A shock jolted through Jason's veins, his stomach twisting in horror. He bit his lips and opened his mouth, a flaring scream pouring out of him.

Fire.

Heat.

Screams.

Another piercing twinge caused his body to tense completely, feeling his throat block by the thick liquid streaming through his gorge.

Jason!

The ear-splitting cry kept echoing through his ears. He kept holding on to it, he had to hold on to something. His body instantly reacted to the third shot of pain, his skin slicing and a burning sensation taking over his entire being.

Fieriness surrounded him.

Jason!

His legs went numb, the warmth beginning to suffocate him. There was no room and no air for him to breathe anymore as the walls started closing up on him.

"Jason!"

Suddenly, the voice was more vivid. Jason's ears perked up, trying to catch more of the voice that caught his attention while he slowly went into a monotone haze, feeling light-headed. There was no pain anymore, just numbness.

Another shrill scream took over the place the same time a disturbing weight placed itself on Jason's stomach. The pressure was unbearable.

"Jason! Please!"

His stomach dropped. As crushed as he felt, the voice strengthened his hearing-abilities and he immediately tried to push away the weight (God knows what it was) and forced himself to stand up, even though his legs felt like mush and he had no balance whatsoever.

Vomit started fizzling out of his mouth and his hands desperately searched for a surface to lean against. Fortunately he found something like that soon enough, his total port leaning against it as the dizziness endorsed his mind and clouded his thoughts. He could barely feel, let alone move his limbs, and he had started to forget why he had made all this effort to stand up, until the voice reminded him of it again.

"Jason!"

Jason's eyes narrowed and he coughed harshly, the puke flying all over in little driblets.

He couldn't see anything. The room was depleted with fire, showing no single exit or anything that could help him for that matter—just fire.

There was fire everywhere.

Although it was all blurry, Jason focused on the black figure in the corner of the room, stumbling forwards to get to it.

To get to her.

Her.

He had to save her.

He had to save her.

He had to save her.

He had to save her.

It was the only thought that raced through his mind as he staggered to the corner of the smoky room, ignoring all the pain and panic that overcame him. Muttering incoherent words, vomit kept spilling out of him as he neared her, immediately falling down to his knees.

"Jason.." The voice cried. Yeah, it definitely came from the girl.

Jason threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around the girl. It took every bone in his body when he started pulling her away from the corner, letting out a frustrated scream. It felt like knives dabbed into his limbs whenever he pulled.

He started choking on his vomit, a barking, coughing sound coming from him. It flew everywhere, but he wasn't aware. All he could think about was getting her out of here, out of this burning hell.

He didn't know where he was pulling her, but he could faintly make out a square-ish shape that must be a way out.

She slipped from his fingers. He started succumbing of panic and pain as his eyelids closed again, yet still forcing himself to find her and get her out of here.

Jason's hand met another petite hand and he promptly grabbed it, screaming in agony as, once again, he pulled himself together so he could drag her along.

They reached the exit soon enough. Jason knew because... he just did. Somehow his instincts said that was the way out.

Letting her go, he glanced at her. The barfing had stopped and he lowered himself. She was blurry. "It's okay, I'll get you out of here." He incomprehensibly breathed.

Pasting his arms on the walls, he stiffly pushed himself up, his entire body throbbing endlessly. A dry croak left his mouth as he grabbed the door knob, using all of his strength to open the door

The door opened, a wave of fresh air and oxygen drifted inside. Jason took a deep breath as he fell down on the ground, grabbing her again.

"Can you get over there?" He managed to get out, his eyes closing again.

"Y-yes but—"

Jason shook his head, finally letting himself feel all the pain he'd caused upon himself by hauling her towards the exit.

He just hoped she'd gotten herself out as the drowsiness started to kick in and everything became black.

-

"He should be awake by now."

Jason firmly kept his eyes closed, not daring to move. He realized what was happening the second he had awakened from his long... let's call it a sleep. It's not like he could move much anyway, everything hurt intolerably much.

What even happened?

Flashes of fire and heat shot through his head, vaguely reminding him what happened a couple hours ago.

Was it, though? How long ago was it?

Fifteen minutes? An hour? Five hours? A day? A week?

Impossible, the pain still felt fresh.

"Wake him up."

