[1] A War of Blood and Hearts | ✔️

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

ALONSO

Alonso, Ignazio, and Nicholas step out of the house with heavy weaponry to find Brent and Ivan waiting for them with smug smiles on their faces. The Italian mafia boss still feels a little disoriented due to what happened back in his room, not to mention that the aching in his leg makes moving a little difficult. Nonetheless, he tries to pull himself together as best as he could.
No one says anything as each side waits for the other one to make the first move. It is as if everything got paralyzed; even the trees stopped moving and the birds no longer can be heard from in between the branches.
"I do not like this." Ignazio whispers after minutes of absolute silence, and Alonso cannot agree more.
"Yeah, it feels like they are waiting for something to happen."
"Either way, our best chance is to find a way to leave this place. We are heavily outnumbered." Nicholas' gaze does not leave Ivan's; Alonso can only imagine how the Brazilian man pictures murdering the Russian mafia boss.
Milo, Lorenzo, Alberto, and Lucas emerge with their guns pointed at Ivan and Brent. Even with the seven men being armed, the odds are still not in their favor.
"How on earth are we going to leave and not get shot in the process?" Nicholas stands stupidly close to his father; it seems as if he is ready to jump in front of him if he needs to. Alonso does not know how he does it, but Nicholas manages to hold his gun with his injured hand. It does not surprise him, though, because Nicholas has always been able to maintain his mafia boss façade regardless of the situation.
The conversation is cut short when Zaire is thrown into the floor before them. The young Brazilian man falls violently face down to the ground and grunts a few times from the pain. Within a second, both Milo and Nicholas attempt to go to him, but the gun that appears at Nicholas' temple prevents them from doing so.
Then, the women come out of the house with three gunned men following them. The fact that the men's guns are pointed at their heads causes a fire to erupt in Alonso's mind; it burns and destroys every rational idea he has. Fortunately, Ignazio grabs his arm and prevents him from doing anything that would get them killed.
"I guess this is how you will all die." Alonso sees Ivan's satisfied smirk. Something in his expression makes Alonso uneasy.
The Italian mafia boss notices that everyone stares at the person holding the gun against Nicholas' temple. Hence, he does the same, and he immediately feels the air get knocked out of his lungs. He feels betrayed and his anger intensifies. Never in his life has he been deceived in such a manner.
Alonso turns around to look at Alberto. His friend does not try to hide his tears and heartbreak. Although, Alonso reckons that he would not have been able to do so even if he wanted to. After all, if Alonso himself feels overwhelmed, he cannot imagine how his friend feels.
"Mila?" Alberto's broken voice calls out to his wife. His tone begs her to prove his eyes wrong; that she did not betray them; that she did not betray him. However, there is no way to deny it. After all, she holds the gun against the Brazilian mafia boss' head.
"She is a traitor." Crystal spits grudgingly.
"She was never on our side." Leora glares at Mila. Alonso finds his mind utterly blank; he does not know what to do or what to think. All he knows is that whatever secrets they had, Mila probably told them to their enemy. Thus, they have little chance of getting out of the situation alive.
Suddenly, Alonso finds his own gun weighting him down, as he is reminded why he never wanted this life. Getting betrayed is an inevitable part of the mafia life. He always knew that it would happen at some point. Regardless, he always hoped that when it did occur, it would be by the hands of someone he did not fully trust or at least was not part of his family.
He never liked Mila; he only tolerated her for Alberto's sake. Despite her challenging personality, he has learned to care about her and trust her because she was his brother's wife. After all, she was in their lives to stay.
"Son, are you okay?" Milo's voice breaks Alonso from his trance. The Italian mafia boss turns his focus to the older man whose only focus seems to be on his youngest child.
Alonso knows that Nicholas can easily disarm Mila, and that Crystal can handle the three men who hold her, and his mother and sister. However, that would only be proved to be useless and stupid since they will have another three hundred men to deal with.
"Mila, what is this? Do you care to explain yourself?" Lorenzo's cold gaze focuses on Mila as he demands to know why she would betray them.
