Till Death Do us Apart - Episode 57&58

 

TILL D£ATH DO US APART

Till Death Do us Apart - Episode 57&58

(The•Devil•I•Loved)

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Copyright © 2025

Naomi Cindy B.

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★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

With his fingers holding her nose and his lips covering hers, he blew oxygen as much as she could into her mouth, using the gentility he had no idea how he was able to conjure.

Maybe the breaths inside her isn't enough, so he added his own, trying to jerk her back to life.

His eyes went shut before he knew it, and his fingers on her nose plugged tighter. His lips nearly entered her mouth completely.

He blew air into her again, and he felt a slight—but—not—so—slight movement from her.

His eyes opened as he blew air for the third time, supplying oxygen harder than he has ever drawn for himself.

His lungs felt hungrily deflated, and Ivanna's eyes opened, slowly.

Feeling her movements, he raised his figure from hers, and their eyes met. It was brief, and for that little second, she stayed there, her eyes so drowsy like she lacked sleep, her lashes barely ready to part from each other.

But then...as his face stayed above hers, staring with a little softness at the corners, she blinked.

Slowly, then rapidly.

Her body lifted, and she pushed him by the chest as she sat up, standing up eventually.

"What were you doing to me?" She muttered, holding herself by the side.

Her voice still sounds a little weak, but at least there's life inside.

Standing, Leonardo lost the softness in the corner of his eyes, and he took his suit from where it laid on the ground. It's his favorite black suit with skull studs at the low polo spot.

"I did what I should to bring your empty-headed self back to consciousness. You won't get to choose your own death, that leaves you with just me as the chooser, and you sure know I'd never let you die a death as easy as asthmatic attack. Mum died of that, I'm not about to watch another one." He muttered, checking his wristwatch.

Somehow, it's still on his wrist despite the heat of the earlier fight.

"Don't act like you care about me that much, you'd be the happiest to see me die of asthma attack. The only reason you're keeping me alive is because you must over me." Ivanna muttered from her angle.

Her arm is down from her side now. She's standing on her own, slightly pale but at the same time strong enough to lift a healthy human.

Leonardo kept looking at his watch as he replied...

"Yeah, I'm keeping you alive cos soon, I want to hear you beg me to touch your p+xy, watch you beg me to eat it up, watch you beg me to get inside you, watch you willingly wrap your filthy mouth around my c+ck. Is that what you wanna hear?"

He finally looked up after saying the unfiltered words, and his eyes met hers again across the room.

Obviously, she's keeping her distance intentionally, and when their eyes mirrored, she felt rage burning in her own eyes, and Leonardo smiled.

Yeah. There. That look of defiance is back! The hateful, resentful look that he likes. It's fuckin back.

There's just something about when their eyes met. There's an unknown thrill behind it that he enjoys to the point that it sends jolts to his divk each time. She's a witch.

A full-blown one, and maybe he's the only one who knows, but her hateful eyes are s+y. A turn on.

His sick smile widened as their eyes kept locking, and as expected, she looked away first, then...

"Let me speak with Hayden for just one minute." She said.

"You're f+kin shameless to ask that favor after you threw his gun at him to shoot my face" Leonardo replied, his eyes returning to his watch.

One minute left.

"You were trying to hurt him! He's my boyfriend!" Ivanna shouted.

One step. Two step. Three step.

Leonardo was with her, and when he swung a slap to her right cheek, she staggered. Her lip corner bled.

"Ghost!" She gnarled, but he slapped her again. Second time.

Ivanna nearly fell.

"You thew a weapon to an enemy from Monika's gang during a fight, the so-called enemy being your lover is none of my damn business! If he had shot me with that gun, you think I'd still be here with you? And if I had died,you think you'd survive with your brother? You should in fact start thinking about the punishment you'd receive when we get back to the estate, start thinking!" He furiously growled, but Ivanna was only staring at one part of his body.

His hand—the wrist.

The wrist where he cut off Lissa's tattoo from, it's still bandaged, meaning the wound is still under.

Without warning, she grabbed the arm and brought it to her mouth, pressing her teeth on the wrist.

In just one second, blood soaked the bandage, and it dripped out to the dusty ground in drops.

Leonardo stood there, not making a move to shove her, but when he felt the foreign sensation, his brows ticked very fast.

Pain.

