📌21 (Silvio)

(edited)

Hearing those three words didn't really affect me, not when I've been saying them to myself more than anyone else, but hearing them from Willa? It almost shattered any hope I had for us.

I couldn't really blame her though.

I did so, so many sinful and horrible things to her and to her family just to avenge the death of my men caused by that bitch of a twin of hers. I can't really expect her to profess her undying love to me now.

And in half an hour I'll lose Willa forever with one bullet. And will it be worth it? Fuck no! But I'm torn between avenging the death of my men and her love. And whichever one I choose will probably destroy me

Striding from Willa's room and away from her excruciating sobs, I walk inside my room and to the safe. My gun is just laying there, staring at me, urging me to take it out and end Jade's life.

But Willa's red and puffy face caused by her crying comes into my mind. Her sobs and soft cries engulf my thoughts, not letting me think rationally.

"Cazzo!" I throw the gun on the bed out of frustration.

I hate you!

You're a monster!

Her words echo in my mind.

Her beautiful face once again finds its way in my thoughts, her laugh paralyzing me, her smile making me weak...

Oh, Dio, Silvio. What are you thinking?

When I press that damn trigger, all of that will be gone. I'll never see her smile again, I'll never be able to see her blush at something I had said and did nor can I ever call her amore mio.

Fuck, I won't be even able to tell her I love her.

All these thoughts flow in my brain when a sudden realization hits me. I fucking love Willa...

"Boss, we should go." One of my men walks in with a stone cold face, waiting for my reply. I can only nod as an answer because my mind is already fried.

I pick up my gun aimlessly and stuff it in the back of my pants, behind the belt. Three minutes later and I'm looking straight at Willa who's sitting in the car, fidgeting with her fingers and looking down. Lazzaro is sat beside her in the back seats.

My blood boils just by seeing them one next to another. I know that Willa will never be mine and I know that she told me the truth about not sleeping with Lazzaro, but I'm still not completely trusting my little brother around her. I know him and I know that he doesn't see her as just an acquaintance or even a friend.

When Lazzaro puts an arm around her, bringing her closer to him and trying to comfort her, she fucking lets him. That's the last straw before I walk to the same car, already annoyed, and get in the passenger seat.

"You know where to drive, Benny." I say to the designated driver before he starts up the car and we're off, followed by just one more car behind us.

Twenty minutes pass and I can't stop looking at Willa from the rear view mirror. She'll meet me eyes for a second but just as soon she'll turn away and look out of the window. The silence in this car is deafening and all I want to do is yell my feelings out in her face, tell her what I really want.

Looking at Willa then at me, Lazzaro sighs before saying,

"Silvio, hai davvero bisogno di farlo?"

Fuck, brother.

"Yes, Lazzo, and you know why." I answer my brother with stiffness in my voice. He intakes a sharp breath, knowing what I said is true.

In the next five minutes we arrive, Lorenzo and Benny scout the perimeter and secure it while Lazzaro stays with Willa the whole time.

She can't even look at me for more than three seconds for fuck's sake.

The location Jade has chosen is a remote one, approximately twenty minutes away from the town. There's a small wooden bungalow just at the head of the beach, the ground mixed with sand and grass. The only thing I can hear are the waves crashing on the beach few meters down.

"Boss, I don't like the location." Lorenzo comes up to me and says, constantly looking around us.

"There's no one else. Trust me."

"How are you so sure? For all we know there co-"

"When I talked to Jade, I told her I still have a man on Christopher. If she tries anything funny it's boom for the kid."

"But we released Fiore. He hasn't followed the kid in two weeks."

"I know that, but she doesn't." Lorenzo only nods. His posture relaxes a little, but he remains as alert as he can be.

It's now almost 5pm and Jade should be here any second now.

When she called me this morning from a burner and told me that she knows I have her twin and she wants to trade her life for Willa's freedom, I was first confused. I thought Willa was playing games with me. Their voice is more or less the same. Then, when it clicked, I was beyond angry. But now? Now, I don't know what I feel to be honest.

Taking a brief look at Willa, I sigh.

I have to let her go. I can't let my men down.

All of our heads turn to the road where a car appears and rolls toward us. No doubt it's Jade. The car stops in front of us at a safe distance and Giovanni steps out of the driving seat, followed by Jade out of the passenger seat and Vince and another man from behind.

"Jade..." I hear Willa's whisper from behind me when the two girls lock their eyes. Jade's smile falters when she sees me. An angry scowl takes its place.

