I'll Always Come For You

I clenched my eyes tighter as my consciousness slowly began to flow back to me. Wincing, I forced myself to lift my head up and straightened out my neck that had grown stiff from being bent forward at an awkward angle for so long. I slowly rolled my head from side to side, the pain shooting up and down my spine and I sighed uncomfortably as I opened my eyes for the first time.

Everything around me was pitch black, except for a little bit of light that was trickling in from the crack underneath the closed door to my right side. I blinked a couple of times, unable to make out anything around me. The air was cold and damp, making my skin erupt in goosebumps and my muscles begin to tighten uneasily from this precarious situation.

I shifted around in my seat, only to find out that I couldn't move, and that I had been tied up to the chair that I had been sitting it. The ropes around my wrists were so tight that whenever I moved even the slightest bit, it cut even more into my flesh. The itchy, scratchy rope fibers dug into my skin, but that didn't stop me from trying my best to wriggle my way free. I just bit down on the insides of my cheek to help myself fight through the pain.

I racked through my brain, trying my best to remember how exactly I had gotten here in the first place, but everything was coming up as just a blur. I remembered being with my very best friends, Connor and Murphy. I remembered being in hiding with them and their father after they had taken out the head mobster from Russia, Papa Joe. They knew that people would most likely come after them after what they did, and having it on the news, no less, so they went into hiding and I just so happened to be with them.

The three men had been contemplating on returning back home to Ireland to escape all of the drama here in Boston, but hadn't actually gotten around to making official plans yet. Obviously if they went, I would end up going with them. I had known the boys for as long as I could remember. We had been best friends since we were kids, and we did practically everything together. When they got into this whole business that they were in about killing the bad people on the streets, I thought they had completely lost their minds. I was never a part of any of their killings, but there were times when I would be an accomplice, for lack of better words.

Papa Joe had been giving us hell practically since Doc down at the pub refused to close shop when his cronies came in to bust up the party on Saint Patrick's day. Truth be told, I was glad to have him gone. He was nothing but trouble. I just wished that the boys would have gone about it a different way and not have made it such a big and public deal. I mean, interrupting his trial and causing a huge scene before the three of them shot him in the back of the skull seemed a bit over dramatic. But I knew that they were making a statement. I was scared for them. Scared for Murphy. Both him and his brother Connor held a place in my heart, but Murphy had always taken the cake.

I had always had a weaker spot for him than most others - Always felt more protective and defensive over him. Whenever something happened, I was always the one aside from Connor that came to his aid. Even when we were little and he did something as little as skinned his knee on the pavement, I was there making sure he was alright.

But, anyways, after the death of my own parents at the hands of a few down right evil Russian Syndicates when I was eleven, Connor and Murphy had both promised me that all three of us would look after each other and keep each other safe. Nobody would cause harm to any of us. I think the two of them thought of me, basically, as their younger sister. Ever since that day, the two had been so overprotective it wasn't even funny.

I swallowed hard and bit down roughly on the inside of my cheek as I began to hear deep, aggressive voices coming from what sounded like down the hallway from the room I was being kept in. I strained my ears hoping - praying that I would be able to make out some sort of clue or hear any kind of hint as to who had taken me and who was keeping me tied up. I knew one thing for certain, and that was that the voices were deep, angry, and Russian.

"I told you to grab the boys, not that pathetic little girl that you have brought me!" The first voice boomed through the air, bouncing off the walls in every which way. "Where are they?!"

"Sir, please, we do not know. The flash bangs, they made it hard for us to see. They must have gotten away! We got one of them, isn't that enough?" Another voice, which sounded a lot more hesitant and cowardly, spoke up.

There was a bit of silence, before some shuffling was heard across the floor and one of the men, who I assumed was the second one that had spoken, groaned out in pain as if he had been suddenly struck by something.

"No, you incompetent little fuck. It is not enough! She wasn't even there when Yakavetta was killed!" The first man yelled loudly. I didn't even have to strain my ears to hear at that point; he was yelling so loud that I could hear with crystal clarity.

Some more shuffling, and even more painful groans and cries coming from the second man were heard before a loud thud hit the ground, followed by whimpering and cowering.

"You just made this job a hell of a lot harder than it had to be. If we want to avenge Yakavetta, we need those boys here, not out on the loose knowing that we're looking for them!"