He's feeling it again on that wrist as her teeth cut through it.

Now, it's deeper than the one he felt when she stabbed her with the knife the other time. This one is more raw, more intense, more bloody.

He felt it deep inside his bones, and he released a guttural growl as his facial features rumpled.

His teeth clenched.

He didn't push her head away. Instead, he pushed her head closer to that wrist, encouraging her to bite harder and give him more pain.

And she did. She bit.

The two stinging slaps he gave her made her determination conc. She was determined to slice that wrist, so she attached her teeth harder.

His blood stained her teeth already, and it's leaking from her lip corners.

"Harder!!" He pushed her head, feeling so high, so turned on.

But his pleasure was interrupted when a bullet came flying into the cabin, ramming into the wall behind them with brutal force.

Ivanna looked up from his wrist with bloody lips and teeth, and the second gunshot roared immediately.

Whoever is shooting is definitely targeting Leonardo, cos the second bullet tore into the wall beside Leonardo again.

"Seems your lover boy is back!" He laughed, taking Ivanna's hand.

Forcefully, he pulled her to the only spare room in the cabin and shut the door, then he hid behind a table of rotten vegetables with her.

He made sure she stayed in the front, and he stayed behind, using her as his ultimate shield.

The gunshots multiplied, entering the doors, walls, grounds, even the ceilings. Bullet holes filled the cabin in a short minute, and Hayden finally jumped inside, holding a long gun.

Leonardo's blood on the ground from Ivanna's bite led the way for him. The blood trails took him to the spare room door which he opened with his boot. It fell on the vegetable table, and the two shattered.

Leonardo and Ivanna came to view, and Hayden's gun went down immediately.

"Ivanna!"

He tried to move, but Leonardo pulled her hair from behind, baring her neck before facing Hayden.

"I don't have to get a knife. My fingers are enough to dislocate her neck bone and drop her dead!"

"No!" Hayden dropped the gun, raising his two hands in the air.

"Just give her to me, and I swear you'll get your drugs back!" 

"She belongs to me, and the drugs are mine too. I see no reason why any of the two should be in your possession!" Leonardo spat.

Unknown to him, Hayden and Ivanna have been communicating with their eyes. Ivanna suddenly pulled herself roughly out of Leonardo's grip. As a result, some of her hair uprooted on his palm, but she didn't care.

As she went down, Hayden kicked the long gun to her.

She picked it up, and Leonardo almost bashed her head to the ground, but Hayden already pulled out the poisoned gun.

Leonardo recognized it as the gun from earlier. If Hayden is desperately trying to shoot him with the gun, then it must be brutally poisoned.

He picked one of the broken table flat woods, covering himself with it as Ivanna shot at him with the long gun.

The wood received the hit instead, and by the time Leonardo dropped the wood, Hayden and Ivanna were already out of the spare room.

When Leonardo stepped out to go after them, he met another person on the open cabin—a woman in a flowing blue dress and heavily dark eyelids,  thanks to mascara. She wore a veil which only left out her eyes.

Monika.

"Here to deliver the drugs yourself, Monika Crimson?" Leonardo boomed, the confidence under his voice so cemented.

Like a warlord who has no idea what losing means.

"You're as delusional as your mother, Leonardo," Monika muttered.

She smiled first, her fingers already slipping toward the capsule ring at her knuckle. The moment she moved, the air seemed to tear.

Leonardo was on her before fear could form, Fast Technical Movements collapsed the distance between them into nothing. 

His fingers brushed her wrist lightly—almost gentle.

The capsule cracked.

Her poison mist hissed uselessly into the wooden floor. 

Monika retaliated blindly, a blade flashing from under her veil, but she was always a second late.

Leonardo turned the blade on her instead, and blood bloomed on her own sleeve before she felt the cut.

She staggered back, eyes widening as she finally understood. 

Leonardo stood still, breathing calm, red staining his fingertips. 

By the time Monika looked down and saw the blood soaking her ribs, the fight was already over.

He actually cut her ribs too!

F+k!

But that wasn't as concerning as what fell from her.

Something fell from her veil—a small round locket—gold.

Leonardo saw the fear in her eyes immediately the locket fell, and he doesn't need a soothsayer to tell him how important it is to her.

They both sped to the locket at once, but Leonardo was faster.

He picked it up before her, pulling his gun to give her a shot in the shoulder, but she was already gone.

