♡ THE LAST RING ♡
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♡ MARIAN ♡
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I stared down at the phone with my nose scrunched up. I never thought a tiny piece of junk could ever make me feel this anxious, unsafe, and watched.
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Yes, social media usually made people feel a little paranoid, but those were just random strangers on the internet who didn’t know me personally and, frankly, didn’t care what I did with my life.
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Suddenly, a bang echoed from right outside my door.
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I didn't even hesitate. I grabbed the stupid device, made a run for it across the room
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Not today, Satan.
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I quickly checked the window lock, making sure it was secure, and then cowered into a tight ball right against the floor near the wall. I wanted to be as low as possible to stay safe from any stray bullets, but I also needed to be close enough to hear whatever the hell they were discussing out there.
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"You came into my turf, into my house, to ask me about that?"
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That was Damien's voice. It was the voice that now hunted my dreams with how ominous it sounded.
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"Verdict eloped with your cousin," Damien continued, his tone smooth. "I should be the one asking you questions."
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And right on cue, just like I predicted, the sound of someone cocking a gun cut through the silence.
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"Don't play games with me, Damien," an unfamiliar voice snarled back. "One of my men saw Verdict roaming your property."
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My heart instantly began beating like a banjo drum inside my chest. It was hitting against my ribs so hard I was worried the men outside would hear it.
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"She stole my files. She stole my work," Damien replied, remaining deathly calm for someone who was currently staring down the barrels of loaded guns in a potential shootout. "I don't think that is possible."
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"Let it be on the record," Damien said again, "that you walked in here on your own two feet."
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Before the other man could reply, a footstep shifted outside. "I don't want all this drama, Damien. I just need the girl."
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My jaw dropped.
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The girl? Me?
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Damien didn't say a single word. Silence stretched through the hallway. Then, a few seconds later, I heard Damien calmly calling Martini’s name, giving him a orders in Italian.
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I froze on the spot when I heard my name dropped into the conversation. A second later, the handle of the bedroom door jiggled, and the lock clicked open as if I hadn't just locked it from the inside.
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They had a spare key the entire time. Of course they did.
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I felt like an idiot, realizing I had been fooling myself for weeks, thinking I was somehow safe just because I was behind aa locked door. I was just a prisoner playing house.
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I scrambled to stand up quickly, but I wasn't fast enough. The door swung open and I was caught in that position—frozen with my ear practically glued to the wall where I’d been listening in on their conversation.
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I bit my lip, a small, nervous smile playing at the corners of my mouth even though my nerves were on fire. All I wanted to do was break through the glass and jump out the bloody window, regardless of the drop.
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Martini gave me a stern look, urging me up with a tilt of his chin, and directed me straight toward the living room.
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I didn't want to look anybody in the eye. I wanted to look at the carpet, at literally anything else. But my gaze involuntarily dragged to the man standing in the center of the room, the one who clearly looked like the leader of the intruders.
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He had a horrific burn scar covering the entire left side of his face. But it was his eyes that made my stomach turn. They had a strange snake like iris.
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His lips curved upward into a hideous smirk the second his eyes met mine. I shivered on the spot, cold sweat breaking out across my skin. This was it. This was what an actual mafia monster was supposed to look like. Damien was terrifying, sure, but this guy looked like pure evil.
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"It is her sister," Damien said simply, his voice cutting through my panic as he raised a single finger, signaling for me to leave the room. "I won't blame you for the confusion, though. My men made the same mistake as you."
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Ooh. Happily.
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I didn't need to be told twice.
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I turned on my heel and practically ran back toward the door.
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"Stop," the ugly son of a bitch commanded.
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I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood, realizing with certainty that I might actually die today. My feet glued themselves to the floorboards.
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"Why?" Damien asked smoothly, an overwhelming sense of boredom in his voice.
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"We should take her anyway," The guy suggested, his eyes tracking me like a predator. "Maybe her sister will show up a lot faster if we have this one."
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My eyes widened. My pulse stuttered, skipping a beat entirely. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs that none of this was my business, that I hadn't seen my sister in months, and that they could go look for Mathilda themselves if they needed her that badly.
