Chapter 237 Carnage

ZADE

Jacob was the last person that I ever expected to be my archenemy. The moment I looked him in the eye, I knew I had been playing a fool’s game the whole fucking time.

I got a call this morning that sent me on a wild goose chase: a supposed sighting of the Benefactor, but halfway through it I knew something was wrong, so I called Dante, but his line wasn’t fucking going through. I called my men, and the same thing applied.

As I raced back to the hospital, I did a lot of thinking, but I still couldn’t pinpoint what I was missing. I focused only on getting to Anastasia as fast as I could and locking down the entire hospital so no one could get in or out.

But I was too late... again. I was fucking late.

"Drop your gun!" Jacob barked. "Now!"

I didn’t respond, keeping my grip on my gun firm, eager to pull the trigger.

"Z-Zade, please..." Anastasia begged me, but I still didn’t move.

The reasonable thing to do was to surrender, but I knew there was no going back now. I’d rather die than let him take her away from me.

"Everything’s gonna be alright, kitten." I pulled out another gun.

"NO!"

Anastasia was dragged away the moment they opened fire, but I was tackled to the ground. Elliot grabbed hold of me and pulled me toward a wall to escape the flying bullets.

He cocked his gun and pinned me with a look, and he didn’t need to say a fucking word. I knew what I did there; I was prepared to die.

I cocked my gun, and we both charged, but they just kept coming, determined to keep us from crossing toward the other side.

How did they cover this building in such a short amount of time?

The lab coat they wore told me they must have snuck in somehow. But that doesn’t completely explain why the hospital was invaded easily.

"Backups coming," Elliot said, loading a fresh magazine into his gun. "I’m almost out of ammo."

I tossed him one of my guns, and he caught it.

"Cover me."

"Wait, Zade—!"

I dashed into the danger before he could stop me. A bullet grazed my shoulder, and I waved it off with a grunt. Another struck my arm, but I kept going, driving straight into one of the men and knocking him down before shooting him in the face.

I heard scattered gunshots behind me, and I turned toward them.

"Go on!" Elliot barked.

I pushed up my feet and sprinted toward the direction I saw Jacob drag Anastasia. I made several turns, silently praying that they hadn’t left the building yet.

They couldn’t have. I made sure I shut down all elevators, and all exit routes were closed down. They wanted war? Then I was gonna give them one right here and now. We were ending this tonight.

"NO!"

At the pitch scream, I dashed toward it, and kicked down a door, and my heart dropped.

Jacob had ripped her shirt apart. Red blurred my vision. I barely registered when I ripped him away from her and sent him crashing through the window into the corridor.

I grabbed hold of him again, and my fist drove into his face multiple times, the sickening crunch of bone filling the air with every rapid blow I unleashed.

Then a stabbing pain pierced my side, and I realized he had stabbed me, but that didn’t stop me until he kicked me off him.

I slammed into the floor, but I only grunted, yanking the switchblade embedded in my side. Blood slipped from the wound, but I ignored it, tossing the weapon aside.

Clutching my bleeding side, I pushed myself to my feet, then reached for my gun, freezing when I found it missing.

"Zade Salvero." Jacob laughed, blood smeared across his mouth and dripping from his nose. "Too bad you had to interrupt us."

"I’m gonna fucking you!" I seethed.

"How about you do that without bleeding out? Because the one who’s gonna die is... you."

He raised the gun, and pulled the trigger. The loud gunshot rang in the air, and I waited for the pain that could split through me, but it never came.

Jacob’s gun never went off. He was shot.

I veered my gaze in speed to Anastasia holding my gun as she limped into view, a blank expression on her face.

She pulled the trigger again. This time, the bullet struck his hand, just as it had the first time.

Jacob tried to raise the gun, but she fired again. She didn’t stop. The bullets punctured his body multiple times until the hollow click filled the air; only then did her hand drop.

Jacob choked on his own blood before collapsing to the floor. A wet, gurgling sound filled the air until it suddenly stopped.

The gun slipped from Anastasia, and I moved in a heartbeat. I caught her before she had the chance to fall.

I pressed my back against the wall before slowly sliding down to the floor, pulling her more tightly in my arms.

She wailed against me, her body trembling uncontrollably as she clung to me. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t tell her it was okay. I didn’t ask her to stop crying.

There was nothing I could say that could make any of this okay.

All I could do was hold her, hold her together as much as I could as she fell apart in my arms.

~☆~

I traced my finger against the bandage around my hand, before lifting my gaze to an unconscious Anastasia. She had to be sedated, and she’d been under for several hours.

They said sleep was supposed to be one of the moments you could hide away from the real world, that it was tranquil when it needed to be, but there wasn’t a single bone in her body that was.

Her face was contorted in pain, and there were dried-up tears on her face. She kept murmuring one name over and over again.

Dante.

I clamped my hands together and closed my eyes, my breath heavy and shaky. A cold chill crept up my spine straight to the back of my head.

When I fluttered my eyes open, it felt like a boulder was crushing down against my entire body, the pressure making my muscles strain, and breathing became so fucking hard.

The door opened, and I heard footsteps getting closer and closer, until in my line of vision I saw Elliot standing close to Anastasia’s bed.

He just watched her for a moment before blinking away as though lingering was too much for him to bear.

His eyes darted to me, and we held each other’s gaze for a while before he broke the hot silence.

"Dante..." he began before gulping, as though keeping his voice from breaking.

The way he brushed his nose with his finger reminded me of when he was little, back when he rode his bicycle and crashed.

He’d badly injured his arm that day, and even from where I sat, I could still see the faint scar peeking out beneath his rolled-up sleeve.

I recalled how he tried so fucking hard not to cry. He wanted to show me that he was tough, so he stared me dead in the eyes just like he was now.

I pushed myself to my feet, slowly, to avoid reopening the stitches from my knife wound, but I stood firm, waiting for the devastating news.

"He’s still in surgery."

A sharp exhale escaped me as I briefly closed my eyes.

"They... They don’t know if he’s gonna make it," Elliot sniffled. "Luca... he..." He dragged his hand down his face. "...he’s trying to hold it together but..."

I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He lowered his gaze, his jaw tightening as he fought whatever was trying to break through. But when he finally looked back at me, really looked at me, a lone tear slipped down his cheek.

As much as I was breaking apart from the inside out, I kept a stoic face. I didn’t have the luxury of falling apart. But them? They were allowed to break as much as they wanted, because when they were done I was the one who had to glue them back together.

I rested my other hand on his shoulder, then brought both to his face, holding him firmly as I spoke in a controlled tone.

"Dante uttered one name when we found him. Caleb."

Elliot gulped.

"Where is Caleb?"

"We... We can’t find him. He’s not at the manor, and I don’t know where else to look. If there is a place to look, where would it be then?"

His question hit a solid point, and it weighed on us how much we never truly knew our baby brother.

I nodded and released him, walking toward the window as I raked my hand through my hair. Then I turned back to him and pointed.

"It had every reason to be you."

Elliot sobbed, looking away from me.

"If you had been the one who betrayed me—who betrayed this family..." I paused, my brow furrowing. "Then you would’ve had every reason to."

Elliot nodded before his eyes found mine. "When we find Caleb..." His voice was cold. "We’ll find out why he did this. We will."