"Boss, you know damn well this is a trap. It's probably AI-generated," Leo said as I was dodging and weaving out of traffic.
I was sent a strange message from an unknown number, which, in hindsight, sounds very suspicious, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
"Why would he do that?" I asked.
"To trap you because he knows you will come," Leo said. I let out a long sigh. "What?" Leo asked.
"You are probably right. This whole love shit..."
Leo cut me off. "Unrequited love at first sight," he said, correcting me, and I smacked him in the stomach as hard as I could.
"You are hitting me because I'm right. I told you to let the kid go because you haven't even spoken to him. He doesn't even fucking know you, and you are dragging him into all of your shit," Leo said, and I gripped the steering wheel.
He was very much right…He always was.
"Okay, whatever. After we go check to see if he's okay, I'll back off," I said, and I watched Leo roll his eyes.
"What now?"
"I wish I could take your word for it."
The two of us sat in silence for the rest of the ride as I looked at the directions on the screen of the car.
I stopped at a stop sign, and then I turned, making my way down the street that Matteo had sent me.
Why I still had this dirty bum's number, I don't really know.
"Fuck, I knew it was a trap," Leo said.
I sighed and took a deep breath.
"Boss, boss, look, pull over," and I did as Leo said.
"I don't think this is a fake." I turned off the car, and I grabbed my gun out of the center console.
The door of a house was completely kicked in, and there was blood on the front doorstep.
"He just doesn't know when to fucking quit." I sighed, putting my gun in its holder and fixing my suit.
Leo and I walked up to the house and stepped over the broken glass.
"You take upstairs, I take..." The metallic smell hit my nose before my eyes could even see it. There was blood…everywhere.
"So glad you made it," a voice said, and I turned around. It was Matteo.
"What is wrong with you?" I asked, grabbing him by his collar. "You just don't know when to fucking quit. Leave him alone!" I added, throwing him to the floor.
My attention turned from Matteo to…oh god.
I quickly ran over to him.
I frantically checked his pulse, trying to keep his head up in the process. Thank God he's still alive.
I turned to Leo and called out to him, "Leo..."
He cut me off. "I already called them; they are on their way."
"Are you two okay?" I asked Ryder's siblings as I picked up Ryder's body, who felt like a dead weight as I put him over my shoulder.
One of them had a knife and was pointing it at me.
"You give him back," he yelled, pointing the knife at me and getting closer.
"Hey, I know you are scared; I would be too..." I watched as he stabbed the knife right in my leg. "Hey, that hurt," I said, as I'd assumed Brandon, Ryder's brother, quickly backed up.
"I'm not here to hurt you, and I'm sorry he hurt your brother. I know you are Eliza and you are Brandon and you both go to school with my daughter," I said with an awkward smile, as I gestured to them.
"How do you know that?" Brandon asked me, screaming in my face.
"Well, I saw your brother in the park and…" I took a deep breath. "After this whole thing is done, you won't ever see me again, I promise."
I continued, ignoring their harsh looks, "People like me aren't fit for love, so…I'm just going to make sure he is stable, and then…once again, you will never see me again. Now let's go," I said, but they didn't move.
I sighed.
"IF I was going to hurt you, I would have done it as soon as I walked in. Now come on," I said sternly, and they still looked unsure.
There fucking kids.
"The ambulance is here," Leo said, taking me out of my angry haze.
I nodded. "Okay, good. What about Matteo?"
Leo gave me this thousand-yard stare.
Oh, that's not a good look.
"What? Are you hurt?" I asked, checking on him frantically, with Ryder still over my shoulder.
He shook his head slowly. "More like…traumatized; I felt like I was lecturing a…pervert," Leo said, choosing his words carefully, and for the first time, he looked embarrassed.
And…behind that embarrassment, there was something else, but…I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
I watched as Matteo, WHO WAS FOR SOME REASONS TILL IN THE HOUSE, came into the room that we were in. I quickly took my gun out with one hand and pointed it at him. "You touch any of them and you are getting a bullet right between your eyes; you hear me?" I screamed, and Matteo smiled.
I sighed as I felt myself twitch, with both anger at his smile and cringe at the words that just came out of my mouth. I am taking this mafia shit too seriously, I thought to myself.
"I will call a truce if you give me one thing." his smile was growing, as chills ran down my spine.
"If it's Ryder or any of his siblings, it will not happen."
"Give me Leo."
"Yeah, not happening either; he's my right-hand man."
"Not for that."
"Not for what?" I asked, turning my head to the side.
"I want him."
My face dropped. "Excuse me?" I asked.
"I want him," Matteo repeated.
"You can't have him; he works for me," I said, trying to push past him.
"That's not what I asked."
"I want him," Matteo said again, turning his attention to Leo, as his eyes changed. "Like as my plaything."
"You nasty son of a bitch. Brandon and Eliza, let's go!" I said, and this time they quickly followed me. I think they finally realized there would always be someone worse. A bigger fish to fry, if you will. Okay, let me stop.
"Well, he's an adult; he can do whatever he wants, but at the end of the day, he works for me," and is my best friend.
"And at the end of the day, it's my decisions, and it's a hell no, tell your boys to come get your ass," Leo said, smacking Matteo and pushing him out on the porch.
