Till Death Do us Apart - Episode 55&56

  

TILL D£ATH DO US APART

Till Death Do us Apart - Episode 55&56

(The•Devil•I•Loved)

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or reposted in any form, or by any means without a BOLDLY written permission from ME.

Copyright © 2025

Naomi Cindy B.

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★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

The forest breathed like a living thing, and Hayden's last words hung between the leaves like sour fruits.

The yellow lamp light trembled as insects battered the glass. 

Shadows stretched and snapped back with every movement, turning the clearing into a cage of flickers.

Hayden didn't move. The dangerous rims around his eyeballs shows he meant the dare that just dropped from his mouth, but Ivanna—knowing the kind of man Leonardo is, she shook her head, the weight of the gun still cold against her skull.

"No. Hayden..."

"No. He can't and won't shoot you! Not when I'm here!" Hayden spat, his voice unshaken like he swallowed illegal confidence.

"No! Hayden listen to me. You shouldn't say that!" Ivanna snapped, feeling Leonardo's finger shift behind her own head.

Hayden didn't reply to that. His eyes stayed on Leonardo whose lips are now in a curl below his jaws as he smiled crazily, then he broke into a short laughter.

"Leonardo 'Idiotic' Esposito? That's the first time someone actually gave me a nickname. I don't like it..." He shook his head, stopping his laugh.

"And about your dare, how about we flip the coin again? I'll take her living body in front of you before actually killing her, and as for you? I'll drag you back to the estate with me." 

Before they could process what was happening, Leonardo flicked his lighter, putting fire on Ivanna's gear at the back.

It started burning through the leather material very fast.

"F+k...no!!" Ivanna rolled herself away from his angle, and Hayden suddenly jumped, attaching himself to one of the suspended tree branches, and from the branch, he landed straight beside Leonardo.

It was madly fast, and Leonardo wasn't supposed to look stunned, but he actually did look surprised.

"FTM...So this is why you've been acting like Pocahontas?" He grinned.

"I'm killing you tonight, no two-way about it. It's either you die or you die!" Hayden slammed.

Ivanna stood near one of the lamps, the fire on her gear is gone now though it burned a large part of her gear at the back. 

She had to roll herself on the snowy ground to stop the fire.

Her skin stings, but her posture is unbroken. Dirt smudged her cheek, not from fear, but from struggle. 

Her eyes never stopped moving—measuring distance, counting breaths, reading both men like weapons laid bare.

Nothing is stopping a fight here tonight, she could already smell the doom in the air, but also...the technique was used by Hayden, so she's wondering how...why does he have that same technique?

Leonardo waited at the center of the clearing.

Deadly calm wrapped around him like a tailored coat. His suit is ruined now with mud at the cuffs, but his gaze never left Hayden.

Hayden burst from the trees like a storm finally unleashed. He didn’t shout. Didn’t threaten. He moved.

The first punch came fast and brutal, driven by fury. Leonardo barely shifted, the blow grazed his jaw instead of shattering it. The impact echoed through the trees, a dull crack swallowed by leaves.

Leonardo smiled faintly, then the two men collided.

Raw force met trained violence. Technique met crazier technique. Fastness met psychotic fastness.

Hayden fought like a man with something sacred to lose, every strike heavy with rage and love. 

Leonardo? 

He countered with cold efficiency, each movement economical, deliberate, cruelly calculated.

Hayden slammed him into a lamp pole. The iron rang, light swinging wildly overhead. 

Leonardo responded instantly—headbutt, sharp and vicious. Hayden staggered back, blood blooming at his brow, but he didn’t fall.

Ivanna sucked in a breath from her standing spot. "Hayden!"

Her voice cut through the forest.

Hayden turned for half a second. Half a second was enough.

Leonardo swept his legs, drove him into the dirt, then hauled him up by the collar and threw him into the roots of a fallen tree. 

The ground shook. Leaves burst into the air like startled birds.

Hayden roared, his blood painting the snow bright red.

"F+k... Hayden..." Ivanna cussed.

They're fighting in the snow now, boots sliding, breath ragged, bodies crashing into trees. 

Hayden caught Leonardo in the ribs twice—bone-jarring blows that would have dropped lesser men. 

Leonardo answered with a brutal elbow to the throat, then a knee that folded Hayden briefly before he forced himself upright.

