Chapter 72: Young Gods

▪ J A D E▪

About two hours later, I found myself being unchained and led to the large en-suite bathroom by two maids who had been instructed to help me get ready.

According to the middle-aged Mexican women, José wanted me to wear a nice flowy summer dress and they had pulled some out of the closet for me to choose from. They were all knee-length and sleeveless; the material was smooth and pleasing to the touch. Reluctantly, I settled on a white dress with matching nude-coloured flat sandals.

After taking a warm bath and soaking in a special mixture that left my skin especially soft, one of the maids dried and combed my purple hair, leaving it down to cascade about my shoulders, saying that the Cartel boss preferred it that way.

Once I was dressed and ready, I was led out of the bedroom by four heavily armed Mexican men, two walking in front of me and two behind.

I had decided that there was no use in attempting to escape, at least for the time being.

Especially since I had no idea where I was, or if I was even in the United States anymore. There was no telling how long I had been knocked out. I figured that if I behaved well enough, José would lose the restraints on the bed and may even allow me to wander about the property without an armed escort.

From the large and eloquently decorated hallway I was walking through, I could tell that the place we were in was a manor of some sorts.

The cameras in my bedroom as well as outside every doorway did not go unnoticed by me. From the big windows, I could only see green trees, there did not seem to be any other buildings nearby. With a slight frown, I could not help but wonder where in the world I was being held.

My thoughts were interrupted when I was eventually led to two large doors that opened up into a magnificent dining room which had a few armed bodyguards littered about.

There was also a lovely marble fireplace and crystal chandeliers that immediately drew a person's attention as soon as they entered the room. In the centre was a huge dining table that could seat at least twenty people.

It was there I noted Cristiano standing in front of the unlit fireplace, and as the doors opened, his head immediately turned to see who had entered.

Upon seeing his battered face, I gasped, "Holy shit! What happened to you?" I asked as I all but ran up to him.

Cristiano immediately engulfed me in a hug that momentarily lifted my feet off the ground, his voice strained as he said, "I thought you were dead."

Pulling back to get a better look at him, I cringed slightly at the state of his once handsome face. One of his eyes was almost swollen shut, there were bruises all over his cheeks, and both of his lips were split. When he spoke, I noticed that he seemed to be missing a tooth or two, more towards the back

on the left-hand side of his mouth.

"I'm alive, and clearly doing better than you are! Who the fuck did this to you?" I enquired, my brows creasing as my hands gently cupped both sides of his jaw, surveying the damage.

"Roberto," Cristiano replied, "he blames me for his brother's death, said that I'm a traitor."

"Well, you kind of are..." I teased him, hoping to lighten the mood on our dire predicament.

"Hey!" he said, feigning surprise and hurt.

"Well, you did choose the enemy," I pointed at myself as I continued to speak, "over your father and his organisation. José told me everything."

"Nice man, my father..." Cristiano commented sarcastically. Lifting a shoulder lightly, I replied, "Eh, he could be worse. He seemed impressed that you went against his orders to try and save me. Why the fuck

did you even come back if you managed to escape his grasp?"

Sighing, he went on to say, "Isn't it obvious why I came back? I came back to protect you! Rosita had called me, boasting that she was going to host a party from which Miguel would kidnap you. I met up with her at the diner to get all the details so that I could go to Dominic, but in the end, it was a trap. I didn't think she would use me as a lure to get to you."

My eyes widened at his confession, "Well it wasn't as if you had been keeping in contact with us! So of course, we were worried and came running at the opportunity to see you!"

"I'm sorry, I honestly thought what I was doing was the best thing for everyone..." Cristiano commented as he raised a hand to cup my cheek, his eyes focused on my split lip, "I can't believe that Blaire is dead. What the hell were you guys even thinking? Why did you guys not have your bodyguards with you? Fuck! This is all my fault!"

Turning my face so that I could nuzzle his palm, I briefly closed my eyes before smacking him on the upside of his head, my calm demeanour immediately changing at his last few words.

"Ouch!" Cristiano yelped as he rubbed where I hit him, "I'm already hurt, J! No need to add to it!"

"Like hell! I won't hesitate to bash the other side of your head in! You had us worried sick!" I replied, my voice raising, "We were without our bodyguards because of your stupid ass! We wanted to make sure that you were okay, so we set out to find you!"

