"Get the hell away from my wife," Patrick growled, anger consuming his whole body.

It was that word again. It had always been dressed in irony or mockery every time he had spoken it.

It wasn't this time. It was filled with love, care and anger towards Sebastian.

I heard his zipper go up before I felt his hot hand skim across the side of my neck.

Click

I shivered when I felt the familiar shape of the barrel of the gun pressing the side of my head. My stomach stirred with fear as a bead of sweat trailed down my cheek.

"Drop the gun," Sebastian ordered.

"Get away from her -!"

"Drop, the, gun!" Sebastian shouted this time, "or this bullet goes in her."

Patrick was still, the gun still in his grip and holding Sebastian's gaze. All I could do was close my eyes and pray that it would be ended quickly with no pain.

The sound of plastic on cement got my attention causing my eyes to flick open. Patrick no longer had the gun but instead held his hands up in surrender.

"Pat him down," Sebastian ordered as he removed the gun from my head.

A sigh of relief escaped my lungs though I was far from out of the woods. Tugging on my arms, Sebastian pulled me from the table, my body aching in protest.
I couldn't take my eyes off Patrick as he got a pat down from one of Sebastian's men that wasn't there before. Patrick's eyes flicked over my body, trying to assess my wounds from his spot.

"Move," Drago ordered, pushing me back around to my seat.

He shoved me into it causing my wounds to burn in pain.

"All right, all right," Patrick groaned as he was pushed into the seat next to me.

I opened my mouth to speak but Patrick's hand stopped me. It was just the simple touch to the corner of my head. I hissed, but felt comforted anyway.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her," Patrick growled, glaring at Sebastian who took a seat in front of us.

"You told me not to touch a single hair on her head. Her hair is fine," he corrected wining death stares from both of us.

"Nice set up you've got here, Drago," Patrick spat, "control of the docks, alliances with old buddies, companies from other countries. No one would have even noticed you were in town."

"They didn't, as I seem to remember," he corrected, leaning forward on the table, "I must congratulate you too. Your a better gangster than your father. That wasn't very nice of you to kill off my mercenaries like that."

"It wasn't very nice of you to destroy my study -."

"Or kill our parents," I buttered in, not recognising my cold voice.

There was silence as the thought weighed on both of us. This man was the maker of our misery.

My whole body went numb at Patrick soft touch. If only we could stay like this forever. Forget about Drago and just sit with our arms wrapped around us other.

"So, are we going to do this or what?" Patrick asked, waking me from my thoughts.

What did he just say? He should be trying to convince Drago not to kill us not reminding him of it.

"There's still a lot of catching up to do," Sebastian told him, making him scoff, "this is a reunion. The Uccellos, Maestris and Dragos back together again."

"I didn't realize our families were so close," I stated.

"They weren't," Patrick growled through his teeth.

"And there, you are wrong Patrick," Sebastian corrected, "hell, I was there when the two of you were born. And now look at you two. Married and all grown up."

I narrowed my eyes at him, not understanding how he could be doing this. He acted as if he cared for us, even proud of us but he was willing to kill us.

"You have some nice packages out there, Drago," Patrick stated, changing the subject.

As he did, my thighs started to tingle with the familiar touch of fingers. My eyes shot down. My body froze as I watched Patrick's fingers slide to the edge of my skirt, slowly lifting it up.

This isn't the time or the place, Patrick! I wanted to scream.

The shine of something metal caught my eyes, making my body tremble. God, Patrick did have a plan. And it involved me having a weapon?

"Yes, the plan's simple really," Drago recounted again, "take over the Mafias. Take over New York."

God he didn't have a clue. Patrick carefully slid the small knife into my panty hose, not taking his eyes off Sebastian. It felt like I had been placed over a fire, slowly cooking as my heart started to pound faster.

"I see," Patrick hummed, "let me guess, first you got Paige Caivano on bored. How much did you pay her?"

"My casino," I spat, willing to play along with his stalling plan.

"What about Harald Balboni? When was he on board?" Patrick demanded.

"Actually, he wasn't," Sebastian announced, a little surprised himself, "I would have killed him too, you know, eventually. But you had me busy trying to hire new mercenaries. But I knew Paige wouldn't be stupid enough to say no to me a second time."