Neither man backed away. 

Their toughness is corrosive. But only Hayden is bleeding, Leonardo looks fine except for his smudged suit. 

He's not even fighting Hayden with martial arts now. All of his fight since the start has been on the technique and simple combat skills, and he believes that's why Hayden is still alive till now like he wants.

He's enjoying this fight.

Ivanna strained, muscles tight, mind racing. She knew Hayden’s rhythm. She saw when his anger overrode his timing. She saw when Leonardo began to enjoy the fight.

"Ghost," she said sharply.

His eyes flicked to her—just once.

Hayden took advantage, slamming his fist into Leonardo’s jaw. 

The sound was sickening. Leonardo hit the ground, rolled, came up slower this time. He bled.

The forest went quiet except for their breathings.

Leonardo wiped blood from his mouth with his thumb, looked at it, then looked back at Hayden. His smile was gone now.

"So," he said softly, stepping forward, "this is how far you’re willing to bleed for her."

Hayden raised his fists again, shoulders shaking, eyes locked not on Leonardo—but on Ivanna.

“Every drop,” he said.

They charged.

The lamps swayed violently as they clashed again, and this time, Leonardo threw away his play. He involved martial arts, ready to destroy Hayden's system before he'd take him as hostage.

His first punch to Hayden's throat sent Hayden to a tree. His back crashed on it, and blood was forced to spill out of his mouth.

"Hayden!" Ivanna shouted again, but it wasn't for fear this time.

She already picked Hayden's gun from the ground, and she threw it at him at a clean angle.

Hayden went down, so Leonardo's next kick met the tree instead.

By the time Leonardo turned, Hayden already picked the poisoned gun and pulled the trigger, shooting two times consecutively.

Leonardo used the tree shadows as cover, so he escaped the two bullets.

Hayden swallowed, shocked at Leonardo's fastness. It's too much. How could he escape his bullets when he's the sharpest sniper he has ever meet? Hayden was trained to be a unbeatable sniper, so he's shocked.

Now he has just one bullet left to take him down, and it's starting to look impossible, so he got disoriented.

Leonardo stayed behind that tree, calculating his own breaths.

There's a sharp tree branch on the ground not far from him. If he bursts out and takes the branch, then he needs only one second to jam it into Hayden's chest.

Perfect.

He left the back of the tree and picked up the branch, but before he could move further, Ivanna crossed him with a kick.

He dodged it, but when he got his bearings back, their fight started. 

Martial arts level.

Though, her movements aren't half as sharp as his own, she's still going at him, and he kept giving her retaliations, but he avoided hitting her face. He just targeted her body parts like the throat and rib.

"Happy ending for you and your lover boy? Cancel that from your memory cos that'd never occur unless you kill me. I won't make it happen, the clan claimed you the moment you received the dragon tattoo, and I claimed you the moment you received my zodiac sign... You have no fuckin idea." He giggled.

Ivanna elbowed him in the face, but he elbowed her in the throat, and she coughed, staggering.

"I love him, you can't change that!" She coughed again.

"That word... love. Is a sin you shouldn't even utter around me...never!!!" Leonardo yelled, wrapping his palm on her neck.

He thudded her backbone on the tree, and she coughed again...

All these while, Hayden is at a sharp angle, aiming his gun and trying to shoot Leonardo, but he didn't get a chance cos of Ivanna, but now that the movement has stopped and he's pinning Ivanna against the tree, Hayden saw his opportunity.

He aimed for Leonardo's head, wanting to just blow it off and escape this forest with Ivanna, but his plan was aborted when he was shot from behind instead.

A loud gunshot rang behind, and the bullet tore into his back.

"Arghh!!!!" His scream was sonorous, and Ivanna's eyes widened, but he couldn't even call his name as she opened her mouth cos her asthma is already acting up, and it's not even the mild attacks she has been getting.

This one is making her chest squeeze,it's making her throat close. She can't fuckin breathe. 

Hayden was still screaming and bleeding when her eyes closed. She fell unconscious.

Leonardo's palm unwrapped from her neck, and as she dropped, he caught her with his two arms.

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Then... Lissa came to view.

She's the one who shot Hayden.

She jumped down a stone in front of him, tucked her gun into her gear strap and pulled out her sword, balancing the blade on his neck and getting ready to cut it off.

