Fallen Ashes |✔️

Red

Zoe

"Where the hell is she?" Vero roared for what felt like the millionth time. 

"Piss off." I spat at his feet as he growled and collided into me, the impact sending me into the wall behind with a sickening thud. 

I didn't know where Venus was and didn't want to know either. I held onto the lingering hope that she was safe, that the dark prince who'd crashed her wedding had kept to his vows to protect her. 

I wasn't even sure why I'd wondered back to the mansion this morning with some outlandish expectation that Venus would be waiting for me, to gossip about college, about bastards like the one in front of me who deserved to be hunted down, not Venus. Even Domino had disappeared and my heart ached for his comforting presence, to offer what little help I could provide to get him away from the suffocating mansion, to ease the burden he carried for being the son of a powerful mafia lord. 

My body threatened to collapse again from the way my knees buckled, my bones aching to the point where I wished I kept my own knife strapped to my thigh. Sometimes I'd envied Venus for the glamorous life intertwined with crime, cash and the mafia. But now I realised even the luxuries inside a mansion could become a prison with the outside world being infinitely more sinister. 

My hands scrambled at the nearby table as my fingers desperately clasped over the gun I prayed was loaded, dreading the unfamiliar feel of it in my hands. 

"Get back before I shoot what little brains you have, prick." I'd never fired a gun before despite the cool arrogance of Venus I desperately tried to imitate. 

"Shoot me then." Vero challenged, his murderous eyes fixating upon my finger shaking over the trigger. 

He couldn't stand the way I helped Venus escape her wedding with the son of the Italian crime boss. Some battles were worth dying for- but not this. Not here where perhaps nobody would find me, before I could see Venus again to keep her by my side until she had to throw me out. 

I'd never killed anyone before- and as much as I wanted to send a bullet through Vero's skull, part of me couldn't cross that boundary, my finger curling away from the trigger. Vero grinned as if he'd assumed as much, his mocking tone making my vision turn red with rage. 

"You're going to help me find her and that bastard who ran off with her." 

"No, I'm not." I scowled at him, clenching my hands into fists to hide the way they were trembling. 

"The choice is yours- help me or I kill your boyfriend." 

"B-boyfriend?" I stammered, wondering who he'd used to get at me, until the realisation hit me. 

"Pax." The word was a gasp. I cursed myself for forgetting about the friend I hadn't seen for days, unaware of Vero likely approaching him- or worse.

"Unless you want to get thrown into a cell beside him. That little prick would love hearing the company of your screams." Vero's mouth curved into a manic smirk, making me plead to anyone that would listen that Venus would never have to face him again. 

I pulled the trigger, shutting my eyes as I waited for the sound of a bullet that didn't come. 

I let out a shuddering sigh as Vero raised his eyebrow in surprise, proceeding to mock the unloaded gun I'd tried to end him with. 

"Where are we going to find her?" I frowned with resignation, vowing to find some way out of this and keep my friends away from the animals who sought to kill them. 

"Get in the car." I didn't make another sound until his huge figure had crossed the hallway, making sure he'd left before I slumped to the ground and let myself become consumed by every violent sob that came. 

___

Ash

I'd know something was wrong the second I entered The Gate. 

The nightclub usually had a constant stream of mafia agents, the bustling crowds usually becoming frequented spots for drugs or illegal weapon exchanges. 

"The bar is closed after a brawl the other night." A waitress drawled, her eyes sullen from whatever drugs she'd been taking that evening. 

"Fucking fix it then." I growled, deep in thought over the rumours that our mafia rivals were close to seizing the red devil. Some claimed she was being traded for millions worth of drugs, others claiming it was for vengeance.

The reports were murky, with even my spies failing to pinpoint the current threat to the life of my fiancé; Greeks, Belgians, Americans, Italians or other mafia groups entirely. I knew better than to assume any of them to be allies, especially with the Belgian mafia reportedly exhausting every resource to capture Venus. 

"If anyone else asks around, you tell me." The waitress nodded as I dropped a stack of notes in her hand and left without further conversation, my hand resting close to the gun in my pocket. 

My Porsche wasn't speeding fast enough, every second where I wasn't beside Venus too long. God, it had only been months ago where I left the body of a rogue agent in a dumpster behind the nightclub, leaving a trail of blood from the gash in his head. I'd killed my way to track down my targets, even Venus Castellanos. Other times I'd fucked my way to the throats of my targets, leaving them begging for me to finish them. 

Perhaps meeting Venus Castellanos had thrown me over the edge of pure madness, but every breath of mine was meant to call her name, every part of me belonging to her. I was drunk in my desire for her- and part of me embraced insanity if it meant my mind was a prisoner to her. 

"Where is she?" I questioned with dangerous calm as soon as I stormed into the mansion, my family casually continuing their meal with Venus' chair empty. 

"It was about time she left son- the red devil never had a place at the table of the enemies she'd slaughter in a heartbeat." My father smirked, the crimson scars across his face glowing as if they contained his hidden rage. 

"Where did my guards go?" I made an effort to keep my voice calm, frowning at the ominous emptiness of the grounds. 

"They must have fled when your fiancé threw a tantrum." Nico rolled his eyes as I fought the urge to strike him across the head. I knew the world could have split in two and Venus would still find her way to me- whether it be as an enemy or a lover.

"Lorenzo is dead." Leo half-muttered, looking back to father as if repeating a pre-rehearsed statement. 

"Who fucking laid a hand on my most loyal agent?" I seethed, my voice raising loud enough to make my mother recoil with unease. 

"Your fiancé murdered my head spy, unless you forgot." The crime boss in front of me said casually. 

"So this was about revenge." I swore at his senseless cruelty, at the pain he inflicted so easily to prove a point. 

"Where. Is. My. Fiancé?" My voice almost broke with despair, at the sudden fear that overwhelmed me and hatred for the father who would turn the world red to have his way. 

"I sent you to kill that bitch before she became a threat. If you used your head instead of thinking with your-" Father yelled as I roared back, promising every bit of pain he'd dealt me in return. 

"With any luck she's already dead- but if you try rescuing her again, you'll have no mansion to return to, no family to crawl back to when she hands your ass over to the bastards who'd kill you in a heartbeat." 

"The men already answer to me- and whatever influence you have over them is gone when they find out about Lorenzo. So keep the fucking mansion with no one to guard it- with any luck the wolves you threw her to will come back to rip your head off before I do it myself." 

"Here, you'll need this." I added as I casually pulled out a gun from my pocket, slamming it onto the table with a force that sent glass shattering to the horrified shrieks of my mother. 

"I'm coming Vee." I muttered under my breath, promising to tear apart everything that got in the way between us. 

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