Blood and Obsession

Blood and Obsession
POV: Damian

The echo of those words Isla said wouldn’t leave me. It rang in my skull like a bell struck too hard, over and over again until I could barely hear anything else.

Not even the slam of the door when I left or Mark's urgent footsteps as he guided me towards the car. Neither did I hear the sound of my own breath rising and falling heavily.

Isla shouldn’t know what happened five years ago. She couldn't know.

If she knew….

My grip on the steering wheel tightened as I drove through the city, Mark’s voice somewhere in the background updating me on the attack at the safe house.

But none of it mattered as much as the expression on her face when she spat those words at me. Could it be that she has known the truth all along?

Who the hell would even tell her?

Whoever had the guts to tell her I would kill them for opening their fucking mouth—but if she hates me for it, I’ll lose her forever.

That single weakness could ruin me, and it was one thing I would never accept. By the time we screeched into the safehouse, the air reeked of smoke and gunpowder.

The crimson scrawl of the jackal’s tag burned across one of the concrete walls, a challenge painted red. My men were already in formation, firing, taking cover behind trucks.

I stepped out of the car, loading my gun to join the fight. “Boss!” One of my men barked, relief and fear mingling in his voice.

The Jackals swarmed the safe house like feral dogs, screaming as they unloaded their guns and firing at every corner.m

“Push left flank! Barricade the south wall!” Barking orders at my men, voice sharp enough to cut through the storm. “Make sure none of them walks out of here alive. Make them regret breathing.”

They moved instantly and obeyed my command without hesitation. I lifted my gun and fired into the night, precise and merciless. 

One shot. Then two. Three, each bullet making its way inside different members of the crimson gang. I didn’t aim to spare any of them. I aimed to kill.

Some of the Jackals gang members screamed, some retreating and some rushing forward like rabid beasts. But none of them could stand the wrath of my rage.

I pushed forward like a shadow wearing flesh, shooting them down one by one. A man lunged at me with a knife, but I saw it in time. Without warning, I caught his wrist midair, twisting until his bone cracked loud as thunder.

Then pushed my blade into his throat. He dropped at my feet, choking on his own blood.

This…..this ruthless part of me Isla had never seen. The part I would never want her to see, because if she did—

She would never look at me the same way again.

I raised my gun at another one of the Jackal gang members, ready to end him. But then —

Her voice came again.

My hand instantly trembled against the trigger. But it was enough to distract me from what was happening. The face of the man blurred into hers….her eyes wide with the look of betrayal I had only imagined.

But now, I could see it clear as day. Isla is running away from me, not with fear of the man in front of her, but of me.

BANG!

The shot thundered across the air, pain rippling through my right hand as a bullet tore into my flesh and bone. 

I hit the ground instantly, my blood warm against the concrete floor as the gun clattered from my grip. He towered over me, his gun cocked and ready to shoot straight at my skull. So this was it.

Damian Cross.

I would die on the floor like a dog.

But before the shot landed—

BANG!

BANG!

Another shot exploded through the air. The Jackal’s head snapped back, blood spraying like rain as he collapsed beside me.

“Get up, Boss.” Mark’s voice cut through as he stood a few feet away from me, his gun smoking from the shots he just pulled.

I forced myself up, my useless hand trembling. Blood streamed down my sleeve, soaking into my shirt, but I ignored it.

The Jackals were retreating now, as though they knew it was over for all of them. But not before one of them, barely standing as he dragged his bloodied body against the wall and scrawled a message with what was left of him:

“We’ll take your precious wife next.”

I immediately lunged towards him, cracking his neck in one swift and brutal motion. “Find all of them!” I barked, nothing funny about the tone of my voice.“Hunt the rest down. Make their death slow and painful.”

“I need to go back to the mansion and make sure Isla is safe.”

Mark hesitated. “Boss…..your hand….”

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” I said. And without hesitation, I was already moving. The pain in my hand was getting worse, blood dripping and leaving a trail in its wake.

But I didn’t care.

I could only see her. Isla. All alone and vulnerable for them to take her. If they even dared to touch her—

I drove like a man possessed, one hand on the wheel, while the other pressed uselessly against my wound. 

My rage grew worse, but not from the blood loss. From something worse—the image of Isla is gone. Screaming as she is taken away from me.

By the time I tore into the mansion’s gates, I was no longer thinking. 

“ISLA!” 

My voice thundered through the room, raw and violent. The marble walls swallowed my echo as I stormed through, my boots dragging streaks of blood against the floor.

“ISLA!”

My heart hammered like it was about to break through my ribs. I kicked open door after door, the pain in my hand forgotten, replaced with a deeper fear.

And then—

She burst into the hall, her eyes wide with shock the moment she saw the gunshot wound.

“Damian….”

I must’ve looked like a monster, blood soaking through every inch of the fabric of my shirt. She rushed forward, her hands reaching for me with terror.

“Damian, you’re bleeding…..”

I tried to speak. To tell her anything, something—

But the world faded beneath me as I collapsed onto the floor. Her arms caught me, fragile but desperate.

“Wake up, Damian!” She sobbed, her voice breaking.

“Don’t you dare leave me—”

I wanted to answer, to tell her that I wouldn’t ever leave her. That I couldn’t.

But the darkness swallowed me whole.