Hayden isn't even looking at her... despite the fact that his life is about to end. His eyes are on Ivanna who's in Leonardo's arms.

Lissa looked at that side too, and seeing that scene only fueled her anger. She drew her gaze back to Hayden and dragged her sword to slit his neck, but a stone flew to her.

She saw the stone coming, so she twisted out of the way, and the stone rolled away, then Moo appeared.

She jumped into the scene and dragged bleeding Hayden up.

"You dipshit!" She spat, gluing him to herself before starting to run towards the gate of the first decoy building.

At the same time, the House Of Esposito mobsters arrived.

"Follow them!" Lissa shouted, pointing.

Every single mobster followed them except Bacardi and Robert.

Nino wanted to stay too when he saw Ivanna, but Island pulled him away.

Robert wanted to go close to where Leonardo is holding Ivanna, but Bacardi pulled him back.

"No. He hates interruptions at times like this. Join the others in the chase, your sister will be fine" She advised.

Robert looked at her, face ironed. "Never knew Miss Cardi would still choose to talk to me." She muttered, wiping sweat from his brows.

He looked at Ivanna again before following the others, and Bacardi him watched till he was out of sight.

Now it's just her, Leonardo and Ivanna left in the clearing, and Lissa who's behind the stone, watching.

Leonardo lifted Ivanna's head slightly. Her inhaler is in her pocket, so he got it out, opened her mouth with his fingers and began pumping.

As he pumped, he had a flashback.

                              .......AGE 10, MARIONETTE                    

   AMUSEMENT PARK......

Whenever Vera wanted to make Lissa and Leonardo see the outside world, she takes them here once in two months to just sit and watch how miserable the other kids are.

Whenever they visited, she never allowed them on the rides or let them eat the children snacks.

Vera would always say kids who spend their young days eating snacks or riding amusement park rides are miserable and unfortunate, so Leonardo and Lissa came here to mock them and watch their miserable lives only.

It's the last day of the month, and there's a shift today cos Vera came with Leonardo alone.

Lissa and her parents went for a business trip, so only Leonardo is available, and Vera took him.

As usual, they sat on a bench near a merry-go-round, and the two just watched the kids playing around.

Even sitting here is irritating to Leonardo.

He hates the kids riding the merry-go-round.

He hates the ones eating ice cream.

He hates the ones eating normal unrefrigerated chocolates.

He hates the ones who have no scars on their skin from training.

He hates their breathings, noise, chats, and happiness.

Those thoughts made him want to murder all the kids in the park, and he suddenly spranged up.

"Let me guess, Nardo. You feel like killing them all, right?" Vera asked from her seat, smiling like sin.

"Can't I?" Leonardo said.

"Kill as much as you want, no one's gonna ask you. You're a minor anyways, and even when you grow up, kill as much as you wish. By then, you'd be unstoppable, my pet." Vera stroked his hair fondly.

Leonardo pulled his archivist gun out of his hostler, faced the crowd of kids at the park and was about to open fire when someone deflated a dozen balloons in the air.

They're not just ordinary balloons, they contain colourful vermillion, and the powder spread in the atmosphere immediately.

To the kids, it's a beautiful sight—they're unaffected, but to Vera, it wasn't the same.

Her asthmatic condition flared up when she inhaled the vermilion smell, and she began coughing.

Leonardo dropped his gun on the bench and held her face as she started losing control.

"Mum? Mum!"

"That ... That vermilion is poisoned. Someone intentionally popped the balloons in the atmosphere." Vera coughed again, and this time, she coughed out blood.

Blue blood!

Leonardo pulled her under the merry-go-round. He made her sit and rest on one of the horses, then he got her inhaler to pump her.

Immediately he gave her one pump, a loud drum of gunshots happened in that park, and the park tore apart.

Kids ran for their lives, and parents carried their kids as they scurried out of the death zone, but even as the gunshots sounded sporadically, Leonardo focused on his mum, pumping her with the inhale.

Vera's asthmatic condition is so critical that she never responds till the twentieth pump, and he's still on the twelfth.

This was his first time pumping her, actually, so he doesn't really have an idea of how to pump fast.

At the thirteenth pump, the gunshots reached their angle, and bullets hit the merry-go-round bodies.

Leonardo was hit on the arm, but he kept pumping despite the pains.