With heavy, hard breaths, Leonardo looked at the locket sitting on his palm, then he left the cabin, dialling Bacardi and Bobby's line on two different phones.

--

Hayden and Ivanna have been running in the forest for five minutes now, but it still seems they're not even getting anywhere.

Hayden isn't very familiar with the Hydra forest yet, and the pains from his back is also slowing him down.

The forest seemed to be whispering impossible to them, but they're both too deaf to listen as they ran to where they have no idea of.

Hayden already threw his phone away since it's the only thing he can be traced with, so he feels like they can take some rest.

They both stopped running under a tree, and their breaths collided as Hayden held her face, rubbing fondly like he's madly in love.

"How...how did...you...." Ivanna was even too overwhelmed to talk.

Hayden placed a finger on her lips, stopping her from further talks.

"I missed you," he breathed, caressing her cheeks.

"Me...too. me too baby." She sobbed, and Hayden let go of her face, but the moment he tried to pull her into a hug, another roar of gunshot separated them completely.

They fell sideways, each protecting himself from the hit, then a young boy entered the clearing with a long gun to his shoulder.

Tierney.

"Wow! Thank Satan I came!" He smiled trickily.

When the lovebirds regained their postures, Tierney smiled again, facing Hayden alone.

"Hey, remember the truck driver that was killed and you became a murderer cos of it? He was my granddad, and he worked for Ghost. Now that he's dead, I took his place, and now if you think you can leave with a member of The Outfit just like that, you're trippin'" he winked handsomely at Hayden.

Then, his fingers went into his mouth. He blew whistle.

Every remaining member of The Outfit appeared, surrounding the place completely.

Including Robert.

His eyes just widened when he saw Hayden, and his gun nearly fell from him. He had to hold his breaths, trying to process what's ongoing.

Hayden? Why? How?

"When I said she didn't deserve to be a member of The Outfit,I knew I wasn't wrong, now look... she's trying to elope with an enemy." Lissa smirked.

"I know, right? I wonder what her punishment is gonna be, or is Ghost gonna let her go this time too?" Island added, sneering.

"Ivanna..." Nino uttered.

Sandra was just neutral...

"Please tell me to shoot already!" Tierney shouted, aiming the long gun at Ivanna.

Hayden quickly covered Ivanna.

Then... Leonardo appeared with Bacardi and Bobby, each by his sides

"What's the punishment for siding with enemies again?" Bobby said.

"Whoever sides with the enemy gets stripped naked, tied to the ceiling spiral and stoned in the Sinners Assembly." Bacardi said freely.

She's looking at Robert as she said those words, and Robert gulped.

"It's 5am already, I bet today will be a interesting one." Bobby smiled, opening a small flagon of alcohol to drink from.

Leonardo snatched Robert's gun from him suddenly, and with that gun, he aimed at Hayden.

Hayden remembered he still has the poisoned gun, so he pulled it out too, pulling the trigger same time as Leonardo.

Leonardo's bullet hit Hayden's arm, but Hayden's poisoned one?

It whizzed past Leonardo,into the forest behind him.

"Hayden!" Ivanna gasped, his blood blooming, but it wasn't for long.

From the trunk of that tree, a ground vault opened, and Hayden was pulled inside as fast as air, leaving nothing but his blood on the ground.

Ivanna knelt there, lifting the ground door, but just like the one at the fake building, the space inside the vault is so small it can't even take a head.

How did it happen again? What sorcery are they using?

"Hayden! Hayden! Hayden!!!!!" She screamed, loudly.

"Shut the f+k up!!" Lissa and Island yelled at her from the back.

"Lock the sinner with chains, now!" Leonardo ordered.

The bag carriers among the mob threw thick heavy chains forward, and female mobsters went forward with it, chaining Ivanna.

Her wrists, waist, ankle.

Even as they chained, she kept calling for Hayden, and Robert's gun finally fell from him.

"Our goods?" Bobby asked.

"It'd come back before 6," Leonardo replied, looking at Monika's locket on his palm.

--

[Crimson Cave]

"What are you saying, Leader?" Bradshaw's eyes are wide as he stood in front of Monika... In her hall.

"Return the goods to a spot in the forest agd alert The Outfit mob. Let them take it!" Monika replied from her seat with an arm on the table.

