Chapter 49

Chapter 49
Sebastian

Everything around us goes silent. My father’s men lay all around us, and when I glance at them, hate churns in my stomach at the familiar faces I see. Men who had sworn loyalty to my grandfather now lay dead because they chose to follow my father. I don't feel an ounce of guilt for taking their lives. The silence is broken by a loud clap coming from the direction straight ahead of us. 

“Very impressive.” My father’s voice sends an unwanted chill down my spine as he steps into view. 

His smile is proud and wicked. He looks as if he thinks he has won. Like he is holding all the cards, and we have just walked into his web. 

“I should have known that you would come here ready to take me down, but you-“ A loud shot rings out, and I see my father’s eyes widen for a split second. 

Blood starts to run down between his eyes from the single shot to his head before his body slumps to the floor. 

“Fuck.” I turn to look at who might have shot him and realize everyone is looking at Willa.

Her arm is still high with her gun pointing at where my father was standing. She slowly lowers it as we all gawk at her. 

“Uh, Willa?” Luke asks. 

She doesn’t seem to hear him right away. Her eyes stay fixed straight ahead as if she’s in some sort of trance. Luke moves into her line of sight and cups her face with his hands. Her eyes blink and focus on him.

“Hey, baby, it’s okay.” She lets out a shaky breath, but her shock doesn’t last long. “What happened?” 

“He’s not some villain in a movie. I didn’t want to hear whatever cocky speech he had prepared. He was stupid enough to come alone. But we don’t need him to find my family.” Her eyes move to me. “Do you know where he might be holding them?”

I nod. My father thought he was untouchable and no doubt used the same room my grandfather used for handling our messier business. 

“Follow me, but stay alert. There are most likely more men who will head our way after hearing the shots.” I say, stepping over the body of one of my father’s men. 

The others start to follow, but I stop to look down at my father’s unmoving body. His eyes are wide but blank. I had dreamt about seeing him like this so many times, and I’m a little sad I wasn’t the one to shoot him. Either way, he got what he had coming to him. Willa just didn’t have the patience, and I can’t blame her. I step over my father’s body and continue down the path in front of us. I can hear the others following me and the low murmurs of someone talking to Willa. She might be in shock right now and isn’t feeling the full weight of what she’s just done, but it might hit her later. We need to be ready for the fallout when it comes. 

There is a shit ton of things we’ll need to deal with, but Willa will always come first. 

A few minutes down the path, and I see the small building where her family is most likely being held. It looks like a small storage building, but once you open the door, it’s an empty room with a set of cement stairs that lead down to a metal reinforced door. We’re about twenty feet away when I hear the sound of footsteps coming from either side. Several of my father’s men step into view, and I hear the sound of everyone pulling out their weapons. 

One of the men yells at us in Italian. He’s new. Most of my grandfather’s men had learned English when they moved here, and only spoke in Italian when they needed to talk business around outsiders. 

“My father is dead!” I call out to them. “And you are outnumbered. Lay your guns down, or we’ll kill you where you stand. Swear your loyalty to us or you won’t be leaving here alive. Choose now.” 

My Italian is weak, I’ll admit, but by the way fear is growing in their eyes, I think they understood me just fine. 

“Lower your weapons now!” Willa calls out before appearing next to me with her gun drawn. 

Then she takes a step past me, and even though everything in my body is urging me to grab her and push her behind me, I don’t. Neither do the others. Instead, every man with us is standing just behind her, ready to fire on her command. 

My father’s men glance at each other and slowly lower their weapons. They hold their hands up in surrender. 

“Grab them. Hold them for now. We can deal with them later.” Willa says before holstering her gun and looking at me. “Lead the way.” 

I look down at her and smirk. “That was hot.” 

She returns with a smirk of her own and then tilts her head in the direction of the shed. “Shall we?” 

Several of the men we brought with us pull my father’s men to the side, and I move to the door of the building. I pull the door open and descend the stairs. The metal door is locked by a retinal and thumb scanner. I go through the scans and hear the clank of the door unlocking. I pull it open and turn slightly to take Willa’s hand. She tightens hers around mine, and we head down a long hallway. There are several doors on either side, but the one at the end of the hall is where we’re going. When we reach it, there is another set of scanners. 

The door unlocks, and Willa doesn’t wait for me. She pulls the door open and rushes inside. She lets out a whimper and runs over to the crowd of bodies at the far side of the room. They aren’t moving, but I don’t see any clear signs that they’re dead. Luke is the next to rush toward them and quickly starts removing the blindfolds from each member of Willa’s family. There is a small child sitting between two large men, and I move forward to take his blind fold off. Lan and Maxim join us until we are staring at the blurry eyes of Willa’s family. 

“Dad! Mom!” Willa takes out their gags and pulls them close. 

“Willa! Oh my god, you’re alright.” Willa releases them and moves behind them to untie their restraints. 

“I’m fine, Mom. We all are.” As soon as her mom’s hands are free, she’s pulled into a hug. 
One of her dads wraps his arms around them both. As each member of her family is released, they start to surround her. Her brothers rush over and are enveloped in the arms of their family. There is a garble of cries and reassuring words, and love. The guys and I stand back and watch the reunion with smiles on our faces. Willa was back with her family, and for now, that was enough.