At the fourteenth pump, another bullet hit his left arm, and that was his breaking point.

Pains gripped him, and the inhaler fell from him, rolling under the merry-go-round.

He stood, and despite his shot arms, he picked his gun, shooting back at the attackers.

They all wore black masks except their leader whom he saw clearly.

He targeted that leader, and the leader targeted Vera.

They shot at the same time.

Leonardo's bullet hit the leader's lap, and he heard her cry, but she didn't lose, cos her own bullet hit Vera too.

Vera groaned behind Leonardo, and Leonardo looked back fast.

Vera was already gasping for breaths. She got shot in the chest. She wouldn't have gotten shot if she didn't tilt herself forward.

She actually tilt herself forward, and it was intentional, as if she was looking for death.

The gunshots stopped immediately, and Leonardo's gun fell.

His eyes widened, his pains sucked up, getting replaced by inhumanity as he knelt beside the woman...

"Mum—" He opened his mouth, and Vera gave him a bloody smile.

"I'm not dying. I'm alive so far you're alive. You're me, I'm you. I live in you, Nardo. Don't ever forget anything from all I taught you. If you do, you won't die well." She cursed, raising her hand to his hair, touching.

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"My... marionette." She grinned before her eyes closed, and the claws of death settled so deep.

"Mum....Mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His intense screams dominated the dark park.

                      <PRESENT TIME>

Leonardo kept pumping Ivanna with the inhaler. Now, it's over twenty pumps, and he's still not stopping.

Bacardi had to go settle beside him, and she tried pulling his arm away from Ivanna's mouth, but he punched her away and kept pumping.

"Stop already! She's not mum! She's Ivanna!" Bacardi shouted.

Leonardo didn't stop.

"Leonardo m0therf+kin Esposito! I told you to stop!" Bacardi held his hand, and he faced her.

"She's Ivanna, not mother! Vera Esposito is dead in that park! Stop pumping her!" Bacardi shouted.

Leonardo's eyes went back to the body on the ground, and when he saw it's really Ivanna's, he was knocked out of his trance, and he stopped pumping.

He returned the inhaler to his pocket and then carried Ivanna's body in his arms, lifting her in a bridal style.

"The journey from here out of the forest is more than an hour. This is Hydra forest, I heard there are abandoned cabins,you should find one and let her rest there." She said.

"Go join the chase. Lead the chase with Bobby, and have it in mind that the building we're looking at isn't their real cave. We won't locate their real cave easily like this, this one's probably a decoy, so stay at alert." Leonardo replied.

"Sure," Bacardi said, and Leonardo departed, going to a side of the forest with Ivanna still in his arms.

Bacardi released a sigh, then she faced the building.

"You should stop snooping around, it doesn't suit you." She said, knowing Lissa is behind the big stone.

Lissa jumped out, rugged.

"Tell me, how exactly did my master die in the park? I know for a fact that she was killed by an enemy, but Leo has been keeping the identity of that enemy a secret. It's the only secret he has been keeping away from me, and he promised to tell me once he turned thirty." She said.

"Oh... and now he still has two more years before he turns thirty, but he already disqualified you? Meaning you'll never be able to find it out...awww." Bacardi smiled.

"You know my father's new position, don't you?" Lissa came closer, eyes darker than midnight.

"Yes, the youngest brigadier, and after his celebration next week, he'd be qualified to attend meetings with Padrino Marko and make rules for Leo and my father... But you know what? I don't care about your father's upliftment, fact remains that you're a whore who placed her p+xy on the bed for her bestie." Bacardi laughed at her face before retreating.

She entered the building, and Lissa unfolded her folded fists, scratching herself on the thumb.

She said nothing, just pure hatred as she entered the building too.

She met total chaos.

The gangsters from Crimson Cave set a trap, and nine mobsters are down with big fatal wounds. Two of them are already dead.

The gang was led by Bradshaw, and he's obviously having the time of his life triumphing.

He's currently getting handled by Bobby and Robert, and he looks insane as he cackled after every hit.

In just one minute, Lissa's sword beheaded two gangsters as a payback for the dead mobsters.

Bacardi's blow shifted the jaws and ribs of many of them, rendering them motionless on the ground.

Island and Nino are at the far end of the echoing building.

Nino looks tired of life. He's not even avoiding hits from anyone. 