"But why would you do that without Jee-min and the others? You could have easily brought them with you!" Cristiano countered, keeping his guard up in case, I took another swing at him.

Frowning slightly, I replied, "Yea well, I guess Dominic accepting me into his mafia had gone to my head and I was feeling pretty invincible for shooting that biker. My arrogance, coupled with the increase in security that had been stifling Blaire, made us go ahead with our insane little adventure.

We thought it would have been the perfect opportunity to just have some freedom, we didn't expect all that shit to go down..." my voice cracked and I had to pause for a moment before continuing, "She was pregnant you know."

His blue-green eyes widened as they immediately got teary, "She was? Shit!

I saw that she and James recently got engaged. I really wanted to be there, but I couldn't risk it, not after almost getting caught after your birthday."

I nodded my head in understanding.

"I'm sorry that I never replied to either of you, I was just trying to keep you guys safe, especially you, Jade. I'm so so so sorry..." Cristiano dropped to his knees and hugged my legs to him, resting his face against my thighs,

"Please forgive me!"

Sighing softly, I ran my fingers through his wavy light-brown hair, my own face solemn, "There's nothing to forgive. If there's anyone to blame, it would be me... I had a bad feeling about the trip and I ignored it. My

arrogance got the better of me."

"So, you don't hate me?" Cristiano asked, his voice unsteady.

"Hate you? Of course not! I mean sure, back at the diner; I did for a moment. But after hearing everything from José, I understood. You were in a difficult position, hell I don't even know what I would have done if I was in your situation. At the end of the day, you tried to do what you thought was best. I'm grateful that you wanted to keep us safe," I smiled down at him.

Even though I kept my emotions in check, on the inside I was tearing up. Just remembering Blaire's face as I held her dying body in my arms had my entire being tensing slightly as the guilt I felt threatened to consume me.

As much as Cristiano blamed himself, it really was all my fault. Given that I had only just recently woken up, I was still a bit loopy from the effects of the tranquiliser. Not to mention since I had not really had the

chance to be alone, I was unable to fully process everything that had happened at the diner.

It still felt surreal to me that Blaire was dead. Even so, I would be damned if I would lose my other best friend. With a firm resolve, I silently vowed to do whatever it took to get the both of us

out of here, alive! The sound of Cristiano's voice pulled me from my trance.

"I should have just gone to Dominic instead of trying to handle things on my own," he murmured against me.

A strangled laugh escaped my lips as I said, "I'm glad you didn't."

"How come?" Cristiano asked while looking up at me.

"You're joking, right? He'd have killed you," I said candidly.

Shrugging slightly, he went back to nuzzling my thighs, "I'm dead either

way..."

"Most definitely, if you don't get your hand off your future step-mother,"

José said, having entered without us realising.

Cristiano stood immediately, using his body as a shield in front of me,

"Step-mother? I'll kill you first before I let you lay a hand on her."

"See what I told you?" the Cartel boss smirked at me, "You've changed

him."

My hands came to rest on Cristiano's shoulders. I gently squeezed, trying to calm him down as I softly advised, "Don't do anything we'll regret."

"I'm sorry to break it to you, my son, but Jade will be mine. If you do anything stupid, I will take my wrath out on her. Likewise, if she tries to act out, I'll harm you." José walked over to the table and sat at the head, "You carry the fate of each other's lives in your own hands."

As the Mexican made himself comfortable, maids immediately entered and began placing various plates of food on the table.

José acted like a God, but little did he know that his reign was about to come to an end. It was time to make way for the new Gods, and I could not help the smirk that formed on my lips as I thought about it.

"I have a plan, but it's going to take some time, which means we shall be stuck here for a while," I whispered to Cristiano.

Knowing me all too well, he replied in a hushed tone, "I won't let you whore yourself out to save us."

"Hopefully we'll be able to escape before that happens," I smiled sadly then continued, trying to cheer us both up, "worst case I'll just close my eyes and pretend it's Dominic."

Before Cristiano could reply, José suddenly shouted at us.

"Stop whispering, you two! Come eat, you can plan your escape later," his voice was full of humour towards the end.

The nerve of this fucking man!