FOREVER MINE

C H A P T E R 25

ANGELA
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A pained groan leaves my mouth as I slowly start to come back to consciousness. I open my eyes with great effort and take a swift look around my surroundings. 

It looks like I'm in some kind of. . . cell? The dirty walls and steel gate is all I see. I try to get a better look on the outside of my cell but it's dark and there isn't much light filtering through the room.

An uncontrollable cough across from my cell causes me to jump in surprise and squint my eyes through the dark. "Who's there?" I hesitantly ask.

"Wow, the fact that you don't know the sound of my cough hurts me, princess." Dante's gruff voice rings through the room. My heart squeezes at the sound of his voice. He sounds like he's been through hell. "What a friend you are." He mutters and I roll my eyes.

"And you know the sound of my cough?" I shake my head at him even though he probably can't see me.

"Yes." He doesn't hesitate to say. "I'm truly hurt by this, Angela."

I sigh. "I'm sorry Dante. I'll make it up to you when we get out of here."

"Yeah, you better." He says before asking, "Do you by any chance know where 'here' is?"

"No." My heart feels heavy as I ask the question that's probably on both of the tip of our tongues. "Where's Elijah? And Nicole? What about Enzo?"

I try to hide the panic in my voice but fail miserably. The last thing I remember is Gio slamming my face into the floor and losing consciousness.

Gio.

My fists tighten as betrayal floods through my veins. What was his reason for doing all this in the first place? What did Elijah ever do to him?

"I lost sight of Elijah and Nicole when a smoke bomb was thrown in the middle of the room. I tried looking for you guys, but everything was a mess. It was absolute chaos." He sighs heavily.

After a beat he says, "I saw Gio carrying you out through the back and went after him but got cornered by a few of the other men. They beat me up and knocked me unconscious too." The anger in his voice is evident.

"You did everything you could, Dante."

"No I didn't." My heart hurts at the sounds of his voice. It's the first time I heard Dante be this upset. "I don't know where Nicole is and it's driving me crazy." His breathing is harsh as I hear him punch the wall.

"Hey, don't hurt yourself. I'm sure she's okay, she can protect herself." I try to reassure him, but my throat constricts at the thought of my best friend.

"Then why isn't she here??" He asks desperately, "Where is she? I swear if they hurt her, I'll torture and kill each and every one of them."

I don't say anything. I try not to point out that Elijah isn't here too.

A couple of minutes go by with Dante muttering his plans on killing everyone and me just quietly listening to him.

When the sound of someone groaning, catches the both of us by surprise, we both go quiet. The person starts coughing and I hear Dante shuffling closer to the cell's gate.

"Enzo?" He asks.

"Yeah," Enzo answers while coughing. It sounds like his voice is coming from a cell next to Dante's. 

Hope bubbles through me at the thought of Enzo being here too. If he's here that means Elijah might be too. Guilt tugs at my heart at wanting him here, but if he's here it means he's okay - he would be alive. It's better than the unknown - it's better than not knowing.

"Enzo, are you okay?" I ask and I wince when I hear him coughing again. 

"I'm fine, just a bit roughen up. How are you guys holding up?"

"Still in one piece, don't worry." I say with a small smile. 

"Do you know where Elijah is?" Dante asks and I hold my breath waiting for Enzo's answer.

But before he could answer, the light flickers on. I immediately gasp when I see Dante. His face is swollen and bruised, and it looks like he's struggling to stand on his left leg. "Dante..."

"You don't look any better princess," He grunts and winks at me. "Besides, I'm fine. "

I shake my head at him and look over at Enzo, but he's not looking at me, he's looking at the cell next to mine. "Enzo?"

"Boss." He says and my breath hitches. Dante looks over at the cell too and he instantly freezes. 

I start to panic, grabbing ahold of the steel bars, "What? Is he okay??"

"I don't thin-" Dante's cut off by the sound of the door opening.

Now that the lights are on, I finally realize that we're actually in some kind of basement, and the person that just opened the door in coming down a set of stairs. My heart starts beating rapidly again and I clench my fists. 

This is all probably Emillio's doing even though I'm not really sure where Gio fits into everything. He mentioned his boss, who I'm assuming is him since he started the shootout at his wife's birthday party. But I'm still not quite sure.

The sound of footsteps descending slowly down the stairs has me feeling a bit anxious. A bundle of nerves form in the pit of my stomach as my headache worsens. I look over at Dante and he nods at me with the reassurance I desperately need.

When the person finally reaches the last step and comes into our line of sight, I take a step back.

The first thing I realize is that this person isn't alone, and the second thing is that it's most definitely not Emilio who has just graced us with his presence. 

It's Nicolai who gives us a sly smirk as he nears our cells, his gaze taking in our appearances. 

"You. . . " Dante trails off and stumbles against the steel bars. Betrayal and hurt flashes through his eyes but he's not looking at Nicolai. No, he's looking at the person standing behind him. "Nicole?" He shakingly whispers.

My heart sinks at the sight of seeing her stand there with Nicolai. Her face cold and emotionless. 

That's not the friend I've grown to love and care for.

Nicolai laughs as he looks over at us, his Russian accent more prominent now. "Oh, how I love seeing your faces like this!" He turns to Dante and smirks at him as he tries to contain his laugh, "What? You thought you actually knew her? You thought you could trust her? Love her?"

He continues to laugh as he looks over at me now, slowly starts shaking his head, "You didn't think she was actually your friend, did you?" I glare at him, but he turns around and walks over to Nicole, throwing his arm over her shoulders. "Sorry, I forgot to properly introduce you."

He smirks as he says, "This is Nicole Nabokov."

"My daughter."

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