Chapter 10: Like a bad nightmare

"Hold him down!" Richard shouted as he gained consciousness from the explosion. 

With my fast reflexes, I immediately ran toward the woman and desperately tried to save her but I was too late, 

"Isabelle!" 

I called her name for the third time and as I reached her dying body a gush of relief flashed before me. The summer breeze cooled down my fear and turned off my hesitations as I abandoned any ounce of pity I felt for Antonio. 

"If you see him, bring him to me. I will send him to hell myself."

Code X was working tirelessly and remotely. He hacked into my location and was able to run diagnostics on the landmines. What could the 21st technology do to semi-engineered landmines from WW2? Well — a lot. Especially if the technology we're dealing with is from the Ivanovs. 

[Got in, woah, Ivanov Corporation must have spent millions for this tech. Let me cross-check their technology if we can disable whatever cloak they are using. These bastards made me work overtime!]

"No need, their main programmer is dead. Just hack into whatever hub you can hop into."

The woman who jumped onto the scene a while ago was wearing an IVC (Innovative Venture Corps) ID with a programmer inscribed on it. If she was relevant to Isabelle's kidnapping case she might be one of the many pawns the Ivanovs could sacrifice. 

The activation of the landmines could be triggered two ways, one is when you accidentally step on it and make it a deadman's switch, trigger it and you'd go kaboom! And two, remotely activated created by our friend from Ivanov's technology. 

Smart idea, but for Code X it was the dumbest weapon against a hacker like him. 

"Code, just disable all firearms in our location. If this place is owned by the Ivanovs hacking into their system is a piece of cake." 

[Got it, boss. Also, tell Richard to bring one sample I'd like to check it myself. Have fun hunting.]

Code might have been a genius programmer working under me right now but he had always been interested in building weapons and his mechanical engineering degree would be a waste if he was not interested in this technology. 

As Code continued to work remotely, Richard was finally able to set a parameter and check the whole place from extraction. 

"Avoid dying, Ms. Harper is the top priority. You can pursue Antonio but do not kill him."

"Yes sir!" 

Richard's command was as absolute as mine, he led them deeper to the villa, the gates were opened and no surprise attack from the weapons Code was disabled. There were not many men inside probably there was only Antonio and the three guards who surrendered upon seeing Richard busted the front door. 

"How many?"

"We've confirmed there were more or less 10 people in the area. The villa is weaponized remotely and the landmine is enough to kill any infiltrators. Why did Antonio bring Ms. Harper here?" 

"Find him,"

The villa has been abandoned probably for years now because of the fading paint and the looks of overgrown plants around the area. The color of the pool had changed to black from dark green. There was shattered glass all over the place, graffiti on the walls, and a broken staircase. [If this property was on sale, you would probably buy this cheap.]

"Isabelle!" I had been in the property for too long and being patient was not my best suit right now. 

"Antonio!" 

"Isabelle!" 

Two guards came out from a darkened room, they had guns but I could smell their unwillingness to go against me. 

"Speak,"

"Boss, we just came here for an additional gig, we did—"

Before they could finish defending themselves they were shot in the head and blood splattered over the place, 

"Fuck! Will you stop doing that?" I asked as Antonio drew near from where I was standing, 

"Welcome, dear cousin." 

"Isabelle!" I shouted once more but there was no answer or evidence that she was in this place. 

"Why are you so impatient? Shouldn't the two of us discuss a deal?"

"I will never strike any deal with you, fucking lunatic." 

If I could only channel my anger right now I would blow his head and feed it to the sharks but I could not do anything stupid and repeat the same old mistakes I did when I was young. 

"Richard, find her."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, not so fast golden retriever, do you honestly think I will stash such an important person in this wretched villa? I could not do that to my insurance, could I?"

"THE FUCK I CARE! RELEASE HER OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL SEND YOU TO SATAN MYSELF!"

"Chill out Mr. Rossi. Where was the calm, strategic, and pragmatic Dominic our grandfather was so proud of?"

Listening to this bastard hurt my head and his nasal voice had probably given me a tumor. I could not be patient or calm down at this point, so I took my Glock out and cocked it before shooting the walls hitting an old painting of an old man. 

"Nice aim, dear cousin, you just took his eyes off. Poor Van Gogh you suffered well in this place."

"Do not waste my time. Give Isabelle back!"

"Do you want to hear my story? I mean c'mon let's hear my story first. I am actually dying to tell this one to you."

I was about to argue with him when he brought a detonator out of his pocket. He smirked and I backed out immediately, whatever plans he had in mind I'm sure it was no good. 

"See, after all, you have a weakness."

"Let the girl go, she's irrelevant to our problems."

