47

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
GABRIELLE
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I put on forced bravery and managed not to stumble with each step that made my legs feel like heavy blocks of lead.
"Is this her?" He hissed at Julia, shaking her roughly.
"What do you want with me!" I gritted, an ugly smile twisted on his lips and before I could guess his intentions, she shoved Julia forcefully away from him and a shot rang out.
"No!!" I screamed in terror as I watched the red flower that bloomed at her chest begin to spread.
He shot her!
My eyes blurred with tears as I watched her struggle to breathe. Painful noises escaped her mouth. It didn't take long before she went completely limp.
Dead?
I prayed not.
The man looked absolutely unremorseful as he tilted my chin with the mouth of his gun.
I couldn't help but feel that Julia had died because of me, maybe if she had just told the truth from the beginning he wouldn't have killed her.
Why did she protect me anyway? I could already guess the reason before the question formed fully in my head.
She had to be one of Lucian's people and giving this man my location would have meant betraying Lucian and that might probably mean death for her too.
She had no choice either way.
Such a harsh world we live in.
"Let's go now!!" The man barked sharply, his harsh fingers digging into my arm.
"Go to hell! Let me go prick!" I yelled, if I was sure about anything, it was that he wouldn't kill me, or he would have done so already, he surely wasted no time with Julia.

I struggled violently, hitting him where ever I could, but he was just too much of a giant. He grasped my jaw harshly and grinned down at me, allowing his breath to wash across my face, bringing with it the pungent odor of stale tobacco and alcohol.
I glared at him stubbornly as he produced a rag from his pocket and pressed it tightly against my nose.
I didn't want to breathe.
Choking against the thick smell of chloroform, I clawed against his face desperately. I think I injured him because of the loud yelp that escaped his mouth.
My knee made contact with his crotch and he instantly let go and doubled over to the floor.
"goddamn motherfucking shit! Stupid bitch!" The curses flew out of his mouth, I didn't pause to look backward as I fled out of the room.
I could hear him coming after me and increased my pace as fast as I could, my desperate eyes scanning around the entire floor.
Adrenaline propelled me to move faster, but it wasn't enough. In the end, I was caught.
A frustrated sob escaped my mouth just before harsh fingers dug their way into my hair, I was forcefully spun around to face the man whose face was red and twisted in anger.
A hefty blow to my head knocked the breath out of me, pain exploded through me in form of stars. I could hear the man muttering how he was going to deal with me later.
My last thought before the rag was roughly shoved against my face was Lucian.
He wasn't here when I needed him. Could he be lying hurt somewhere? A cold twisted dread settled in my chest.
I prayed not. He had to be alright, I was confident that he would come for me. He always wanted to own and possess me, and this time, I wanted him to keep me safe from everyone, except himself.
I wasn't able to hold my breath for long, in the end, I gave in to the darkness.
~~~~~
LUCIAN
The gunmen had appeared, scattering the air with bullets, the hospital was currently a bloodied mess, with the sounds of patients screaming, all of them trying to scramble to safety.
It barely had been ten minutes since Brie and I had arrived before they did.
I didn't think the enemy was Vladimir this time, the timing was just too accurate. I could take a guess, Devin had told me that after what happened the last time that my uncle or his son would make a move. They would want to get back at me, I just didn't think that they would be so foolish to try and attack so openly.

One moment, the bullets were flying around and the next everywhere was silent. The rest of the gunmen who had not been killed by me and some of my men who had accompanied us were starting to retreat. I didn't think they would so easily, especially when they had created such a huge scene and hadn't gotten what they came for which was to kill me.
Suspicions began to cloud my mind. My fingers clenched my gun in a cold death grip as I raced along the stairs.
They couldn't have gotten to Brie.
She had to be safe where I left her, but I wouldn't be convinced until I see her. Anxiety propelled my legs to move faster towards Julia's office. It was located on the last floor and the safest place I could think of when the attack had started, Brie would remain safe as long as they remain in there.
I entered inside and felt my blood turn to ice. The first thing I noticed was Julia and the blood on the ground.
Fuck!
"Gabrielle!!" I yelled out her name, feeling dread starting to claw inside of me. I searched around in desperate futility. The room was empty. Relief mixed with fury swept through my blood, making them burn and pummel hotly in my veins. If she wasn't here, then she couldn't be dead. Yet.
"H..he took h..her, I couldn't s...stop him, I'm sorry."
The voice belonged to Julia, she wasn't dead yet, her face was terribly pale, she already lost a great amount of blood, it didn't seem she would survive for long unless she gets some treatment. Taking into account that she and her father served our family for years, I made a mental note to send her a doctor as I dashed out of the office.

"They are fucking gone!" I met Devin halfway. "And my wife is missing!" I growled out the words, feeling a twitch in my eyes. My hands were starting to tremble from the amount of rage that I couldn't suppress inside.
"Oh shit! Just calm down, we are going to find her, we already know who has her!" He spoke out each word slowly, staring at me as though I was a ticking bomb and I only got further infuriated.
"Don't tell me to calm down! You were supposed to watch over this floor, how could you let them get her!!" I exploded, my fingers twitched with murderous intent, a red haze was slowly clouding in my vision, making me irrational.
"I was, but no one came up here, I thought you would need help down there so I..."

He left!! My insides coiled up in animosity as he tried to explain further.
He'd fucking left and had allowed my wife to get captured! The red cloud of suspicion got thicker and intense until I closed up the distance, my intentions murderous.
"Or maybe you were with them! That's how my uncle got to know about our location because you told them!" My fingers clenched around my gun.
Kill the traitor!!! The voice in my head screamed.
It grew louder, more compelling, powerful. The turmoil continued knifing at my head, it wouldn't stop until the craving was satisfied.
"I know you don't believe that I betrayed you! You have to fucking snap out of this now, she's still out there in their hands, it will be too late to save her if we don't move now! "
His words struck some kind of reasoning in me and the bloody fog cleared a bit.
I couldn't afford to waste any more time with him.
Getting Brie back was the most important thing, I would leave fucking him over for later.
Those who had taken her would pay. They could have chosen to mess with me but not with her, never her.
Making them bleed was the only thing I could think of.
They would surely beg for me to spare their shitty life, and then they would plead for death and mercy was what they fucking wouldn't receive, because I would have none.
That thought was enough to satisfy the bloodlust voices in my head, and it went silent. I turned towards Devin just in time to see his sigh of relief.
I called the driver to immediately bring the car around.
"I'm coming with you." Devin spoke.
"I don't need you! " I snapped angrily, even as I thought it over that he couldn't be a traitor, it didn't mean I have forgiven him for not carrying out the task I had assigned to him.
I closed my eyes I hoped that Brie and our baby were safe. I willed for her to hang on until I would be able to save them both.