[1] A War of Blood and Hearts | ✔️

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CRYSTAL

Since the moment the men left the house, Crystal has been feeling uneasy. She cannot figure out why, but she has this instinct that something bad is about to happen. She wants to talk to someone about it. Thus, she goes to Zaire's room; even though he is unconscious, he is the only one who does not hold a grudge against her, and she feels comforted by his presence.
An hour passes by as Crystal just stares at Zaire as she wishes for him to finally open his eyes. The Brazilian woman wills herself to reminisce how simple and easy her life was when she was in the United States with Milo and Zaire before her parents showed up and in the process forced the two men to run while she ended up in Nicholas' house. A part of her imagines how her life would have been like if she had chosen to flee with Milo and Zaire. Even though she would have been forced to stay in hiding for the rest of her life and give up her writing, even though she would have had to relinquish Nicholas and Lucas, Crystal knows that she would have been happy; she would have been at peace.
Sadly, a person cannot rewrite a page that has already been written with a pen. She cannot go back to that time all these months ago. She can however leave with Milo and Zaire when all this madness is over. She will give up her brother who she is certain will despise her when he learns her secrets, she will give up Lucas who somehow became a vital source to her pain, she will give up Ignazio who had become a close friend to her, and she will give up Alonso who claims to love her with all his heart. She is going to leave them all behind and write the rest of her pages with the two people who know the real her; without secrets and without facades. She does not want to be vain. Regardless, she knows that she deserves to be happy, she deserves to not be surrounded by secrets; whether they are hers or someone else's. Most importantly, she deserves to choose to not be part of the mafia life.
Despite the fact that the past two months have been the hardest Crystal has ever experienced, they have been illuminating. She finally figured out exactly how she feels about Alonso, she figured out that maybe, just maybe she is starting to fall in love with him. What she also figured out, however, is that she will not endure the mafia life for Alonso.
She does not know if these emotions will fade or grow. Either way, the mafia cannot be her life; not after everything it cost her. The mafia is the reason she lost many things, and it is the reason she was forced to endure certain people, and the mafia is the reason she is in this mess.
The alarms in the house go off causing Crystal to snap out of her thoughts. She is immediately reminded of the bad and uneasy feeling she is feeling. The Brazilian woman wants to go and check it out but two things stop her. One, she would be leaving Zaire completely helpless, and two, Zaire's room is the only hidden room in the house; if she leaves it and there is an intruder, they would know the only safe place in the building.
It occurs to her that Camilla, Leora, and Mila are somewhere in this house and possibly in danger. However, she still does not move; something inside her prevents her from doing so.
Luckily, Crystal does not have to try to make a decision because the three women barge into the room with pale faces. Camilla locks the door and doubles checks that she locked it right since it is technological.
Leora runs to the wall and presses her palm on the hand scan. Seconds later, countless screens appear providing visual on what is happening in the house. Almost in every room Italian men fight men who Crystal is certain are from the Russian mafia.
"Crystal, do something!" Leora screams at the Brazilian woman's face. Even though it is not the time to focus on emotions, Crystal allows the rage to boil her blood. For months Leora has been nothing but a tyrant towards her, and now she expects her to be her bodyguard. Crystal chuckles at the Italian woman belief that Crystal would lift a finger to protect her. The only person she would protect is Zaire. The others have Alonso's men to keep them safe. The way Crystal sees it, their well being is not her problem.
"Yeah, I am supposed to go out there with armed Russian men while you stay in here hiding?" Crystal directs her words at Leora for the first time in months.
"You are supposed to protect us!" The Italian woman's face becomes red.
"I am not supposed to do anything for you. You can die for all I care. You do not deserve that kind of treatment from me. Besides, in case you did not notice, there are at least thirty Russians out there; I cannot beat all of them! I will certainly get killed!"
"I do not see a problem with that!" Mila's annoying voice reaches Crystal's ears while Leora looks down at the floor with either embarrassment or shame, Crystal cannot decide. She hopes Leora feels both.
"Will you all shut the hell up?!" Camilla hisses as she glares at the screens closely.
"What? What do you see?" Crystal has not forgiven or forgotten the way the older woman has treated her, but if she knows something that can help her keep Zaire safe, then she can keep her thoughts to herself.
"These men are not Russian, at least not all of them." Camilla answers with a trembling voice after studying the men in the screens for a few minutes.
"What are you talking about mom?" Leora holds her mother's shoulder with fear in her eyes. Crystal feels satisfied with the scene that is in front of her; it reminds her of who she was before Nicholas and Alonso got abducted; the person she wants to be again even though that person started out by being nothing but a façade.
"Shut up and let the adults talk." Crystal finds herself saying with a cold voice even though she wants to smirk at the look Leora gives her. Camilla pays no attention to them as she studies the men further.
