"I have my men already stationed at the address you provided," Alessandro informed me.

I slid on a pair of sunglasses and stared at the view of my house from my car.

After gathering the IP Address Reyna providied, I followed her instructions and was able to track it down. Once I wrote down the address, I called Alessandro over. We agreed to meet up before taking down Viktor only so we could further discuss our plans.

Since we were taking Viktor by surprise, I figured it would be easy seeing as his men wouldn't be prepared for an imminent war.

"I'll meet you there," Ic laimed, glancing over at Alessandro who was in his car right beside my own.

He nodded.

I didn't say another word as I rolled up my window and turned toward the road. I started up my car and took off, speeding toward my angel.

My mind never stopped wandering as I drove. With every turn, every stop, every bit of my acceleration was accompanied by a deep sense of worry. Never in life I ever had so much to lose. I always had faith in my men, in myself, in my plan. However, for the first time since I started my business, I began to feel a gut-wrenching pain at the thought of something going wrong. I couldn't let anything happen to Reyna.

If it weren't for her honey-like eyes and the way they held onto mine, nothing would've stopped me from throwing her over my shoulder and dragging her out of that club last night. Her lips rose and fell to tell me every part of her plan and her single objective, and all I could do was nod. She was a powerful essence, so ethereal that it lunged at my heart and forced me closer to her. I had no choice but to trust her.

After quite a long drive, I was down the street from the brothel. I quickly noticed Alessandro was parked, waiting for my arrival. As soon as I spotted his car, he saw me and lifted his phone, ready to give a call to his second-in-command. Just like we went over, I did the same—parked my car and dialed Adriano's number.

"Red," I said the moment he answered.

Adriano hung up the phone, immediately knowing exactly what he had to do next.

I got out of my car and went over to the trunk, where I opened it up. My weapons which ranged from pure gold-plated pistols to semi-automatic rifles, sang a heavenly song as I gazed down upon them.

Alessandro stepped out of his vehicle and shut the door. Every bit of contact the bottoms of his shoes made with the gravel grew louder with each step closer to me. I picked up my AR-15 just before throwing it at him. Then, I reached for my AK-47.

Just as I did, both Alessandro and I's phone began to ring. When I glanced at the burner phone, I quickly recognized Alessandro's number. After answering, I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Orange," he said just before hanging up.

Good, everything was going according to plan.

"You look at your guns as if you are about to make love with them," Alessandro pointed out. I slammed my trunk door just before grabbing ammo for both of the guns.

"I have on a few occasions," I muttered, walking past him, preparing for the next stage of the plan.

Red—for the first part of the plan, my men were supposed to cover the west side of the house while Alessandro's men were supposed to cover the east side. With silencers and suppressors on everyone's gun, their job was to take out every bit of security they could find without alerting anyone on the inside. Once they took care of that and everything was clear, a few of them would break away to join me and Alessandro.

I glanced up to find Adriano, Savannah, and a few other soldiers of mine. With them, were some people I couldn't recognize—obviously Alessandro's people.

"Savannah begged to join us," Adriano stated, the moment he caught up with me. I peered at her to see splatters of blood on her face and arms. Although, what surprised me most was to see her. She wasn't assigned to help on this mission.

"Those sons of bitches are gonna pay for what they did to Leo. I swear if he dies, I will murder each of their families until it's the end of their bloodline," Savannah threatened. There was a murderous gaze in her eye—I believed her.

I never once questioned what was going on between Savannah and Leo. To me, it seemed as though they hated eachother. However, there was no bit of hatred for Leo evident in her words—quite the opposite, really.

"How is he?" I asked Adriano.

"Still in critical condition. He can't breathe on his own yet, so he's hooked up to machines, but let's just be grateful that he's still alive," Adriano said, glancing between Savannah and I.

I nodded. "Let's get this show on the road."

Alessandro had already begun to make his way into the house through the front. I headed toward the back. My men had already opened the back gate which made it easier for me to make my way in. The back door was a wooden one that looked like it had practically been bolted shut. With a nod of my head, my men helped me break it down.

Once in, I could hear the gunshots and shouts from people inside. I'm assuming Alessandro had already began the gunfight. There was a fresh course of both Russian and Italian tongues as my team dispersed into the first floor.

I hurriedly made my way to the second floor, shooting Viktor's men whenever I came across them. As I reached the top of the stairs, I took in the many bolted shut doors. Reyna could be in any one of them.

I could hear heavy footsteps chasing after me, I turned around sharply with my gun ready to fire only to see it was Alessandro.

"Did you find him?" he asked.

Just as I was about to answer, a door opened. Giovanni—no, not Giovanni—Viktor walked out with a sinister smile. What I hated most was the look on his face, as if he just declared himself a winner.

I wanted to fire my AK into his chest. I wanted to feel his blood stain my skin. I wanted to hear his pleads and screams just to satisfy the deathly hunger that grew in the pit of my stomach for both him and his father. I wanted Viktor to finally fucking die.

The only thing that stopped me was the woman he held up against him with a pistol to her temple. Her raven hair, her brown eyes, the small figure. For a second, I believed she was Reyna until I saw the soft wrinkles in the corners of her eyes.