"I think you should clear out the confusion Mila darling." Brent gives her a wide smile as he walks towards her and eventually stands right behind her. The American mafia boss leans into her and softly kisses her neck, Mila only smiles in response. Alonso finds himself vowing to slit her throat if Alberto does not find it in himself to kill her.
When Alonso looks at Nicholas, he notices that his friend does not seem moved or affected by the gun that threatens his life. In fact, he can see a hint of amusement and mischief in his Nicholas' eyes, which leads him to believe that the Brazilian man might have a trick up his sleeve.
"Well, you see in order for you to understand, we have to go back in time to five years ago when I married Alberto. From the moment I met him I knew who he was and how close he was to the Italian mafia boss. Therefore, I pretended to be interested in him in order to get to the mafia boss. I wanted to get to the mafia boss; I did not care what I was supposed to do in order to get what I desired."
"Why would you want to get to me?" Alonso's voice is distant and cold as he looks through the memories in his mind as he tries to detect any little mistake she had made that they were oblivious to. He comes up with nothing; his emotions are too intense and overwhelming for him to think straight.
"Because I am in love with you, Alonso I have been in love with you even before I met you. I even married your friend in order to get you to notice me, but you never did. Not only that, but you had the audacity to fall in love with that wench." Mila points at Crystal with her free hand, and Alonso can see the fury and hatred Mila feels towards the woman he loves.
"I married a man I do not find tolerable for you, and you never even showed interest in me." Tears start to go down her cheeks. If they were in a different situation, Alonso would have found her emotions and tears amusing and funny.
Despite her betraying them and hurting his brother and best friend, a small part of Alonso feels bad for her; not because of him not loving her back, because she was delusional enough to believe that he ever would.
"You are my brother's wife, I would never think of you that way. And even if Alberto was not your husband, I never liked you; you are way too bitchy and insecure for my liking. I always knew that you do not deserve my brother." He mutters the last part to himself.
When Alonso looks Mila in the eyes, he sees her tears intensify and her grip on the gun tightens. It is lucid how much his words hurt her, and he cannot help but feel happy about it. After all, Alberto has loved her with all his heart; he gave her his heart with closed eyes and a wide smile, and all she did in return is manipulate his heart and step on it in the most brutal way.
"Mila..." Alberto looks at his wife with vulnerable eyes; he slides his gun down as he tries to repress his tears. Alonso feels sorry for him; he has never seen him look this broken.
Alonso never understood what Alberto saw in Mila, and why he loved her out of all the women he has met in his life. Still, he figured that Alberto knew himself and his life better than Alonso did. Now, he realizes that he was wrong.
"If you will not love me, then your friend will pay the price for it." Mila pulls the gun's safety off. At that, Alonso's anger turns into utter fear. Nicholas on the other hand, does not seem even a little bit affected.
"Actually, you will put the gun down or she will pay the price." Ilya emerges from between the trees with Darya in his hands. Nicholas' man looks at Ivan as he presses his gun harder into his pregnant wife's head. Suddenly, Alonso understands Nicholas' lack of reaction; he was waiting for Ilya to show up.
"Ilya, what are you doing here?" Lucas seems as perplexed as everyone else.
"When my boss calls me, I answer." Ilya answers simply.
"That is cute, but you are still outnumbered." Brent holds Ivan's bicep; preventing him from moving. The Russian mafia boos does not let that stop him; he shoves Brent away and start running towards Ilya and Darya. He stops in his tracks, however, when countless men appear from the woods with their guns raised.
Alonso does not have the time to register how Brazilian mafia men managed to get here because Nicholas disarms Mila and break Brent's nose with his elbow. Mila's face turns pale when the Brazilian mafia boss points the gun at her. When Brent tries to attack Nicholas, Alonso turns his gun at him. Therefore, the American mafia boss freezes.
"Come on now, do not tell me you did not think I had a backup plan. After all, my father, my brother, and my sister are here." Nicholas gives his father a nod, and immediately, Milo goes to Zaire who is still on the ground. Alonso suspects that he cannot get up due to the heavy medicine that is in his system.