"You know who they are." It is not a question; the expression on Camilla's face tells Crystal that she knows.
"Americans; they are the American mafia."
"Why on earth is the American mafia attacking us?" Crystal curses at her luck because now not only is her family in a war with the Russian mafia, but the American mafia has just declared war as well. She just does not know the reason behind that.
Everyone stays quiet as they watch the Americans and the Russians overpower the Italians until suddenly a sound of an explosion causes both Leora and Mila to yelp. Immediately, all the screens shut down and the room becomes pitch black due to the lights shutting off as well.
"How are we going to turn the power back on?" Mila asks, and even though Crystal cannot see her, she still feels really irritated by her presence. However, she has learned that this is the vibe that Mila gives everyone around her; except for Leora.
"We cannot."
"And why not? Do not act like you know everything!" Crystal imagines punches Mila a few times in the face in order to calm herself down.
"I know that because that explosion was a burst of electromagnetic radiation; they just hit us with an EMP." Crystal's nerves gradually start to rise; being hit with an EMP means they are locked in here, and they have no contact to the outside world.
"What does that mean?" Crystal can see Camilla reaching for her daughter.
"It means that everything in the house with an electric circuit has been fried. So, we are locked in here." Crystal looks around the dark room trying to find another exit, or a way to contact Ignazio and the others.
"We do not know that for sure." Leora snaps.
"Yes we do. Check your apple watch, is it working?"
"Of course it is workin..." Leora tries to defend but immediately shuts up in mid-sentence. Crystal suspects that the Italian woman checked her watch and found it fried. She almost chuckles at the stupidity that surrounds her.
"The watch is the least of our concerns right now." Camilla says. On cue, Crystal notices the dead silence that consumes the room, and it hits her.
"The EMP fried the breathing machines that keep Zaire alive." Crystal's panic reaches its peak. Zaire cannot die; if he did her heart would stop beating from heartbreak.
"So why is that important? It is not like he will die because his machines do not work anymore." Leora walks closer to Crystal and only because of their proximity the Brazilian woman can see the glare she receives.
Out of rage and instinct, Crystal wraps her hand around Leora's neck and pushes her against the wall.
"Let's be very clear, you your mother and your friend can die for all I care. Hell, I would watch you get tortured and not make a move to help you. I do not care about what happens to you. So if you know what is good for yourself, you would shut your hole and be quiet or I will strangle you myself and save oxygen in these confined walls. Do we have an understanding?" Crystal hisses in Leora's ear and only lets her go when the Italian woman nods vigorously.
Crystal can see Camilla's and Mila's frozen figures but she just ignores them and walks blindly to Zaire's bed. Crystal sits by him and holds his hand.
"You cannot just sit next to him and do nothing Crystal; he will die." Camilla's voice breaks the silence in the room.
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" Crystal yells out in frustration. She lets go of Zaire's hand and turns towards the direction that the older woman's voice came from moments ago.
"You can go out there and try to contact my husband and the others."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Crystal's voice is low and defeated. At first she did not want to walk into danger while they are hiding behind the room's metal walls. However, now things have changed; now Zaire's life is on the line. So, she is willing to hear Camilla's idea; that is if she has any.
"By using this." Through the dark, Crystal sees Camilla pulling a sparkling chain from under her shirt and removing it from around her neck. Moments later the older woman hands it to her.
"I know that these past two months I have been... not the kindest towards you. I also know that you do not owe me or my daughter anything. Regardless, I am still asking you to go out there and risk your life because your brother's life depends on it." Her last sentence startles Crystal.
"He is not... He is..."
"Oh please girl, I may be getting old, but I can still see the signs. Zaire is Milo and Allegra's son; so is Nicholas and you are their daughter." Crystal digests her words before nodding even though she is not sure if Camilla can see her through the dark.
"Okay, so how does your chain help me leave this room?" Crystal asks when the room becomes intolerably quiet.
"From what Enzo once told me, you have to find the key hole for the key that is in this chain, and it should open the door. If I remember correctly, the door opens through the key only from the inside so even if it falls in the wrong hands we should be fine in here." Crystal's jaw tightens at the way Camilla says the last sentence, but she keeps quiet as she starts to touch the wall trying to find the hole.
It takes Crystal a few minutes, but eventually she finds the hole and she sighs in relief. She does not know what her next move will be after she gets out of the door, but she tells herself that she has to figure it out one step at a time.
"Okay, I am going to leave and try to get help, while I am gone, if anything happens to my little brother I will murder all three of you without hesitation." The Brazilian woman does not wait for a reply before she puts the key in the hole and slowly twists it. She sighs once again when she hears the lock being opened.
She opens the door, slowly gets out of the room, and just as she is about to close the door, Leora opens her mouth.
"Maybe you should leave the key here you know, just in case... "