I didn't need to be told who she was because I could feel it. Maria Fields—Reyna's mother.

"If you kill me, you will have to shoot Maria, too, and I'm sure Reyna will never forgive you after that, now will she?" Viktor asked, raising a cocky brow with a mock of a frown on his face. "I'd suggest you put down your gun, Saint."

"Fuck that! There's nothing stopping me," Alessandro exclaimed. He had his finger on the trigger, ready to pull at any given second.

"Oh, really? Come on, Maria, why don't you tell him who you are?" Viktor urged. My brows came together as I watched her look over at Alessandro, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Please, no! This isn't how I wanted—"

"Tell him, now!" Viktor shouted.

"Ale," she wept. "I-I'm sorry!"

She didn't even get many words out as recognition quickly washed over his face. He looked at her—actually looked at her. His eyes widened before they returned only to widen again.

"I-I'm sorry! I wanted to be there for you! I-I tried so hard!" she sobbed.

"Mom?" he asked.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she went on and on, crying with each word.

"Yeah, yeah, it's so sad, now shut the fuck up," Viktor said annoyedly, rolling his eyes.

"Where's Reyna?" I asked, stepping closer. Immediately, Viktor took the safety off of the gun. A loud gasp escaped Maria as she froze in her spot, scared that any movement would result in her death.

"Gone. You must think I'm some kind of idiot. Lucille told me about Alessandro coming to my club. I knew something was up which was why I set up surveillance cameras..." he paused. "Tell me why when I looked back on the footage, I saw you enter that restroom with Reyna," Viktor laughed manically.

Maria's gaze wandered over to me as if really looking at me for the first time.

"You went in my restroom and fucked my girl," he gritted out, through what looked to be tears. Maria's eyes widened as she continued to stare at me.

"I made it to where she'll never see you again. Even if you do somehow make it out of here alive, you'll never find her," Viktor declared.

Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

"Now, I won't say this again... drop the damn guns," Viktor stated. "Or, I'll put a bullet through little, precious Maria."

Alessandro slowly placed his gun down. I could feel the need to kill this man illuminating from him like sun rays. I was sure my wrath could be just as easily detectable.

"Put it down, Saint," Alessandro said.

Hesitatingly, I began to lower my gun. If it were any other person in the world, I wouldn't have given a single fuck. The thought of being the reason why Reyna's mother passed was enough to trouble me. She worked so hard to get her, and I didn't want to be the person who made it all pointless.

"Kick it over to me," Viktor ordered.

Alessandro glanced at me just as I looked over at him. Reluctantly, he kicked his gun over to Viktor just before I was forced to do the same.

Once my gun was at his feet, Viktor smirked. He kicked the weapons further off behind him and removed his pistol from Maria's temple only to aim it at me.

"I won," Viktor said, beginning to pull the trigger.

Just before the gun could go off, Viktor was hit on the back of his head, forcing him to release Maria as he hunched over in pain.

It was Reyna.

Her shirt was ripped and bloody. Dried up blood stuck to her hair and forced her clothes to her body. She had hit Viktor with the back of my AK-47 that she must've picked up from the floor.

"You stupid little bitch!" Viktor shouted.

I quickly walked over to Reyna and grabbed the gun from her hand, aiming it at Viktor, keeping him in his spot.

"Alessandro, make sure no one comes up these stairs," I ordered.

Alessandro walked over to Maria and he pulled her into his chest. Despite how he towered over her, he still managed to let his head rest in the crook of her neck. He inhaled her scent, and for the first time, it was like he was finally able to breathe.

"Mama," he cried.

"I love you, Ale. You and Reyna are all I could ever think about. I loved your father so much. I only wish everything was different," she cried, wrapping her arms around her son. She squeezed him so tight.

"Papa told me he loved you more than anything. Even before he passed, he wanted me to find you because he needed to somehow fix the mistake of letting you go," Alessandro said.

He pulled away to gaze into her eyes just before placing a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, too, mama. I forgive you."

She couldn't even form words.

He kissed her one last time before walking over to pick up the AR-15 from the ground and made it his way to the top of the stairs. The first floor was almost chillingly silent. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about my men.

"How? How did you escape? Lucille was supposed to transport you to Russia," Viktor said, looking over at Reyna.

"Let's just say that there is no Lucille anymore," she said.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Viktor asked, his voice cracking.

Instead of answering, Reyna went over to her mother who pulled her into a hug. "We have to get you out of here, mama," I heard Reyna whisper.

"What the fuck did you do to my sister?" Viktor shouted louder.

It happened too fast. In the mix of events, I foolishly forgot about the pistol he had in his hand that he once held up to Maria's temple. I didn't have much time to react as he lifted the gun, aiming at Reyna, and he fired twice before I was able to pierce a bullet into his chest.

Gosh! This chapter was so difficult for me to write. It is literally frustrating. I was stuck mid-way of this chapter for about three days! Thankfully, a friend of mine that I met on my discord (join my discord if you haven't already, link in my description) helped me get through it. So, everyone, please thank her lol!

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed—probably not because of the cliffhanger—(insert evil laugh). See you all next update! Feel free to rush me!

Question: how do you feel about Maria?