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That arm is curled, and it's shaking with rage. Her first is rounded.

"We have plans with those goods! You said if we successfully got them into the underground hub, the price is as high as 100B. We have plans, we can't just let it go like that!" Bradshaw shouted.

Monika stood, flipped her table and stalked over to him, dragged his head tu the wall and blessed him with a terrible slam which made his eyes dwindle wildly.

"Leader..." He groaned, slumping and then scrambling back to his feet immediately.

Blood decorated a side of his face from the hit.

"I want my locket back!" Monika snapped.

He looked up, eyes wide.

"You lost your precious locket?"

"I want my locket back! Take the goods out to them and get me my locket back from Leo!!!" She yelled.

Bradshaw didn't argue again. He rushed out, gathered a sea of gangsters, and they started getting the goods, boxes into a large truck.

As they did, Moo came in with Hayden and the rest of the gang.

Hayden has two gunshot wounds at the moment, so his condition needs care before he'd be punished at all.

He was getting transported to the cave clinic when Moo saw what was going on with the goods.

"What are you doing! Where is the goods going!" She held Bradshaw.

"Leader's locket got into the hands of Leo, and to get it back, we have to let go of the goods!" Bradshaw replied with a glare that says he doesn't have time for Moo's nitpicking right now.

"What! Leader's locket?" Moo's eyes shadowed.

Bradshaw ignored her.

"And you think giving the goods back is going to make that bastard drop the locket?" Moo talked

"I don't care! I was told to send the goods back!" Bradshaw yelled.

"Mission ruined again. She got stabbed by Leo too, you should see her ribs. I bet if she doesn't get her locket back, she'd go crazy again, and if she gets it back, then we all better be ready to get imprisoned for a week with poisons in our mouths, especially Hayden." He said.

Moo rushed inside, not waiting to hear more news.

--

[8am, House Of Esposito]

The cars that took the mobsters started returning one by one.

Twenty-four cars left, twenty-four cars returned, and the trunks of all the cars are filled with their goods.

The goods were eventually returned by the gang cos of Monika's locket. Leonardo betted on it, and it actually happened.

After they chained Ivanna up and left that angle of the forest, they heard a crash on the other side where a shallow pond is, and they went there to meet their drug boxes intact beside the pond, then they transported it to the cars before starting their return journey.

But... Leonardo didn't drop the locket. He never planned to drop it. He could still feel it in his suit pocket as his own car drove into the estate.

Even before they arrived, Ivanna and Hayden's news already reached the clan, and the 200+ gangsters who didn't go for the mission were already clamouring, demanding proper punishment for her.

So far...twelve mobsters sided with the enemy since the establishment of this empire, and those twelve were given the proper stoning punishment, so their anger is justified.

Ivanna can't be pardoned.

As Ivanna was pushed out of the car with her chains dragging the ground from her ankles and wrists, she's not even looking at no one.

Her eyes look hopeless, and her hope is non-existent as she was dragged to the Sinners Assembly like that.

Robert and Nino followed the crowd of mobsters who're going after her.

"Nino!!" Island shouted, going after him immediately.

Lissa saw her parents in front of Don Anthony's Office, and she followed them immediately.

"So...the mission was successful, but there's an enemy supporter? Not a good sign." Thaddeus said.

"Hayden? Her boyfriend? Same person I sent my former secretary to, but the secretary was murdered and his body was delivered to the front of our company. I've always known he's not a saint, so he's a part of Crimson Cave? This keeps getting intriguing and engaging." Penny smiled.

Hilda emerged from her apartment, and when she saw the ongoing clamour, her eyes widened.

"Ivanna?" She ran after the angry  mob crowd too.

Bacardi, Bobby and Sandra stood with Leonardo beside his car as another batch of mobsters took the boxes of drugs into the truck that'd transport it to the warehouse.

Tierney was the last to come out of the car, and he stretched himself lazily, adjusting his beanie cap.

"Who's going to show me to my apartment, boss." He faced Leonardo.

"You don't get to open an apartment yet. You have a different job to do." Leonardo replied, his expression disappearing.

"A job?" Tierney blinked.

"You have someone to take care of." Leonardo replied with a straight soulless voice, signalling at Bobby.

"Tag along," Bobby said with a gum pop, stepping away.

Tierney rushed after him, leaving Sandra, Bacardi and Leonardo.