I felt my lips part as my jaw dropped down slightly and I felt my heart begin to beat rapidly on the inside of my rib cage. They wanted to avenge their fallen leader, which meant that they were probably looking to kill Connor, Murphy and their father, Duce.

At the mention of the flash bangs, a lot of what I wasn't able to remember began flooding back to me in huge tidal waves. The four of us were sitting in our safe house, which apparently proved to not be so safe. We were making plans for the next couple of weeks to get the hell out of dodge and head back to Ireland, where we'd all be safe. We had obviously stirred up enough shit here in Boston, and we needed to leave before either of us had managed to get ourselves killed.

I remembered hearing a loud bang, and then suddenly my vision was clouded and I could hardly breathe through all of the smoke that filled my lungs with each breath that I drew. There was a lot of shuffling and bodies bumping into anything and everything from the lack of clear vision. I heard loud, strange male voices shouting in a language that I had no idea how to decipher, but knew the sounds of it well enough to know that it was Russian.

The next thing I knew, I felt a large, blunt object strike me on the back of my head. My vision, as if it weren't blurry enough already, started causing me to see doubles. I clutched at the back of my skull, feeling very wary and like I was going to pass out any minute as I stumbled along through the living room of the tiny shack we had been hiding in. I heard Connor, Murphy and Duce hollering somewhere in the house, but I couldn't see them. Then, another strike to the side of my head, and I was out cold.

I groaned lightly, remembering how much my head had hurt at the time that it had happened and noticed that the side of my head was starting to throb where the second blow had landed. It was probably the reason why I felt a sticky substance on the side of my face. It all made sense now.

I sighed, looking around the room once again to try and find something - anything, that would help me in trying to escape. My eyes had grown used to the darkness by now and it was slightly easier to see, but not by much. I felt my mouth go dry as I began to hear a set of footsteps rapidly approaching the door to the room I was in. What in the hell was going to happen to me if I wasn't the one that they wanted in the first place?

The thin, metal doorway opened up, allowing a flood of light to pour in from the bright lights in the hallway, and I turned my head slightly and squinted my eyes. My short brown hair covered my face a bit, but I could still faintly make out the large, towering shadow that stood before me.

"W - who are you? Why am I here?" I asked, my voice cracking as I spoke for the first time. It was so weak from the lack of use that I could barely even recognize the sound.

"Don't you worry, all of this was just a big misunderstanding." The heavily accented voice said, and the man stepped inside a little bit, flicking the light to the room on and made me squint even more.

"So are you here to let me go, then?" I asked hopefully, which probably wasn't the best decision.

I creaked one of my eyes open and saw the man walking over to the side of the room and grabbing a black, metal chair and moving it over so that it was sitting right in front of me, and he sat down.

"We'll let you go. But first, I need you to tell me a few things." The man, who actually looked quite a lot like Papa Joe, leaned forwards a bit and rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together. Aside from being a bit taller and a bit more built, I'd say that this man could pass for Papa Joe's twin.

"And what is it that you need to know?" I asked, even though I already knew what he was going to ask me. It didn't take a genius to see it coming from a mile away.

"It's very, very simple. All you need to tell me is where your little friends are." He leaned backwards, holding his hands up in a presenting manner. "Once you tell me that, you are free to go."

I narrowed my eyes at him, not believing a single word that he said. There had to be a catch to this - The whole offer seemed way too easy. There was no way they'd let me go, just like that.

"I don't know where they are." I stated simply, already being able to see the anger welling up in his eyes.

"Don't you lie to me. I know you know, now where are they?! It's very important!" He said aggressively, his voice beginning to raise but still stayed sitting in the chair.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I really don't know where they are. After your boys stormed in like they did, ain't no way in hell they'd go back to it. For all I know, they could be half way to the other side of the world by now."

I knew there was no way that any of them would leave and just leave me here to fend for myself, knowing that I had been taken by the enemy. They would try to find me, they would try to save me. Even if it was the last thing that they ever did.

The man stood up suddenly just then, knocking the chair that he had been sitting in backwards and causing it to smash down to the cement floor with a loud bang. He then came up close to my face, gripping his hands around my wrists and leaning so close to me I could feel his breath on my face when he talked.

"I grow tired of your games, now are you going to tell me where they are or am I going to make you tell me?"

"Listen here, asshole," I began darkly. "I don't know where they are, and even if I did, there's no way in hell I'd ever tell you. You fucked this up for yourself when you chose to have those idiots do your dirty work for you. Want something done right? Do it yourself next time."

