Pagano’s POV

I sat behind my desk and watched the cameras. I waited for my guards to give me a report, but it took them long, too long. I knew what that meant, it meant this fucker had set me up.

It was only a matter of time that the Avenged crew would be swarming my territory and my home. I couldn’t wait to get face to face with him. Shadows or Gates, I wasn’t picky, I would end their life, both of them and I would get my daughters back.

I would let the men live who dared touch what is mine. These girls, where much more worth than what these men were able to pay. I could get fucking millions for these girls, but they had ruined them. Not only were they not pure anymore, they had scratches and bruises, damn it even scars all over their bodies.

So it didn’t matter if I added a few along the line. If they hide their bodies with fancy dresses, the buyers wouldn’t know. I would get them back, dress them up and start the next auction, I would invite the old bastards and they could pay cash and take the girls with them, right away.

I didn’t wanna see their faces anymore, those desperate pleas for mercy, those weak figures. Those weren’t my daughters anymore, just a mean to an end.

I saw movement on the cameras then gun shots ringing through the air. I would lose a couple of guards, some had even betrayed me, that much was clear, they would pay and the ones that got shot, I would replace. There always was someone knew waiting to take the job, eager to work for Danny Pagano, that much was clear.

My name and territory still stands for something, I was still the mightiest and biggest fucking boss here. No matter how much territory the Avenged crew ravished from the others, I was the big fish not these stealing and lying bastards.

I got up from my desk and went over to the bar, I poured myself a scotch and twirled the brown liquid in my glass. I went back to my desk and heard my noises, call, cries, gun shots. Ah this was what I liked to hear and soon it would all end. I would take those son of bitches out, if my guards weren’t man enough, I would be that much was sure.

I took a big gulp and looked down on my camera. Shadows was making his way towards my office, of course that little fucker thought he had to play with the grown up. Foolish foolish kid.
But he would see, or well, he wouldn’t because he would be dead. I think I would go back in time and hang his dead body out on the garden, just as a small example for other wanting to fool me.

The door was kicked open, and Shadows walked in, I got up from my chair and looked him dead in the eye. His weapon was drawn, the tip pointing right at my head.

“About fucking time you showed up,” I chuckled, swirling the amber liquid and taking another sip. “I have been expecting you, Shadows.” I grinned and finished off the rest of my drink.

“Ah ah, why pointing that weapon at a defenseless old man, is that what the youth does nowadays? I’m more old school, you know” I placed the glass on the table and motioned towards the bar “A drink for you?”

“No” Shadows moved into the room, the door closed behind him automatically making Shadows jump and point the weapon elsewhere. “Little jumpy are we? When its just us two in here… are you nervous?” I smiled at him and Shadows narrowed his eyes.

“I’m here to end this nightmare for everyone.” Shadows said cockily and I couldn’t hide the smile coming over my face yet again.

“Nightmare? You think the girls were in a nightmare?” I laughed out loud “You silly silly idiot, I gave this girls everything, they never missed a fucking thing in their life. They had money, books, dresses, jewelry and how did they thank me? By Running away? By letting themselves fall for sons of bitches like you… oh that’s not going to happen, not as long as I live” I raged, these good for nothing girls.

“Oh they did miss things, love? Freedom?” Shadows shot back I saw him white knuckling the gun. He was on the edge and my smile just grew.

“Love? Freedom… You really make me laugh, Shadows. I thought you were a man, not some pussy!” I laughed again making Shadows narrow his eyes again.

“Fuck you, Pagano. I at least know how to tread a woman worthy, you couldn’t hold your wife and your daughters, that tells stories about you.” He shot back and this time I looked at him with narrowed eyes “You don’t get to talk about my wife. You have no idea what happened.” I raged, just the thought of my beautiful wife made my heart ache, I hadn’t been thinking about her for weeks, probably months, I tried to push all the things away, I still couldn’t stand it.

“So shall we start? Or are you here to have a talk?” I opened the buttons on my sleeves and rolled them up slowly. Looking expectantly at Shadows.

“You didn’t plan on just shooting me? As I said before, a defenseless old man? I thought you would be man enough to take me on in a good old fist fight, or are you not sure you had a chance against me?” I questioned looking at him with a raised eyebrow and I saw the wheels turning in Shadows head.

