DANIEL VOLKOV
"Clara left," said Charlotte on the phone, panicking. "I just woke up and sh-she's gone! Grigor checked her office. She's not there."
We just parked in front of the restaurant where Tomasso went. CJ and his agents were looking for him inside. We were armed and ready.
"Hello?" Charlotte asked. "Did you hear what I—"
Kissing Clara last night was the best thing that had happened to me. She just left without a goodbye, like it meant nothing to her.
"I heard loud and clear. Gotta go." I hung up.
"No luck." CJ appeared, his bushy brows knotted with frustration. "I think that fucker somehow snuck out. There's not a single trace of him inside that restaurant."
The last thing I needed was for Tomasso to be on the loose. When I had no clue where Clara disappeared or if she was safe.
Three gunshots blasted across the street, snapping our necks to the diner.
Passing pedestrians cried out as Rossi soldiers broke outside, fleeing into their cars. CJ and his agents dashed over to stop them. Niko and Andrew bolted beside me, all of us in shock.
Not only did Tomasso trick us. That sneaky bastard. But he was using his men as punching bags so that he could escape.
"He's getting away!" Andrei yanked my arm for us to run after him, in the opposite direction from the chaos. But I stopped when I suddenly heard a scream—
Her scream.
Like a knife to my chest. Clara. Oh my God. Clara. She never left. She sacrificed herself. She—
Enzo and some other guy were dragging her inside a car. She was fighting them. She was still fighting with everything she had.
"Daniel!" Andrei yelled, bursting the echo of paralysis.
We looked at each other, realizing the same thing. We could either catch Tomasso today and finally end this war. Or lose and maybe survive the consequences.
He nodded, confirming my decision. "Go after her. She's one of us."
"We'll try to get Tomasso." Niko pulled Andrei with him and I split in the other direction.
Reality cut into fragments.
Get Clara.
Kill Enzo.
Kill the other guy.
I threw myself in the car. Slammed on the gas pedal. The tires screeched and cars honked as I cut into traffic.
Enzo raced off with her, covering my vision in red.
Get Clara.
Kill Enzo.
Kill the other guy.
He drove like he just got his license. He bumped over curbs and tilted on sharp turns, putting Clara's life in even more danger. I snarled, knuckles white on the steering wheel.
Get Clara.
Kill Enzo.
Kill the other guy.
He tried to drive through a narrow alleway. I jerked into a shortcut and blocked him.
The metal groaned. Smoke and dust snaked up the empty parking lot. The sun scorched above.
I stormed out, sweat licking down my neck. His friend jumped out with a gun. I kicked it out of his hand and caught his throat, raising his body off the asphalt.
The fear that flashed across him fueled me like a drug. I focused on him like he was my prize.
"Want to know what happens if you touch her? You don't die," I said. He choked, dangling. A slow grin twisted my face. I pulled him closer and sneered in his ear. "You get slaughtered."
If he pled, I didn't care. I dropped him on the ground and pummeled his face in it. Punch after punch. Fist after fist. He wailed as his nose crunched. He gurgled blood as his teeth shattered like chips of porcelain. Every time I remembered he hurt Clara, I hit harder. Until my knuckles split open. Until his jaw broke with a pop and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Until—
Clara let out the most blood-curdling scream.
"DANIEL!"
I looked up to Enzo marching toward me with a gun aimed at my head.
Everything stopped.
Moments flickered in my vision like a distant dream. Happy and sad. Moments with my mom. I saw her tender laugh. Her hazel eyes. The last time I hugged her. The last time we fought. I saw the time Niko told me their parents abandoned them. The night they slept in my room. The night we met Andrei, with his dirty clothes and bruised face. I saw us unwrapping Christmas presents. Falling asleep to movies.
The last thing I saw was a hallucination. It was my mom's funeral, after everyone had left. I was sitting alone, staring at her grave, surrounded by nature. My mom took a seat next to me and I told her that I didn't know how to live. I didn't want to live.
The blast from a gunshot closed my eyes.
I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong. Now it was too late.
But nothing happened.
I opened my eyes and Enzo dropped on his knees. Bleeding from his chest. His eyes locked on me, shocked...before he collapsed on his back. Clara stood behind him, holding the gun I kicked on the ground earlier.
A/N
Well, then...dark romance, am I right?
Hope you liked it <3
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Nothing Burns Like You
Romance'You're not going anywhere, Clara. You're not running away from this.' Everything I felt for him, everything that could ruin me, raged to rip apart and crash at his feet. He gently lifted my chin with one finger, his mouth hovering over mine. 'I'm...