"Oh no, she's very much connected to our problem. If she did not choose to save you she should not be in this situation. She could have chosen to leave and go on with her petty life but no, she wanted to become someone's hero much less someone's lover. Is she now, cousin?"

"Shut up!" 

I fired another warning shot when Antonio rolled his eyes and showed a video of Isabelle bound to a chair with a bomb attached around it. 

"So will you listen to my story or should I just finish everyone now?" 

He looked at me without batting an eye or showing evidence of uncertainty it was as if he was prepared to die if he failed to strike a deal with me. 

"It all started with a young boy away from Porta Sole. His mother did not want him so she left her child and husband to serve another highly prominent figure of the Rossi, and that's your father. My father heartbroken and unconsolable packed his bags and brought the child out of Porta Sole to start a new life. Many years later, when the child was old enough to know the truth behind his miserable life, his loving, junkie and gambling addict father died, leaving the young Antonio orphan and nothing to his name."

"The state has no obligation to him as he was old enough to look after himself. A good friend came to his doorstep a.k.a. Mysterious Uncle brought young Antonio back to Porta Sole. When he found out his mother had died he went to visit his grandfather who with loving arms accepted him without question asked. But his dear cousin, that's you, and his father was not convinced of Antonio's story they took a DNA test and even got him into therapy. But when Antonio was proven to be a Rossi they used all their family influence to stop any good things that would come on little Antonio's way." 

"You are sick, Antonio."

"You better shut up BECAUSE OF YOU I WAS IN THIS SITUATION! BECAUSE YOU, GRANDFATHER DOESN'T WANT TO SEE ME! AND THAT BASTARD EDWARD! THAT EDWARD—"

He choked from his saliva from excessive shouting and losing his voice, he coughed once or twice before he continued, 

"Even my own saliva wants me dead! How pathetic! So where are we…mmm… right, that fucking Edward made me work like a dog! Luckily, I found a green ticket to a better life. Do you want to guess who?"

"You can guess, cousin, after all this is a game you started. You just forgot the part where I can respawn endlessly." 

"And do you think I would not kill you?"

"You won't. In fact, you will grant me a deal and we can all walk away from this place." 

"You have done enough trouble, Antonio. It's time for you to pay."

He shook his head and laughed, "If you think you are invincible, you are not. You are now the mafia head with a lot to lose."

And he was right, I was the head of the Rossi Enterprise with a weakness now. I dropped my gun to the floor, thinking and rethinking how to save Isabelle but there was no other choice but to strike a deal with this lunatic. 

"You have my word, let her go."

"Okay." He dialed someone's number on his cellphone and a guy brought Isabelle out in a minute. 

Her hands were bound, her eyes were covered and also her mouth. The dried blood on her forehead concluded the blood trail on the leather seat of her car. She was sluggish when she came out of the room. 

I could see the dried tears on her small face and this experience was too petrifying for her to treat it like a bad nightmare. My eyes fonded to her silhouette and all I could do right now was shoot the man who brought her outside the room so Richard could run and save her. 

However, before I could pick up my gun, Antonio fired a shot directly hitting the forehead of the guard who brought her outside. The loud bang triggered my reflexes and immediately jumped to Isabelle and consoled her. 

I could feel she was in a haze as I removed the cloth covering her eyes, she was hysterically shouting despite the tape on her mouth, 

"See cousin, I will be good if you do me one favor." 

I did not pay attention to him but instead, consoled the woman in my arms, 

"Richard! Disarm this!" 

"No need to do that, you can just strike a deal with me and we're done."

"You!" I grabbed my gun and pointed it at his forehead, "If you speak another word I will blow off your head. You have been talking for almost an hour now, our ears are bleeding from your speech, what the fuck do you want?"

"See, if you ask the right—" Antonio immediately shut up and swallowed his own saliva. 

"If you choose to annoy me any further, this won't be the only bullet stuck in your head."

"Send me to Secretary Han without Grandpa's knowledge. I won't bother you anymore."

"Are you sick in your head? Secretary Han works for Grandpa, there won't be a guarantee—"

"Then we'll all—"

"I'll make the call. Now disable this!" 

Having his deal done, Antonio immediately surrendered the detonator to Richard as he expertly disabled the bomb on the vest. Isabelle's subsciousness was subsumed by fear and anger so when the vest was finally removed she collapsed into my arms before I could hear the police siren all over the place. 

—

"Just treat this one as a horrible dream and forget it happened." a whisper felt like a dream brought her into consciousness as she now lay in the hospital room. 

The smell of antiseptic and the continuous sound of the hospital machine welcomed her as if she had been asleep for days. 

"Thank you, God, you're awake."

Her best friend hugged her tightly as her joints and muscles started to wake up. 

"You're back." Emily smiled at her with tears in her eyes.