"Silvio Moretti, a world class motherfucker." She laughs cynically and glares at me. My nose twitches from anger.

"Jade Maxwell, a disgraced whore with a dick in her mouth." I shoot a wonderful sardonic smile her way. This gesture doesn't seem to get anything out of her, but that comment makes Giovanni pissed. He moves forward, his hands in a fists, but Jade stops him. Why is that fucker on her side?

"Let's get this over with. Let Willa walk to us and I'll surrender. Simple." Jade says firmly, crossing her arms.

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" I growl. "You first then I'll let Willa go."

She growls back.

"Or we could do it like this!" As she yells, she retracts her two guns from behind her in a split second, aiming at me. My reflexes kick in and soon I have my own gun pointed at her. Lorenzo, Benny and Fiore also have their guns out just like Giovanni and the other guy beside him.

I turn my head for a millisecond and see Willa's expression. She's beyond frightened.

"This wasn't the fucking deal!" I shout at her, my grip on my gun tightening significantly. They were supposed to exchange places, but I was fucking stupid to even consider her offer. I knew she wouldn't willingly do it, goddamn it!

"Neither was you living, but here we are, aren't we?" Jade's teeth grit as she looks daggers at me. She cocks the gun and says slowly, menacingly, "Let her go and we'll do this our way."

Yeah, right. The "our way" is shoot first, ask questions later. The "our way" is guns blazing and the last one standing is the winner.

"Jade..." Willa shouts at her twin, earning a sympathetic look from her. They look at each other for a few seconds when Jade's eyes widen. She shakes her head slightly and mouths a "no".

She'll run. Willa will try to run.

"Lazzaro, hold her, " I say to him and motion to Willa who's half a meter away from his right side. Just as I say this, Willa manages to lunge forward, trying to make it to the other side, but Lazzaro is fast to react. He grabs her forearm and pulls her back towards us.

"No! Lazzaro, no! Let me go, please." She struggles to free herself, but my brother puts his arms around her in a firm embrace so she has no other choice but to simmer her protests down.

If it was any other situation I would have killed him for touching her like that!

"Move your fucking hands away from her!" Jade shakes me out of my thoughts when I notice she has pointed her gun from me to just above Willa, at Lazzaro's forehead.

Fucking hell!

"No, you move your fucking gun away from them!"

"Yeah, you're right. It should be pointed at you instead." And the gun's back on me but this time it's not long before a single bullet exits. The next few moments pass in a blur.

The gunshot is heard.

I move.

I shoot.

The other's start shooting.

Someone screams.

Silence.

"Willa! No, no, no, no. Hey, stay with me. Stay with me, " I see Jade crouched beside Willa's motionless body, cradling her. I see Giovanni standing next to her, putting pressure on Willa's wound that's oozing with thick dark blood, staining her back and soon the ground. I see Lazzaro's lips moving, presumably yelling something at me, but I'm just rooted to the ground. I can't move and I can't speak.

"Silvio. Silvio!" I come to my senses once he shakes my shoulders aggressively.

"Do you know what you've done, brother?" Lazzaro takes a brief look at her lying body. "You shot her." He whispers the last sentence while looking straight in my eyes and it's in that moment that every single damn thing hits me.

No, no, no. Fuck!

I look at my gun and then at my gattino. Shit, SHIT!

Dropping my gun on the ground I run towards her, but before I can even come near her, Jade makes sure she has a gun in her hand and it is pointed at me. With her welled up tears, she shoots me one look that would make even a psychopath shudder of fright.

"You should be fucking laying there instead of her!" Her voice cracks and it perfectly shows what she's feeling: hatred. Hatred and panic.

"Do you think I don't know that!?"

"Any last words, Mr. Moretti?" She finally says and I swear to God I'm ready to die. I'm ready to punish myself for shooting her and for all of the shit I've done to her.

Throwing one last look at her, I think to myself, this isn't how I was supposed to let her go.

"Jade, baby! She's losing a lot of blood and the bullet is still inside her. We need to take her to the hospital, now!" Giovanni exclaims in a rush and worry. Jade looks at her twin for a brief moment, then at me and at Willa again before she growls as a tear lets itself roll down on her cheek and throws the gun away.

In the next minute Willa is whisked into the car and they disappear down the road leaving me with just the blood of my gattino on the sand.

"In the car, now!" My sudden shout startles Lazzaro who is absent-mindedly staring at the blood-covered ground. "Benny, drive after them!" And with that, we, too, hurry off down the road and to my Willa.