Patrick nodded, anger turning his body to stone. I wanted to comfort him but I didn't know how. I was struggling not to wet myself.

"Who was next after that?" Patrick asked, "Egor Volkov? Eagle Yeung?"

Sebastian smiled, almost proud of Patrick's ability to connect dots, "Egor Volkov is dependent on the docks. So it's only natural that he's the first one I would approach."

"And the packages are a thanks for welcoming me into the community present, correct?" Patrick questioned.

Sebastian nodded, "there's nothing better than the smell of guns to get me into the celebrating mood."

Patrick nodded, already looking as if he knew that. In fact, he sounded as if he knew everything. I could see it in his eyes. The way his brain makes the calculation, sorting through his thoughts and plans.

"It's a good thing I got to them first," Patrick stated, out of the blue.

What?!

Sebastian leaned forward on the table, as anger froze his entire body, "What?"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Ahhh!" I screamed before I could help myself.

Arms seized my body, dragging me to the ground. My hands went straight over my ears, trying to block out the thunder as the storm erupted inside. The warmth of Patrick's body felt like the only thing of safety, as he curled me against him. His heavy breathing was all I could focus on as gunfire rang out all around us.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Eliza," Patrick panted, close to my ear, "Eliza can you hear me? Nod of you can hear me."

I nodded, my body freezing in fear.

"Okay, in a minute, I want you to run, do you hear me? Run," he ordered.

My eyes widened in a panic.

"No, I'm not leaving without you," I told him, turning around in his grip to look at him, "you promised you wouldn't make me leave you again."

"Eliza, it's raining bullets!" He shouted over the shots, "there's a door over there, do you see it?"

I tilted my head a little and spied the door through the plastic. I nodded, sinking back into his body.

Bang, bang! Bang!

"I want you to first run behind the packages okay? The packages. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes," I said frustrated and scared.

The worst part was, I knew he was too.

Bang! Bang, bang!

"Okay, then run to the door. I'll cover you," he told me, pecking my cheek.

My heart started to pound as I realized that he was saying good bye. But I wasn't ready.

"Patrick, what about Nickola and Zoey?" I asked him, clinging to his hand that was on my hip.

"Where are they?" He asked.

"In that room back there," I said, nodding towards the door that I had been pulled from earlier.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Okay, I'll get them. Just run."

I nodded, managing to get up on my knees under the table.

Bang! Bang!

"Right, are you ready?" Patrick asked as if there was a real answer to the question as he pulled out a gun from his pants leg.

Whoa, how he got away with it I will never know?

I nodded, my tongue feeling fat in my mouth.

He nodded too, seeing my fear that was so clearly written on my face.

"Okay, on three," he readied, tightening his grip on the gun, "three!"

I bolted.

Bang, bang, bang!

Bullets whizzed past me from all directions. My heart pumping. My legs shakings.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I nearly collapsed when I reached the safety of the packages. My heart was about to burst and my ears rang from the thunder-like bullets.

I could no longer see Patrick or the others. Not even Sebastian.

Okay, then run to the door. I'll cover you

Okay, Lizzy, you can do this, I told myself, just run.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Okay, Lizzy, on three, I told myself, three!

My body turned around before I even realized what I was doing. I was running and running.

Get to the door! Get to the door!

My slippery fingers, got a hold of the doorknob and turned. I pushed my body through the doorway, shutting it behind me.

"You bitch!"

I screamed when hands grabbed me from the darkness, knocking me down.

"Drago!" I screamed, kicking at anything, ignoring the pain in my body.

It felt like a million hands were touch me. Pulling my arms, squeezing my legs, tugging at my clothes. The smell of sweat consumed me. Both from me and him.

"You think you can take me down that easily!" he roared, "Your mother, was a lot nicer and a lot prettier than you and not even she couldn't stop me. Uccello and Maestri were a lot scarier than Patrick combined and I'm, still, here!"

"Get the hell away from me!" I screamed, trying to make out the ghost that was hitting me.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he growled.

Smack!

Pain ripped through my cheek as nails dug into my thighs.

"Stop! Stop!" I whimpered, my body trembling with fear.

