73 - Darkness

**Ben POV**

Darkness. Beautiful darkness. I am surrounded by a sea of darkness. I feel like I am falling. It is light and I can’t feel any of my body parts. More swirling darkness. I don't know how long I have been in this dark abyss. It's quiet and peaceful. But I can't help but think something is wrong. I can't shake the feeling of dread and despair. My heart feels heavy against the floating nothingness of my body.

More darkness, more silence, more of this dreaded feeling like something is not right.

Then I heard something. It's faint. Beep, Beep, Beep. What is that sound? Beep, Beep, Beep.

I try to move towards the sound. My curiosity is getting the better of me now. Beep, Beep, Beep.

As the sound gets louder, I feel like my body is being drowned. So much pressure on my chest. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.

I try to shake the pressure off my body. The endless swirl of darkness is becoming brighter. There are now colors of grey swirling into the void. Beep, Beep, Beep.

I see a brightness in the darkness. The noise is getting louder, and the pressure of my body is easing slightly as I feel myself floating towards the light. It calls to me. The noise gets louder with every inch. I close my eyes tightly to the brightness and then my eyes begin to flutter and I find a white sterile light above my head. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.

I take a minute to center myself and blink away the black spots in my vision. I notice the clean white tiles on the ceiling. I smell harsh cleaning supplies and antiseptics. With a little effort, I can move my head slightly and notice tubes going up to a few machines. Beep, Beep, Beep. I continue to blink, trying to rid the thoughts of the darkness. I slowly move my extremities. It takes a lot of effort but I can wiggle my toes and fingers slightly.

Beep, Beep. That's the noise. A heart monitor. What the fuck happened? I start to feel my body and it’s sore. Every breath I feel my lungs taking and it hurts. My limbs feel stiff and heavy as if my blood was full of lead weights. I feel like I've been shot. Beep, Beep, Beep.

Oh shit! It all starts to flood back: The mall, lunch and the carousel, the explosion, the gunfight, the SUV in the garage...Him… that bloody cocksucker.

FUCK! Aurora!

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep... The heart monitor begins to speed up with the rhythm of my heart that I feel is about to pop out of my chest. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...

A woman in purple scrubs and a man in a white coat walk in hastily along with Charlie and Jason on their tail. Oh, thank you! My heart slows down at the sight of familiar faces. Beep, beep, beep.

"Aurora" I try to say but it comes out garbled. There is something in my mouth. What the fuck? I try to reach up to remove it, but a gentle warm hand stops me.

"Sir, please don't try to talk. You had to be intubated. You were shot in the back twice and one bullet pierced your lung. The tube is helping you breathe while you heal." The man in the white coat said. They continued to do their tests and check the machines once more before leaving me with my best friends.

Jason takes my hand and squeezes it. He looks like shit. Bags under his puffy red eyes, light scabbing litters his face that looks to be healing, and a few stitches on his hairline. Charlie is behind him. He doesn't look much better. Bags under his eyes like he hasn't slept in a few days. I look at both of them and beg them with my eyes to tell me what is going on.

Jason sensing my urgency begins to speak: "Aurora was taken. Whoever ambushed us, took her. I got there too late. I couldn't see who it was, and then I found you with so much blood. Your heart stopped twice during your surgery. We lost 9 of our men. Kai is tracking down another lead but so far everything we have learned is just more dead ends. It's been three days Ben. Three fucking days and we have no real leads. I thought we lost you, Ben!" He squeezed my hand again, closing his eyes in exhaustion.

Three fucking days? Shit! If I believed in God, I would pray that Aurora was okay. Three days at the hand of the monster I saw would be a miracle.

I raise my free left hand slightly, the tubes in my hand make it a little inconvenient. I try to sign " pen" and luckily Charlie sees it and quickly goes to the cabinets at the other end of the room and returns with a pad and paper.