Thanks to Island who kept punching away his attackers, he'd have been long gone.

Another one was already coming for his face with a knife when Island appeared again.

An handstand and a hit with her calves pushed the attacker to a nail trap by the wall, and he died on spot.

"What is wrong with you!" Island pulled Nino aside.

Nino gave her a hate-filled look and moved back, walking off.

"Are you serious right now?" Island scoffed, but she was dragged from behind, and she got into another fight with another gangster.

As for Sandra, she zoned out completely, staring at Nino and Island's direction.

She almost got shoved to a nail trap, but thanks to Bacardi who intervened 

Bacardi's leg went up, curling around the female gangster's neck and pulling her to her midsection.

Cardi is on her period, so that move is definitely intentional. She made her smell the blood before she pounded her in the head and disposed her body off, then she dragged Sandra.

"The fuck are you looking at!"

Sandra couldn't even reply.

At the first point of the building, Robert and Bobby are still on the fight with Bradshaw.

Bradshaw has several facial wounds already. Bobby has an arm cut and Robert has a neck cut.

They're been on a two to one fight for some minutes, battering each other in hit turns.

Bradshaw is in a corner now, and both Bobby and Robert are pointing their combat knives at him.

Bradshaw looks scared for just a second, but immediately the fear disappeared, he raised his leg and kicked a spot on the ground.

A underground door opened.

Before he could fall inside, Bobby and Robert threw their knives. Even Lissa threw her sword from behind, and the three sharp blades chased Bradshaw, but he successfully fell inside the door without getting hit, so the blades dropped on the ground.

Robert quickly went to that spot and opened the ground door, but there's only a small space inside that's not even enough for a newborn baby, so how did Bradshaw fit in?

And where is he? 

Where did he go?

"They sure know how to play their games well." Robert muttered.

Bobby picked the two knives from the ground and threw Robert's knife to him. Robert caught it.

"I dislike your sister, but let's be a combat duo again next time." Bobby said, meaning it.

"You can dislike my sister now, but you'll grow to like her, and sure ... Let's be a duo again next time... I love how we focused on Bradshaw together." Robert replied.

Lissa joined them, kneeling beside the small door too.

"Such smart tactics, Monika is sure that bîtch." She muttered.

"Where the f+k is Leo?" Bobby looked up, eating gun already.

"He's out on a quest, I'll text him about what's going on." Bacardi replied, getting her phone out.

Robert stood at the same time, and he almost knocked her phone down,but he caught it and tucked it back into her hand gently.

"Sorry about that, Miss Bacardi." He said intentionally and left her angle.

The phone felt heavy on Bacardi's hands as she began texting Leonardo.

By now, there are ten dead gangsters on the ground from Crimson Cave. 

They're outnumbered, and that's probably why Bradshaw escaped.

But one thing's for sure, they're not leaving this forest unless they get their goods.

--

[Same Forest]

This part is another part entirely. There are no trees here, but there are rocks and shrubs, and behind one of the rocks, Hayden sat on the ground, and Moo knelt behind him.

His bloody shirt is off, and she has removed his back bullet, she's now bandaging it to minimize the flow of blood from the wound.

Hayden looks completely pale like he has no blood in his system at all, especially on the lips.

And as he sat there, different thoughts ran through his head.

He can't get Ivanna's asthma attack off his brain, and when Leonardo caught her. How he held her with his filthy, unholy hands.

He was cringing, and his body was crawling as he thought about it.

Where are they now? Where did he take her to? What is he doing to her?

When he couldn't take it anymore, he spranged up and started heading out, but he staggered on his own and sat back on another stone.

He feels too too powerless.

Moo stood from where she was, she threw down the remaining wrap of bandage she's holding before walking to him slowly.

It's normal for him to feel this weak cos he lost a lotta blood. The weekly poison they take drinks a lotta blood in their system, so if any bloody incident happens, and they lose too much blood, they'd feel weak to the core till they get replenishment.

"Let me tell you something, Hayden. In this life, you don't get to decide what you are sometimes. You don't get to choose," Moo said.

"I'm not ready for another one of your boring life lessons! Why didn't y'all tell me Vanna was now one of The Outfit? So this is the shock Bradshaw talked about? Y'all fooled me!" Hayden growled.

"No one fooled you!" Moo came close to yank his shoulder rigidly, using it to pull him close.

