourselves quite the standoff.’

‘We do,’ Antonio replied. ‘What do you suggest?’

Lyle watched on in silence as the two men stared at each other, both trying to spot hesitation or weakness. The atmosphere was intense, so much so that you could have heard a pin drop from across the warehouse.

‘The game’s up,’ Antonio said. ‘My guys have wasted your guys. If they hadn’t then I’d be dead already. You know it. I know it. Now, do you want to come quietly? I’ll allow you the chance to hand yourself in to the police. And by that, I mean the real cops. Not the corrupt scum that you call your associates.’

Lyle’s bottom lip was trembling. He wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea for Antonio to provoke Sloane like this. After all, Sloane had years of police training in the bag, he was almost certainly a dead shot with his gun too.

‘Okay, okay, I’ll hand myself in,’ Sloane said, a flat timbre in his voice and a look of defeat on his face. ‘Just let me put my gun… right… down… here-’

But as Sloane placed his gun on the floor, he made a sudden upturn and aimed the gun in Antonio’s direction.

‘Nooooooo!’ Lyle cried, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Gunshot filled the warehouse. But it wasn’t Antonio who took the shots. It was Sloane.

As Sloane staggered backward and fell into a pile of old boxes, Lyle looked around and saw that not only had Antonio seen Sloane’s plan, but Luca and Damian had too.

‘I guess this motherfucker thought he was smart or something, right?’ Luca laughed, firing off a final salvo of bullets into a blood drenched Sloane.

‘Pffft,’ Damian added. ‘Too smart for his own good.’

Antonio stood and inspected Sloane’s body. But far from celebrating, Antonio turned around and immediately walked over toward Lyle.

Lyle wasn’t sure if Antonio was happy or angry or sad. Antonio’s face was expressionless, not giving a single clue away as to how he was feeling.

But Lyle didn’t have to wonder for too long.

‘Come to me, boy,’ Antonio said, opening his arms out and bringing Lyle in for the biggest, warmest, and most life-affirming hug that Lyle had even been on the receiving end of. ‘Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay?’

‘I’m all fine now that you’re here, Antonio,’ Lyle said, struggling to contain his emotions as tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. ‘I thought… I thought… I thought I might never see you again.’

Antonio kissed Lyle on his forehead.

‘Don’t cry, boy,’ Antonio said, his voice gruff and yet full of deep emotion too. ‘I love you. I’ll always look after you and be yours… forever. If that’s what you want?’

‘Of course it is,’ Lyle said, smiling from ear to ear. ‘I want to be yours forever and ever and ever with cherries on top!’

Lyle snuggled back in for another cuddle. In Antonio’s embrace, he felt safe and secure. But it was Antonio’s words that had truly made Lyle feel complete.

Unfortunately, the cuddle had to come to an end all too soon…

‘I hate to break this love-in up,’ Damian said, a hint of concern in his voice. ‘But I make it about ten minutes before this place is crawling with cops. It’s a miracle they’re not here already.’

‘Yup, we need to bounce,’ Luca added. ‘Antonio?’

Antonio nodded. It was time to hop back into Damian’s SUV and head over to the mob’s secret hospital. No one had life threatening injuries, but there was enough blood and bruised bones to require a thorough check up at the very least.

In one swift movement, Antonio swept Lyle up into his arms and they left the warehouse. For Lyle, it was the end of the most traumatic chapter of his entire life.

But he had come out of it with Antonio, and nothing would ever take that away from him.

On their way to the hospital, Damian had called in a favor and the mob doctor was sent directly to Antonio’s house. Antonio had known the doctor for many years and it didn’t take much convincing at all in truth. The doctor held Antonio in the absolute highest regard and was more than happy to swap the mob hospital for the more refined surroundings of Antonio’s grand abode.

‘You’ll be absolutely fine,’ the doctor said, taking one final check over Antonio’s skull. ‘Bruising. Some scrapes. You’ll probably have a lump the size of a golf ball on that skull of yours.’

‘Great,’ Antonio replied, rolling his eyes and wincing. ‘This is why I stick to planning and tactics. But… I guess a big ol’ bump on the head is worth it in exchange for taking out Sloane and Reed Silver, right?’

‘Well, actually…,’ Damian said. ‘I’m hearing that Reed Silver made it. He’s in emergency surgery according to my contacts.’

‘Should we be worried?’ Luca said, sitting up from the couch with a large whiskey in his hand. ‘I can always make sure he doesn’t make it through the night.’

Everyone looked at Antonio. Lyle didn’t know how Antonio would respond to this news. After everything he had been through, Lyle didn’t know how he felt about it either. Reed was a bad man, but Lyle didn’t know if he wished death on him. After all, there had been a hint of regret and desperation in Reed’s voice when he came to bargain with Lyle that final time.

‘No, leave him,’ Antonio said. ‘The police will have plenty to ask him about, if he makes it. My guess is that he won’t talk. But if he does, then we’ll deal with that with appropriate action.’

Antonio looked over and smiled at Lyle.

‘I love you, boy,’ Antonio said. ‘I’m sorry for getting you involved in all this.’

‘No, don’t apologise,’ Lyle said, standing up and moving up close to Antonio. ‘We found each other for a reason. Even if those reasons were a little bit… non-traditional… to begin with.’

The pair kissed.

Lyle felt his heart sing at his newfound forever love, and at the same time he felt like he had known Antonio all his life. Of course, Lyle hadn’t known Antonio for that long. But perhaps it was just his heart’s way of telling him that he had found his perfect match.