Page 12 of Luna: HERmerta

“Be safe baby. Come back to me.” I tell her making sure she can see the love in my eyes. She kisses me once more, her eyes closed. I pull her further into me and make this one deep and with purpose.

“The same for you.” Nodding, I kiss her head and use all the strength in my mind to walk the other way.

Taking the stairs one at a time, I go to room two and nothing. Along the way I am announcing the number of the door and if it is clear. When I make it to door number 3, I expect it to be clear but what I find on the other side of the door is a woman cowering on the floor. I take a second to clear the room before cautiously walking toward her.

“Are you alright?” I ask her. She looks at me like I am speaking a foreign language which to be honest I could be. Going off a hunch, I pull up a map on my phone and show it to her. When she unfurls from the floor, she points to Poland. Thank fuck. “Czy wszystko w porzadku?” Her eyes brighten up and she sits up a little more.

“Chce isc do domu.” Her little voice telling me she wants to go home rips my chest open. I stare at her trying to figure out how old she is. She can’t be older than fifteen.

“Ile masz lat?” When I ask her how old she is her eyes begin to well up. I want to wipe her face and reassure her, but I also don’t want to scare her by touching her.

“Trzynascie.” Fucking pigs. They took a thirteen-year-old girl? I want to torch all of them. Before I can say anything else, gunfire below me rocks my chest because I don’t know who it was. My attention is split but I know Luna wouldn’t want me to leave her here.

“Zamierzam cie stad wydostac.” I tell her I am going to get her out of here. “Wez to.” Pulling off my shirt I hand her mine and wait for her to put it on before leading her out of the room. Slowly we make our way down the stairs. I move her away from the fire while also trying to figure out who it is. We make it to the door and that is when I hear it. I hear the shouting of my woman's voice, then a loud pop and nothing. Before I can stop myself I am sprinting toward the door, my fucking heart pounding not sure what I am going to find but praying she is alive. If something happens to her I no longer exist.

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

LUNA

Walking through this house,why do I feel like I am walking the plank on the way to the end of my existence as I know it? That thought makes me stop for a second before it hits me like a thirty-pound steak after twenty shots of tequila. It’s because I am on the way to the end of my existence. My father is one part of how I came to exist. Without him there would be no Luna and killing him, isn’t that in fact killing half of who I am?

“Luna, the rear is clear now.” Dalian’s voice cuts through my thoughts.

“Same here,” says Serena and Parizia.

“Good. Serena heads to the hill. You got your bow and arrows?”

“Damn right I do.”

“Excellent. Dalian on me. Patrizia heads towards Piotr. He is in the basement.” With everyone accounts for but Wictor, I head further into the house. I want to call out to Wic, but I also don’t want to give away his location if he is tracking someone.

Moving slowly, I see a shadow in front of me. When the muzzle of a gun comes into view I wait for the assailant to get closer before I wrench his arm around forcing him to drop hisweapon. He sweeps his leg out and I fall on my back, the wind being knocked out of me.

“Fucking bitch,” he curses me before he reaches down to grip my hair but before he can my foot makes contact with his nuts. Screaming he falls to the floor, his hands between his legs.

“I may be a bitch but at least my strength is not tied to two hanging sacks.” With the heel of my foot I step on his balls and twist my heel. He cries out more before passing out. I don’t miss the blood pooling underneath him from his hand being injured in the process.

Gaining my composure, I pick up my gun and his, placing one in my back pocket and carrying on. The further to the middle of the house I go I can feel him. I know he is here, and I know he knows I am as well.

Walking through the hall I take a look around and see this sterile, place filled with things, possessions but no life, no evidence he had a life before this, his purgatory.

My heart begins to sputter, dread takes over me and that is when I feel his anticipation. “Is that you my Luna?” I follow his voice to the study at the end of the hall. I finally come into view of him and his smile almost knocks me off axis. It is the one he used to have when he would see any of the three of us. “Ah my daughter. My firstborn.” Like a well-oiled machine my eyes begin to fill with tears at seeing for the first time since everything happened. It takes everything inside of me not to run to him and put my arms around him.

“How could you?” Is the only thing I can come up with. It is all I replay in my mind. “How could you do that al nonno, agli zii e a noi?” I see a moment of remorse before he masks it and stands up from his desk.

“I merely took what I deserve. What I would never have had a chance to claim being the fourth born. My rightful place as Don.”

“So you murdered your family for what…power…money?”

“For all of it?” Oh my god. I hear him and I don't know who he is. That wipes the last of the hesitation at least. Nothing will change the nostalgia.

“Well the jokes on you, then huh. You didn't bank on Giulia, did you?” I see the rage infiltrate his gaze. His hands begin to ball into fists and his face becomes red.

“I will admit she put a definite wrench in my plans. I didn't know my brother, Giuseppe had taught her and groomed her so well in the way of the business, but now that is no matter. She will be getting what is due to her. Soon.” His last words send chills up my spine due to how vicious the sneer is. It also put me on alert. “So my question is what are you and your toy soldiers hoping to accomplish here today?” I take a deep breath and point my gun at him.

“I am going to avenge the slain and bring honor back to my siblings and I.” he chuckles.

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