“I love…” she didn’t get to complete her sentence because his eyes shut close… It shut to death.

“Rocco…. No……” she shouted.

________

He stopped breathing, he fûçking stopped breathing, and her world crumbled into pieces.

“Rocco, you can’t do this, you can’t leave me here alone in the world, take me with you, please, just open your eyes,” she said, hugging his lifeless body to her chest.

Minnie suddenly came to her, and her eyes widened when she saw Pussycat crying, she walked up to her and saw how she hugged Rocco’s body to herself.

She checked Rocco’s pulse and stopped when she saw his heart wasn’t beating, coupled with the blood on his shirt.

“Minnie, please tell him to stand up, tell him that I love him too, tell him to open his eyes and that he can’t go anywhere without me, tell him how much I care about him, just tell him that he means the whole world to me, he might not want to listen to me, but he’d definitely listen to you… Please just tell him all that,” Pussycat said, tears escaping her eyes.

“Nothing can be done, Pussycat… He’s dead, he’s gone for real,” Minnie muttered.

“Don’t tell me that, he said he loves me, how can he leave like that when he just confessed his feelings for me? He said he can’t do without me, so he can’t go anywhere without me,” Pussycat said.

“You just have to control yourself,” Minnie muttered.

“The only words I should hear are that Rocco isn’t dead, my Ryan isn’t dead, he’s alive, he can’t die,” she said, looking at Rocco’s body.

“Please… Prove to her that you’re not dead and that you’re blôody alive, please, Ryan, open your d@mn eyes,” Pussycat whimpered, her tears flowing like a river.

Her dress was covered and wet from the endless blood coming from Rocco’s body. She hugged his body to hers again, Minnie just staring at her with pity all over her face.

✧✧✧✧

LIGHT STATION*

Grayson entered Emily’s office, where he was busy flipping through documents. He walked towards him and dropped the file he had been working on for weeks.

“I’m not on this case anymore,” Grayson said, and Emily nodded. As Grayson turned to leave, he stopped and faced Emily.

“Have you heard?” he asked, and Emily furrowed his brow.

“Well, they kidnapped Maya after the incident at the station,” Grayson informed him, and Emily dropped the pen he was holding.

“What?!” he asked, his eyes widening.

“Yes,It’s been a week now, I guess.” Grayson replied.

“You knew and you didn’t bother to tell me? The devil may have taken her, but that doesn’t mean she’s not one of us.” Emily asked and Grayson shrugged.

“I just thought…”

“You thought what, Grayson? Her life has been in danger for days, and we’re lying comfortably in our beds. Why is she fighting for her life?” Emily shouted.

“Since she’s not in our custody, I thought there was no need… The devil should be the one to save her.” Grayson replied and Emily slapped his face.

“You might not care about her, but I do. She means a lot to me. I thought you cared for her too… I guess I was wrong.” Emily muttered, almost in tears.

“I do care about her, but Maya… I don’t know if she sees me as a man, her man. The look in her eyes that day said it all, she’s in love with that devil.” Grayson blurted out

“But that doesn’t justify not telling me earlier.” Emily muttered.

Grayson apologized, and Emily rolled his eyes.

“Let’s go save her,” Emily whispered.

“No need… The devil already found out her location. He’s gone to save her, and I hope he comes back with good news.” Grayson replied.

✧✧✧✧

Their eyes widened again in shock, and just then, the beeping started counting down.

“4:59…”

“58… ”

“57… ”

“56… ”

“55…”

Antonio began pacing through the room, Maya was looking for an escape route, but there wasn’t any. Drake’s palm was folded with sweat.

“Don’t we really need to do something, we can’t sit here idle.” Drake muttered.

Antonio wasn’t even scared of death, but the thought of Maya dying was making him want to choke. He knew how he survived without her for the past few days.

“You want me right, you want the Don position, well let them go and i’ll step down.” Antonio said, and Hellfire smirked.

“What in God’s name are you saying, Antonio? I can’t leave you here, you have to come with us.” Maya muttered.

“Well, that’s the only option remaining for me. I don’t want to see you in pain again. You have suffered. The bomb remains three minutes to blow off, so let me just do this, please.” Antonio said.

“No, I’m not going anywhere without you. The same way you can’t see me in pain, I also can’t. Please, I can’t leave without you.” Maya said, tears in her eyes.

Antonio walked up to her.

“You know I said that if I found you, I wasn’t going to let you go? I promise to come back for you. I love you, Maya. I really do love you. You just have to follow Drake and escape. I promise to come back for you.” Antonio said, kissing her tears. But more tears kept coming.

She held his hand.

“Antonio, please don’t let go of this hand. Please, I love you too, please, don’t let go of this hand.” Maya whimpered when Drake came to get her.

“Open the d@mn door, Hellfire.” Antonio said, and the door opened.

“Antonio, please.” She said, and he released her hand.

