Chapter 25

"Target is down. I repeat, target is down," Marcel heard as he turned to look a Nyasha.

The sound of feet moving away from the car allowed him the freedom to move.

A bullet had pierced her chest, and a lot of blood was coming out. Broken glass was everywhere as he assessed the damage of their car. It had flipped over several times, but he was not in the least bit worried about their son. Mario was still safe and secure in his seat. Unfastening his belt, he slowly moved, making sure that nothing was broken before he turned to her, grabbing the baby blanket to stop the bleeding.

The sound of several cars approaching had him reaching for his gun in case it was the enemy.

"Are you sure she is dead?" The man asked his partner.

A loud shot rang out just as Marcel fired his gun, killing one of the men instantly. But nothing could stop the bullet that hit Nyasha's chest. Before the man could run for it, Marcel shot him down as other feet shuffled towards them. Getting ready to take whoever it was down, he sighed in relief as he saw Alexis. She took over seeing to Nyasha whilst he paid attention to Mario.

An ambulance had already arrived as they pulled the door open before quickly placing her in the vehicle.

Upon arrival at the hospital, he found his family there already but no sign of her family. It was only after a few minutes of pacing and threatening several doctors did Neil and her papa arrive. Tariro clearly had been crying, but now only anger replaced her pain.

Marcel's POV

Though the surgery was a success, Nyasha didn't wake up as expected. For three days, no one left the hospital. Everyone ate, bathed, and slept there. Her brother constantly on the phone, murmuring something to her father here and there. My son never left my arms. I had promised her to take care of him even when I was barking orders to my men.

Whoever had attacked us wanted us separated really badly, and it seems they had almost succeeded.

She looked so small and fragile in the hospital bed. Numerous tubes and cables were attached to her, supplying her with medication, sustenance, and monitoring her vitals. I never thought I would see her in such a state. She was my equal, thus strong and powerful. Powerful people like her, like me, were never meant for such. The person responsible for this will surely pay, I vowed with vengeance as I looked at our sleeping son.

Days turned into a week and still no response, which baffled the doctors. I had to force my family to leave but gave Mario to Tariro. For it would be unsuitable to bring a child along to do what I intended to do.

----

"Max, stay with her. No one comes in here, except for Alexis. Now one else," I ordered my most trusted men. "Not even my family," I added as he looked at me in confusion.

Getting into my car, I called one of the boys I had sent to watch over the delivery boy.

"Bring the boy to me," I told him, hanging up before he could respond.

Walking into the house, I was greeted by silence. I would rather be greeted by Nyasha's angry scowl at my being late or the cries of my son, but no, there was no such thing as a sound of life. Heading to our room, I freshened up, changing my clothes for a back suit and white shirt.

Walking into the living room, I found two of my boys watching over the delivery boy.

"We can discuss the matter at hand like civilized human beings or like animals. I would pick civilized because we both know you don't want to see the beast inside of me," I said in a clear and cool tone.

"Mr. Martinez. How may I be of assistance?" The boy responded, trying to hide his fear.

"The package you delivered to my office. Yes, you don't have any details, but I hear you received a generous tip in your personal account. Now give me what I want."

"I don't know what you are talking about, sir," the boy said, avoiding my gaze.

Releasing a long sigh, I tilted my head to the side as I looked at the boy.

The screams of pain filled the room in an instant as I tucked my gun away. 

"I told you we could be civilized," I said, catching my men's look of astonishment. They least expected me to simply shoot the idiot there and then.

"Now look what you did. You ruined my wife's favorite couch. Let's strike a deal," I said, crouching down in front of the boy as he cried. "Ssshh, ssshh, I need to hear myself think over our deal," I said, placing a finger over my lips in a silencing motion.

The boy bit his lip, trying to stop himself from making a sound.

"Good," I said, shrugging off my jacket as two other men came in with a body bag.

"Now let's do this again," I said, rolling up my sleeves and putting on some gloves.

"You were given some money by who knows who. And you know what I want from you. Will you give me the digits or do I have to rip them out of you?"

"Please, sir. I can't, they will kill me," he begged.

"The boy is worried about them killing him. What more of what I will do to him," I chuckled to myself looking around the room. None of the men showed any emotion. They all stood alert.

Taking his hand, I took out my favorite blade.

"A gift from my wife," I said. "And she will taste your blood first," I said as sweat trickled down the boy’s face.

"Tell me what I want to know," I growled, cutting off a finger in the process. "And don't forget I need to hear myself think over our deal," I said, shutting him up instantly from his screams of pain.

"Please," he breathed out, looking at his bleeding hand.

"Do you know how it feels to put salt over a wound?" I asked him as he looked at me in horror. "Good," I smiled just as I was handed a small bag of salt.

"The account number," I said opening I the bag. "Keep in mind I am going very, very easy on you. You are, after all, just a pawn," I said.

"55087..." He blurted out just as I was about to pour some salt over his bullet wound.

"That's a good boy," I smirked as one of my men took note of the number.

Standing up, I looked at my ruined shirt. 

"My wife is going to give me an earful, she loves this shirt," I said, looking at the young man, who looked somewhat relieved that he was going to live.

"You know what I just remembered?" I smiled, taking my gun out as his eyes widened. "We never made any deal," I said, shooting him right between the eyes. "Burn him, get the slug, and melt it," I told the clean-up crew.

----

Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my muscles looking at the sorry state of the men in front of me. Red is all I saw. His shirt was now red, his face a bloody mess, even my clothes were soiled in his blood. 

