Lust and Revenge

Chapter Forty

We all hand in our phones, everyone except Giovanni and Sergio,I can't help but continue looking at Stella but she keeps avoiding my eyes.

"Have anything to tell me dollface?"Giovanni says, snapping me out of my troubled thoughts.

" No , none at all",I smile. I'll just deny it plus how will they know that it's mine, I'll deny it. The phones are taken away and Giovanni sends me back to our cabin,a few minutes later Stella brings me my food.

"What's going to happen?"I ask her as soon as she enters but she doesn't respond to me. " I have to do it,I have to save myself and my little brothers".

" Don't worry about it, it's all taken care of",she says, placing the tray down, that doesn't reassure me one bit,I don't eat that much and begin to Pace around the room until she comes back to get the tray.
"I told you not to worry",she calmly says before grabbing the tray.
Our attention is suddenly drawn to the noise outside,a guard is grabbed by the collar and thrown to the ground by the guard that is always with Sergio.
The man is beaten and bloodied but everyone else continues on with what they are doing like nothing is happening,the man continues pleading and shaking his head.
The guard takes out his rifle firing at the man putting a bullet in his head making me scream involuntary,the rest including Stella don't even flinch showing just how desensitized they are to such violence.
"A lesson to any of you that have any funny Ideas", the guard says walking away,other men come and drag the body leaving a bloody sandy trail behind them.

"Why did they shoot him?"
"Because he was making unnecessary calls,I framed him for the call you made Nithia",she says calmly.
" How ?But why? An innocent man was killed!"
" He deserved it ,he raped the women and girls the children besides he was stealing from Boss Sergio",she says and walks out leanñving me shellshocked.
I don't leave the cabin for the rest of the day and just lock myself,the photos I took were sent to the phone Mercelo sent me luckily, I wonder what I'll do if I do manage to send Giovanni to prison,I hate to say it but there's nothing out there to me but with my brothers the only remaining family I have I'll be alright, we'll move and start afresh and maybe even go back to school.

I awoke by someone wrapping their arms around me and being enveloped by a similar scent.
"Giovanni, what time is it?"
"Did I wake you? It's 8 in the evening",he says taking a deep breath of my hair,I look at the window and it's already dark outside.
My thoughts are still on the man that was shot. The image made me remember when my dad shot himself.I kept hearing the ringing after the gun shot,the smell of gunpowder that day was nauseating.
"Stella said you witnessed that guard getting killed and was a little shaken",he says gently kissing me ,why was he asking gentle all if a sudden."don't look at me like that, I've already told you I'm in love with you",he says sitting up " and I'm willing to forgive you ".
" Forgive me for what? For what my mother did? Causing your brother to commit suicide?",I scoff, I was trying so hard to contain the anger I was feeling.
"Yes ",he responds.
"You don't get it do you Giovanni,there is nothing to forgive,you keep blaming me and my brothers for something we knew of and had nothing to do with! And now you're telling me you forgive me! I was only a 14 year old when everything happened! You ruined our lives! You took advantage of our vulnerability and turned my brothers against me! Since we are blaming each other for the deaths of our loved ones,You killed my father driving him to his death,You humiliated him making him a laughing stock by publishing his wife's many affairs with younger men,you killed him ! And now you expect me to just turn the page and accept your love for me? Your sick twisted love!"I was upset,I don't know where all this anger came from but I felt like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders,angry tears streamed down my face,the pain ,anger ,hate , resentment.
Because of him I don't have a life ,all I know is taking care of my siblings. I was forced to work and take care of my brothers when I was mourning my father,after everything happened my mother shut us out.

Giovanni grabbed me by the elbow and started dragging me outside "let go of me !Are you going to hit me in front of people I barely know?".
" Shut up!"
" I was hurting too Giovanni,I lost someone I loved too",I sobbed.
He continued dragging through a familiar trail,why was he taking me to the little stream,he threw me into the water, held me by the neck and pushed me under. He was going to drown me,I scratched at his hand so he could let go of me but his hand was on me like a vice,I kicked and screamed as the water painfully filled my lungs, drowning really is a painful way to die.
Strength left me and I just let go ,I felt like it something told me maybe if I stop struggling, I'll go back to that time with my dad ,in the hotel right here in Colombia,he took us to the kids pool and we later had all the ice cream we wanted,we ate till we dropped,I want that,I miss that,so I gave in to the darkness. But right before I could get comfortable,to let the darkness enveloped me and bask in its warmth,I was conscious coughing up all the water and people were yelling after a painful coughing fit everything started getting clearer.
"What the f**k is wrong with you brother,have you lost it!"
Some men were holding Leonardo who looked like he was about to fight with Giovanni.
Giovanni spotted a bruise on his temple and was trying to get to me but was being blocked by Sergio and his right hand man.
"How do you feel?",a concerned Stella who knelt by my side said.
"Like shit",I coughed "and cold".
She then wrapped me in a blanket someone brought.

After getting warm and changing my clothes I got into the bed with Stella's room.
I heard Giovanni arguing outside wanting to see if I was okay,but nobody let him in. It must have been Leo and Sergio stopping him. They didn't burge even when he threatened them.I don't know if it was my mind playing tricks on me but I heard the desperation in his voice.

I knew why he was upset upset,I heard it from the chief she has worked for the family for a long time she was talking about it with Anna, I said only the truth,I know he thinks he would have been able to save his brother he wants to put the blame on someone else so he can't blame himself,he tried so hard to keep Federico away from the crime and guns but the gun Federico ended up using to take his life was Giovanni's.
.