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I was frozen at my place, witnessing the fight in front of me, in horror.

Ermanno was tackling all the three goons well. He was fighting like a pro, as if he had been trained for it, all his life. But knowing that he was the king of the underworld, there was no doubt that he must be trained for the occasion.

I was even sure that he must had encountered those sorts of situations before, many times in his life, considering it was his second time being attacked out of the blue, in my knowledge.

A loud boom of a gunshot echoed throughout the room, which broke my chain of thoughts. My heart skipped a beat at the clear sight of the blood.

I looked at the receiving end of the bullet in horror. Ermanno had shot one of those men, in between his eyes. It was such an ugly sight and it was imprinted in my memory, to haunt me for a lifetime and give me nightmares. And in top of that, there was no sign of regret or pain on Ermanno's face. Infact, his face was completely devoid of any expression and his eyes were cold.

He was not my Ermanno, he was 'The Mafia King'.

I swept my wide open eyes throughout the cabin, to find another men sitting on the floor, taking the support of the wall, panting and bleeding heavily.

I diverted my eyes from him to find the third men lying on the floor motionless, near him. Blood was gushing out of his nose and mouth.

Was he dead too?

My gaze again returned back to Ermanno, to find him shifting his gunpoint towards my direction, or to be more specific, in the direction of the man, holding me hostage.

His cold eyes flickered to mine, but his expressions didn't falter. They didn't soften like they used to, whenever he gazed at me, shining with so much care, affection and adoration. They continued to remain cold and menacing, as he gazed directly into my orbs.

I felt like he was trying to convey a message to me, like he was trying to show me who he really was; his true identity, a glimpse of his soul.

'Il Diavolo!'

We both were too busy staring into each other's eyes to notice that the man sitting on the floor got up on his feet and hit Ermanno with the heavy iron rod lying near him.

The impact was severe and the fun flew out of his hand and landed near my feet, while Ermanno dropped on his knees, clutching his head.

My breath got stuck in my throat as my heart lurched at the sight. I felt like I was hit instead of him, due the pain I was feeling at the sight of him being hurt. Blood trickled down from the back of his head and dropped down on the white-marbled floor. My heart bled at the sight as my tears made their way out of my eyes.

Before he could recover, the attacker instantly grabbed his arms and held them behind his back, while the one lying on the floor, got up with difficulty and started throwing heavy punches at Ermanno. They were beating him to pulp and the sight was too much for me to take in.

I started screaming my lungs out and thrashing violently to get out of that man's hold, but it was too vice to get out of it. The walls of the cabin were sound proof, so there was no chance for any voice to go out.

The man was mercilessly throwing punches at him and his handsome face started bleeding from several places. Tears continued to flow from my eyes.

His eyes fluttered and he was on the verge of loosing his consciousness. I kept on screaming his name and begged those men to stop their torture, so much so that my throat began to hurt from it. But it did not stop my pleadings. But those merciless men turned deaf towards my begging. It seemed like they were intended to kill him.

I even begged them to hit me or even kill me, instead of him, but they paid no heed to my screams.

Breathing heavily, Ermanno spoke with difficulty, “I am so sorry, amore mio. I could not protect you.”

“No! Don't say like that. We would get out of here, safe," I pleaded him.

But he continued, "You are too innocent for this cruel world, bambino. You shouldn't have been dragged into this hell. It would taint your purity. But my death will set you free from this bond. You will be free to live your life as you wish."

I yelled at him, "Are you crazy?! I am telling you that we would get out of here safely. I don't want to be free out of your world. Get this through your thick head, you stubborn man!"

He gave me a small smile and opened his mouth to speak, but could not voice out what was in his mind due to the heavy punch on his jaw. Blood gurgled out of his mouth as he panted heavily. I panicked at the sight. I knew that I had to do something and that too really fast.

I couldn't loose him. I just couldn't!

I knew that the timing was wrong, but I had realised at that moment that I didn't only liked him, instead I had fallen in love with him, with my monster, my Ermanno.

And I couldn't loose him!

His death would be my destruction. He was my everything.

I couldn't loose him. Especially when I had realised my feelings for him.

How could he die without me confessing my love for him? It would be unfair on both our parts.

I abruptly turned around and bit the man holding me hostage, on his arm, with all my might. He yelped and instantly released me, clutching the area. I instantly turned around and hit him on his nose, with my open palm. I heard a satisfied crunch of the breaking of his nose.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I rushed towards the man hitting Ermanno. The iron rod they had been hitting him with earlier, was laid there. I picked it up and hit the man with it, using all my force.

I began to hit him with it continuously, with all the strength I had in me. Ermanno was half conscious till then. But the one whose nose I had broken, recovered quickly and snatched the rod from me, out of the blue. He pushed me on the floor forcefully and my head hit the table's corner. Blood started to trickle down from my injury.

Ermanno shouted at them, “Non osare fare del male alla mia ragazza.”

(Don't you dare harm my girl!)

But they paid no heed to him. The one with broken nose turned to him and spoke with an evil smirk on his face, "Let's finish you in one go and tell our boss the good news."

I knew that they were going to kill him. My brain ceased to function as my heart began to beat abnormally fast and my breath quickened. My mind just kept repeating the same line that 'I just couldn't loose him'.

My gaze fell on the gun lying on the floor, in my hands reach. I looked up at them to find the man raising the rod over Ermanno's head to hit him. I knew that it was the final hit. They would smash his head to kill him. My heart stopped beating!

It was now or never!

I couldn't loose him!

I had to save him!

At any cost!

I just couldn't loose him!

I instantly grabbed the gun lying on the floor and shot the three of them in one go.

The loud sound of the gunshots continued to echo in my ears as the ugly realisation dawned upon me that 'I had killed 3 people'.

I had become a murderer!