On the Run

Niall was more than scared to walk into that warehouse. He knew what was likely behind those metal doors, but he also knew he didn’t have a choice. There was no way that Enzo would ever hurt his baby girl, so keeping Gianna safe was hardly on his radar. The moment she would walk through that door, Enzo would have every one of his men drop their guns so he could take his daughter to safety.

Niall was going to make sure Gianna was safe before he even tried anything, even though he wasn’t sure what exactly he was going to try.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” Gianna said, startling Niall as he threw their rental car into park. He turned his head to her, looking at her over the console.

She had a dazed off look in her eyes, like she was focusing on something far off in the future, but when their eyes met it brought her back to him.

He gave her a gentle smile, hoping to soothe her worrying mind, and nodded his head. “I know you won’t.”

Though he wanted to say more, he knew there was nothing left to be said, so Gianna and Niall stepped out of the car together, shutting their doors simultaneously. As they walked up to the warehouse, their footsteps were stepping in time with the beat of their racing hearts, and Niall wondered if the sound of those footsteps would be the last thing he ever heard.

With a deep breath, he reached his hand out for the doorknob and twisted it slowly, watching as Gianna stepped in front of him.

The number of men in that warehouse was exponentially more than what Niall had expected, but the second they saw Gianna’s face, they all lowered their weapons.

Across the room, Enzo’s face dropped clear to the floor, the shock causing him to freeze as he laid eyes on his daughter again. She still looked the same – just as healthy as when he had least seen her – and he took a few, slow steps towards her, making Niall shudder.

The way Enzo looked at his daughter was like they were the only two people in the room, and for the first time in the history of the Viche, Enzo Mazetti smiled.

“You’re here,” he said, looking at his daughter with the deep eyes a father gave his daughter as he sent her off to prom. It was strange to see that look on Enzo’s face, because it was like everything Gianna had said about her father being good man might actually be true. Might.

“Let them go, daddy,” Gianna whispered, taking a step back as her father reached out to touch her face.

“You know I can’t do that, princess. I’ve made my deals… Tomlinson and his sister are free to go, but the rest of them are mine.”

“They haven’t done anything wrong,” Gianna continued, nibbling at her upper lip as she pleaded with her father.

“They kidnapped my only daughter and shipped her off to Mexico.”

“I wanted to go, daddy. I helped them.”

Enzo looked taken aback by that, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked out at the small girl in front of him. He never would have thought that young Gianna would go against a single word he said.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I had to get away from you, dad. You don’t know what’s right anymore. I’ve looked the other way my entire life, but I can’t do it anymore. You set Niall up for no reason other than that he was kind to me. I couldn’t just sit by and watch you do it anymore. Not this time.”

“Gianna, you don’t know anything about these people. You don’t know what they’ve done or who they are. You put your faith in a bunch of hoodlums who don’t know right from wrong.”

“No, I put my faith in you, dad, and you let me down.” Gianna breathed, tears forming in her eyes. “Just let them go.”

Enzo shook his head, letting out a deep, exasperated breath. Niall didn’t know much about Enzo, but he thought he had never seen him look as exhausted as he did in that moment. His eyes turned to Niall for the first time, as if he had finally just realized he was there.

“Get him out of here,” Enzo shouted, pointing to Niall.

Gianna grabbed onto Niall’s arm, pulling her close to his body. She held onto him so tightly that Niall thought he might lose feeling in his arm.

“No,” Gianna said, shaking her head furiously. “You’re not going to hurt him. I won’t let you hurt him.”

“Gianna, please, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

“Can’t you just listen to me?” Gianna begged, tears rolling down her face. “Just this once, please.”

“I’ve heard what you had to say, princess,” Enzo said, his pet name suddenly sounding less affectionate than before. “I can’t let them go. They’re going to pose too much of a problem in the future. No one leaves the Viche and lives.”

“If you hurt him, I will never speak to you again.”

Enzo’s eyes boar right down on Gianna, taking in his daughter’s shaking frame. She was clutching onto Niall so tightly that his arm was turning red as tears ran down her face. His eyes shut as he looked at his daughter, shaking his head slightly.

“Get him out of here.”

“No!” Gianna shouted, wrapping both her arms around Niall as a few men approached them.

Niall freed himself from Gianna’s grasp, taking her head in both of his hands. He forced her to look at him through tear stained eyes, that look cracking him to the very core.

“It’s going to be okay, Gi,” Niall promised, never moving his eyes away from hers. “Everything is going to be all right.”

He placed a small kiss on her forehead just as the men reached him, pulling his hands behind his back as they held Gianna away from him. She was kicking and screaming and crying so much that Niall didn’t think she could cry anymore.

Looking over at Enzo, Niall let his face fall flat while he shook his head. “I hope you’re happy.”

Niall thought that he was done for. He thought that those words would be the last thing that ever came out of his lips. There was nothing left for anyone to do, because Enzo had already decided his fate.
“Wait!” Enzo shouted, just as the men were guiding Niall through one of the warehouse’s many doors. “Get the others and bring them out here.”

The men all seemed confused, but they did as Enzo said, dragging out a bloodied up Liam, Katherine, Harry, and Zayn, with Louis, Rory, and Caroline nowhere to be found. Niall assumed that Enzo had held up his end of the deal for them.

Niall never would have guessed that they’d all end up back where they started – with their lives in Enzo Mazetti’s hands – but it seemed like an ending that was fitting enough for their story.

“Gianna, do you know these people are?” Enzo said, as he pointed to the five people laid out in front of him, Niall included. She nodded her head and Enzo continued. “Katherine is a notorious jewel thief. She’s killed two security guards. One of them had kids. Liam ran away from his family, leaving his siblings to be cared for by their drunkard of a mother while he worked for me. Harry works at a strip club, knowingly sending women to sleep with dangerous men without a second thought. Zayn has killed more people than I could count: fathers, brothers, and sons. Niall has conned men out of their last dollar, forcing them to live on the streets because of one bad bet. Tell me, Gianna, do you really know these people?”

Gianna looked out at each of them with blank eyes, and the only one who returned her stare was Niall, who looked at her with the kindest, sweetest eyes she had ever seen. “They’re good people, dad. They’ve done bad things, but that doesn’t define them. You’ve done everything they have and more.”

Enzo clicked his tongue to his teeth, shaking his head in shame. He turned his gaze to his guards while flicking his wrist. “Finish them.”

Before Niall even knew what was happening, Gianna had pulled a gun from her pocket, aiming straight for her father. The men surrounding Gianna raised their guns at her, ready to shoot her whenever Enzo have the go ahead and not a moment sooner.

When Enzo turned his head to find himself looking down the barrel of a gun that his daughter held, his eyes began blinking wildly.

“Gianna, put the gun down,” Enzo said, holding his hand out to her.

She shook her head quickly, reaching her other hand up to help steady the gun. “Not until you let them go.”

“Don’t do it, Gianna,” Liam shouted at her from behind his bloodied face. “He’ll kill us no matter what you do. Finish him while you can.”

Niall wasn’t sure how Liam could even ask Gianna to kill her own father, but he knew that Liam’s hatred for Enzo ran deep, and revenge always won over logic.

“Stop,” Enzo said softly, his eyes looking only at his daughter. “Is this really what you want?”

She nodded her head gently, looking back at him with the same brown eyes he was looking at her with. “Yes.”