Chapter 115: Chapter one hundred and Fifteen

Kendrick

The hallway was too quiet. I moved quickly, my gun already in my hand as I made my way toward Thomas’s room.

The hospital had changed completely just a few minutes ago. There had been nurses rushing between wards, patients talking, machines beeping. Now there was nothing.

Not even crying babies. Only the low hum of the emergency lights above me. I slowed down. Someone had deliberately cleared this floor.

My grip tightened around my gun.

I had already confirmed that the men who attacked the warehouse were the ones doing this now. I knew it wasn’t Kendra and Zach because I had an insider on them. They were busy remaking the table from scratch.

But why?

Why were they after Diana?

At first, I thought Alessia was the target, but now they were hunting Diana.

I frowned.

Was Diana the real target from the beginning?

Had Alessia only been in the way?

I reached the end of the hallway and stopped. Thomas’s room was just ahead. The door was slightly open, which was suspicious. I moved closer, keeping my back against the wall.

I heard voices coming from inside.

“Come on, stop hiding.” A deep voice spoke. Even though he tried to sound gentle, it was eerie.

“Who are you people?” Thomas’s small voice answered back.

I immediately moved toward the door but stopped before entering. I looked through the opening. Two men stood inside, their guns strapped to their waists.

Thomas was backed against the curtain beside his bed. His little body was shaking, but he was trying desperately not to show it.

“Get away from me!” he shouted. “Or I will call the police!”

One of the men laughed. “Little one, we are friends with your daddy.”

My entire body locked.

Daddy?

Thomas shook his head violently.

“Liar! I don’t have a daddy! I only have a mommy!”

The second man stepped closer. “Your daddy sent us to—”

“HELP!” Thomas screamed.

I brought my gun up.

I already knew the history of how Thomas was born. Were these men actually connected to him? Or were they simply using the word to gain the boy’s trust?

“Naughty brat!” One of them cursed and lunged towards him.

I kicked the door open. Both men turned.

“Cover your ears, Thomas.”

I fired a shot, hitting one in the chest. He dropped to the floor before he could reach for his gun.

I fired at the second one. He ducked, forcing the bullet to strike the wall beside him.

“Shit!” he cursed and pulled his weapon immediately.

I moved behind the doorframe, dodging the bullet, and fired again. It knocked his gun off his hand.

I pulled the trigger again.

I was out of bullets.

Great timing. I hissed.

“You are done.” He charged at me.

I stepped aside and slammed my elbow into his jaw. He staggered. I grabbed his wrist, twisted it behind his back, and drove him face-first into the wall.

“Who sent you?” He grunted and struggled. I tightened my hold.

“Who sent you?” I repeated again.

“Fuck you.”

I slammed him harder against the wall.

“Wrong answer.”

I turned just in time to see the other man reaching for the gun. He grabbed it and fired. I was prepared because I used his counterpart’s body as a shield. His grip on the gun loosened as he succumbed to extreme blood loss.

Everything fell quiet.

“Aunt Kendrick!” Thomas rushed towards me. He wrapped his trembling body around my legs.

I crouched down and hugged him back, soothing him by gently tapping his back. He pulled back, his eyes filled with tears while his lower lip trembled.

“I want Mommy…”

“I’m taking you back to your mother, but you have to be a brave big boy, okay?”

He nodded, wiping his tears away. The words from those men came rushing back to me.

“Have you ever seen your daddy?”

His face changed.

“I don’t have a daddy. I already told them.”

“I know what you told them. But has your mommy ever shown you a picture of him? Told you his name?”

“Mommy hates him, so I try never to mention him…”

I nodded.

I took his hand. I noticed how frail he was. The IV drip still remained at the back of his hand. We made it out to the hallway. There was no time to waste because the gunshot was loud. If they had more backup, they would be here any moment now.

“Tom, do you have a secret hideout—”

A strong impact slammed into the back of my head. Pain exploded into my skull. My vision blurred, while liquids streaked down my face.

