25 - Why

Federico's POV.

I'd been in a situation like this more times than I'd like. But never had I been as worried as I was right then. And the funniest thing was, it wasn't me I was worried about. It was Mia.

Almost reflexively, I moved so I was standing in front of her, covering as much of her body as I could with mine.

"I said, drop your fucking weapon, or this one here dies," the man threatened again, shaking the sobbing woman between them.

I shook my head. I did not give a fuck about that girl. All that mattered right then was Mia and getting her out of there safely. "Do I look like I care?" I said, pointing my gun firmly at the head of the one speaking. The only reason I hadn't shot him yet was because both the men in front of me were armed. Even if I managed to take one out, I wouldn't have enough time to take care of the other one before he shot me, or worse, Mia. I had to distract them somehow.

The man grunted, shoving the girl forward so she fell on her knees between us.

I took the moment of distraction and shot at the man who had been holding the girl straight on his head before quickly shooting the other one who had already fired a bullet, one that grazed my upper arm as I moved to the side, taking Mia with me.

Thankfully, the bullet I had fired had lodged itself into the man's shoulder, making him howl in pain.

I shot him in the head, too, before grabbing Mia's hand and running out of the room. The two men on the other side had probably heard what was going on and were quickly putting on their clothes while shouting in Russian. We had to get out of there soon before the two could catch us.

I pushed Mia up the stairs ahead of me when we reached them and she quickly climbed them up with me right behind her.

However, when she pushed the metallic door open and we entered the main area of the club, there was complete chaos everywhere.

The music had stopped and people were screaming their heads off, trying to get out as soon as possible.

It took me a moment but I was quick to realise that a gang war had broken out. I had no idea who the fight was between. Something like this was uncommon here, but not completely unheard of. It was precisely why I had sent some of my men here to protect Mia and my sister.

I grabbed Mia's hand who looked around wide-eyed, clearly shocked and confused at what was going on.

The closest thing to any form of shelter for us were the booths where a bunch of people were trying to take cover already. My gaze then landed on the second closest thing we could take shelter behind— the bar.

Covering as much of Mia's body as I could with my own, we made a run for the bar, quickly diving behind it to protect ourselves.

"What's happening?" Mia asked, slightly breathless as she looked up at me.

I shook my head. I had no idea either. But we had to get out of here. The authorities would've been informed already. It wouldn't do us any good if we got caught with weapons on us.

I peeked over the top of the bar, trying to see if we could somehow reach the main gate and leave.

But with bullets flying everywhere, it seemed next to impossible to do that, at least not safely. And where the fuck were my men?

Just then, my phone rang, and I quickly pulled it out, noticing it was Fabio.

I picked it up. "Boss, where are you?" He all but shouted into the phone.

"Behind the bar. What the fuck is going on here?"

"It's the Morettis, Boss. The Russian mafia has not paid them for their last shipment. When they found out the Russians have made a new hideout here, they came in here to destroy it," he explained, the sound of bullets being fired in both our backgrounds.

Fuck. It made sense because a newer hideout would be comparatively easier to destroy than a well-established one. There hadn't even been cameras in that basement just yet. But of all the bloody nights these idiots could've picked, did it have to be tonight?

"Boss?" Fabio's voice came on the line again, making me snap back into reality.

"I want all of you out of here before the authorities get here. No one should find out that anyone from our family was here tonight," I spat into the phone before hanging up.

All the members of the Russian mafia who had seen us tonight were dead. And when the Morettis had infiltrated the area, I had been in the basement, dealing with the Russians, which meant they didn't know I'd been here either. I'd much rather it stay that way. It was one less problem to deal with that way.

All we had to do now was get out of here unscathed.

I looked at Mia, who was staring at something in front of her.

I followed her gaze to a door a few feet away from us.

"Think that could lead us outside?" She asked me.

"Only one way to find out," I said to her before the two of us began to crawl towards the door, quickly opening it and walking inside.

It seemed to be a stock room of some sort for I could see cartons of liquor bottles in there.

It was a closed room, but it had a window high up on the far wall, barely large enough for us to get out of if we could reach it.

"Okay. I'm gonna give you a boost, and you're gonna open that window and get out," I told Mia, looking into her eyes to make sure she understood.

"And how exactly are you going to get up there after me?" She asked me, raising a brow.

I looked at the cartons around me. I could stack two of the packed cartons to jump up and catch the window sill. Then I can just pull myself up.

"I'll manage with these cartons. Don't worry, cara, you're not getting rid of me so easily," I told her, shooting her a wink.

I'd expected her to roll her eyes or say something sassy, but she simply stared right into my eyes and muttered, "Good, because I don't want to."

My brows raised at her words, and I was about to say something when the door behind us burst open and a man with a gun ready to shoot came barging in.

Before I realized what was happening, Mia had jumped in front of me to save me, and the bullet that would've lodged itself in my chest, hit her in her arm, making her scream as she fell back against me.

Without another thought, I shot the man between his eyes before quickly wrapping an arm around Mia to hold her close.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" I all but roared at her as I turned her around to examine her bleeding upper arm.

A bullet had grazed my left arm as well earlier but the wound wasn't deep enough to hurt much or be dangerous to me. But this, the bullet had lodged itself into her arm and she was bleeding profusely.

She grabbed her arm tightly in an effort to stop the bleeding, her fingers turning crimson within seconds.

I cursed under my breath, panicking internally as I looked at the pain on her face and the alarming rate at which she was losing blood.

"Why the fuck did you do that, dammit?" I roared again, pulling off my shirt in one swift motion, and tearing it apart. I tied the torn piece of cloth as tightly as I could around her wound, hoping to stop the bleeding.

"We need to get you out of here right now," I said to her, looking at the window again.

"I'll go up there first and pull you up since you clearly won't be able to do it on your own now," I said to her, the only thought on my mind was that I had to get her out of there and get her some medical attention as soon as possible.

She nodded at me, fighting through the pain like the queen I knew she was as she looked at me.

And I swear to God, she had never seemed as beautiful to me as she did right then, looking at me with pain and determination etched onto her features.