"Can you...temper justice with mercy?" Bacardi suddenly said.

Leonardo faced her, expressions are still all gone from his face.

"I know you don't even know what mercy is, and I know she did the abominable. According to the rules, she should be really stoned, but—"

"But nothing, Cardi. She's getting stoned, nothing is stopping it. Padrino Marko heard about it already." Leonardo replied.

"What!" Bacardi frowned.

"Thaddeus is now one of the brigadiers, trust him to turn himself to a Frontman and serve information to the Padrino back to back." Leonardo replied, leaving Bacardi in the general park.

Padrino isn't here, and he's already causing this much chaos? 

Bacardi slammed her fist into the car beside her, remembering the helpless look in Robert's eyes earlier.

"Shit..." She breathed shakily.

When she left, Sandra punched that same car window, then she drew in a breath, the thought of Island and Nino irking her to death!

She's at the verge of madness, and just a lil push will make her kill Sandra without minding her deep connection with Felicia.

Just a lil push.

--

[Sinners Assembly]

"Bitches get the judgment stones!"

"Only the stones!"

"Death comes next!"

"Let’s make an example—it's been a fuckin’ while!"

The chants of the mobsters rose—dark and eager. 

Bowls of stones were clutched in their hands as all eyes fixed on Ivanna who's standing at the center of the assembly.

Robert prayed silently, his throat tight. Beside him, Nino shook like a homeless child in winter, gripping a crusty pillar as if it were the only thing holding him upright.

Lissa and Island wore faint, unsettling smiles. They look the happiest in this building especially Lissa. She's snickering.

Behind their desks, Thaddeus and Penny looked satisfied.

When Anthony and Felicia entered, the hall fell into sudden silence. Don Anthony paused, scanning the crowd.

“What are you all waiting for?” he barked. "Put her on the ceiling spiral and start the stoning. Now!"

"Yes!!!" the mobsters roared, the sound shaking the entire hall.

Don Anthony snapped his fingers. Extra cameras flickered on—feeds connected directly to Padrino Marko’s surveillance in Italy. He was watching everything live.

The stripping began.

Female mobsters tore away the upper part of Ivanna’s gear. Thankfully, she was still wearing a bra.

Robert swallowed hard as bile rose in his throat. He searched the crowd desperately for Bacardi—but she wasn’t there.

Only Hilda stood nearby, trembling herself. Hilda was no help. 

No one was.

Realizing there was no hope left, Robert stepped out from the passageway. He was about to rush forward when a heavy, gripping presence burst into the assembly.

Leonardo—shirtless.

White slacks hung low on his defined, tan waist. His hair fell into his eyes, and his thick brows shadowed a gaze that never blinked as he walked to the center.

One look from him was enough. The women stripping Ivanna backed away immediately.

"I’m taking the stoning," Leonardo said.

At first, it sounded almost too soft to register, but as the seconds passed, the words echoed in every mind.

Taking the stoning—In Ivanna’s place.

"Leo!" Don Anthony stood.

"Leo, no!" Lissa cried.

"What the f+k???" Penny sprang to her feet.

"No… that can’t happen," Island muttered.

Thaddeus remained calm, his bald head gleaming under the red lights.

Nino and Robert stared, stunned.

Leonardo reached up and seized the spiral rope hanging from the ceiling. He wrapped it around his wrist.

The mechanism engaged. His arm was dragged upward, lifting his body off the ground until he hung suspended in the air.

Even Ivanna looked up now.

She was still covered, still safe—for the moment.

Shock rippled through the hall. Several mobsters dropped their bowls of stones, eyes widening by the second.

Leonardo stared straight into the cameras, making sure Padrino Marko was watching.

"If you don’t stone me," he spat, "and I walk away unwounded, I’ll stone every one of you myself."

Fear spread fast.

Thaddeus was the first to act.

He picked up a stone and hurled it. It struck Leonardo above the left brow, splitting his skin.

Blood spilled down his face—from brow to jaw, from jaw to chin.

Directly beneath him, the blood dripped and fell on Ivanna's brow, nearly crawling into her eye. It ran down her face, to her chin.

She didn’t blink. She didn’t move.

Her mouth fell open.

"Start the stoning!" Thaddeus shouted.

And then it began.

Hundreds of black stones flew toward Leonardo.

TBC.

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