CHAPTER CVIII
~~~
CHASE STALKED TOWARDS the figure perched on the old wooden armchair. Once he got there, he shut off the window, leaving the room to remain illuminated with the small light coming from the lamp.
The man in his sixties staring out of the window which had been closed looked up at the replica of himself. His voice came out sad, tired, depressed even. “Chase,”
“Don,” Chase locked eyes with the man. “Your brother trained me to never allow the people under me to call me by my name. So, you’ll call me Don,” He turned his face away.
“I’m your father,” the man strained out. “I gave birth to you,”
Chase’s jaw flexed and hardened. “You allowed your brother fuck me up,”
“You took revenge for that,” His father said. “You killed him and his friends. What else do you want?”
“Your life,” Chase faced his father again. “Killing Antonio Romano and his friends won’t make up for whatever you let him do to me. You were a coward,”
“Stop all these,” His father pleaded. “Let me leave this place. Let me leave this hell hole you’ve kept me captive in for years,”
“And have everybody finally see that you’re alive?” Chase’s lips lifted into a smirk. “You are dead to the world, Pietro Romano. You are dead. Gone. You’ve been dead and forgotten for ages now,”
“You need treatment!” His father cried out. “You’re out of your mind,”
“If you hadn’t handed me over to your brother, we all wouldn’t have been here,” Chase said. He straightened up and placed the bag in his hand on the old wooden coffee table.
Pietro’s eyes averted to the nylon bag. “What’s that?”
“It’s time for your meal, pops,” Chase knelt down and brought out the take-out plate before opening it. He fetched out of the rice with a spoon and took it to Pietro’s mouth. “Eat,”
Pietro shook his head. “I don’t want to -”
Chase cut him off by shoving the spoon in his mouth. “How many weeks has it been that you last ate? Exactly four months, Pops. Do you want to get sick?” He pulled out the empty spoon and took it to the take-out plate again. “After today, you won’t be having any meal again until another four weeks, and I can’t have you dying right now after falling sick. If you fall sick, I won’t use my money for your medication after all, it would be useless soon,”
“I’m used to the hunger,” Pietro croaked out. “I’m used to staying hungry,”
“I got used to it too when Antonio used to do the same, but he still forced me to eat every four weeks,” Chase said. “Don’t stress much, pops, your suffering will soon come to an end. I’m close to achieving my goal,”
“What do you mean?”
Chase pushed the take- out plate aside and propped his elbow on the table. “De Luca is getting me the flash drive I want,”
Pietro’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that. You can’t destroy the Romano empire. Your uncle and I did so much to get the empire to where it is today,”
Chase lifted a brow. “Including sending me off to him to get fucked up in the name of a dammed training?”
“Don’t say it like that!” Pietro’s breathing became heavy. “You- you-,” Tears blurred his eyes and he began to gasp for breath. “What-,” He gasped, flailing his weak, fragile hands up in the air. “It was for-,”
“Fuck, pops,” Chase stood up and rushed to a drawer in the room. He opened it and brought out a drug and hissed as he walked to Pietro. “You really want to die early, right? You haven’t been taking your damned drugs!”
“I-,”
Chase took out two pills and pushed it in his father’s mouth before making him swallow it with the water he brought for him. When the man’s breathing turned calm, Chase sighed. “What the fuck, pops?”
“I can’t watch you destroy something my brother and I built together after so much hard work, son,” His father said. “Please, just let me die. Kill me. Don’t let me live,”
“You-,” Chase was cut off by the sound of his ringtone tone filling the air. He fished out his phone from his pocket and frowned at the caller ID.
Alessandro.
He moved away from his dad and picked up the call. “Alessandro,”
Alessandro’s voice reached his ears. “Don, siamo sotto attacco al McDonald’s e sembra che l’attacco sia stato pianificato appositamente per la signora,”
{“Don, we’re under attack at McDonald’s, and it seems like the attack was specifically planned for Ma’am”}
Chase growled. “Cazzo. Stanno bene tutti e due? Chiama per metterti al riparo. Arrivo tra poco,”
{“Fuck. Are they both okay? Call out for cover. I’ll be there shortly.”}
~~~
Everything was happening in fast motion that Sophia couldn’t understand what was going on. One moment, she was happily chatting away with Valerie and the other, there were screams from everywhere around them, followed by loud gunshots.
“Don’t panic, Soph,” Valerie said beside her as she slipped her phone back into the purse. They were taking cover under their table. “I just finished speaking to Alessandro. He has called for cover, and we’ll be safe. For now, we have to keep hiding under the table. If everything gets out of hand, I’ll leave and try to fight off some of these people. You’ll have to try and protect yourself with a fork or table knife,”
“I-,” Tears kissed Sophia’s cheeks. “I’m scared. What if I die? What if -”
“You don’t need to be scared of anything, Soph,” Valerie hushed at her. “Don is coming any moment from now,”
Sophia shook her head. “He won’t. He is very upset with me. He won’t come for me,”
Before Valerie could say anything to console her, another bullet was fired near them, and Sophia jumped in fear. Another gunshot rang out, and after a minute or so, everywhere went silent.
Sophia yelped when she was grabbed up by the arm, and her face collided with a hard chest. She tried to shove the person away, but the person held her tighter against himself.
The scent of his cologne wafted through her nostrils the same time he growled out. “Dammit. Stop moving,”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
She froze at the voice and looked up at the owner’s face. Her lips parted, and tears returned to her eyes. “Chase,”
Chase didn’t say anything to her. He simply stared down at Valerie. “Stai bene?”
{“Are you okay?”}
Valerie nodded. “Si,”
{“Yes”}
“Esci. La fuori ti presento Alessandro e Luciano,” His next words came out without pity as he motioned to the half dead men sprawled on the floor. “Io restero qui con Sophia e faro fuori questi idioti. Non sono del tutto morti,”
{“Go out. Meet Alessandro and Luciano out there.”} {“I’ll stay in here with Sophia and finish off these idiots. They aren’t completely dead.”}
Valerie nodded and left.
“Chase, you came for me,” Sophia whispered. “Thanks,”
Without showing the effect of her words on him, Chase stared at her. “This isn’t the time for this, Sophia. You’ll stay here under the table and wait for me while o finish off the rest of these men,”
“I-,”