Chapter 44 Alexander's pov

Chapter 44 Alexander's pov
Bang!

The sound of the gunshot filled the café , I slowly opened my eyes but I felt a sharp pain in my right arm. I looked down to see blood slowly spreading over my shirt. I quickly put pressure on it . Thank God the bullet only grazed me and not actually penetrated my arm .

"Fuck!" I muttered

Every thought of Ethan flew out of the window. I didn't want him to get hurt because of me again.

"Ok, it seems you took that well" uncle Joe's voice brought me back to reality from the world of pain. "So You're going to sign the damn papers."

"I won't sign anything." I groaned, the pain in my arm wasn't doing any good to my current situation.

"Maybe I should just make your pathetic Father will everything to me. Why didn't I think of that before." He said.

One of the ugly guards rushed in and whispered something into uncle Joe's ears. And his smile broadened.
"Or I could just kill your boy toy. What do you say about that?"
He raised his head and nodded towards his guard. I turned to look and my heart stopped. It stopped and dropped to my stomach 

What the hell, I muttered to myself.

My vision tunneled as my eyes locked onto the figure being shoved forward by one of my uncle’s men.

Ethan.
What the hell is he doing ?

For half a second, my brain refused to accept it. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t part of the plan. He was meant to stay hidden, meant to stay out of sight unless everything went completely wrong.

And yet,there he was.

His hands were raised above his head. His jaw was set in that familiar way, eyes looked calm and unyielding even with a gun pressed brutally against his temple.

My chest constricted so hard I thought I might actually stop breathing for real.

I opened my mouth and shut it because I didn't want to say something that might jeopardize everything.

Ethan’s gaze flicked to mine for the briefest moment. Just a second. Long enough for something hot and violent to tear through my chest. There was no fear there. No panic.

That somehow made it worse.

One of my uncle’s men grabbed the girl behind the counter roughly by the arm. She squeaked in surprise, coffee cup shattering against the tiled floor.

“Out,” he snapped. “Now.”

“But...I didn’t...”

He didn’t let her finish. He dragged her toward the back door, her shoes slipping on the tiles, her protests dissolving into frightened silence as the door slammed shut behind her.

The cafe was quite.

My uncle had this look of satisfiaction written all over his face.

“Well,” Uncle Joe said pleasantly, leaning back in his chair as if we were discussing the weather. “This makes things much simpler, doesn’t it?”

The guard pressed the gun harder into Ethan’s head. My fingers curled into fists beneath the table, nails biting into my palms. The pain in my arm reminding me my Uncle is a lunatic.

I forced myself to breathe slow and steady

“You see, Alex,” my uncle continued, folding his hands together. “I was beginning to think you didn’t care enough about anything for this to work. But people always have a weakness. They just like to pretend they don’t, and that's what give them away.”

His eyes flicked to Ethan.

“And you,” he said, addressing him directly now, “are a very expensive weakness.”

Ethan didn’t respond or even blink. I hoped he had a plan before coming in here.

My uncle sighed dramatically. “Such a shame. I was hoping you’d make this easy.”

The gun shifted slightly.

“Don’t,” I said, my voice coming out hoarse despite my effort to keep it steady."please don't"

Uncle Joe smiled wider. “Don’t what?”

I swallowed hard. The pain in my arm pulsed viciously, but it barely registered compared to the cold terror clawing through me.

“Don’t shoot him,” I said. 

“Oh, Alex,” my uncle tutted. “I already shot you. Once you cross that line, it really loses its thrill.”

He waved a hand lazily. “But don’t worry. I won’t kill him. Not yet.”

The guard holding Ethan tensed.

“Lower it,” Uncle Joe said.

The gun didn’t move.

“I said,” Uncle Joe repeated calmly, “lower it.”

The guard obeyed, though he kept the weapon close enough that one twitch would end everything.

Uncle Joe turned back to me. “You see? Reasonable. I am nothing if not reasonable.”

My hand trembled as I reached for the papers.

I didn’t look at Ethan again. I couldn’t afford to.

The pen felt heavy than In my hand, slick in my fingers. My name stared back at me from the page bold, Like it was mocking me or something.

Sign here.

Sign away your father’s legacy.

Sign away everything. The truth was, I would rather sign my shares away than see Ethan gets hurt again.

My uncle leaned forward. “Go on.”

I lowered the pen.

