35. Mae

35

MAE

" M om!" Zack sprinted at full speed toward me, running as fast as his little legs could take him. But one of Krill's men snatched him up before he could reach me.

"No!" I screamed, lurching forward against the grip Krill had on my waist. "Let him go!"

Zack's face was beetroot red and swollen from crying. His clothing was dirtied, and the man holding him seemed to get some sick glee from holding him any way except upright. Never in my life had I felt anger like this before. I wanted to tear their eyes out and crush their throats until they were the ones sobbing and crying.

"Let him go," Krill said after a few minutes of both of us struggling. The other man relented and dropped Zack to the ground just as Krill released me. I scrambled toward my son and swept him up into my arms.

"Oh, baby," I wept, crushing him to my chest while trying to hide him from view. "It's okay, Mommy's here. Mommy's right here. "

Zack sobbed so hard that he couldn't speak. He wound his tiny fists into my hospital gown and wailed loudly, shattering my heart with each painful noise.

Bundling him against me, I tried to hide myself from view as I dug out my phone from my bra. I'd snatched it as soon as the commotion in the hospital started, and it was a stroke of luck it hadn't slipped free with how Krill dragged me about. Within seconds, I'd tucked the device into Zack's trousers.

I just had to hope my lame plan worked.

Then I turned and glared at Krill. The warehouse he'd brought me to stank of dust and oil. Barely any light trickled in the broken windows lining the rafters, and the floor was covered in a strange layer of dust that clung to my bare feet. Countless metal shelves lined the wall, stretching all the way into the darkness at the back, and a single open and empty oil barrel stood in the middle of Krill's men.

"Are you going to kill us now?" I snapped, covering Zack's ears the best I could. There was only so much I could protect him from here, but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to try.

"Technically," Krill said, eyeing me sharply, "Not me. My girlfriend wants to be the one to do it. An eye for an eye or some bullshit, but I'm sure you understand after what your little boyfriend did."

"How does that work?" I snapped. "Rocco killed the man who killed his father, right? Surely, you're just starting some insane revenge cycle that will never end."

"You think so?" Krill stalked toward me, his shoulders bunching up to his ears. "Rocco will come here. He will try to save you, or he will be too late and he will be so blinded by rage that he comes to me. I will kill him then and cut off the head of the Italian snake. Then, that power is mine for the taking. You think too short-term, little girl."

"Is that all this is?" I snapped, taking steps back to mirror his advancement. "You just want to be in control? "

"I make the best of a shitty situation," Krill snapped. "With Rocco dead, the Italians will die under me, and then my father will have no choice but to step down."

"I don't care," I bit back. "I don't give a shit about your power plays or anything like that. Having to kill people to be in charge is fucked up, and you forget one important thing."

Krill stopped walking. "Which is?"

"Rocco is unkillable. You've taken the most important thing from him. Do you really think he's going to do anything other than kill you?" I wasn't sure whether I was trying to persuade myself or scare Krill, but neither worked. Krill only laughed.

"Blind loyalty. How the fuck does he do that?"

"Babe, is that her?" A sharp, nails on a chalkboard voice cut across our conversation, and Krill turned, revealing a tall woman with long, thin hair and a dress that hung off her unflattering sharp angles.

"Yes, that's her."

"Fucking bitch." The woman stopped a few feet away and cocked her hips, but to my surprise, the angry look on her face wavered when she caught sight of Zack.

"She's got a kid?" she asked, chewing obnoxiously on a wad of gum. Krill approached her and pulled her against his bulky form. There'd be something comical about how different in size they were if this situation weren't so fucked. They kissed noisily, and when they broke apart, the gum was now in Krill's mouth.

"Two for the price of one," Krill said, slapping her hard on the backside.

"Hmm." Uncertainty flashed in her eyes. "I ain't killing a kid. Just her."

"Don't worry, I've got the kid." Krill turned back to me and started advancing as his men closed in around me. Hands snatched at my arms. Zack began to wail once more.