“I’m entrusting you with her safety. Get all the gang members away from here.” Antonio muttered, and they stepped out. Just then, the door closed again.

Antonio looked at the beeping timer, which showed two minutes remaining.

“I have released Maya as you said. Now it’s time to give me the blôody position.” Antonio heard Hellfire’s voice from behind and turned.

He saw Hellfire standing rigidly.

“Just what have I ever done to you? Why the hell did you h@ťě me so much?” Antonio shouted.

“I have always h@ťěd you. I cursed the day you became the next mafia Lord. I thought I was the rightful heir, but you were chosen instead.” Hellfire said.

“I didn’t want to be a mafia Lord either, but you pushed me to the wall, Hellfire. You separated me from the girl I found solace in, and you turned me into what I am today, Ronald.” Antonio fired back.

“Why didn’t you stay weak? Just because I separated you from a girl, you turned into this? That doesn’t justify your actions. I was annoyed that they chose you over me, the strong one. It still pisses me off to this day.” Hellfire retorted.

Antonio chuckled.

“You were dumb to come here. That’s why I’ll always remain your senior. You placed a bomb here and still came, all because of a position. Your anger and jealousy don’t justify anything.”

Hellfire pulled out his gun to $h00t Antonio, but he dodged it.

“Darn you!” Hellfire said, and Antonio gave him a hard punch on the cheek, causing his lips to bleed. The gun fell from Hellfire’s hand.

“You know Maya was my weakness, but I also know your weakness.” He walked towards Hellfire, picking up the gun.

“You’re not going to do what I’m thinking, right, Antonio?” Hellfire said, falling to the ground with a thud.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking.” Antonio muttered.

Antonio punched Hellfire again.

“This is how you maltreated me when I was young and weak.” He punched him again.

“For hurting my sweetheart at that time and leaving her with memory loss.”

Antonio raised the gun, his hand on the trigger.

“And for hurting her now, you kidnapped her, fed her çhick food, smeared dog poop on her face, making her stay in a plastic drum of water for hours, and tied her up with a metallic chain. You made me feel useless.”

Antonio targeted Hellfire’s tummy, where he had shoved a knife when they were young. He knew it was Hellfire’s weakness.

He shot the gun, and it penetrated deep into Hellfire’s tummy. His blood splattered everywhere, including Antonio’s face. His intestine popped out, and his blood gushed out.

Well, Antonio wasn’t done, he shot Hellfire’s eyes, and his eyeballs rolled out onto his feet.

Antonio looked at the bomb, which had only twenty seconds left.

“Darn,” he muttered.

✧✧✧✧

“The bomb has only twenty seconds left?” Minnie inquired, addressing Pussycat, who persistently clung to Rocco’s lifeless body.

“We have to leave, Pussycat, we have to, or we are all gonna die.” Minnie exclaimed, her voice laced with urgency.

“Then let me die, that way I would be able to see Rocco in the afterlife, I wanna die also since he’s dead,” Pussycat muttered, her words dripping with despair and resignation.

“Please, just think about us, think about your health,” Max implored, attempting to reason with her, but Pussycat scoffed, her expression unyielding.

Why did death not take him away instead? It took the only man she found peace with, after countless rejection from Max, his girlfriend calling her names, and all that. Rocco was the one who made her forget about him, and now he’s gone, leaving her with a profound sense of loss and grief.

Speedy, who didn’t particularly care for Pussycat, felt an unexpected pang of sympathy seeing her in this condition. Everyone was gathered, their faces etched with concern and worry.

“You all should leave because I’m going nowhere without Rocco. I will stay with him till death comes and takes me away,” Pussycat muttered, hugging Rocco’s body tightly, her voice barely audible.

“What are we gonna do, the bomb will explode in 15 seconds, and the Don isn’t even here?” Minnie exclaimed, her voice laced with panic and desperation.

Pussycat suddenly stood up, her movements abrupt, and walked towards them.

“Let’s go,” she said, her tone flat, and they all started walking out of the building just as Drake and Maya joined them, their faces etched with worry and concern.

“Drake, you wouldn’t listen to me, Tonio is still inside there, I have to get him, please… Just let me go,” Maya pleaded, her voice cracking with emotion.

And that was when Pussycat realized that Rocco wasn’t with her.

“Where’s Rocco?” she asked, her voice laced with a sense of desperation and urgency.

“He’s still in there,” Minnie muttered, her voice barely audible. Pussycat was about to run back inside, but Drake held her in his arms, giving Maya a clear path to go, his actions swift and decisive.

She was about to run inside the building, but the whole building exploded, the heat threw Maya off her feet, throwing her to the tree, and she coughed out blood.

“Tonio,” she muttered, her voice barely audible, before collapsing to the floor, her body limp and …

✱✧✱✧

Ｔ😍Ｂ🥰Ｃ

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