He then took out his phone and started to type. "Okay, so the people are coming to fix the door and replace all the broken stuff, and right now we are just gonna take the car and take him to the hospital." I nodded.
What a strange day! I mean, every day is, but today was especially strange.
I rolled my eyes. Matteo needs to fuck off for, like, one day out of the year and let me breathe, oh my god.This is why mafia bosses don't have lovers, past-hired people.
I made my way outside, still with Ryder on my shoulders.
"Boss," one of my bodyguards said, as they all bowed to me.
"One of you will take the car back, and then we will go to the hospital," I explained and from the looks of it, everyone understood.
We made our way down to the car; I opened the door and put Ryder in the back seat. I then shut the door and walked around the car, getting in the seat next to him.
I sighed as I watched him as we drove. Poor kid. He didn't deserve this.
I'm so goddamn selfish.
"What are you stressing out over? Your men already said he was in stable condition…Is the guilt of your men basically killing him finally getting to you?" I looked up. It was Brandon, and he looked irritated.
I had even noticed they both got in the car with us, despite my telling them to.
"Matteo doesn't work for me."
"He doesn't?"
"No, we are rivals and he loves attacking people dear to me…Even though I haven't made any moves on your brother, he already picked up on me looking at him and attacked him, so…after this whole thing is over, I'm gonna let him go," I said and Brandon nodded.
"You seem in pain in a way."
"I did get stabbed in the leg."
"Yeah, not that pain; more like I don't know, same look my dad gives my mom kind of pain," Brandon said. That's quite dramatic.
"Getting attached to someone I have never even spoken to is embarrassing considering the fact I am literally about to turn 40," I said, slumping down while still watching Ryder.
"Old ass," Brandon coughed out. Fucking brat, I should… "Boss, we are here." I blinked, being taken out of my violent train of thought.
"Send him to the suite; I want him to live, you hear me?" I asked, and they nodded.
I watched as they took his body out of the car, put him on a stretcher, and wheeled him off into the hospital.
"You coming, boss?" I nodded.
I hope I could.
I stood up and looked at the hospital.
I looked down at my hand.
The beeping of the machine I was hooked up to was so loud, it was driving me crazy.
"Boss, it wasn't your fault." They kept telling me that. Over and over again.
It wasn't my fault.
It wasn't my fault.
IT WASN'T MY FAULT.
Then why is my arm fucking gone? WHY IS MY ARM FUCKING GONE THEN?
I ran that red light. I ran it. It's my fault. It's my fault.
"Boss, he was drunk; it's okay." Is it okay?
My daughter is fine. My little girl is okay.
She's my world.
She's my everything.
I shouldn't have run that red light. She could have died…She could have died.
The beeping got louder as the door opened. That noise is horrible.
"I'm sorry," a voice called out.
Sorry? For what? I ran the red light; it was my fault. It was all my fucking fault.
"I just..." The guy stopped his train of thought and he looked at me.
He was in a wheelchair but looked fine.
"I'm sorry for driving drunk. I'm sorry I smashed into you," the guy said, and he bowed.
He reached out to me.
"You don't have to go in," a voice said, and I turned to where it was coming from. It was Eliza, and the two of us were sitting in the waiting room.
"Huh?"
"You look like you were bugging. If hospitals bother you, don't go in," Eliza said.
"No, it's not that; I just..."
"I saw your arm; you don't have to go in," she said, and she nodded at me as she walked off.
I swallowed a hard gulp, and I looked at my hand. It looked so real. It almost felt real…apart from the fact that the rest of my arm looks like a robot.
I sighed and stood up.
I walked with all my might over to the room number that was in my text messages.
54.
And I pushed open the door.
The beeping was loud. Oh god. Oh god.
Oh…he looks so precious. I walked over quietly and sat down next to him.
Even the scars from those knives wouldn't mess up his pretty face.
I pulled my hand back.
I was getting a little too comfortable, stroking his face like a creep.
But god, he is so precious.
He is perfect in every way.
"You know how to braid, Robo Daddy?" I turned my head back. It was Eliza.
"Uh, yeah, why?"
"You want to re-braid his hair?" she asked with a smile.
"Uh, I'm-."
"Despite his ETHNIC background, his hair is just wavy." Hey, I didn't even say anything like that.
I smiled, and I lifted his head gently and slowly took out each of his braids.
"You got a freaky look on your face, robo daddy." I looked up and blinked at Eliza.
"I'm sorry, I just-." I stopped myself.
I ran my hand through his hair, braided one side down, and put a rubber band on it, and then the other side and another rubber band.
I laid his head back down gently and smiled.
"Freaky."
"What?"
"You are freaky."
"Because of my arm?"
"No, because of the horny look you are giving my sleeping brother." Oh. I let out an awkward laugh.
The two of us stayed in awkward silence. I don't know where my men were, or Brandon, for that matter, but it was awkward, and the beeping was overwhelming.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"If you want to date my brother or something. Uh, try to get him to stop smoking while you are at it," Eliza said, not making eye contact with me.
"I'll try if he falls for someone like me, that is. The whole mafia thing puts people off," I said, completely going back on my word.
"Who knows, he might be into robo dilfs," she said and I laughed.
"Who knows?"
I looked down at him.
Hopefully, he will wake up soon.