“I can take you on with both eyes closed, Pagano” He said and laid the gun on the ground near the door. “This wont be pleasant for you either way…” He started forward and wanted to grab me but I sidestepped him, he really thought it would be this easy? What a fucking fool…

“Now running away from me?” He taunted and I grinned and shot my leg out, nailing him right against the knee, he buckled but held himself up “One was free, now you gotta pay” Shadows jumped forward, and grabbed my shoulders, he landed his elbow against my chin, making my brain rattle in my skin, but I got my hand free and punched him right in the nose. He stumped and let me free, next I punched his stomach, but before I could get out of the way he knocked my feet away from under me, making me land on my back with a loud umpfhh all the air coming out of my lungs.

He stood over me, grabbing my shirt, lifting me up, meeting my eyes “I said it would be easy either way” He said and I laughed, blood coming out of my mouth. “You think so?”
He was about to grab me and I looked at the door “You think that Jolie made it out already? That she would be going with you again? She was here just before you arrived, you fool” I spit blood at him and his eyes widened.

“What?” He barked and I chuckled taking his distraction and pulling the knife out of my boot stabbing his side, and moving it as deep as I could fucking get. Blood began to wet his shirt right away, his hand fell away from me, to clutch his side making me stumble backwards.

“You are so easy to distract, as if my daughter would be staying with you, you bastard. She is worth so much more, I will fucking sell her to any old rich man who wants her, while you will be just a memory in her head, slowly fading and drifting away” I said and Shadows ran towards me leaving a blood trail on the floor. These young man had no idea how the real man played. I would never let myself being distracted by a female.

I pulled the gun from under my desk and put it in the back of my pants, for Shadows not to be seen. He pushed me against the wall, fists raining all over my face, I guess I had struck a nerve their.

“You fucking bastard, I will fucking wring your neck till all the life drained out of your body.” He raged and I sand down on my knees, blood coming out of my mouth, spitting on his feet. He slumped down beside me, grabbing my neck, but not before I pulled the gun out, shooting into the side where I had stuck the knife before. Shadows sank down immediately, must have hit something fatal. I grinned spitting out more blood, outside more gun shots sounded but I ignored them. I pushed myself up to my feet and saw how Shadows eyes fluttered open and closed “You didn’t think I would be playing fair, did you? You bastard will never lay a hand on my daughter, ever again. I will be making sure of that, you hear me Shadows… the curtain will fall, for you now… forever” I lifted the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

Brian’s POV

“Wait, where’s Matt?” Jo asked, grabbing the back of Zack’s leather jacket. “We can’t leave without him!”

“He vanished up the stairs when we went entered the back. I tried to stop him, but you know how he is,” Zack explained and I groaned, just fucking perfect, we were so damn close to leaving.

“Fuck. You go check the exit so we can get them out of here,” I ordered Zack before turning back to Jo and Em. “You two are going to stay here until one of us comes back. As soon as the its, clear you are getting in the van and getting out of here.” I set Emery down on the ground but she frantically shook her head.

“No! You’re not leaving me again!” She argued, grabbing my arm. “I can’t lose you!”

“Besides you don’t know where all the secret passage are,” Jolie added. “We can get you to our father’s office without being seen. It’s the safest way for everyone. If Matt was going to go after my father, he would find him in that office.”

I groaned and ran my hands over my face in frustration. “Please… let us help. We will stay out of the way,” Jo added and Emery nodded in agreement. I had to think about this and think quickly, what was the better option, I didn’t want to leave Emery with anyone else, that much was clear, but could I protect her enough if I took her with me?

“Fine… but stay alert. We are getting Shads and getting the fuck out of here!” I said before I pulled Emery onto my back and headed up the back staircase. I knew Jolie was behind me making sure no one was following us. With Emery on my back it was harder to hide and keep everything in check, but as I looked left and right I could see that most of the guards already had been taking care of.

A gun shot sounded just a couple of doors from us and I sighed, that must have been Matt. He finally took Pagano out. It was about damn time that much was clear.

“Stay behind me, I will tell you if its clear to move, got me?” I asked Jolie “Yes” I heard the crack in her voice and I didn’t know if it was out of fear or just exhaustion…

I saw a movement beside me and saw someone running away, I wasn’t able to get to my gun fast but I decided to let him go and just spoke to Zack, to be ready for someone showing up, you never knew if they would be coming back for more or if they had other plans.

“The second door to the right, that’s Pagano’s office” Emery pointed ahead and I nodded. I moved slowly but steady making sure that Jolie was still close behind me, Matt would never fucking forgive me if I let anything happen to his woman on my watch. He knew that she was safe with me, I would freaking take a bullet for both of these women.

