Forgiving Him is a Sin

47

Milena POV

Thankful. I am extremely thankful that it's Sunday and the church is filled with people. I hurriedly take off my scarf so I can blend in with the crowd and leave it in the car, then I help Lucia get out and we rush inside along with the crowd.

I find an empty spot in the middle of the room, I take Lucia and help her sit down next to an older couple.

"Excuse me, she's pregnant, would you mind giving her your jacket so she doesn't get cold?" I speak to the older man with a sweet and kind smile.

"Oh, of course not. Here you go." He takes off his jacket and places it on Lucia's shoulders. We both thank him.

Hopefully, it will help her disguise.

I look around and see Johnny sitting at the back, his eyes are on us. That means I have to be in the front, so he can see me. I go to the front and luckily find an empty spot. I sit down and wait for the mass to begin.

I move a bit to the side as a big muscled man wearing a black suit sits down next to me, I am doubtful of every little thing right now, but I pray we all leave here safely.

I have one way to ensure my safety.

I start asking people around if they have a pen and paper, and a young woman in the front hands me a Post-it note and a pen. What I do is write an important Bible verse.

Romans 8:28 – "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

"You must be very faithful." The man next to me speaks with a suspicious smile.

"Yes, I am." I chuckle a little and raise my head as I await for the mass to start.

15 minutes into the prayer, as a woman is reading a verse of the Bible on the stage, Father Julio's eyes meet with mine for a moment.

I pretend to remove fake tears from my face slowly, and mouth 'Tony, SOS' to him. He immediately turns away, directing his attention somewhere else.

Father Julio previously helped me reach out to Tony and stop him from raiding Stefano's home in Miami. I know he's probably confused and upset, but he can't just barge into a place with so many armed men. Especially this house which has Lucia and Nadia in it.

Father Julio knows almost everything, he told me a lot about Stefano's mother. He said Stefano wasn't like this when he was younger, that he changed after his father didn't save his mother from kidnappers which resulted in her death. One day, I will make him tell me everything.

Strangely, I feel something poking my side. I look down to see what appears to be a gun covered with a piece of black cloth pointed at me by the same big man next to me.

"Don't move." He speaks with a low voice. "Do as I say."

I simply nod. He can't shoot me here, there are too many eyes and not enough bullets. People will know his face, and he will get arrested eventually but since he belongs to a high and mighty criminal organization, they won't be able to catch the mastermind. I have no choice but to obey.

He tells me to stand up and walk out from the side, I do as he says after carefully dropping the piece of paper on the floor. We walk with his gun on my back. On the way, I see no signs of Lucia and Johnny. Did they manage to leave or were they caught before me?

He leads me to the same car that was following us, I approach it with careful steps. I still don't see Jonny or Lucia around, they're not even inside the car. Before getting too close, I feel a piece of cloth covering my mouth and nose. I struggle to get it away from myself but it's useless. He's much stronger than me.

One thing they don't know is that I'm resistant to anesthesia and I'm just acting like I'm losing consciousness.

Oh, it's still a thousand years too early for you to know what I'm capable of, you ugly monkeys!

Stefano POV

"Call again!" I tell Massimo while pacing around at the front of the church.

They're gone. Missing. Lost. There's not a single trace of them in this city. How is that possible?! Johnny didn't even call. I know he won't get taken down easily, but I can't control my emotions. I'm too worried about Milena.

"It won't connect" Massimo says with a defeated voice.

"Fuck!" I pull my hair from frustration, anger, confusion, and uneasiness. If the Popovs have her it will be history repeating itself. No fucking way I can just sit down and do nothing while they hurt her! They won't touch her! I won't fucking let them touch my baby!

"That old man was a distraction, it's the Popovs. Tell Clyde to be ready. Tell him to give me the first thing he gets!" I order Massimo, he moves away to talk to our spy, code name 'Clyde'.

As I'm still pacing around, I see Father Julio approaching me from behind.

"You seem to care about her" he says with a sympathetic look. I don't answer, I just continue on my pacing.

"I know she cares about you too" He continues to talk.

"What do you want Father? I know you don't like me so just get to the point, as you can see I'm already a mess" I manage to speak without getting angry at him.

"I can see that, that's why I will give you a little bit of information, that is... if you'd like"

I look at him while breathing heavily. "I'm listening" I stop in front of him and pay all my attention to him.

"I don't know if you're aware, but she has a friend named Tony. When our eyes met at the mass, she mouthed 'Tony, SOS' while trying to be discrete. I took that as a hint, and called the guy." He says but I stop him before he goes any further.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, how do you know Tony? How did you get his number?"

He takes a deep breath before he speaks again.

"On our second encounter, Milena asked me to call a number and give them a message. The message was a verse of the holy Bible, I suppose it was meant to convey a message. It was the first and the last time she asked me to contact that number."

"Did you contact him earlier?"

"I did. Just like the first time he picked up at the first beep. I told him about the SOS thing, I know the meaning of it but I didn't know why she did that. He then he started to ask me questions like, what verse of the Bible she recruited, did she hit someone by accident, did she get angry at a specific person, where she was sitting, if she left marks or initials on her seat if she burned anything, or was she drinking something, and so on."

"Which one of them did she do?" I ask impatiently.

"Well, I followed everything he said, I found a piece of paper on the floor under her seat."

"And?"

He takes out a piece of Post-it paper and hands it to me.

"Romans 8:28, a strong and meaningful verse of the holy Bible, but I don't know what he's supposed to do with it."

I read the writing on the paper, just as confused as him. It seems like she and Tony have a type of secret code with these verses.

"What did Tony say?"

"He asked me to read it, which I did. He then thanked me and said I saved him the trip, and then he hung up."

I look at the piece of paper in my hand, I see something strange written at the end of the verse.

"b&q" with the q being crossed.

"Did you tell him about this?" I show the letters to him.

"Yes, I did" he confirms.

Tony found her previously, I saw his competence. He can definitely find her again. Unlike me, he knows her better, he has ways of finding her, and she gives him hints. That leaves me no choice.

I have to find Tony.