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CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR
GABRIELLE
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I could only seat helplessly as Devin drove us farther away from Lucian.
He started to answer a call and I turned away in frustration. Tension was building its root inside of me until I felt like I would burst from it all.
I inhaled deeply closing my eyes, there was no option left but to believe Lucian and wait for him to return unharmed.
"What the..." The startling sound left my mouth when the car suddenly screeched to a halt.
My head spun to meet Devin's grave expression and knew instantly that something was wrong, I was almost terrified to ask.
"What happened? What's going on?"
Devin stared at me, his expression filled with urgency and uncertainty.
"One of our men reported to have spotted Vladimir, why would he arrive in New York all of a sudden?"
Vladimir Petrov? Why would Lucian's rival be here, dad and Vladimir were partners last I knew and Derek had once worked for dad, was this all related somehow?
What if they all were somehow working together, wouldn't Lucian have directly walked into their trap?
Damn it!
I didn't know what to think anymore but judging by Devin's expression, he seemed to be thinking the same.

"We have to turn around now! we have to let Lucian know, he could be walking into a trap!" I spoke, driving by urgency stronger than anything I've ever experienced before.
"I'm under explicit orders to safely take you home. He would kill me if I allow you to be in danger!"
A frustrated sound escaped my throat, we were not going to waste any more time by arguing!
"Your boss might be about to get captured and you think that my safety is a priority, Lucian might not be alive to even kill you!" My voice was sharp and I almost couldn't recognize it.
Devin took out his phone, he was calling Lucian. There was no answer which made my heart speed with even more worry. Had Vladimir gotten there before us?
Devin roared the car back to life without further argument, as he turned the car in reverse, I desperately prayed that we weren't too late or let it be that we had thought wrong, that my father and Vladimir along with Derek didn't conspire this whole thing.
It felt like forever before Devin halted the car some distance away from a building. I couldn't get a good view of the building but my eyes noticed the two cars parked across the empty street. I recognized them immediately to be Lucian's.

"I'm going inside, you need to stay here and be quiet, If we don't come out before the next ten minutes, you need to drive the hell as far away from here."
I nodded mutely.
"And also take this." My eyes fell on the gun that Devin slowly handed over to me. It felt heavy in my hand but I clutched it tightly as though my life depended on it.
I sat inside the car with my heart in my throat as Devin disappeared from view.
What was going on inside?

It didn't seem that Vladimir was here after all or there would have been more men and cars parked around.
I guess Derek's plans have nothing to do with him.
My eyes never left the wristwatch.
The ten minutes Devin spike off slowly ticked passed and I was absolutely confused.
Should I leave as Devin had told me or should I wait for more?

The sound of a distant gunshot reached my ears and I froze.
Suddenly, two black sedans drove past and immediately halted in front of the warehouse, about four to six men, all dressed in black jumped out, all of them heavily armed with automatic guns.
Who were these people?
I didn't get to wonder for long as another figure, an older-looking man stepped out of the car, he looked familiar and was dressed quite differently from the rest, there was an aura surrounding him that indicated he was in charge.
As they flooded inside the warehouse, I soon realized why I thought the older man looked familiar.
He was none other than Vladimir Petrov!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LUCIAN
We searched the large warehouse, Jacob, and Heinz behind me as we searched across each room. We didn't run into anyone and just when I thought that the location was perhaps all a setup, I opened the last room and then I saw it.

A figure tied up in a chair, actually there were three of them who I recognized instantly.
Loretta as well as Marcus and his daughter.

I scanned my eyes across the room prepared for an attack but there came none. Still, I knew that it couldn't be that simple. That bastard wouldn't have set this whole thing up if it was going to be this easy.
I hurried towards Loretta who was blindfolded and tied in the farthest corner of the room. I removed the gag covering her mouth.
"Don't touch me! you are wasting your time, Brie won't come and neither will my brother!" She spat.

"Shh, It's me!" I whispered. Muffled sounds echoed the room and I turned to see Brie's father who was also gagged up. If he wasn't for my wife's family, I definitely wouldn't be thinking about saving him.

"Brother..."
"I'm going to get you out of here." I ripped off the blindfold and started to cut the ropes she was tied with when her eyes went wide in panic.
"No no no you can't be here! Please leave! He'll come back and..."
"Too late for that sweetheart." A voice echoed. I turned around instantly and sure enough, Derek was standing in the doorway. He didn't seem the least surprised to see me, I would say he exactly was expecting me.

