Rule #1: Never Date An A.C.E. [COMPLETED]

Chapter 15: Rule #49: Always Look Out For Your Own

I wait patiently for Ace to come in and rescue me. I trust Junior and hope he isn't caught. Aiden returns while I'm waiting and uses me as a punching bag to get some anger he had gained from a business-deal-gone-wrong. He forces me to stand and laughs at my attempts to protect myself, but the hope inside me is alight after being out for a while. I realize I have no idea how long I have been gone, the television was the only way I knew the time and the day.

I wait until Aiden is finished and left to allow tears from the pain to fall down my face. How a man that cruel could produce such a sweet son was beyond me. I curl into a ball on the floor, the disgusting room no longer a problem as most of the blood around me is my own. I suddenly hear sounds of commotion upstairs and my hope flares as I sit up, staring at the door, willing Dylan to burst through them. Gunshots are sounded off and I cringe at the sound. The door is flung open and my smile fades as I realize it's just Luca.

He throws me the keys, breathing heavily as a gun is trained on me, "Release yourself." I do as he says and stand on wobbly feet, the bottoms smarting but not bleeding any longer. "Come on." Luca prods my back with the gun and I slowly make my way up the stairs. He groans at my slow pace and picks me up, throwing me over his left shoulder and runs up the stairs. I bounce against his back, my stomach bruises screaming at me to stop the torture. Luca lets off a string of bullets before replacing his magazine. He sprints from the hallway through the kitchen and out into the backyard. I hear yelling, but my head is spinning from the pain and my position to pick out any one voice.

"Stop," I hear a voice say and Luca stops. "Put her down." I grimace at the voice, hoping he has a good plan.

"Come on, Junior," Luca says. "We're all family here."

"Put her down!" Junior says, his voice stronger this time. Luca slowly lifts me from his shoulder and places me on the ground beside him. "Now, back away from her." I see Junior has gotten his hands on a gun, but it shakes in his two small hands.

"Come here," I call to him and he runs over to me, handing me the gun. I use the closest wall to stand, putting myself between Junior and Luca, returning the gunpoint to Luca. "Unless you want me to shoot you, stay there."

Luca smirks, putting his hands down that he had raised for Junior, "You won't shoot me, kitten. You love me."

I shake my head incredulously, "You think after all you have done to me that I love you? You are delusional, Luca."

Even with that statement, Luca still has a smirk on his face, "Then do it."

And for once, I oblige.

Luca's face contorts as he holds his thigh, where blood is pooling from the wound. I smirk at him and then turn and run away holding Junior's hand. I round the house and see that big SUV's had made their way into the compound, the electric fence gate busted through.

Guns are trained on me until a familiar voice calls out, "Isabella?"

Dylan runs over to me and gives me an overlook, "What happened to you? You look like shit."

"Not in front of the kid," I scold, glad to be in his presence again. I pull him into a gingerly hug that he returns, we both not wanting to exacerbate my already bruised body.

"Isn't that the boy you helped who turned out to be bad?" Dylan whispers in my ear before pulling away. I nod, but grasp Junior's hand.

"He's the one that called you," I say, pulling Junior into a one-armed hug that he gladly returned. "I told him if he helped me, he could come with me. Aiden beat him."