The right corner of his mouth twitched slightly and I could tell that he was getting angrier and angrier with each passing second. I began to feel adrenaline start to course through my entire body at the menacing and intimidating look that he was giving me. He hung his head slightly an began to chuckle, but I knew it wasn't sincere and he was just trying to hide his anger.

I took a sigh of relief when he pushed himself away from me and stood up straight. He ran his large hand down the front of his face, but then in a split second and before I could even bat an eye lash, the back of his hand came swinging down at my face and clapped hard on the side of my face, dazing me and causing me to see doubles for a few seconds.

"You stupid little bitch!" He growled, coming up close to me once more except this time he grabbed my face roughly and jerked my head so that I was looking right at him instead of off to the side like I had been. "Do you want to die, hm? Do you want me to skin you alive and feed you to my dogs?"

"Do it!" I spat. "Do it and you won't get any information at all!"

I felt his forehead collide with mine in a very uncomfortable head butt, and my head flew backwards at the sudden impact. My head was searing at this point with all the abuse it had been put through over the last few hours, and it only coursed down into my neck and made that throb as well.

He grabbed me by my throat, squeezing tightly, not caring at all if I could breathe or not. I felt my blood circulation being cut off and my vision began to grow dark. I fought to keep myself awake, because there was no way in hell I was letting myself black out again. Who knows what would happen afterwords?

He pressed down harder, and I brought my foot up and connected right with his groin area, causing him to recoil and step back away from me. I took a deep breath and felt the blood begin to rush back to my head and made me light headed. Not even a moment later, he came rushing back at me, more furious than ever, and grabbed hold of my throat once more.

"You will die for that. And then I will not hesitate to kill your little friends. I don't care if I have to search every inch of this Earth. I will find them!" He snarled into my ear.

I tried moving my legs to kick him once more, but he had learned from his mistake and had pinned my legs together in between his mush stronger ones so that I couldn't move them. He pressed down so hard that I thought for sure my neck was going to break. I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to die tonight.

Just then, the sound of screaming came from down the hall, followed by a multitude of gun shots. It was enough to cause this man to falter his grip and turn away from me to look behind him at the commotion. Because of this convenient distraction, I leaned down and clamped my teeth down hard onto his hand, only releasing when I began to feel little droplets of his blood seeping into my mouth.

I heard him scream out in pain, right before the back of his hand once again connected with the side of my face. Only this time, I was hit so hard that I was completely tipped over in the chair and took a very hard fall down to the unforgiving cement floor below me. Only seconds after that, I felt his foot connect with my ribs, and the last remaining hint of air that was in my lungs was pushed out.

The man standing above me had no time to cause any more damage to me, as the screaming and gunshots from down the hall were gradually coming closer. There were less shots fired than before when it first started, and it left me slightly wondering what in the hell was going on out there.

It was then that I heard them. Their voices came through crystal clear, and I felt the biggest glimmer of hope shoot through my entire body. It was Connor and Murphy! I would recognize their voices anywhere, even in my sleep.

"Murphy! Connor! Back here!" I yelled as loud as my lungs would allow me to. I had no idea if they actually heard me, but I could hope.

"Shut up, before I end your pathetic existence!" The man yelled once more, coming over to me and picking me and the chair back up into a sitting position.

I heard him rustle around behind me, and suddenly, there was a .22 caliber pistol pointed to the side of my head, and his arm was wrapped around my throat with a knife in his other hand. He held me like this, almost like he was preparing for who we both knew would be bursting through that door at any second.

The last gun shot rang through the entire building, and then there was a deafening silence that smothered us all. The air was so thick with tension that it could be cut with a butter knife. My breathing was heavy, as was his in my ear.

The door burst open as it was practically flung off its hinges when the boys kicked it in. With their guns locked and loaded, they entered into the room with stone cold looks on their faces. If I hadn't known them and instead seen them on the streets, it might just have sent shivers down my spine with how intimidating they looked.

"Put them down, boys." The man spoke darkly. "Put. Them. Down."

My chin started to quiver at the sight of them actually being in front of me. I didn't ever think that they would be able to find me. I never thought I'd even be able to see them again.

"This was all just one big misunderstanding." He chuckled, almost as if this whole thing was just a big game.

"One that you're gonna wish ye didn't make." Connor replied, lowering both his weapons along with Murphy.

"No need to be so hostile, boys. I'm a very reasonable man." He spoke, loosening his grip around me slightly. "The answer is really simple."

