Crossing the Lines

FIFTY ONE

Ace's POV

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It killed me.

It killed me but I had to let her go, I had to force her to. Loving me won't bring her joy or happiness. Loving me will only bring her pain, misery, and death. Loving me will be the death of her and I'll be damned if I let anyone harm a hair on her head.

I felt physically sick about lying to her. Lying that we had nothing, that she was nothing more than someone to bide my time with, lying that I didn't love her. I knew she didn't care about the title. My father may have gotten into my head for a split second, but I knew that she didn't care about that since that night in Italy.

She didn't ask me for money, she didn't ask me to take her out in public, all she asked was for me to show her how to make pasta. I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she accidentally threw the noodle at me, or her laugh when I finally caught her. She was beautiful, and she wanted nothing more than my company.

I stood on my balcony as I watched her drive away. It took everything in me to keep that car from turning around, to not bring her back. I'll admit, I'm a selfish man, but I could never be selfish with her. She deserved a long life, filled with joy and adventures, maybe even a family of her own one day. That wasn't something I could give her though.

I didn't bother trying to sleep after she left. It was no use, her side of the bed was cold. I had another car come pick me up and take me to a compound along the Canadian boarder. My Capos were surprised to see me there that late, but they knew not to question it.

I had them bring me five prisoners into a torture room. I needed to take my anger out, and this was the only thing I could think of. All of the men looked tired, sore, and fearful. Even though this was their current state, I can tell they're all strong, seasoned soldiers. I had all of the chairs and torture devices removed, leaving me and the five in a empty room, surrounded by four concrete walls.

"I'm giving all of you an opportunity." I tell them. Some of the newer captives widened their eyes in surprise, the others knew the best opportunity they could get was a quick death. "There's five of you and one of me. If you can get past me, my soldiers and capos have been told to let you go."

The first one to make a move was a younger soldier. Not only was he new to this life, but he hadn't been held for a full twenty four hours yet. He was fast, but I was faster. The guy lunged at me but I quickly grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. He tried to fight back but I grabbed his head by the hair, bashing it into the concrete until his body fell limp to the ground and red trickled down the wall. I sighed as I cracked my neck and neatly rolled up my sleeves.

"Whose next?"

Two of the men looked at each other and nodded before both coming at me in sync. I dodge one as I lunged at the other, sending us both to the ground. All I saw was red as I punched and punched and punched until the other one pulled me off. The first one was still alive, but unconscious. The second was behind me, trying to put me in a chokehold. I forcefully yanked his arm from my neck and slammed it onto my knee, breaking it. He gritted his teeth, trying to prevent his scream to come out as he held the arm to himself. I grabbed his other arm, breaking that one as well. He didn't even try to hold back his scream that time.

The last two were a little older, and they had been here for months. I waited for them to make a move, but they were both frozen in place. I took that as my turn to go first. I punched one of them straight across the jaw, causing his head to whip to the side and blood to go flying out of his mouth. He breathed heavily for a few seconds before looking back at me. He wasn't scared, he wasn't angry, he was just done. He had no fight left in him, and neither did the last one.