Heinz and Jacob had their guns pointed at him but the bastard still smirked.
He wasn't fazed by the fact that he was outnumbered and soon about to die when I give out the order. Either he was very stupid, or there was something I wasn't seeing.
I wasn't about to waste time to find out, so I ordered my men to shoot.
Everything happened quickly. Heinz shifted his aim to Jacob.
What was the bastard doing?
The sound of bullets echoed the air and Jacob dropped to his knees, a shocked look on his face before he fell dead.
Heinz! Fucking traitor!

Not that I've ever trusted anyone, but he could have not betrayed me at this moment. Both of their guns were now pointed at me, Heinz trying hard not to meet my gaze.
"I'm going to peel off your skin and feed it to you!" I spat at him.
If he wanted to be a traitor, he could have chosen not to be a fucking coward as well.

"You should worry about saving yourself." Derek snarled.
"It's two against one now, Castiel. Slowly drop your gun and kick it over to me!"

With his gun and Heinz's still focused on me, Derek marched towards to yank at her hair.
"Now! Even if you don't care about your shitty life, you surely care about your blood, don't you!"

"Let her go!" I hated seeing that Loretta was afraid, she believed that she was going to die.
"I'll count one to three!" He yelled.

I thought about aiming but I couldn't risk it, not to mention that there was also that fucking traitor. One wrong move could be fatal. As much as I would never admit needing someone, I wished I had never sent Devin away. At least Brie is in safe hands.

I slowly dropped the gun and kicked it towards him. He kicked it farther away, towards the door, and smiled at me. "I guess we both know how this will end, trust me, I hate being the bad person but you just had to take the one person who I love so much, who I will do anything to get back."

"She's MY wife! And she wants nothing to do with you! Your shitty brain doesn't understand when to give up."

I shouldn't piss him off, especially when he actually got the upper hand.

"She was Mine first! And she won't be your wife anymore when I kill you! I knew you were going to come, even fate was on my side as you had to bring along Heinz who is going to make you pay for his sister's death!"

Anya had a brother? It didn't matter now. I just had to keep this cock sucking bastard talking until I pave out an opportunity.

"Even if you kill me, do you still think Brie would want to be with you after what you're doing to her family? They had nothing to do with anything."

For the first time, he shifted his gaze from me and stared at Marcus and I suddenly thought that perhaps he hated the older man even more than he did me.

"Oh, they had everything to do with it just fine." Derek walked towards Marcus but Heinz aim at me remained just fine. Derek ripped off the man's blindfold and did the same to Phoebe who started to cry aloud.

"You ungrateful! Traitor! How dare you do this!" Marcus broke out in a fit of cough.

"Ungrateful? Is that what you say? I carried out all your fucking dirty deeds only for you to cast me aside when it suited you!"

"Derek please, you can't do this to us because of that bitch sister of mine, she never deserved you, you wo..."

"Shut up!! You are not fit to utter her name! None of you!" A bullet fired and Phoebe screamed.
A bullet hole was created in Marcus' forehead as blood trickled slowly. He was dead.
"The next one will be between your eyes, stupid cunt!" Derek screamed, looking very much insane.
"Please... I don't want to die!" Phoebe sobbed.
My gaze shifted to Loretta who was also crying and for the first time, I noticed a shadow that had slowly crept into the room.
Devin.
I held his stare, then sharply looked away not to draw Heinz suspicions, how did he return so quickly? Where was Brie?

Derek was still distracted by Phoebe when I gave Devin the signal.
The events happened in a blur, just as Devin fired bullets at a none suspecting Heinz, I dived towards Derek, taking him by surprise as our weights crashed to the floor. We struggles for the gun, I was stronger, he was desperate, but I was even more than him.
My elbow hammered against his face continually until his grip weakened. I held the gun against his bloodied face while Devin loosened Loretta and Phoebe. I didn't shoot at him immediately, I wanted him to acknowledge the moment he had lost.
Excitement coursed through my veins as I whispered the final words he would ever hear.
"You'll never be able to get her because she is MINE! You lose, and I do hope that you watch us from hell though!"

I fired as many times until all that was left of his head was blood and brain matter.

"We need to leave!" Devin urged me and I straighten to my feet.
"I received news that Vladimir suddenly arrived in New York, perhaps he heard what happens and wants to use this opportunity to..." Devin barely finished when the sound of heavy footsteps reached our ears.
It was too late, there were already here.