"Yeah? And what would that be, Yakavetta?" Murphy asked, his eyes flashing between me and this man, who was no made clear to me to be another member of the Yakavetta family.

"You turn yourselves over to me and my men, and we'll let her go." Yakavetta instructed. "You have to pay for what you've done to my brother."

"We ain't gotta pay fer nothin'! Now ye let 'er go and ye let 'er go now!" Connor demanded, only to get another annoying and sadistic laugh come from Yakavetta.

"You two think that this is some sort of game?!" Yakavetta yelled. "You think I won't kill her right now?" Right as he said that, he took the knife that he held in his left hand and pressed it against the side of my throat, undoubtedly drawing the tiniest bit of blood.

"Woah, woah, easy now." Murphy cooed, hoping to diffuse the situation.

I winced in pain, pleading with all my might that none of us would get killed, and we would all somehow walk away from this mostly unscathed. As things looked right now, that wasn't going to happen.

"There has te be some way that we can work this all out," Connor began, and I noticed him starting to slowly make his way around to the right side of Yakavetta. Slowly but surely, making sure not to tip him off to whatever it was he was doing. "What do ye say?"

"Besides, I don't think yer men are gonna be up to the task." Murphy started. "They're all a bit preoccupied."

Even though this was a serious situation, I couldn't help the corners of my mouth pulling up at hearing the underlying tone of humor and sarcasm in his voice.

"Don't get funny with me." Yakavetta warned, obviously not finding Murphy's comment as funny as I did.

Murphy put his hands up in the air in front of him to show surrender, before Connor began speaking once more.

"Why don't ye just give up, huh? Yer the only one here ... All yer men are dead. You don't stand a chance."

I then saw Murphy begin to make his way around to the left side of Yakavetta, although from what I could tell, he didn't seem to notice. He was too busy keeping his eyes on Connor, who was obviously creating a distraction.

"I grow tired of this," Yakavetta stated in an annoyed tone. "Are you boys going to make this easy for me or am I going to have to force you?"

I felt Murphy's body collide into mine, ultimately taking down Yakavetta in the process. I felt myself slowly beginning to fall towards the ground again, and I braced myself for impact. There was yelling and screaming going on all around me, practically deafening me. And then, the sound of a gunshot sounded through the room, and then a searing pain pulsating through my thigh.

I glanced down, seeing a large red stain already forming on my jeans as I came to the realization that I had just been shot. Thankfully, it wasn't in a place that was critical. However, if I lost enough blood, it could turn into a really bad situation.

I screamed out in pain as tears stung at the back of my eyes. I wanted so badly to clutch at my newly acquired wound in an attempt to ease some of the pain, but I couldn't due to still being taped to the chair.

While Murphy wrestled with Yakavetta, Connor came over and proceeded to cut me loose from the chair with the knife that Yakavetta had dropped on the floor upon impact. He pulled me over to the side of the room away from harm, quickly assessing my wound before yelling over to Murphy that they had to wrap this up because I was injured.

I heard Yakavetta yelling in protest, and Murphy had gotten in quite a few good shots before Connor had gone over and actually had to pull him off of the man before he quite literally beat him to death. I clutched at my leg, blood drenching my hands and running down my jeans and onto the ground. I looked up, just barely able to see anything from under my lashes and saw the boys stand Yakavetta up onto his knees, pointing their guns at the back of his head.

"And Shepherds we shall be. For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands."

The two had begun speaking their family prayer that they recited every time they killed someone of great importance. I bowed my head, knowing what was coming for the man, but not wanting to actually witness it in front of me.

"So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri, Et Fili, Spiritus Sancti."

The sound of two bullets shooting through the suppressors caused me to jump slightly, and within seconds, Yakavetta's lifeless body fell down to the floor in front of me, a pool of blood rapidly spilling out onto the cement.

"Come on, Julia, we gotta get you outta here." Murphy said, immediately coming over to me afterwords and bending over to help pick me up.

I thought that he was just going to pick me up and drape my arm over his shoulders as he helped me walk, and it took me by surprise when really, he completely picked me up into his arms and carried me bridal style down the hallway as we followed Connor out of the old building, which I could clearly see now was a warehouse of sorts, and out to where their car was waiting for me.

"I thought I'd never see you again," I said softly, looking up at Murphy as he slid me into the back seat of the car and climbed in beside me, helping to keep pressure on my leg so that I didn't lose anymore blood than I already had.