I couldn’t wait to finally get out of here and get Emery to safety. I didn’t know if our current compound was the right thing for her, maybe I should drive with her a couple of miles and find a nice hotel, something a little further away, to forget this, to forget everything around us but us… but then… I turned to look at the sister, they probably wanted to stay close, now that they had finally found each other again, shit… I had to figure something out, but I wouldn’t accept it if Emery didn’t feel comfortable in our compound, I would make sure that she had everything she desired, from this day on she was my priority number one and she was before everything else.

I regretted not paying more attention to the place where I would get Emery in, I mean, fuck. My room was so small and it looked like hell when I left this morning. Plans of the Pagano mansion everywhere, even guns and knifes that I couldn’t fit into my clothes still laying room. And well, everything else… shit, I had to clean that shit up, but I still liked the idea better to take her somewhere entirely else. I mean, she deserved so much better than getting from one hellhole into another, and I guess if I would talk to Matt about that he would agree with me, those girls should get what they deserved and that wasn’t a makeshift compound out in nowhere, we could let Christ check out some hotels or something making sure we would be safe out there. I mean if Pagano was dead, we didn’t have that much trouble to think about right?!

I inched forward and took a look back at Jolie, making sure she was still on alert and behind me. “You okay?” I asked and received a nod “But I have a bad feeling, something.. something is not right” She whispered back and I wanted to push it to her being a woman and just not liking the situation, but maybe I should give her more credit. “Just a couple more feet and we are there, I will open the door, don’t get in my way, if I need to use my gun, I will set Emery down slowly and grab it, don’t worry.” I said and looked at Emery from the corner of my eye “You alright, you still want to come along or you want to wait here with Jolie?” I asked, afraid of what conditions Shads had left Pagano in.“I need to see it, Brian” Emery said and I nodded “Okay, then let’s go. I will count to three and open the door, remember what I said.” I moved forward again, holding Emery tight onto my body, I would not let anything happen to her, not again, not ever.

We stood next to the office door and heard voices, I frowned, still talking? I shook my head, must have come from somewhere else. I looked at Jolie who pressed herself on the other side of the doorframe, mimicking my own stance. I was proud of these girls they were pretty fast in learning and they made some pretty good assassins if you asked me, not that I would let Emery ever out of my sight again, or in just the range of a gun, but I had to admit, it was damn hot.

“One”

“Two”

“Three”

I pressed the handle down and opened the door, as quietly as I could, not wanting to irritated Matt and shooting at us all of a sudden, but then, when I looked inside from my positon, moving forward a little wasn’t what I had expected at all.

It wasn’t Matt standing and shooting Pagano, it was the other way around, blood was everywhere, Matt on the floor, bleeding heavily, his eyes unfocused as they closed again, and Pagano stood above him, weapon drawn, pointing at Shads head, seconds from shooting. I swallowed thickly, I had to do something. I tried to let Emery, down, pushing her behind me as Pagano began speaking

“You didn’t think I would be playing fair, did you? You bastard will never lay a hand on my daughter, ever again. I will be making sure of that, you hear me Shadows… the curtain will fall, for you now… forever” A gun shot rang through the air, and my heart stopped. It couldn’t be happening, this couldn’t be true, just when I realized the shot hadn’t come from Pagano, and Pagano himself wasn’t standing anymore.

I saw him fall, a spot of red appearing right between his eyes, he fell back against his office wall, his eyes open but unmoving he was clearly dead, blood ran down his face and that’s when I realized what happened. I had been too late, I would have been too late to save Matt, but Jolie had.

She stood next to me, weapon drawn, smoke coming from the end of her gun. She had saved Matt, and shot her own father.

Jolie’s POV

I didn’t know if I was ready for what I was about to see, where you ever ready to see a blood relative die. No matter how cruel or unloving he was? Would it be easy or would it matter at all?! I didn’t know, would I ever get over the scene in my head or would I see him every night when I dreamed?

I didn’t know, but I knew we had to hurry, because a bad feeling was spreading in my stomach. I felt my heartbeat increase, I knew something was happening and it wasn’t something good. I didn’t know where the feeling was coming from but I knew it had something to do with Matt.

I knew since Zack told us that Matt wanted to go to my father and find him on his own that it wouldn’t work out. My father wasn’t stupid, he might be crazy but not stupid, that’s why we couldn’t risk letting Brian go on his own. First he would be alone, if he needed help, and second it would take him much longer without us.

So when we finally arrived and Brian opened the door, I took in the scene before me, my heart beating frantically in my chest, almost bursting from anxiety and helplessness.

I saw Matt down on the floor in a puddle of dark red blood that slowly disappeared within my fathers hardwood floor. I swallowed thickly, heard the words that my father told Matt and I took what my heart told me, I lifted the gun, never have I shot at a human being before, never had I even tried too, but now I knew if I wouldn’t be doing anything, Matt had zero chance to get out of here.