"Who do you work for?" I growled, taking his hand. But the fool remained silent.

I smirked, dragging the idiot to a chair, placing a table in front of him.

"Very well," I said as I grabbed a hammer and five nails.

"Tell me who you work for, Vlad," I whispered.

"Go screw yourself," he spat, literally spitting his bloodied saliva in my face. 

Wiping it off, I smiled. 

"I love that idea very much," I said. "Get me a drill and some screws," I ordered one of the men.

"In the meantime, why don't we just keep you in place," I said as one of my man held out his arm for me to do what I intended. "Fingers are such sensitive little buggers," I said as I nailed his pointer to the table. "Many nerves are available, and I am sure the pain is driving your crazy this very minute," I said, nailing another to the table. "The thing about pain is that it is all in your head, nerves just transmit the message to your brain that you are in pain," I said as I nailed all his fingers to the table just as the drill arrived.

"Now you mentioned something about screwing. If my wife was around, I am sure she would tell you how much she loves our screwing around," I said as I turned the machine on. "Well, that is, in the sense you mentioned earlier, but right now, I think you and I can get better acquainted before you tell me who you are working for."

Screwing his hand to the table, I laughed as the man cried for his mother of all people at a time like this.

"I don't know who they are, but it was a woman," he said. "She mentioned something about you being stolen from her," he yelled as he tried to catch his breath.

"Now, was that so hard?" I said, going to stand behind the idiot.

"You did good, Vlad," I said, winding the cable around his neck as his face slowly turned purple.

------

The following day The loud beeping of the machines woke me from my slumber as I looked at Nyasha. She was clearly having a nightmare from her reaction as I tried to hold her down. A doctor rushed into the room with a nurse who held a tray bearing a sedative.

"Nyasha!" Marcel yelled to gain her attention before they injected her, making her snap her eyes open.

"Get me the dragon head," she said just before they gave her the sedative.

As she relaxed, the doctor checked her vitals, pleased with what he saw.

"Let her rest," he simply said as I nodded in agreement.

Calling Neil, I asked him one question.

"Why does she want the yakuza here?" making the other man chuckle as he hung up, leaving me perplexed.

I sat beside her, pulling up the image of the web we had created all those late nights we stayed up creating links and connections over who would try harm either one of us. The list was endless, but each man would rather use other means to gain revenge rather than separating us.

Separating us would mean dissolving the power we both had combined. 

If Debra was behind this, she only wanted me, why try to murder the mother of my son?

A light tap on the door gained my attention as I stood up, heading for the door. One hand on the handle, the other on my gun, I opened it to find a small Asian woman wearing a smile standing by the door.

"You must be Marcellus. Pleasure to finally meet you. Please excuse me," she said, walking into the room without another word, heading straight towards my wife. Leaning towards her ear, she whispered something into Nyasha's ear before standing up straight.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Forgive my manners. My name is Kimberly Lee," she said.

"Lee. Your father is..."

"Yes, the head of the yakuza. The dragon head. Now, I understand Nyasha asked for me."

"No, no, she asked for your papa."

Kim simply smiled before asking her own question.

"Did she not ask for the dragon head?"

"Yes. But...I thought that...It can't be...You mean to tell me everyone is afraid of a little girl," I chuckled but stopped once Kim wiped off the smile on her face.

"If not for your wife, you would be eating your words, Marcellus," she said in a cold tone just as Nyasha opened her eyes.

"I see you two have met," she whispered.

"Yes, we have," Kim said in a hard tone.

"Stop sulking, you will get wrinkles faster," Nyasha murmured as we both looked at her seeing her wearing an amused smile.

Kim was the first one to laugh as she gently hugged her friend before I greeted my wife properly.

"Don't ever do that to me again or I swear..." I growled into her ear, feeling her body shudder beneath mine. 

"What will you do?" She dared ask before I kissed her gently. 

"First, I would take off your clothes and then...," I whispered, licking her earlobe just as her heart monitor began to beep, making me smile as she smiled in embarrassment. "Hmmm. Later I guess," I whispered since we had a guest.

"Do you have any idea the amount of trouble you have brewed through your marriage?" Kim asked, taking a seat by her side on the bed.

"Who have we insulted?" Nyasha asked in a bored tone.

"Word on the street is that someone is not happy with your marriage. I presume that is why you asked me over to help you track down the idiot," Kim said.

"Well, that and for us to catch up. It's been a while since we girls had a get-together. Speaking of girls, where is my sister-in-law?"

"Probably giving your brother an earful after he refused for her to stay here," Marcel smirked.

Both ladies burst into laughter, which quickly died as Nyasha winced in pain.

"Baby, could you please leave us for a bit, and please tell Tariro to come in," Nyasha asked.

I was about to protest, but her eyes told me everything. She wouldn't be long.

As I opened the door, I found Tariro and Neil in a heated argument, which quickly turned into something else as she whispered something into his ear, which clearly had him in a daze as she slipped out of his arms, smiling in triumph.

"Neil," I said, shoving my hands into my pocket.

"Marcel," he acknowledged as he watched his wife disappear behind the door.

"We are in trouble, right?"

"Those three do not make trouble, they manufacture chaos," Neil said, looking worried. "Theo meet Marcel, Nyasha's husband. Marcel, Theo, Kim's husband," Neil pulling out his phone to inform their papa that Nyasha was awake.