RAGE

Chapter 26. Losing Scarlett.

Scarlett.

My groggy eyes open to the looming figure sitting on the chair on the side of our bed in our dimly lit hospital room.
Out of habit, my palm presses against Rage's chest to check if he is breathing.

The pipe from his mouth was removed just yesterday, with his lungs not needing to get oxygen delivered into him directly. Instead They had put a nasal cannula because he often stops breathing on his own.

"He is fine....Scarlett." I hear the figure talk.
Martin.
"What are you doing here?" I ask. My jaw doesn't hurt anymore like it was one week ago.
I can move it around with no pain and I have been able to chew without feeling too much pain.
"Checking up on you two. Tim hadn't slept in a few days, so I sent him home and decided to look after you two." He tells me. I give him a stiff nod and coddled into Rage's neck.
I missed his manly scent. Now he reeks of the disgusting hospital smell.
I can't wait for him to wake up so I can take him home and bathe him properly, getting rid of this rotting dead scent.
I just wanted my Rage alive and healthy again.
I hate them so much....

"Where are they?" I ask him. I did not need to clarify what I meant.
Its the only topic I refused to talk about since I woke up.
No matter how much Tim persuaded me.
I just couldn't.
I need Rage to wake up. I can't face this conversation without him.
But now. That. Rage's health is improving.
I needed to know if we were safe...

"In the tunnels." Martin answers me.
"Is-is he dead? My father." I ask him.
"No. Zenon wanted them alive. They will stay alive until Zenon wishes otherwise." Martin tells me with an intense stare. His eyes move to Rage and soften with a sigh.
"I have known Zenon, since the day he was born...."
Martin says, with his eyes set on Rage. It was as if he was staring into nothing.
"I was his father's right hand man. Just like my father was to Zacarias's father. After his children were born, my main priority was to look after them. With being the next in line, his father trained Zenon day and night since the age of three. As soon as he learnt to walk. Zenon was taught to use a gun." My breathing falters.
Did he have the fate as us, growing up?

Martin notices my panic.
"No. No. Rage's father Zacarias wasn't anything like yours. He loved Zenon. Zenon and Angela lived like royalties when their parent's were alive." With this he smiles fondly.
"I still remember the day when they were born.. It was myself and Zac who named Zenon. His mother had no say in it. I still remember how she loathed us for giving Zenon, Zac's middle name. Zac was anything but Rage, she would say. For her, Zac was like a....teddy bear. The first time she called him a bear, he almost choked on his food. Mafia man do not like to be called a bear." He chuckles. I smile at that too.
"They were a happy family. I was named as the godfather to both the children..." His smiles dies.

"Everything changed in our lives, when they were killed." His eyes darken and he continues...
"Zenon stopped talking for days, months even. And Angela...oh my poor, Angela was devastated. The two of them so....young. So...vulnerable without Zac and Anita..."

"What-what happened? Who-who killed them?" I ask.
Martin's glassy eyes meet mine. He shaked his head a little and sighed as if in pain.
"We don't know who. Zac made alot of enemies during his reign. It could have been anyone." His head lowers down as if in failure.
"Zenon and Angela had been out on a school trip when it happened. Zac and Anita were attending a charity ball.....when they were on their way back home, with me following behind them......their car...it-it blowed down. Both Zac and Anita, died in the fire, before we could even save them. We-we never detected any bomb in their car. I don't know how. But they...their-their car just...It just blasted off right infront of me and I couldn't do anything about-about it..." He stops as the sobs rake his chest, and the fat tears of loss rolled down his eyes.
"I had my own son....he was...he was killed during a raid in London. He was ten years older to Zenon. He was trained like a ruthless warrior. I and Zac, personally trained him ourselves so that one day he can be Zenon's right hand. I was destroyed  beyond repair.....And-And I had vowed to never let something like that to happen to Zac and Anita's small family. But I....I let them down, Scarlett. I couldn't do anything. My little Zenon and Angela lost their parents at-at such a young age." He sobs.
My heart ached for the pain he has gone through. Losing his son. And then losing his bestfriends.