“Kendrick!” Thomas screamed.

Two strong arms grabbed him on each side.

No, I pushed myself up. I had promised Diana to keep him safe. And I would do that with my life.

I had given out each time, trying to hold my body up. Blood leaked into my eyes, painting my vision red, but I persevered.

I managed to make it halfway standing before the heavy metal gun sent me back down. Everything went black.

Diana

Alessia caught me around the waist before I could take another step.

“No!”

“Let me go!” I fought against her. “That’s my son!”

The man holding Thomas cocked the gun. I froze. Every single muscle in my body locked.

“Please don’t hurt him.” I had begged people before. Loan sharks. Doctors. This one was entirely different. I was utterly defeated.

“I will go with you.” Alessia’s arm tightened around me. “I won’t let you do that.”

A black limousine pulled up behind the men. The door opened, waiting for me to enter. I looked at Alessia.

Her golden eyes remained fixed on the gun pressed against my son’s head. The same woman who had once walked into rooms and made everyone else afraid now stood completely still. Because there was nothing she could do without risking his life.

I turned to see Matteo leaning against the wall like he wasn’t in front of cocked guns.

“You should consider Matteo’s offer, Alessia.”

Her eyes snapped toward me.

“I hate seeing you like this, and there’s nothing I can do for you…” My voice cracked.

She didn’t move. It was like I was speaking to the wind. It wasn’t about trust. I turned back toward Thomas. His eyes were still on me. My heart broke.

“If anything happens to Thomas, Alessia, I can’t live.” My voice shook.

“Please let me go. I know you will find me.”

She stared at me. I pressed my forehead against hers. Her breath fanned against my lips.

“Please.”

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

“You trusted Kendrick, but you can’t trust me?”

I saw hurt flash in her eyes, then her arm loosened. I stepped away. My head remained on Thomas as I moved towards the limousine.

BOOM!

A massive explosion shook the hospital grounds. I screamed and ducked instinctively. The men surrounding us scattered. A helicopter appeared above the hospital, its blades chopping violently through the air.

“What the—” Matteo laughed. “That…” He looked up. “…is what I call a Plan B.”

Men descended from the helicopter. Gunfire erupted.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The masked men fired back. More vehicles screeched into the hospital grounds. More men poured out of them. Everything became chaotic.

“Thomas!” I searched desperately through the smoke and bodies.

Then I saw him.

Kendrick was lying over him, using her own body as a shield.

Within minutes, the courtyard was filled with bodies. The gunfire finally stopped.

Everywhere went quiet.

I pushed myself up to go get my son, only a few steps away, when an arm suddenly wrapped around my waist.

I gasped.

Something cold pressed against my throat.

A blade.

“Don’t move.”

My entire body went rigid.

Thomas screamed, “Mommy!”

I tried to breathe. The arm around my waist tightened.

A man’s chest pressed against my back, his breath touched my ear. And then I heard his voice.

“Don’t move.”

My blood turned cold.

His smell.

His voice.

His extreme closeness to me.

Something inside me snapped.

The red room.

Chains.

A masked man.

The red patch on his back.

That voice, the one I hated so much…

Pookie…

It brought back memories I wished to forget.

“I will come to you every day until you like me, just like your body does.” The masked man whispered into my ears as he looked over me.

I struggled against the chains.

“Remain delusional. Let me go…”

I pulled against the chains.

His eyes darkened.

“Naughty girl…”

He ripped my clothes off.

“No!” My breathing became erratic. “Leave me alone…”

My body started shaking. All the air vanished, and I could no longer breathe.

“Diana, breathe.” Alessia’s panicked voice called out to me faintly.

She stepped forward, and her eyes weren’t golden anymore. They were murderous.

“Matteo, let her go!”

His arm only tightened around me. The blade pressed harder against my throat.

Alessia took one step forward.

“Don’t.”

Matteo’s smile widened.

“You want your wife alive?”

Alessia’s fists clenched.

“Marry me, princess… or she dies.”