Unfortunately, Jason knew that voice all too well. Before he could even react, a sudden pain whacked his cheeks and his eyes immediately flew open, a low growl emitting his throat. The metallic taste of blood started appearing in his mouth and he coughed loudly, little blood spats soaring through the air.

His gaze was blurred until he closed and opened his eyes again, adjusting them to the light.

He was in a very large room, maybe even a bunker. The walls were grey and there was barely any furniture but some couches and chairs. There was one light bulb hanging from the roof, lighting up the entire place.

There were five men standing in front of him, all muscled and wide, however there was one man in particular that stood out of the group.

Damian Albarran.

Damian wore a neat suit and had his hair swayed fashionably, a mischievous smile curling his lips. Jason glared at him, clenching his jaw. The hate he felt in that moment was indescribable, tensing his body up and making his hands itch. All he wanted to do was to punch that smug look off his face.

"Well, well, well... turns out our friend here was awake after all." Damian's smile widened, stepping closer to Jason.

Jason narrowed his eyes and didn't hesitate before spitting on Damian's suit, the spit mainly consisting of blood.

Damian pulled up his eyebrows and pulled a handkerchief out of one of his pockets, carefully wiping it away. He left a dark stain and Jason couldn't help but feel a little bit better.

"That's not nice." Damian stated.

Jason didn't reply.

"You're not going to talk huh?"

Silence.

"Fine," Damian didn't ruin his smug façade and simply shrugged, turning away from Jason. He started pacing through the room. "If you won't talk, I will."

The men all stared at him wide-eyed, scared to say something that would tick him off.

Jason felt nothing but hatred—that mixed with how his limbs were numb and his clothes rubbed his skin in a way that made it burn. The ropes around his hands were tight, but he wasn't struggling. Even if he could find the strength to move—let alone untie himself—he'd still have to deal with the five broad men in front of him, all of them probably armed.

"Do you know why you're here, Jason?" Damian questioned, still walking. Jason ignored him completely and kept his face emotionless.

Damian stopped walking. "I believe it has to do with a certain woman."

Once again, Jason gave no response whatsoever.

"Alexia." Damian spoke, "Alexia Valdez. Or should I say princess? A birdie told me you call her that. Very cute, I must admit."

Jason gritted his teeth together.

"Ah, sweet, innocent Alexia.." Damian smiled again. Jason suppressed a scoff. Damian knew nothing about her, nothing. If he really knew her he'd never in a million years call Alexia innocent.

Alexia. The thought of her churned his stomach painfully. His mind overworked as he tried to remember what had happened to her. Was she with him? He remembered making out with her before they went inside but... everything was a blur after that.

"I'm marrying her in.." Damian put a finger on his chin and looked at the ceiling in a way that made it seem like he was thinking, "Six months? Is it six months?" He turned to one of the men standing behind him. The man reluctantly nodded. "Yes sir. It's February and the wedding is in August."

"Thank you, Dante." Damian said before turning around again, his eyes back on Jason. "Six, seven months. Something like that. I'd give you an invite but..." he lowered himself to Jason's level, "you'll be dead by then."

His voice echoed through the place as he continued talking, straightening himself. "It's kind of sad, huh? You lose the love of your life, three years later she's back... Engaged... And whatever you do, you'll never be able to take her away from me."

Damian stifled out a laugh as he started pacing through the room again, consumed by his own words. "I understand your desperation to get her. She's smart, cheeky, definitely speaks her mind, she has an amazing pair of breasts," he stopped pacing and locked his eyes with Jason's, "and, you and I both know she has the tightest pussy ever."

"Shut the fuck up." Jason sneered, his eyebrows furrowed. No one spoke like that about Alexia, no one should even mention having sex with her in his presence. Damian's words kept repeating in his mind, reminding him how for the past years, he was the man who had sex with her. Not Jason.

"He talks!" Damian cheered. "I thought that would get a reaction out of you. You really love her, don't you?"

Jason scowled.

"You don't have to reply, I know you do. She really loves you too, did you know? I mean, as if cheating on me isn't enough, she parades through the house with the biggest smile on her face as she tells about seeing the reef in the Maldives with you. I know she's trying to stay away from me, ever since that damned trip she's been distant. I bet she enjoyed the way you fucked her." Damian curiously glanced at Jason.

One of the men in the back chuckled.