"I'll always come for ye," He replied, looking forward to see Connor get into the front seat and start up the car. "Ye know that, right?"

I cried out in pain as the adrenaline in my body finally started to subside and the pain in my thigh became even more prominent than it was before. Connor whipped out of the dirt lot of the warehouse, heading to where I assumed was the new hideout until we could all get an official plan made up to get out of Boston and on a plane to Ireland.

"Murphy," I groaned. "This hurts so fucking much."

"I know, I know. Shh, yer gonna be okay." He shushed, trying to be as comforting as possible. "Conner, we gotta get her back to Da!"

"I'm goin' as fast as I can!"

"Hold on, Julia. Come on, keep yer eyes on me." Murphy said, reaching one of his blood covered hands over and lacing his fingers with mine.

I felt myself beginning to fade with my body finally coming down from all of the hype and emotional trauma that I had just been through. My vision was becoming blurry - My breathing was shallow. The last thing that I saw before I completely faded into darkness was Murphy's concerned face looking back at me.



"Come on ... Ye gotta wake up. Please, just wake up already."

I heard him talking. I heard him next to me. I just couldn't seem to make my eyes open. My eye lids felt like lead, and a horrible pain throbbed through my thigh as memories of what had happened before flooded into my memory.

I had been taken, and my two best friends had come to save me. They had rescued me, and now we were safe and I was bandaged up. Well, as safe as we could possibly be for right now. Where where we, anyway? I groaned a little bit as I attempted to open my eyes, causing Murphy to stir next to where I was laid.

"Julia? Julia, can you hear me?" I heard his voice practically calling out to me, and with all my might, I forced my eyes to open. "Oh, Christ."

"Murphy, are you okay? Where's your dad and Connor?" I asked, looking around the very dimly lit room that we were currently in.

"They're out in the next room. Jesus, ye scared the shit outta me." He said, standing up and wrapping his arms around my neck in a hug. "I thought I lost ye."

"It was just a shot to the leg, Murph." I chuckled, trying my best to fight through the pain and be humorous.

"You've been out fer two days, already!" He stated, and my eyes immediately widened at that mention.

"Two days?" I asked in disbelief. "Fuck, I didn't think I was that bad.. Why haven't you guys left yet?" I asked, suddenly not caring about my own personal problems and wondering about them.

"We had to wait fer ye to wake up." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But there's a manhunt out for you three. You could be thrown in prison if they catch you." I said, worry clearly laced in my voice.

Murphy got up from the chair he was sitting in and sat down next to me on the bed, putting his arm on the other side of me so that he was practically leaning over me and looked down at me intently.

"We'd never leave ye, Julia ... I'd never leave ye." He looked at me sincerely. "I just couldn't do it."

"But you should have, to protect yourselves." I murmured.

Murphy's lips curled up into a half smile half smirk, and he shook his head lightly. "After all this time, do ye not know by now how I feel about ye? I couldn't leave even if I wanted to."

"You think of me as a sister, just like always." Even though I didn't mean for it to happen, there was a slight upset tone in my voice.

"No." He started, and I averted my gaze from the blanket that I was under over to him in surprise. "Ye couldn't be more wrong."

He lifted his hand up and caressed my cheek, rubbing his thumb gently over my skin and sending chills up and down my spine. He began leaning in closer to me, and my heart started thudding loudly on the inside of my chest to the point where I thought it would beat clean out of me. I felt his lips connect on mine, and I saw fireworks.

My breathing hitched in my throat as I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss and pulling him that much more closer to me. The way out lips fit together and the way our tongues danced was like he was the puzzle piece that I had been missing for my entire life. It was mind blowing enough that he felt this way about me in the first place, but now I was actually kissing him? Unbelievable!

"I love ye, Julia." He whispered once he had pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "Always have."

"I love you, too, Murphy." I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of being like this with him after wanting it for so long. This was something that I had hoped for and, quite literally, dreamed about for as long as I can remember.

He reached his hand over and took my hand in his, bringing it up and kissing the back of my hand gently. He looked up at me with his gleaming blue eyes and I felt myself beginning to melt underneath his gaze.

"Thank you .. For uhm, saving me earlier. Both of you." I mentioned, realizing that I hadn't thanked them yet for putting their lives on the line for me. He smiled.

"I'll always come for ye." He whispered once more, and then pressed his lips onto mine one more time.