Chapter 82: Guns And Machetes

▪ J A D E▪

The following morning when I woke up, I lazily stared at the ceiling,

continuing where my thoughts had left off a few hours before.

My heart felt so heavy knowing that today would be the last time I would

wake up in this room. The chatter of the voices had started to get louder

these past few days and I was happy that I would be attempting my escape

today. I did not know how many more days I could have held out before I

started to seriously spiral.

On the other hand, I also felt very conflicted.

If I was being honest with myself, a part of me wanted to stay. Deep down,

as insane as it seemed, I was enjoying my time with José. The sadist in me

was getting off on watching him struggle to remain in control.

Even though I was madly in love with Dominic and was missing him

terribly, I wanted the Cartel boss to fall for me. Then, I would use that very

love against José to destroy him as payback for all the pain and trouble he

had caused to those I cared for back in Aelbank City.

I wanted to make him suffer!

Admittedly, I wanted to stay with José so that I could watch the life drain

from his eyes, feel the slowing of his heart until it ceased to beat. He

deserved a slow death for all the things he had done, and the more I thought

about it, the more I could feel my anger rising.

Unfortunately, my time was up.

Of course, I did not want to leave Cristiano behind. Over these past weeks, I

had desperately tried to think of a scenario where the both of us could

escape together. However, my mind always seemed to come up blank where

that was concerned, which was odd as normally my thoughts were twisting

and turning, smothering me with their whispers.

"Fuck!" I suddenly shouted as my fist hit the bed, my eyes watering.

I silently hoped that Cristiano was right and that José would not kill him. It

was a gamble, but knowing how things worked in our line of business, the

Cartel boss' desire for a continued empire would thwart wanting to keep me

as a trophy. But even so, I knew the man would find a way to punish

Cristiano somehow, if only to ensure that his son remained loyal to him.

After a few more minutes, I forced myself to get out of bed.

With unhurried movements, I went into the bathroom and took a shower,

then changed into one of the black one-piece bathing suits that were in the

closet. I figured that it'd be easier to swim through the canal without having

to worry about the top falling off.

Taking up my usual towel and poolside things, I made my way innocently

downstairs as though it were any regular day. While my face held no real

emotion, on the inside, my heart was pounding, a mix of nerves and

excitement as I walked towards the back yard.

Roberto suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking my path as he said,

"Sorry your highness, but no pool today. We're leaving soon, so go eat some

breakfast then go upstairs and change."

Frowning slightly, I dropped my things on a nearby chair and made my way

to the kitchen. Taking my time to observe the surroundings, I noted a few

bodyguards walking about, their numbers seemingly fewer in the house

than usual.

It was obvious that everyone seemed busy and also a little on edge.

"What do we do now? They won't let us outside..." I whispered as I sat next

to Cristiano at the rounded table in the kitchen.

"I guess the plan just got slightly more complicated, but we'll make it

work," he replied before sipping on some juice.

"There seems to be less men on guard than usual," I commented as I

grabbed a piece of toast.

Cristiano nodded, "A few of the men went down to the basement and pool

house to pack, so at least we won't have as many guards to worry about in

the living room itself."

Wrinkling my nose a bit, I asked, "Why do I feel a but coming on?"

Laughing softly, he said, "There's none, we just need to get you through the

door and into the yard and you run for your life. The only problem is that

there are more men on the outside than usual since they're making trips to

and from the vans. But we can use their preoccupied hands against them as

they definitely won't be able to draw their guns as fast since they'll be

holding boxes and bags."

"Look at you, thinking of new exit strategies on the go," I teased him while

nibbling on my piece of toast.

When we finished eating, it was as though the Fuentes twin had been

watching us the whole time. As soon as we entered into the living room, he

was there waiting. Cristiano looked at me, his eyes signalling that it was

now or never as there was only one other man in the room at the time.

"I think I forgot something by the pool yesterday, can I go get it?" I asked

sweetly.

Shaking his head, he replied, "One of the men will go, I was left with strict

instructions that you need to get dressed by a certain time, so go!" Roberto

then pushed me towards the stairs.

"Did you forget what your boss said about anyone laying a hand on me?" I

challenged him.

"Too bad he's not here right now, I guess you'll just have to tell him you

tripped again," he grinned, as his eyes devoured my swimwear-clad body.

Placing my hands on my hips, I stood my ground as I kicked my sandals

off. I figured that if I could anger Roberto enough, he would most likely act

rashly and give me an opening to get past him so that I could run outside.

Though, if truth be told, I wanted him to attack me so that I could have an

excuse to hurt him.

Taking in my stance, Roberto laughed, "What is this? Am I supposed to be

intimidated because you put your hands on your hips and took off your flipflops? Although I must say that when you do that your breasts stick out

wonderfully."