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But for once in my life, my sharp mouth actually learned some self-preservation. I kept it shut.
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Might be the guns, I don't know.
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I stood there as quiet as a church mouse, trying my best not to look as concerned and terrified as I felt on the inside. My intestines felt like they were twisting, but I needed to look tough.
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Or at least, like I wasn't about to give up on life.
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"She won't be going anywhere with you," Damien said again. This time annoyance was edging into his tone.
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Yes, motherfucker. Tell him.
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"She's one of mine," Damien added flatly.
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"She works for you?" Snake asked, sounding genuinely amused by the concept.
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Damien let out a low chuckle, briefly glancing over at me. The other guy cleared his throat loudly, his eyes widening as if he had just made the grand discovery of the century.
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"Fucking both sisters is just crazy, Damien."
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The words sent my insides into a ftenzy. My chest tightened, and I looked down at my shoes, feeling a heavy wave of dejection wash over me.
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Before my brain could spiral any further into the details of my sister's past, a shot fired.
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The sound was defeaning. I ducked down to the floor as quickly as possible, covering my head. There was no way in hell I was going to die from getting caught in a stupid crossfire between two rival mafia syndicates.
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I had already decided that being a casualty was definitely not my way to go.
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While the men inside the living room began trading gunfire, I used the noise as cover. I scrambled on my hands and knees back in the direction of my bedroom. I reached the door, grabbed the key that had been left in the lock.
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I slammed the door shut, shoved the key into the keyhole, and turned it until it clicked. I kept the key firmly in the lock, because a door cannot be unlocked from the outside if there is already a key sitting on the other side of the lock.
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A second later, the door knob was jiggled violently from the hallway.
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Bang.
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A gunshot exploded right through the wood, a sound so loud it felt like it happened right inside my eardrums.
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The jiggling stopped instantly. I stared up in horror. A bullet hole was staring back at me right through the center of my door, embedded right into the wall next to my head.
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I dropped to the floor like a rag doll, my body completely losing all sense of control. My limbs felt like jelly. I had just almost died. Again.
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"She is not your fucking woman, Damien." a voice shouted from the hallway, sounding strained, angry, and out of breath. "You aren't supposed to start a war for her. "
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"It doesn't matter," Damien's voice said back.
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Another gunshot echoed through the house, followed immediately by the loud thud of something massive collapsing.
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I squeezed my eyes shut, burying my face in my hands. I hated this place. I hated every single person in it.
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Suddenly, the screen of the smartphone in my hand lit up. A gasp escaped my throat as I realized the device was vibrating against my palm. It was ringing.
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My brain went entirely into overload. Who could possibly be calling a monitored device? How did anyone even get this number?
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With trembling fingers, I slid the green icon across the screen, picking up on the last ring before it could go to voicemail.
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"Hello?" I whispered, my voice cracking.
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The line was unstable. The static was bad, making the audio sound like the phone had been thrown deep underwater and was barely holding onto life.
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"Marian..."
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Air was completely sucked from my lungs. That voice. It was Mathilda. It was actually her.
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"Mathilda." I cried out.
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"Don't talk. Just listen to me," she rushed out, her voice frantic and laced with panic.
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Fuck.
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I had a million different things to say to her. I wanted to scream at her that there were men with guns outside the door trying to end her life, that she was the reason my parents were dead, and that she had abandoned me in a dangerous place. Even if she was the cause of every horrible thing that had happened to me over the past two months, she was still my sister after all. I didn't want her dead.
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Unless I was the one killing her myself for putting me through this hell.
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"Secure your place with the Angelini," Mathilda ordered through the static. "Do anything you have to do. Stay right beside the boss. Damien is the only one in that entire city who can actually protect you right now. I am really, really sorry, Marian." I heard a low, choked sob break through the line. "I will come and get you as soon as it is safe. I promise."
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Beep
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The line went completely dead.
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I stared at the black screen, my chest heaving. I wanted to throw the phone straight against the wall. I wanted to scream until my throat bled. But instead, no sound came out. The tears just rolled down my face in streams as I buried my head into my lap, curling into myself on the floor.
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I hated everything.
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and then Add to home screen.