I lifted the gun, steadied my step for the might of the shot, and pulled the trigger, I must have been quicker than my father, because no second shot sounded. I felt tears run down my cheeks, when Pagano slumbed down opposite of Matt. I didn’t look at him again, I just heard whispers beside me, I didn’t know if Brian was talking to me or Emery, or someone entirely else. I dropped the gun, let it just fall of my open hands and rushed forward.

I didn’t care about Brian calling me back, about him cursing and trying to set Emery down, I just rushed down to the puddle of blood, my pants getting soaked, so much blood. My tears were almost blinding me.

I reached Matt’s side and leaned down, I tried to feel for his pulse it took me what almost felt like a lifetime but then I felt it, slow and weak but there.

I looked at his ashen face, his eyes fluttered open “I’m so sorry, Jo..” His voice trailed off and another sob came over my body. “Ssshhh, you have to be quiet.” I took of my jacket and rolled it up and pushed it onto the bleeding wound, but found two. “I need something to stop the bleeding!” I cried at Brian and Emery, but no one particular.

“You promised me a future, you won’t give up now!” I sobbed at Matt, trying to stop the bleeding when Emery handed me some band aid that I could use for the wounds “So much blood” She whispered and looked in panic.

“Help me!” I looked at her pleading and Emery went to work and helped me to try and stop the bleeding wounds as best as we could.

“Get the Berry’s up here. Accompany them, Vee. We need… Shads is down. It looks bad… shit” Brian’s voice cracked. “Fucking now!” He yelled and turned towards us “We will get him out” He talked more to himself then us. “I said fucking now, and hurry… Let Christ clear the way out, and get Jimmy as close to the exit as possible with the Van, we need… we… fuck, we have to hurry” He broke up and looked over to us again cursing.

“Don’t you die on me now, you said we would be getting out, we all would be happy when this was done!” I cried into Matt’s chest, while still holding the band aid to the wounds. I felt his pulse again and it was getting weaker “He lost so much blood, we need to get him to the hospital… it’s critical” Emery looked up and Brian was pulling on his hair while pacing the floor, when he heard footsteps he aimed his gun, but took it down just as slowly.

“It’s us” Zack announced and the Berry brothers came in with him. They carefully lifted Matt up and while Emery and I tried to hold the blood flow together, they carried him out with Brian in front and Zack in the back making sure no one came between us and the exit.

I looked at Matt’s face, he looked like he was sleeping, but he was so white, all life seemed to drain from him within the second. “We are losing him” I whispered and felt my heart break.

“We are not! I won’t let him!” Brian announced “There is the van, everyone get in. JB help the girls with the wounds, we will head straight to the nearest ER.” Brian said and everyone headed into the van. I laid Matt’s head onto my legs, letting my hand brush over his cold cheek, tears falling from my eyes to his face.

“He will make it, Jo…” Em whispered, her hand to my shoulder, but I shrugged her off, I couldn’t concentrate on anyone but Matt right now.
I leaned down and kissed Matt’s slightly open lips, afraid that this would probably be the last kiss I would ever get.

“Don’t fucking leave me, not now… not when I’m finally free, you hear me. I won’t let you” I whispered towards him, not caring if anyone else heard me.

“I called the hospital, they are waiting outside to get him into the ER for the operation.” Jimmy’s voice sounded also close to tears, I never heard them this emotional and that was making it even harder on me, knowing they had never dealt with this either, it could be all over soon, and we all knew it.

I cradled Matt’s head into my hands, laid my cheek onto his, whispering into his ear, about the future that I pictured with him, about the little Matt’s that I wanted to see growing up, about the house near the beach where we could sit and watch the sun go down… about all the things that still waited for us, if he would just keep on fighting.

“Please, stay with me” I said just as the van stopped and the doors were thrown open, Matt was carried outside by the hospital crew and they began to rush towards the Emergency room. I ran after them, not able to let Matt go, not yet… what if I wouldn’t be seeing again, what if-

“You cannot come with us, you have to stay here.” The doctor told me, pushing me back.

“Are you a family member?” A nurse asked, and I was about to shake my head but she continued already “then you can wait there, if you are not related to the person, we have to tell you to leave and we will inform the next kin about his conditions. We are sorry but that are the rules” With that I was left outside the ER, falling down on my knees and finally giving in to breaking completely apart.

Notes

I'm soooo sorry for the long wait! But here is the update... and well.. guess what? Is this the end or do u think there will be more?
let us knoooww :D