"She's a little bit of a slut, I'll give you that. The first months of our relationship consisted of us fucking like bunnies. God, she used to love sucking my dick. She did it everywhere, anytime. You know what else I like? The way she calls my name when I make her cum, hell, those moans alone could turn me on. You know exactly what I mean, don't you?" Damian grinned as he heard Jason curse.

"You look so stupid, she doesn't even fucking like you. Doing all of this, killing people I know... if she found out about this you'd lose everything, everything." Jason hissed as he slowly felt how he succumbed to the anger in his body.

Damian let out a barking laugh. "You put two and two together, huh? I knew you'd find out about who killed Timothy. You're smart, Jason. And driven, you're very driven. I admire that. Too bad it won't be of any use to you."

Jason growled, a shiver running up his spine. He had known all along that Damian was the reason Bumper had died, yet he had this little sparkle of hope somewhere hidden in his body—really hoping that he wasn't the reason this happened to one of his friends.

He swallowed drearily, restraining himself from thinking about it. He couldn't, he just simply couldn't. The thought alone sent gloominess all through his body, weakening him. He couldn't afford being weak right now.

"That hurts, doesn't it?" Damian pouted, "That was kind of the point. You clearly didn't get the message the first times. I mean, I'll admit—I underestimated you. I thought it was an easy task, you know? I know you look all tough on the outside but I thought it was all bluff. When I sent one of my youngest and least experienced members to go and scare you a bit, I knew I had made a mistake the minute I saw you out and about with my fiancée, even when it was on crutches. You honestly didn't seem to care."

He stopped talking and grabbed a chair, taking his time putting it in front of Jason. Damian sat down and crossed his legs. "So, I tried again. This time it was one of my more experienced men, Christian. Christian is one of the few men that is not Latino. You see where I'm going with this, right? Because clearly, Christian underestimated you as well. We all thought that you being in crutches would be good for us but... your buddy sure knows how to drive. Props."

A small chuckle escaped his mouth. "I really should've gotten one of us good Latino's to do it from the beginning, no offense, but your people are kind of weak. Anyway, that's when you came running into my house, barking around that you wanted to see me. I don't know how fast I had to get out of my office, I mean, I was finally face to face with the one man I've wanted dead for over a month. Most of the people I want to die... they die. So I was eager, you know?" Damian looked at Jason as if he expected an answer.

"Anyhow, I was about to kick your ass off the stairs when I noticed Catalina standing downstairs, watching it all unfold. I'm glad I noticed her in time because I had almost pulled my gun out. You were so blinded by your anger that you didn't realize how bad you would look. And that would make me look better, you know? So I just took it. I took it all."

Finally, his smile dropped and his eyes darkened. "That's when I decided I had to step it up, because you're like a freaking leech, you won't stop. Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are? Because, Christ, you really are. I wanted to just burn you alive in your parent's house, turned out she was there with you. Somehow you both had made it outside, but you were both unconscious. Of course I brought her to the hospital first... Now I'm dealing with you."

Jason shrugged and looked at Damian defiantly. "Okay? What are you going to do now? You're going to kill me? Do it, I dare you," he didn't even blink as he spoke those words, "you really think I care? In the end, you're doing all of this so there's no threat to you and Alexia's relationship and whether I'm dead or alive, she'll always love me. It doesn't matter what the fuck you decide to do, she will always love me, do you hear me?"

Damian nodded and cocked his head. "You believe that?"

That response caught Jason off guard, because he hadn't expected it. Did he really believe that?

Yeah, he definitely did.

"Because, if she loved you that much, why is she still my fiancée? Why is our wedding still on the calendar? Why did she go wedding dress shopping? Why?"

Jason clenched his jaw line. What the fuck are you supposed to reply to that?

"Cat caught your tongue, huh? It's okay, this talk has been too long already." Damian sighed and got up off the chair, facing the men who are still standing in line, waiting for their bosses orders.

"Clear the place, I want it to just be me and him when I finally kill the scumbag. And make sure you've got a body bag ready for him!"

Jason shut his eyes and cursed incoherently under his breath. Fuck! What was he going to do now? His abdomen jolted, fear now running through his blood. Opening his eyes, he rapidly started scanning the place for a way out, but there was no such thing.

There was one door which lead to God knows where. The door was no option—there were still five armed men standing in front of him, he was still tied up to a chair and his body still hurt so bad he could barely even breathe.

