I Love Being Juvenile

“I don’t want to hear any fucking excuses!” Xavier’s voice erupted in the air as he strapped his guns around his waist and jumped into the waiting van. “I don’t care who it is or whatever. Make sure to fucking shoot anyone on sight that isn’t my wife. Do you hear that?”

“Yes boss,” Rigel replied.

Xavier’s eyes scanned everyone in the van, his forehead creasing into a frown. “Get out you three,” he ordered the three men who sat on the second row of the van.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said get the fuck out.” He’d rather go on the mission with himself and Rigel.

“Yes, boss.”

The three men immediately jumped out of the vehicle leaving Xavier with just Rigel and the driver in the van.

As soon as he ordered the man to begin driving, the car set out of the mansion into the road, heading in the direction where Elaine’s car was parked. It was the first step to get to the location.

Xavier’s feet tapped against the floor of the van, his hand pulling at his hair so hard, he feared he might pull off his hair. He couldn’t imagine something happening to Elaine or their baby now she was finally pregnant again. This time, he wasn’t going to have any mercy or give the bastard the chance to hurt his wife. There was surely going to be war.

He almost threw his goddamn phone out through the window when it pinged again, not once but twice. He brought the phone to his face, his eyes widening at the text that he read.

UNKNOWN: The Romano’s family’s abandoned warehouse. Please don’t tell anyone that you received this message from my number.

“Turn the car around, this instant.”

He didn’t bother to type back a message to the number and he simply just ordered the driver to step on the accelerator, the car heading in the direction of his family’s old warehouse.

“That bastard,” Xavier hissed. His fingers curled into a tight fist. How dare the bastard go ahead and operate in the place he knew he wouldn’t bother to search. He just made the worst fucking mistake.

Finally, the abandoned warehouse came into view. Xavier pulled out his gun from his waistband and leaped out of the van with Rigel behind him. They made their footsteps unsoundly as they sneakily stepped into the warehouse building.

“You come in here after ten minutes. You know what we planned,” Xavier ordered Rigel.

“I can’t let you go in there alone.” He tried to stop him. “Might be dangerous.”

“Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”

Patting Rigel for the last time on his shoulders, he nodded and began to make his way into the warehouse. He first pushed the rusty metal doors open, and as he stepped inside, he was welcomed by the smell of stale cigarettes and smoke coupled with decay and rot.

He groaned. The walls were designed with faded signs and labels revealing glimpses of a once thriving workspace. Cobwebs clung to the walls and ceiling and the broken windows allowed light to pierce the darkness.

With slow yet careful steps, he passed through the dust-coated cartons and crates that were arranged haphazardly. Each step that he took deeper into the place elicited creaks and groans from the old wooden floor.

The sound of a female cry caused his head to whip to the side and immediately, his footsteps hastened. He pushed away the curtain that blocked his way and his eyes finally fell on his wife.

His entire body froze at the sight of the woman. She sat motionless, as if lifeless, her slender frame bound to a worn, metal chair. Her face was paler than he’d ever seen her. Thick ropes dug into her wrist and ankle, holding her against the chair. Her dark hair fell around her pale face, hiding the dried tears on her skin.

It was only the rise and fall of her chest, and her trembling hands that indicated that she was alive, and at that moment, he wasted no more time and rushed to her, kneeling on the floor so that her face was above his. He shook her. “Fuck, baby. Can you hear me?” His grip on her shoulders tightened when he received no reply from her and he shook her even more for the second time, his eyes darting across the bruise that marred the corners of her lips.

He swore to end the life of George by laying a hand on her. There was so much he could take but not this. “I’m here now, you’re going to be fine. Can you hear me?” He slapped on her cheek gently, running his tongue through his lips as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

“Xa…Xavier?” She cried.

“Baby, it’s me.”

She immediately began struggling to get out of the ropes. “I don’t like it here. Please take me out of this place. I want to leave.”

He frantically nodded and dipped his hand into his pocket, retrieving a knife that he used to tear ropes off her. Once the ropes were off her body, he stood up from the floor, intending to help her up but before he could, he heard a deep chuckle from behind and a dark shadow emerged from the dimly lit space.

Xavier turned.

“Ahh, not so fast, Romano.” A sly smile spread across George’s lips.

Instantly, they both trained their guns at each other.

“You fucker!” Xavier growled, his finger tightening on the trigger. “The fuck I told you the last time, huh?”

“Nah, I’m not falling for those threats,” George sneered. He looked behind Xavier and nodded when he found him alone. “It’s quite surprising to see Xavier Romano come to the rescue by himself. No men?”

“I don’t need anyone to make your life hell. And I won’t stop there. I’ll go ahead to make your family’s life a living hell too.” He pulled Elaine from the chair and kept her behind him. “You dared lay your fucking hands on my wife?”

“I hate that you call her your wife. She’s going to be mine after this. Besides, it wasn’t me who laid a hand on her. I was furious too, considering that they almost ruined her perfect fuckable face.”

Elaine flinched from behind Xavier, her tears beginning to stream down her cheek. If there was something that she hated as much in her life, it was betrayal and George had done just that. She’d truly believed that he was genuine, that he was her friend and she’d even fought with Xavier several times because of him. It turned out her husband was right after all and gosh, it was the last time she would ever fight with him for something. He was always right.

When George had showcased his face after she was brought to the warehouse. Her heart had broken into tiny little pieces on the floor, her regret everywhere.

“Don’t speak about me that way, godforsaken man,” she managed to yell.

“I won’t harm you if you cooperate with me,” George spoke.

“More like cooperating with your dead body?” Xavier held his gun even tighter.

“If there is anyone who’s going to leave here dead, it would be you, Xavier, Romano. I came prepared. Boys?” He yelled out for the men that he’d arranged beforehand. “Boys?” He called for the second time, yet there was no response and he let out an awkward laugh. “I guess they’re preparing.”

Xavier raised a brow and dipped his other hand into his pocket. “Perhaps they took off?”

“In your dreams. Don’t you dare try to dodge your death?”

What George didn’t know was that Rigel had crept through the shadows behind him after silently defeating the men that surrounded the place. Like the expert that he was, he swept across the place until he was beside George and his gun landed on the man’s temple.

George froze, his body immediately getting cold. “Wh…what the hell? Who the fuck are you?”

Rigel was silent.

“Let your gun down if you don’t want your brains out,” Xavier ordered.

“The fuck? So you didn’t come alone?”

“I’m your dream. Let the fucking gun down or I’ll order him to shoot.”

“Don’t… Please don’t.” With trembling legs, George slowly let the gun to the floor before raising his hands in the air. However, Xavier was sure he still had other weapons on him and he cast a look at Rigel who got the message and searched the man, taking out every weapon of his until he was helpless.

George faked a laugh. “We…we can talk it out. Boys!” He yelled again. “I didn’t mean to kidnap her. Let’s just talk it out like normal adults.”

Xavier smirked and aimed his gun properly. “Too bad, I love being juvenile.”

With a snarl, he pulled the trigger. The sound of gunfire exploded through the warehouse building, echoing off the walls.