"No!" I screamed, kicking out at those close to me. "Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare!"

I couldn't fight them. Each man was double my size, and Krill snatched Zack from my arms like he was nothing more than a bag of groceries.

"Zack!" I screamed. "No! Zack!"

"Do you know how you're going to die?" The woman approached me with a camera in her hand. "I'm going to stick you in that barrel and then we're going to bury you. Or dump you in the ocean. I haven't decided. We'll film it all, of course. However long it takes you to die, so that Rocco can watch every last second of your suffering, not that it'll be enough to make up for what he took from me."

"Your brother was a murderer," I spat, fighting against the men restraining me with all the strength I had. It was sheer luck that painkillers and adrenaline were keeping my pain at bay.

"So is Rocco," the woman barked at me. "Doesn't matter. Although…" She turned to Krill, who was wrestling with Zack. He was squirming like all hell, and I'd be proud if I weren't so terrified. "I suppose we'll need another barrel for him."

Suddenly, the phone I had stashed in Zack's clothing slipped free and clattered to the ground. Silence fell, broken only by Zack's hiccupping sobs. Krill stooped down to pick up the phone. He eyed it for a moment, then turned it to his girlfriend.

Rocco's name flashed on the screen alongside an active, ongoing call.

"Shit," she muttered.

Suddenly, the entire left-hand wall of the warehouse caved inward, utterly destroyed by several large cars that crashed into the building. Electricity sparked as wires snapped, metal creaked and screamed as support beams crashed through, and shelves cascaded across the floor.

Krill dropped Zack in fright, and in the commotion, I wrestled myself free from the hands keeping me back.

"Zack!" I threw myself across the room and landed on top of Zack, curling around him like a shell to protect him. Gunfire exploded overhead, and I curled myself tighter around my son, swearing to protect him with my own life if I had to.

Men yelled, guns fired, and tires screeched. All of it happened overhead while I buried my face in Zack's hair and breathed him in, trying to hush him but failing.

Then someone was over me, pressing their body down on top of me, and just as I turned to shove them away, I came face to face with Rocco.

"I'm here," Rocco gasped, blood pouring from a slice on his eyebrow. "I'm right here!"

"Oh, my God," I sobbed, clutching at his jacket. He stayed like that through it all and only stood up once the explosion of noise had calmed down. As I climbed to my feet, keeping Zack in my arms, I hid his face in my shoulders so he didn't have to see the dead bodies littered about.

Krill was bleeding heavily on his knees, screaming toward the body of his dead girlfriend.

I felt nothing for him.

"Take Zack outside," Rocco instructed, cupping the back of my head. "Take him out of here. I will be there in two seconds."

I wanted to say something to Krill, wanted to laugh in his face or tear off his balls, but other than a glare, I did nothing. Numbly, I made my way outside, escorted by some of Rocco's men and unable to feel anything but Zack's wet tears on my skin and a strange numbness that came from the utter shock consuming me.

As I stumbled over sharp gravel and rough ground, a sudden ear-splitting shriek of pain exploded from the warehouse. I clamped one hand over Zack's ears again, and he whimpered against me. The screaming continued on and on, lasting for so long that when silence finally fell, it was more shocking than the scream.

I stood in the parking lot, watching as another section of the warehouse started to cave in. Then Rocco was striding toward me, drenched in blood. The moment he reached us, tears burst into his eyes.

"Mae, Mae, I'm so sorry, I'm so fucking sorry."

Tears finally flooded my own eyes. "It's okay," I sobbed. "You came for me. You came for us!"

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Rocco demanded. I shook my head, and we briefly checked Zack over together, but it was difficult since he refused to let me go.

In the end, Rocco pulled us both into his arms and held us tightly, and finally, a hint of warmth flickered to life in my chest.

"Thanks," Zack wept, barely able to take a breath. "Thank you for finding me! I didn't think anyone would!"

"I knew he would find you," I said softly, kissing all over Zack's face. "He's your dad, after all."