Chapter Thirty-Three

Zach

Zach walked out of the clinic in the direction of the compound. There was the forest road, where you could go by car, but there was a shortcut—a track you could only use on foot. Zach walked on the track.

He’d just come back from a visit to Julian. It was not going well. The guy was getting worse every day. They thought he would not make it to the end of the week. This was his fault.

He should have protected his family and its members. He was the one responsible. He felt horrible. He heard snapping twigs somewhere on his right and he turned around. Nothing.

Was this poison still fucking with his senses? He wondered. He walked farther, getting closer to the compound. Again, he heard snapping twigs, now on his left.

When he turned around, he saw nothing. He was wary; there was someone here and they didn’t want to make themselves known. “Come out! Show yourself!” he called out.

He waited a while, but no one showed up. He turned around and continued his walk. He knew someone was there. ~“Jackson?”~ He called his brother on his cellphone.

“Zach! Is everything alright?” His brother seemed to immediately notice that something was wrong.

“I don’t know. I have the feeling I’m being followed. Something is here somewhere in the bushes, but I don’t see anything, and when I call out, it doesn’t make itself known, either.”

“Where are you?”

“The small forest track that leads from the clinic to the compound.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

Jackson was right; a few minutes later, Zach saw his brother coming. Jackson was fast. Jackson walked over, and together they walked to the compound.

The feeling that someone was lurking was still there. They occasionally heard a rustling sound in the bushes to the right.

“You are right, someone is here,” Jackson said. “I sense a thug.”

“You sense someone? I don’t sense anything. Could that still be the poison?”

Jackson stopped to look at him for a minute. “That should already be out of your system by now. You’re a strong boss, you shouldn’t be affected by that anymore.” Jackson frowned. “Are you still being poisoned?”

They slowly walked farther. The rustling sounds followed them, but now the sound was heard on both sides of the track.

“I have no idea. Lara was already taken from her kitchen duties. I don’t think anyone else is involved.”

Jackson abruptly halted and his gaze was absent for a moment, then he looked at Zach. “Zach, we are surrounded. I have a bad feeling in my gut. I alerted my men, and they are on their way. Be ready to fight.”

“Then we should stay here. We can’t take the fight to the compound; we can’t put everyone in danger.”

Zach alerted Ethan to get everyone to safety, including Adrian, and then to come to him to assist him.

Then he got up with Ron and Darian, his captain and advisor, to get Irene and Joanna to safety, together with their own destineds.

“Zach! Zachary! Are you there?” Irene came running down the path. She seemed to be in a hurry, her eyes wild. When she saw him, she ran toward him.

“Whoa!” Zach caught her and held her for a minute. He frowned when he looked at her. He didn’t like the look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“I— I—” She gasped for breath, agony visible on her face. “I saw Angelo. Angelo is here. I got scared, so I asked some people if they had seen you, and someone had seen you go this way.”

“You shouldn’t have come here.” Zach looked concerned and talked quietly. “It’s dangerous here. Those thugs are here; we are surrounded. You should take cover. It’s going to be ugly.

“This is the most dangerous place to be right now.” He grabbed her hand, took her to some bushes, and crouched down.

“I’m sorry. When I saw him, I just panicked. I didn’t know what to do.”

Zach looked around; there was still no one to see, but he knew the enemy was lurking in the shadows. “What you did was good under normal circumstances.

“You need to know that whenever you are in danger, you’re the safest in the compound. Now we need to get you out of here as soon as possible. You really don’t want to see what’s coming.” Zach’s phone rang. Ethan was calling.

“Zach, I can’t find Irene anywhere. Any idea where she might be?” Ethan said.

“She is here. She came here just a minute ago. She has spotted Angelo near the compound. Is everyone safe?” Zach asked him.

“Yes, everyone is safe. What do I do?” Ethan asked.

“I need you to come over to get Irene to safety. There are more and more of them surrounding us. I need her out of here before hell breaks loose. She can’t see what’s going to happen; she’ll be scarred for life.”

Zach looked at Irene with concern. If she saw how the mob took care of enemies, she would be traumatized for life. He didn’t want her first time seeing the uglier side of his life to be like this.

He wanted her experience with the family to be good. Her experience with him to be good.

“Alright, I am on my way. Will be there in a second.”

It didn’t take long before Ethan arrived where Zach, Jackson, and Irene were hiding.

“Irene, you may be scared, but I need you to trust me. You need to come with me. I need you to stay close to me at all times. Do you think you can do that?” Ethan asked her, whispering.

Irene looked at Zach with worry. “I’ll be fine, Irene, don’t worry about me. I need you to be safe. Go with Ethan.” Zach looked at her with a serious face.

Irene

Irene nodded. Ethan stepped back, looked around, and took Irene by the hand, pulling her with him. Just at that moment, they all heard the sound of a gunshot then the sound of men charging at them.

Ethan sped up, pulling Irene—who almost couldn’t keep up—after him. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw a group of thugs coming for Zach and Jackson, and a couple of them following her and Ethan.

“Ethan! Behind us!” she screamed.

“Irene! Don’t look back. Come with me,” Ethan shouted. When they ran by some trees, a bullet whizzed past them, but Ethan responded immediately and got her behind a tree.

Ethan told Irene to run to the compound. “Go Irene! Run as fast as you can! I’m going to take care of them.

“Don’t be scared. I’ll catch up with you! Go! Go now!”

Irene didn’t waste a second and ran ahead. When she looked back for a second, she saw a full-out battle. Knives slashing through the air. Bullets flying.

Ethan was engaged in a shootout.

Farther away, she saw two guys fighting for their lives. The bigger one had a big, bleeding wound on his side. She gasped.

Irene turned back around and, in front of her, a large group of soldiers was running from the direction of the compound. She froze in place, but they ignored her and ran past.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Ethan had come back. He took her hand and they kept running towards the compound.

In no time, they arrived at the compound. Before she could say anything, he gave her a quick comforting look, then turned around and sped away.

She had no idea where he was going, but she hoped he’d be alright. She ran up the steps onto the porch and into the house. There she saw two tall men.

“Who are you?” one of them asked. “Are you Miss Irene?”

“Er, yes,” she said, a little unsure. Who were these men?

“Come with me.” The man on the left reached out his hand and grabbed hers. “We need you to get to safety as soon as possible. Boss’s orders.”

These guys are Zach’s men? “Who are you?” she asked, while being dragged through a lot of hallways and corridors.

“I am Ron, Zach’s captain. You need to go in here,” He pointed to a thick metal door. “This is the safe room. I’ll lock it. As soon as the fight is over, I’ll let you out. You’ll be safe here.”

Irene nodded and walked into the room meekly. When she looked around, she saw a couple of elderly people, some women, and a lot of children. Some of them nodded to her and smiled kindly.

In the meantime, Zach was running in the direction of the compound. When the soldiers reached them to help, the thugs that were attacking him and Jackson were quickly eliminated.

Now he was looking for the bastard named Angelo. If Irene saw him somewhere around, it meant that there were more thugs somewhere else on his property.

He needed to find him. This time he wouldn’t get away with all this that easily. He knew where he had seen those green eyes before.

Angelo was not just some criminal; he was the boss of this group. They might have more order than he first suspected. But they were definitely not playing by the rules of the established mafia. The only thing he had to find out now was his connection with Mercer.