Chapter 76 I'm Getting My Revenge
Serena's POV
I have come to the point where I cannot be surprised by whatever this particular set of people do.
And this is one of them.
Nico had his head pointing out from the now open front door of the ambulance.
I didn't even want to argue with him again, I just wondered how I would get mom up and inside.
Like he was reading my mind, he yelled over again. “Get her in the stretcher and wheel her in.”
A sort of ladder protruded from the ambulance with a stretcher wheeling out.
I slowly pulled down the stretcher and set it up.
“Not this again,” mom groaned and I chuckled.
“Come on, it's just to get you in,” I replied and she brought herself down onto the stretcher.
Valentina helped to guide her onto it properly and we both pushed her up.
Mom weighed a ton and it wasn't the easiest task to get her up and in.
But we got it done and in record time if I may add.
The doors shut on their own and Nico sped off immediately with the siren blaring.
“Should I even bother asking why?” I yelled over to Nico.
“Needed to blend in,” he replied and I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic.
Blend in with a large coloured siren and an alarm on its head blaring wildly.
“Are you serious right now?” I asked, hoping he wasn't.
“The ambulance is a great cover, would draw less of the particular attention I'm trying to avoid,” he replied without taking his eyes off the road.
I was seated on the bench to the right of the ambulance while Valentina was directly opposite me.
Mom had gotten herself up to a sitting position and was staring at her leg.
“You feel any pain?” Valentina asked in her direction.
“No. Not really though, just slightly,” she replied. “But that's not why I'm staring at it.”
“Is everything alright?” I asked.
“Yes,” mom replied, “just that I'm wondering if I would ever be able to use my legs like I used to,” she replied with an underlying sad tone.
I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You will mom, just a bit of cardio and it would be like it never happened,” I said.
“Yes, Mrs Marceti. You won't even know you got shot before,” Valentina chimed in.
“I'm not a kid, I know when shit’s fucked up,” mom shot back.
Valentina then leaned forward. “Look, we'll assign the best physiotherapist to you. In two weeks, you'll be running a marathon in LA,” she remarked.
Mom chuckled at that and nodded.
I looked around as this was the first time I had ever been in an ambulance. It looked very techy and actually very neat.
Valentina leaned back into her chair and looked to be closing her eyes.
“Valentina,” I called out to her. “Is this going to be a long ride?” I asked.
Then she looked out the road through the front glass. “Not with the way he's driving anyway.”
Dante's POV
“180 billion. 180 billion dollars got wiped out by a few missile strikes and bunch of grown ups can't tell me why the fuck they let that happen!” I yelled for the fifth consecutive time.
I called together a meeting with the security officials we had in that perimeter the moment I left the penthouse.
I couldn't possibly take another minute of the ‘I don't know’ and ‘it won't happen again’.
I took a step towards the group as they just stared at me without saying a word.
“Have you all lost the ability to talk?!” I snapped at them.
“Don, I can't explain how it happened,” one said.
“Nonsense! Arrant, blatant nonsense,” I sparked. “You expect me to believe that?” I asked.
“Don—”
“Don't fucking Don me!” I screamed. “Do you know what a hundred and eighty billion dollars is?” I asked to no one in particular.
I reached out and grabbed one of them by the collar of his shirt. “Do you?!” I yelled, shaking him violently.
“No, I—” he tried to say but I cut him off by pushing him away.
“Do you?!” I yelled in another's direction, doing the same thing by grabbing his shirt collar and shaking him violently.
“No, Don—”
I cut him off again by pushing him away violently and this one went all the way to the ground.
“Of course none of you do!” I yelled, throwing my hands around.
“I built this shit brick by brick and I'm not going to let anyone's laziness or incompetence ruin my years of work!” I added.
The men kept silent all through, barely even moving their hands or legs.
“Don,” the man in charge of them all finally spoke up. “Look, I and the boys sincerely apologize for this. Truly, we would never let you down intentionally,” he explained.
“How does any of that get me money back?” I asked immediately.
“Don, the strike was carefully planned. I accept, Luca outsmarted us and took us by surprise,” he admitted.
“Of course he did. Luca, a frickin druggie outsmarted high profile men who have gone for wars and conquered wars. Is that not enough to get you ashamed? I blasted back.
“We had just counted in the shipments and locked them up to give you the normal report when we found out that you were out of town. We needed to pause the final process halfway and we weren't able to deploy men without your consent,” he explained.
I ran my hand through my hair. “Men or no men, our systems are too fucking good not to notice an incoming air strike,” I responded in a calmer tone.
“But it didn't,” he replied.
I shook my head. “It's either there's something you aren't telling me, or there's a mole among us,” I shot back.
“Neither of those exist, Don. It was just an oversight, we promise to work harder next time,” he replied.
I laughed, not out of humor one bit. I laughed dryly from frustration.
“You promise to what? Will your promise get me my fucking money back!” I yelled. “Of what exact use is your promise to me?”
“Don—”
I've had just about enough with this repeated pattern. I immediately pulled out my gun and flashed it at all of them.
They stepped back instinctively and ducked slightly out of fear.
“Now listen to me. I pay your bills, I pay your family bills, I put a rough over your heads and add food to your tables, I put value in your names and ensure your children are respected among others. And what do I ask from you? Is your loyalty too much to ask for?” I began.
“Don, we apologize. It will never happen again,” he said with his two hands in the air.
“Fuck that shit. I need to know where your loyalty lies,” I continued.
“We would never betray you, Don. You know it,” he replied.
“I need to be certain. I've got a task for you all,” I began.
“Anything, anything it is, we'll do. We'll prove our loyalty,” he quickly replied.
I nodded slowly. “Good. Now, prepare all the men under you. We are going to war.”