"We told you your girl was in the House Of Esposito with her siblings, and Brad was even kind enough to tell you about Ginny's death! If we had told you your girl and her brother Robert are now part of the mob, you wouldn't have harnessed your skills as much as you did so clear your head and get things straight here! She is your ENEMY! Ivanna and Robert Cooper are now your enemy! If you can't capture them away from Leo, then we'll kill them off!" She raged.

"Robert too? Robert is a part of the mob?" Hayden's chest broke, his hand went into his hair.

"Yes. When we went on a mission in the port, Robert killed one of our men. Don't even make me start talking about Ivanna herself. I feel like Leo is training that one by himself, cos she's kinda insane." Moo said sincerely, smiling.

Hayden went down, holding his head with two hands. He cried like a baby.

"Where did things go wrong? What exactly did we do? How did....how did we all end up like this?"

His cries increased, and he began hiccuping as tears poured.

Even in his kneeling position, he still staggered, and Moo quickly held him.

"Unless you get transfused, you'd never be able to function well so get your arse back to that stone you lovesick idiot!" She shouted.

Hayden looked up...

"Yes, I saw everything, how you threw down your gun after you saw the love of your life and how your movements were too slow to counter Leo's. I saw the technique you used too, you've been intentionally hiding it, right?" Moo glared.

Hayden grinded his jaws.

"You could have killed Leonardo on sight, but you had to throw down your gun. You failed to kill him with two bullets, but you still have one bullet, and he's still in this forest with his mob, so you better calm down, met me transfuse you then go find him before daybreak and kill him, cos if you return to the cave without his body, you'd really get f+ked in the ar$e!" Moo reminded.

Bradshaw jumped into the clearing, but instead of attacking Hayden as usual, he sat on the next rock.

Then the rest of the gangsters entered the clearing too. Most of them are wounded, and they got first-aid kits out of the rocks to start treating the serious wounds.

"Do I smell someone failing his mission already?" Bradshaw laughed. "I can't wait to witness how you get screwed in the ar$e. You'd be traumatized for life!"

After Bradshaw said that, his laughter stopped, and he took a cup of alcohol from one of the gangsters, drinking and looking at the time.

2am.

"Transfuse me, Moona" Hayden faced Moo, and Moo frowned slightly.

She snapped her fingers, and a small blood bag was brought.

According to protocol, once you join the gang, Monika makes sure your blood type becomes available, so they get transfused anywhere.

Moo checked the time as she started attaching the pipes to his body.

"By 2:30, I'll be done with the transfusion, then you can leave in search of Leo, but be careful.... One dangerous punch from him can send you into coma with this gunshot wound you have. Be very very careful" She said sternly.

The transfusion started.

--

[House Of Esposito, Penthouse]

Don Anthony wasn't able to pet Felicia to sleep no matter how much he tried, so he called Penny.

Penny came with Thaddeus.

Thaddeus and Anthony himself stayed in the gazebo while Penny stayed inside, trying to talk Felicia to sleep in the bedroom.

Penny looked at the gazebo through the window, and when she saw the two men chatting, she returned inside to Felicia.

"They're both immersed in their chats, for now." Penny said.

"I had to act on edge like that to make him call you. I'm seriously feeling intense pains from my fingers, it's not funny." Felicia said.

She removed her fake prosthetic fingers, and Penny gasped.

As a result of heat, the cut fingers flesh are starting to change color.

"Darn! You should go to the hospital for this shit! You can't keep it like this! Don Anthony might let his guard down around you, but you know Padrino Marko is sensitive. He'd probably sniff it out when he arrives next week." Penny said.

"I don't wanna confide in the estate doctor, and I don't wanna visit any city hospital. I don't trust doctors to not spill my secret." Felicia replied, opening fan air on the fingers.

"Dew Hospital, I'm tight friends with their oldest doctor, and that's why we were able to kill half of the admitted patients from the construction site accident. Tommorow at dusk, I'll come pick you up, and we'll go together." Penny said.

"Seriously?" Felicia blinked.

"Just find a buyable lie to tell to Don Anthony," Penny replied.

"That's the simplest part." Felicia replied quickly.

Meanwhile, in the gazebo, both men were drinking when the Budweiser bottle dried up, so they had to order for another bottle.

While they waited, they chatted.