"Gods, someone's village is clearly missing their idiot," I replied dryly.

The man's fists tightened at his sides as he ground his teeth, "Are you

insulting me?"

"No, I'm describing you!" I scoffed and continued to taunt him, "Pfft, I don't

know why José holds you in such high esteem, you're just as stupid as your

twin brother, who by now I'm sure is dead and scattered in a ditch

somewhere."

"Why you bitch!" Roberto snarled, as pulled his gun on me.

At the mention of his dead brother, he lost control. His hand shook slightly

as he pointed his weapon in my face. Even though Roberto knew that no

one was allowed to harm me, it was clear from the look on his face that he

was beginning to feel like the punishment would be worth it. After all, he

could always lie and say that he shot me during a struggle as I was trying to

escape.

It would not be a complete lie.

In that moment, Cristiano took the opportunity to lunge at the other guard

who was busy focusing on me. He successfully knocked the man over and

proceeded to try and wrestle his gun from him.

Realising that we were indeed trying to escape, Roberto grinned as he now

had an excuse to really shoot me. His dark eyes narrowed and his nose

flared as he flexed his grip on the firearm. With his gun in his right hand, he

lowered the weapon and aimed it at my chest.

Due to my years of training, I was able to react quickly.

Using my left hand to firmly grip at the barrel of the gun, I pushed it away

from my body while side-stepping out of the weapon's line of fire. With my

right hand, I concurrently moved to deliver a properly executed fingertip

strike to Roberto's exposed throat.

His eyes widened in shock at how fast everything happened as he had been

unable to react in time.

The hit instantly caused Roberto to have laryngeal spasms, weakening his

hold on the gun as he suddenly found it very hard to breathe. I could have

easily hit him differently and crushed his larynx or damaged his hyoid bone,

which would immediately close his air passage, making his death quicker.

Unfortunately for him, I had other plans.

Pulling the gun out of his grasp completely, I quickly dismantled the

weapon in one smooth movement before resuming my attack on Roberto.

As the Mexican clutched at his throat, gasping for air, I grabbed the 10"

Jungle Bowie Machete from his waist and did not hesitate to stab him in the

back, missing his heart on purpose.

The Fuentes twin fell to the floor on his knees, coughing, choking, trying

desperately to breathe as he slowly began to drown in his own blood. A

small smile tugged at my lips as I watched the life slowly leave his eyes.

I wished that I had more time, to properly torture him.

Looking over at Cristiano, I noted that he had subdued the guard and

knocked him out. Everything happened in a matter of seconds and in that

moment, two other armed guards entered the room.

"Now, Jade!" Cristiano shouted as he fired the rifle and killed the two men.

The sound of the gun firing would no doubt alert the rest of the guards in

the house. I switched the Machete to my left hand while using my right

hand to pull the spare gun from Roberto's dying body.

In a mad dash, I glanced at the clock on the wall before hurrying through

the living room door that led out into the backyard. It was around 10am and

the morning sun kissed my skin as I began running across the wellmaintained lawn. Holding the gun firmly, my bare feet made no sound as I

sprinted past the pool across the grass.

"Stop!" one of the guards shouted as he fumbled with his gun.

He fired one shot in my direction, missing me on purpose, hoping to scare

me into stopping. Slowing down, I abruptly halted so that I could face him.

The guard seemed relieved, thinking that I had indeed given up. Before he

realised what was happening, I threw the Machete at him, impaling him

square in the chest before I resumed running.

The canal was right in front of me, only a few feet left.

Situated to my right, four other men came out of the pool house, dropped

their bags and groped to aim their own weapons at me, firing, but missing

intentionally. The guards had strict orders not to harm me, and it was clear

that they had hoped I would have gotten flustered and stopped running

when they started shooting, for fear of getting hit.

Needless to say, my only thought was making it to the canal.

I did not care if I got shot in the process, I just kept running. For a brief

moment, I stopped once more, this time to raise my gun and fire at the men.

I managed to hit them, one after the other, one in the head, two in the neck

and the other in the shoulder.

The guard whom I had shot in the shoulder was Felipe.

It was obvious that I had spared his life. Even though he had tried to heavily

flirt with me when no one was looking, he had always been kind, and I felt

like he did not deserve to die, at least not by my hand.

In the distance, I could hear Cristiano shouting at me to keep going, his

voice causing the adrenaline to rush even more as I worried about him

getting shot.

Simultaneously, two men appeared in front of me. They had been patrolling

the canal, and I noticed too late that they had their weapons pointed right at

me. Before I could properly aim at them, I saw them all fall to the ground as

Cristiano shot them.

With my path cleared, I dropped the gun then dived off the edge of the

property. However, just before I could disappear under the murky water, I

felt the painful burn of a bullet piercing my body.

Shit that hurt...