Married To The Mafia...?

The hallways were endless, at least that's how they seemed as I bolted through them, Emmanuel close on my trail though I welcomed his presence completely. I felt shock coursing through my veins, this wasn't happening, it couldn't be. It plain and simply had to be a dream.

"How dare you." I spat with full venomous force as I stepped outside into the private courtyard. My eyes burning through him, a rage I couldn't keep to myself spilling over with each second

"And here I was thinking I'd have earned a warm welcome after all this time-" He stated back at me intensely, his eyes flickering for a moment to the person standing behind me, "Emmanuel my friend."

"I'm not your friend." Emmanuel's voice was harsh and bitter, it mirrored every emotion within my body.

"Now, let's not be rude to the new share holder shall we."

"What?" I couldn't contain myself, I had to bite and the smile on his face told me it was exactly what he wanted.

"Did Antonio not tell you? Maybe he really doesn't know. Never mind, perhaps you could tell him Ed Drescott is none other than yours truly."

My face paled instantly at his words and I spun to look at Emmanuel.

"Antonio hasn't sold yet." Emmanuel was confident and it calmed me some.

"And my father-in-law would never sell to the piece of shot who killed his son."

Mason smiled, "oh contra my dear sister. I didn't kill your precious husband."

A lump formed in my throat and I stared eyes bulging toward him. Praying that whatever he was about to say would mean Ethan was alive and I had right the entire time.

"Of course the satisfaction of simply knowing he's dead does please me to no end. I am resentful of the cunning star who did get to end his pathetic existence. But alas I didn't kill your husband. I shot him yes, but when I dropped him in the middle of the desert he was very much alive. Someone else came and finished him off, slowly and painfully."

Tears ran down my face as he spoke, my heart breaking over and over as I pictured Ethan alone and bleeding in the middle of the Nevada desert, before his writhed in sheer agony while whoever murdered him torturously. Emmanuel placed his hand soft on my shoulder and gently squeezed as Mason opened his mouth again.

"Tell me little sister, do you miss him? Do you wish he'd just come back to tell you it'll all be okay." He laughed sadistically and it sent chills over my body. "He cried for you in his last hours. Like a girl, he did. Begged me not to touch a hair on your precious little head, pleaded for me to kill him as long as I left you completely alone for as long as we both lived. It was all quite like some romantic Hollywood film, only the hero died in this one and well I don't like romance. So I did the only thing I knew how, I shot him. Once in the penthouse when he dramatically saved you, I had planned on it being you but any Radev is better than none. I shot him again while he pleaded, straight through his right knee cap. The pain on his face was beautiful. I shot him a final time, somewhere on his left side after I'd dumped him in the desert for the coyotes. He was-"

Mason didn't get to finish his sentence, instead an echoed filled everything, a loud commotion that sent my ears ringing and my psychotic brother to the ground.

"Amelia!" Emmanuel pulled at my shoulder, his face an image of shock and disbelief.

It was only than that I registered the silver gun in my hand, my fingers still holding onto the trigger as the barrel smoked slightly aimed toward the man lying on the ground, his body wriggling and cursing as blood pooled from a gunshot wound upon his upper thigh.

I stepped forward a little, ignoring Emmanuel's pleas for me to just go inside with promises of cleaning up my mess. Though in all honesty my mess wasn't finished.

Mason reached for the dropped weapon at his side but I quickly stood on his creeping hand, he groaned in pain as a reply.

"Don't you dare." My voice was pure hatred and it felt good to realize the pent up aggression. "You left him to die. You took him from me, you ruined my life. And for what. To ease that sick fantasy in your head, to feel powerful and have everyone fear you? I'm not afraid of you Mason." I aimed the gun toward his head from where I stood.

"It was always meant to be you Amelia. Ethan was just collateral damage because you were too weak to face me by yourself."

I flicked the top of the gun, the click signaling that the bullet was lodged and ready for firing whenever my trigger happy finger felt it to be appropriate.

"Amelia stop!" Emmanuel knew better than to try and restrain me, I had a sneaking suspicion that he wanted to pull the trigger just as much as I did, only we both knew the dire consequences. Instead I lowered the gun to my side picking up Mason's out of reach weapon.

"I wonder if you were worth it, if he still thinks your life was saving over his own." Mason challenged with a laugh.

With the speed of lighting spun away from staring at Emmanuel's pleading eyes back to the villain on the ground, the silver gun raised in his direction once more. I was vaguely aware of Emmanuel reaching toward me to grab the gun but it was too late, I had already pulled the trigger and left another bullet hole in Mason's right knee cap. His screams of agony enough to cure my desire for vengeance.

I walked slowly toward Emmanuel handing him Ethan's gun before wandering back inside. I knew the mafia would clean up my mess, they would do more than clean but I didn't worry. The gloomy friend had lifted from my shoulder for a moment with the knowledge that two of my husband's bullets were stuck bleeding inside the leg of one of his killers, a murderer who would probably never walk the same again and for that moment I was completely content.