Oh god, oh god. This couldn't be happening? This wasn't how it ended. It couldn't. Not like this.

I heard a rip and suddenly my legs were less restricted. My hands felt something like shoulders and without a second thought, I forced punches into his bones. My palms began to ache but I didn't care. I wasn't going to let this happen to me.

"Patrick! Patrick!" I screamed, my lungs tightening in my chest, "P-Patrick! Patrick!"

"Patrick's not coming!" he roared, "You all mine!"

"Like hell!" I growled through my teeth, still managing to kick and squirm underneath him.

Keep going! I screamed at myself, don't let him win! Don't you dare let him win!

Thud!

Grunt!

I was free.

"I will kill you!" Patrick roared.

Patrick?

It was only then that I realized that the door was opened and light escaped through. I could make out the broad outline of Sebastian's body pinned by Patrick's solid one. The familiar sound of wheezing made my head start to pound. Patrick was strangling him. It wasn't going to be enough.

In the corner of my eye, I spotted something. Patrick's gun lied in the light, loaded and ready.

This was it. This was what it was all leading too. I had to kill him.
Without a second thought, I took the gun. It felt hot in my grip, my palms burning. Tears were streaming down my face, the weight of my decision too hard to take. It was suffocating.

"P-Patrick, g-get o-off him," I stuttered, my body shaking with fear.

Patrick's head slightly turned, but it was enough for him to spot the gun.

"Whoa, whoa, Eliza drop the gun," he ordered, jumping off Sebastian.

When I saw Drago move, I yelled, "Stay down!"

Sebastian froze on the cement with his hands up. Even in the shadows, I could make out the white of his purely white teeth. The bastard was smiling.

"Eliza, drop, the gun," Patrick told me calmly, his hands up as well.

"No," I growled through his teeth, "he's the reason for everything. He killed my parents. He deserves this."

"Yeah, he does," Patrick agreed, "but you're not the one to end it, do you hear? This is what he wants."

"He thinks I'm weak," I spat, "he doesn't believe I will do it."

"You're not weak, Eliza, you're not. Your one of the strongest people I know," he tried to tell me, sounding like the Patrick I loved, "you agreed to marry a stranger because of the safety of your family. You didn't even know the real reason and yet, you still did it. You took over your father's businesses while you were still handling your grief even though you had no business sense what's so ever. You went up against Eagle Yeung, remember? You gambled your mother's neckless even though you knew you couldn't win," he paused, his eyes pleading with me, "You chose to love a monster, no matter how much I told you not too."

His confession only made the tears fall harder. The gun refused to stay still in my grip as I tried to aim at Sebastian.

"You don't understand. Everything that has happened as been leading to this," I cried, "Oscar said that it was time to be the Queen. Queens have to make hard decisions."

"Don't make this decision, Eliza. Please," he begged.

I shook my head, struggling to breathe through a snot-filled nose, "I have to. He will ruin our lives if we don't. You said so yourself. Kill or be killed. Why not start with him?"

"Because this isn't you, this isn't you," he told me, "not the woman I fell in love with."

I froze. My eyes met his. God his eyes. His beautiful, beautiful eyes. So truthful, so full. There was the light, the light he had been missing. The love I had been longing for. Killing Sebastian no longer seemed important.

"Eliza, give me the gun," he ordered, offering out his hand.

Giving him a hopeless whimper, I handed him the gun. His arms, wrapped around me, hugging me to his warm body.

"Shh, it's okay," he hushed me, murmuring in my neck.

Bang!

My body shuddered at the deadly sound as the shot, echoed off the walls. Exhaustion, fear, pain and relief finally took its toll on my body. My legs buckled out from underneath me as tears fell harder. Patrick's arms held onto me tight, holding me to his body.

"Shhh, shh," he smoothed me, running his hands through my hair, "It's all over. He's gone."

My grip only tightened around him, consuming his warmth.

"I-I thought you wouldn't come," I cried into his shoulder.

Everything from the past couple of hours came bubbling to the surface and nothing could stop it.

"I would always come for you, Eliza. I love you," he declared once again, his warm fingers brushing my cheeks.

"I love you too," I cried, crawling at the back of his neck.

I latched on his wet lips, not letting go. Nowhere near letting go.