I saw Ethan shifted from the corner of my eyes.

"You don't have to...”

“Don’t,” I said quickly, finally looking at him. “Please.”

Something dark flashed in his eyes, anger, fear, helplessness and don't know which but something was definitely there.

My chest burned. I brought the pen down to the paper slowly. The moment the tip touched the first page, The glass door exploded inward.

A sharp, deafening crack tore through the café as something punched straight through the air.

The guard holding Ethan jerked violently and for a fraction of a second, his expression froze in stunned confusion, Then his head snapped sideways. Blood sprayed the wall, as his body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Ethan hit the floor hard, rolling instinctively as chaos detonated around us.

Everything turned to shit.Gunfire erupted. Shouts. Screams. Chairs scraping violently across the floor.

I ducked under the table as bullets tore through wood and ceramic, splintering everything in their path. The world narrowed to noise and motion and the coppery smell of blood.

“MOVE!” someone yelled.

Another body hit the ground.

I crawled blindly, pain flaring in my arm as my shoulder slammed against the floor. Glass crunched beneath my hands.

Ethan was already up, ripping free of his restraints using a shred of glass that would probably leave a mark later. He grabbed the fallen guard’s gun, firing twice without hesitation.

Two of my uncle’s men went down.

Uncle Joe was shouting now. “GET HIM OUT,NOW!”

A bullet whizzed past my ear, embedding itself in the wall behind me.

Ethan was suddenly there,over me, shielding me, pulling me up like my protector that he was meant to be.

“Alex,” he called my name bringing my focus to him. “Can you move?”

I nodded, adrenaline overriding everything else.

He grabbed my wrist and dragged me toward the back exit, gunfire chasing us every step of the way.

The café was unrecognizable now. Smoke hung thick in the air. Alarms blared somewhere in the distance.

We burst through the back door and immediately, we froze.

Three more men stood waiting with their guns raised as if they were waiting for us.

Ethan pushed me behind him without hesitation.

“Stay right behind me,” he said.

One of the men smiled coldly. Another shot rang out,and another.

I didn't know how it happened but I was in front of Ethan holding and trying my best to cover him like a shield, he was obviously bigger than me but it was the best I could do.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ethan said trying to move me but then he stopped.

He didn't move and neither did I. My body was aching all over and my arm was killing me but no new pain. I quickly released him from my hold.
"please, please." I pleaded with the universe that ge was unharmed as I inspected his body.
"Are you ok? Did they get you." I was asking many questions in one go.

"Jesus Christ, Calm down, I'm fine."

He looked at me and gestured with his head for me to turn around. The men with guns pointed at us earlier were lying with thier brains out on the floor,And men in black suits where towering over them.

I exhaled and sigh in relieve. My legs almost gave out but Ethan held me close.

" Com'on, let's get you out of here." He gently guided me towards where his car was parked.

We got in to the care with a chauffeur already waiting in it.
" Where to sir?" The chauffeur asked.

"Blackwood medicals." Ethan replied. And the chauffeur started the car.

"No, no take us to the pain house, no hospital." I pleaded

"You might need stitches and you don't want to go to the hospital?" He looked at me with worried expression.

"I have a first aid kit you could do it, I don't mind, just no hospital."

" Fine, no hospital," he raised his head and told the chauffeur to take us to the penthouse.

After what felt like ages we got our place. I like the sound of that "our place". It sounded intimate.
We took the elevator up and when we got to our room Ethan guided me straight to the bathroom. He removed the button he fixed in and carefully placed it on the bathroom sink where it won't get wet.

He was undoing the other buttons when I noticed the cut in his palm. 
"Does this hurt?"I asked, as I held his hand and stopped it from moving."you don't have to answer I know it does hurt, I'm sorry, you got hurt because of me."

"No I did not." He stated firmly, "I got hurt because of that monster that calls himself your uncle, so don't blame yourself for any of this."
He held my face and brought his mouth down to meet mine. It was like the pain faded the moment I tasted him. He was gentle,like I was gonna break anything soon. The kiss felt like a promise of something better , and whatever it was I would be damned not to hold on to it.

The door bell rang once distracting us both.

It kept ringing and ringing.

"Wait here, I'll be back." He told me, but I wouldn't do that.

I followed few feets behind him, as he picked up his gun and went for the door that won't stop ringing.

He cocked his gun, and gently placed his hand on the door handle and opened it slowly.