Respect

Chapter 22: Nightmare Comes To Town

Daniel's POV
"So?"

"What?" I answered plainly

"What's your next move?" Dean asked

"We haven't yet found which one of my delinquent relatives is actually going after Athena. I'll have to get out of town for a couple of days, maybe then I can...."

"Fool I'm not talking about that" he said rolling his eyes, and rubbing his face. "I mean, what's your next move with Athena?" he said cutting me off.

"What do you mean by 'with'? She's not with me"

"Exactly! And what are you doing about that?"

"Dean, I don't see this conversation going anywhere significant"

"Avoiding the topic ehh. If I didn't know better, I'd say Don Terranova is running from a woman" he said grinning

"What are you talking about?! What exactly should I do, she ran away from me. The least I can do is ensure her safety. She'll never come anywhere near me after what she saw" I said sulking

"Huh! So you do like her. Okay, I knew that, I just needed to hear it from you. And, running won't get you any closer to her. You need to talk to her if you REALLY love her. Just go for it! Mr 'fearless mafia' can't even approach a woman" he said laughing

Dean really did press a few nerves and not in a good way.

"Are you done?" I asked

"Daniel, you're scared of losing her. Well let me tell you this, now that your family is going after her, you don't know what can happen anymore. Anything can go wrong anytime. Sorry to say, but she could be dead anytime. And if I'm being completely honest, it's better she DIES knowing you actually had feelings for her, rather than you living with a hole in your heart knowing you never told her. I mean, I can't handle that, sorry, but I never signed up for 'comforting my heartbroken boss'. You better act fast and tell her how you feel and explain your side of the story, at least"

"Who talks like that?" I asked shocked by his statement.

"You know I'm right!" he said walking out.

Dean had a point. Sad to say. I did love her, and I wanted her to know, but I wasn't sure if I even had the right to approach her. What right did I have over her?

Those few days were very nerve racking. I kept replaying what Dean had said. What if they got to her before I did? Then I WOULD lose her forever.
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The following day, I took Dean's advice and went to see Athena. Driving to her house was like a death sentence. I couldn't get there any slower.

I arrived at her house and readied myself for an emotional rollercoaster, but was immediately put off by the noise that was coming from her place. Looking in the rare view mirror, I could see a large crowd of people surrounding her house.

What's going on?

Stepping out of my car, I wondered what was happening and approached with caution. I could hear people screaming and shouting for help. I immediately thought Athena was hurt and ran through the crowd and halted when I saw her.

She was covered in blood and tears as she held her brother in her arms. She screamed and yelled and kept shaking him. One look at him and I could tell, he was dead.

He was badly beat and had cuts and bruises all over his lifeless body. I knelt down and offered my help, when she looked up and her eyes met mine. I couldn't tell what was going through her mind at that moment, but what happened next silenced me.

As I reached for her, to comfort her and just to hold her, I heard gun shots. Everyone scampered in all directions and some people were shot too. I shielded Athena with my body until I couldn't hear the shots anymore. I turned to see who was shooting at Athena and saw all too familiar faces.

Athena was scared and in shock. She had just lost her brother and now, her life had just been threatened. She stared at me for a while and passed out. I tried waking her but to no avail. I called for my men to take care of Seven and carried Athena to my car. This place was no longer safe for her, for anyone.
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Bringing Athena back to my house was something I was avoiding. I knew she'd hate it, hate being around me, but I knew this was the safest place she could be right now-- with me. I brought her to another one of my safe houses that was miles out of town. It was secluded just right for her.

Her situation was bad enough and I was the cause of it all. If I hadn't entered her life, she wouldn't be here and she'd still have the closest thing to family she had left. It was all my fault, I was the storm in her life. I was the nightmare she'd feared and I was right besides her.

She had been sleeping for hours but I never once left her side. I wanted to be the first person she saw when she woke up. Though risky, I had to talk to her.

It was past midnight when she started to move. Her eyes gradually opened but when they landed on me, flew open in so much fear.

"Where's Seven?!" she yelled
"Where's my brother?! What did you do to him?! What am I doing here?!" She screamed and shouted and hit me continuously.

I hated seeing her like this and pulled her towards me and held her to my chest. She cried on me, too weak to push me away. She was broken, hurt, and lost, I could feel her pain and sorrow, and I wanted to take it all away.

Losing her brother was already pain enough, but knowing that my family had something to do with it, that me being around her was putting her life in danger, that I was the cause of her brother's death, was just too much to handle.

I tried not to think of her reaction to all I was going to say and just held onto her weak form and offered the comfort she so badly needed. In a way, I had my way, I had Athena in my arms, but not in the way I had hoped for.

Holding her, I thought to myself, I didn't care how dangerous and bloody things would get with my family, I would make whoever did this to Athena pay dearly, and the following days would be anything but peaceful.