"Darya, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Ivan screams as he looks over his wife's body from a distance; trying to detect any wounds.
"I am fine. Ivan, I am scared." Darya puts a protective hand over her swollen belly. That action triggers something in the Russian mafia boss because he immediately turns around and points his gun at Crystal who rolls her eyes at him.
Only then, does Alonso notice three men lie unconscious on the floor at her feet. He almost smiles out of pride.
"Let my wife go, or your boss' sister dies." Ivan threatens.
"My sister can handle herself." Nicholas responds without even glancing at Crystal. Alonso almost yells at him for that, but he stops himself because of two reasons. One, he knows that Nicholas is right; two, he is certain that the Brazilian mafia boss is not out of tricks yet.
Nicholas has always been smarter, crueler, and more cunning than Alonso ever was. It never bothered Alonso, but he wishes he would, at least for once, be the master mind. However, unlike him, Nicholas is made for this life; he loves it and he would never even consider leaving it. While Alonso wants nothing more than to walk away from it.
One by one, Brent and Ivan's men start collapsing, and the Brazilian men under Nicholas' command start to shoot down every American or Russian man they can find. Lucas and Ignazio attempt to help, but Nicholas stops them with a shake of his head. Thus, none of them move as gradually their enemy gets eliminated. Within seconds, Brent, Ivan, and Mila are the only ones left standing from their foe; while Darya remains in Ilya's tight hold.
Alonso does not hesitate to lounge at Ivan and knock him to the ground. He steals his gun before he gets off of him; with the amount of men Nicholas managed to bring, he does not need to hold him down.
"Before you think about doing anything, you should know that the sniper that took almost half of your men down will not hesitate to shoot you right through your hearts." Nicholas warns.
"Freya..." Zaire mutters from the ground.
"Yeah, it appears not only is she a great doctor, but also is an excellent shot. She said that she has some debt to pay for what they did to her best friend." Nicholas gives his young brother a wink before turning his attention back to Ivan who seems to be on the verge of tears.
Despite his hatred towards the man, Alonso can understand his feelings. If Crystal was the one in the enemy's hold, if she did not know how to fight which seems to be Darya's case, he would be so close to breaking down.
"Now, Ivan put your gun down like a good boy before you wife and child get harmed. " Nicholas' tone is mocking.
Alonso finds himself extremely nervous. While he wants to stop Ivan and teach him a lesson he will never forget; he does not agree with harming a pregnant woman. Based on how well he knows the Brazilian mafia boss, Alonso fears that his friend might cross that line.
Ivan growls angrily at him and points his gun at Nicholas and shoots without hesitation. Luckily, Crystal is fast enough to get her brother out of the way literally as the bullet is about to graze his chest. Nicholas falls to the floor with Crystal on top of him, both of them grunt at the impact. Alonso was too focused on them that he is startled by the second shot that erupts through his ears.
The Italian mafia boss turns to Ivan to find him dead on the ground with a bullet in his chest; his heart to be precise.
"Do not dare threaten my brother." An almost unconscious Zaire spits out with his father's gun in his hand. The young Brazilian man looks at his brother and sister before he passes out in Milo's arms.
"My family..." He mutters right before he closes his eyes finally giving in to the medicine's effect on his body. Everyone stays silent as they stare at Ivan's body and try to digest what just happened.
"Ivan, no, Ivan!!!" Darya breaks the silence when she starts screaming her husband's name. She exploits Ilya's extreme shock and manages to break free from his hold and run to her dead husband.
"Baby, please wake up." She collapses on the ground beside him and places his head on her lap as she strokes his hair away from his face.
"Ivan please, our son needs you, I need you. Do not do this to us; wake up please. Please! Please baby, open your eyes. Ivan, show me your eyes!" She hysterically cries as she violently shakes her husband's body.
"No, no, this cannot be happening. Iva..." She is cut short with a bullet penetrating her head. Brent stands above her as she collapses next to her husband.
"No, wait!" Crystal yells, but before anyone can stop him or even react, The American mafia boss shoots Mila for a second time, only this time he shoots her swollen belly.