"I heard you offended the Old Men just to please Felicia. You know after the brigadiers, the Old Men are next in line of lawmakers in this clan, right? You're not in good terms with Padrino Marko, meaning you're not in good terms with all the brigadiers including me, and now you're offending the Old Men? At this rate, you'd be made the Underboss, and your son will become the Don soon, bet it with me." Thaddeus said craftily, rolling weed.

"No one's taking the Don's seat away from my arse unless I die or decide to retire, stop saying stuffs." Anthony replied defensively, and Thaddeus laughed, so crisp.

"Next week after I get celebrated, I'm not sure if I'd still stick with you anymore, Anthony. Apart from the fact that you can't control your son, you also can't turn your wife down. One teardrop from her, you'll be at her feet. I won't stick with a simp like you." He said, still laughing.

It was Hilda who brought the new Budweiser bottle on a tray.

She placed it on her desk, picked the bottle and broke the seal.

She poured it in the glasses of the two men, then she left like she was never here, but her ears are at alert as she took slow steps to the exit.

"I get that Vera did you dirty, but worshipping Felicia cos of that fact? It's precarious, but what can I say? You never listen, and it benefits me!" Thaddeus shrugged sharply as he picked his cup.

"Why do you want the Cooper siblings dead?" Anthony asked cryptically, picking his own cup.

Thaddeus sighed and drank. "I'm never telling you that, I'll tell the story to Padrino Marko next week instead. He deserves it, not you."

"It's 2:10 now, I'm waiting to see if Leo comes back with the drugs at daybreak or if this is gonna be his first failed mission." He muttered.

--

[Hydra Forest, A Cabin]

Bacardi was right about the cabins in this godforsaken forest.

They're much, and Leonardo came across a bunch of them, but they're either dilapidated, burnt from past occurrence, or closed.

He went past five bad ones before he arrived in this one. He broke the door with his shoe.

It looks good except for the little cracks on the wall, but it's better.

Ivanna is still unconscious, and he just knows it's not because of the asthma anymore cos her breathings is balanced already.

This might be because of the shock of seeing Hayden in a enemy gang, or maybe the shock of seeing him get shot by Lissa.

It could be anyone, but Leonardo isn't trying to figure out anything.

He lay her on a clean hay inside the stuffed cabin.

Her eyes are still tightly closed.

The snowfall tonight is crazy, so the atmosphere is literally freezing.

With his lighter, he set fire on a bunch of firewood in the cabin corner, and the fire is burning bright, but even the heat from the fire doesn't seem to be warming her up.

She's not stirring, not moving. She doesn't even look like she's breathing, and he hates, hates, hates it.

Why is she not opening that mouth?

Why is she not glaring those eyes?

Why is she not displaying her boldness right now?

Why isn't she getting up to receive her bloody punishment for siding with the enemy?

His rumination was distorted when his phone made a low buzz.He pulled it out to see a text from Bacardi.

Cardi: You were right, the building was a fake, and they knowingly made us see it. They set traps, we lost two mobsters and some got injured, we're currently trying to treat them inside one of the cabins. Bradshaw escaped through a ground vault, no idea how that bastard did it, but I think this forest is deeper than we've been hearing, and they know it better than we do cos this is their home, beware of their traps. I think they still have more plans cos it's not daybreak yet, so be careful... The target is you and Ivanna, obviously.

Leonardo pocketed the phone after he read the tiring long text, and he turned on his heels, looking at Ivanna who's still unconscious like a log of wood on the ground.

The night is still f+kin long, so her unconsciousness is not making sense right now.

He went closer again, took off her black boots and touched her feet. 

They're cold.

He peeled his suit away from his body and covered her legs with it.

He waited two additional minutes, but she's still like a corpse on the hay, no movement at all.

With his lashes lowered and almost covering his eyes, his full thick brows scattered, and his hair sprawled all-over his face, he stared at her.

He checked the time.

2:40.

By calculation, if Monika and her gang are still gonna come for them, they'd get here in three minutes from now, so he drew close, again.

He placed two palms on her chest, pressing down twice—thrice—

Then, he held her nose with his right hand and opened her mouth with his second hand.

He slanted his tall figure to half, bending over her.

He tightened his jaws first, staring at her mouth for a second, then he opened his mouth too, going down.

His lips covered her lips.

TBC.

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