Jason removes his hand and allows Charlie to help me place the pen in my very weak hand. I need to tell them before I am swallowed by the darkness again. I feel so tired. The doctor must have given me some more medication. I will myself to write very slowly what I need to tell them:

D I M I T R Y
M A R C O

I see Jason take the paper and I hear a hiss of his breath. The last thing I see before I allow myself to fall asleep is Charlie's evil smirk and the raging fire in Jason's eyes. I feel another squeeze of my hand and hear Jason faintly say "Get some sleep. We have plans to make," and I chuckle to myself because shit is about to get real. There is going to be a blood bath. I smile at that thought. We will find you Aurora.

Then there was darkness. Beautiful darkness.

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**Jason POV**

I watched as Ben closed his eyes again. Charlie had left to make some arrangements and I decided to stay for a few more minutes. One of my best friends, my brother by choice was fighting for his life. I have always welcomed death and have sent Death many permanent guests, but seeing Ben fighting for his own life was heartbreaking. I don’t believe in God, but I found myself praying to him to save Ben for the last few days.

Seeing Aurora get shoved into an SUV, the fear in her eyes and then seeing Ben’s lifeless body covered in blood haunts me every time I close my eyes.

I get my phone and dial Kai’s number. On the second ring, he picks up “Yeah?”

“Ben woke up” I say softly.

“Shit! Thank goodness. How is he?” Kai exhaled a nervous breath. We were all on edge. “He’s okay. The doctor gave him another sedative. He was sluggish at first but Doc says he is going to be fine.”

“That’s great!” Kai says breathlessly. Kai doesn’t cry; I am pretty sure he was not born with tear ducts but Kai and Ben have a special relationship and this has been exceptionally hard on him.

“I have some news.” Jason starts. “Ben saw the asshole who shot him and took Aurora… It was Dimitry Marco.”

“FUCK!” Kai roared. “Yeah…” I say defeated. “I am going to skin that knucklefucker asshat constipated turdsicle alive” Kai ranted. He continued to plot all the devilish ways he wanted to destroy that human piece of trash. We said our goodbyes after Kai said he would get with the Nerd Herd now that we have confirmation of who was behind it. We can start making real plans.

I texted Charlie and Kai and told them to keep everything top secret right now. We don’t know who to trust and Marco is probably banking on Ben being dead or at least still unconscious. We have to take advantage of this while we can.

Sadly, Dimitry Marco was not your average gangster. He was the second most powerful mafia family after me and my boys. But he had a whole other level of sadism. He and his family made their fortune in really shady businesses. Nothing was off the table for him. He employed scum and certified psychos just like him. He didn’t value any human life and looked at women as cattle.

He had a huge enterprise, a massive army of men, and one of the most loyal customer bases. He had property all over the world. Just trying to locate the correct property where Aurora is could take weeks. He was a brilliant businessman, a literal prodigy genius with an IQ just two points less than Ben. We couldn’t just storm his property blindly. It was going to take some time. Our only comfort was knowing that he was keeping her for himself. He wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble he had if he just wanted to sell her off. This was calculated and planned.

The door to Ben’s room busted open and in walked Grammy with her bedazzled cane that Aurora had surprised her with at her last visit. She walked in and engulfed me in a hug. I squeezed her tightly and she let me just be in her presence. I didn’t cry, but I certainly felt defeated.

She pulled away, took my face in her hands, and kissed my forehead lovingly. I got up and gave her my seat. She took Ben’s hand in her wrinkled one. “Dimitry Marco shot him. He is the one who took Aurora.” I practically whispered.

Her face turned hard as stone and she looked at me with daggers in her eyes. “Get that motherfucking cunt and bring me back my Aurora. Bring me his head. His family has always been a disgrace to the Mafia legacy. He has crossed the line of no return.” She looked back at Ben and I muttered a simple “Yes Ma’am.” Grammy has spoken and I have every intention of following her request.

I left her with Ben, knowing he is in the best hands. I went up to my room and laid down on my bed allowing my eyes to close. We are going to come for you Aurora, I sent a silent message into the heavens. Hang on for me baby, I thought as I let darkness consume me. Beautiful Darkness.