Nonetheless, he quietly started fumbling with the ropes around his hands, doing it as nonchalant as possible. No one noticed, Damian was busy talking to the men in fluent Spanish and they were all listening to him. Not one of them had their eyes anywhere other than focused on their leader. Jason took advantage of it and took deep breaths, trying to remember what Emilio had taught him back in the day about untying ropes.

After no more than half a minute he got the hang of it and started plucking, pulling and poking the rope.

The ropes slowly started getting looser and looser. Jason inwardly cheered, but then realized he still couldn't get out.

Damian turned around, sternly looking at Jason. He slowly walked over to him, pulling out a sharp object. Jason's breathing hitched as he eyed the knife in Damian's hands.

"Let's play a little, shall we?" Damian grinned.

Without any kind of warning, he slid the knife along Jason's cheek, all the way down to his neck. Jason let out a loud growl, feeling his skin heat up in pain.

Damian chuckled. "Just you wait."

He gently glided the tip of the knife over Jason's sleeves. Jason kept his face solemn. Damian looked at him questioningly. "Scared?"

"No." Jason snapped boringly.

Damian nodded. "Wrong answer."

He pushed the knife into Jason's skin so deeply, a disgusting sound echoed through the place. Jason grunted, his heart beating fast as he closed his eyes, trying to think about anything other than the knife in his arm.

The pain...

Don't think about it. Think about something else. Think about Alexia.

Her name caused him more pain. Whenever he thought about her, he was reminded of how she was engaged to someone else. In the end, all of this lead back to her and he hoped it was all worth it. He hoped it was all going to work out, because if she got married to Damian after all, Jason would've lost not only the love of his life, but also one of his friends and a year of his college-life.

And his arm, if it kept going at this rate.

Being reminded of the pain again, Jason screamed. Damian laughed.

Jason started feeling light headed because of all the blood loss. He went into a daze, feeling all the pain but not reacting to it any longer. Although he was still physically awake, he'd shut down mentally. The last thing he heard was footsteps and someone saying "Sir, we have an issue."

-

This time when Jason woke up, he felt more drained. His body was cold, everything inside of him hurt and he barely could find the strength to even open his eyes. The first thing that shot through his mind was the knife in his arm.

He immediately opened his eyes and looked at his arm, finding out that the knife wasn't in his arm any longer. His clothes were entirely coated with dark red stains, all dried. The stains mainly took over his sleeve, which was logical. He groaned softly, gritting his teeth together as he tried to fight the bolt of pain that jolted through his arm when he tried to move it.

Let's not.

The bunker was dark. There was no one inside but Jason.

Jason knitted his eyebrows together, lifting his right arm up to stretch. It felt undeniably good to finally be able to stretch his arm, even if he couldn't stretch both of them because the other one just got stabbed.

Wait...

His head instantly looked down at his hands, seeing how the rope was cloaked around his left hand loosely. Without hesitating he pulled the rope away easily, freeing his other hand as well.

He had forgotten how he'd almost gotten the rope off before Damian had decided to stab him.

The room was empty, he wasn't tied up anymore... Jason closed his eyes, took a deep breath and forced himself up.

Jason staggered on his feet before falling back into the chair again, too weak to even stand. "Come on!" He urged himself, clenching his jaw line as he stood up again, wobbling. This time he didn't fall so he didn't waste any time as he stumbled towards the door, hoping it was a way out.

The door lead to a long corridor and Jason waveringly made his way through the corridor, his arms leaning on the wall next to him for support. His gaze was obscured but it was okay because the last door was clearly the exit—it was slightly open and revealed a dark sky.

Come on Jason, almost there.

"Jason?"

Fuck.

Jason stopped, entirely out of breath. Seriously? He just reached the door and that's when someone decides to catch him?

He didn't turn around and kept his arms on the wall for support, closing his eyes to try to get rid of the dizziness that was forming itself in his head. The voice called his name again and he sighed deeply, disappointment and fear washing over him.

"Jason, what the hell?"

Hold on a minute, he recognized that voice.

Jason stiffly turned around, making out a large shape with dark hair.

"Jason? Can you see me?"

"I'm not blind." Jason spat, but added with a lower voice "I'm just very fucking dizzy right now, it's a little blurry."

The person muttered something incoherently. "It's me, Stefano."

"Stefano?" Jason couldn't help but exhale deeply in relief, allowing himself to slump down to the floor as he griped in pain. He just wanted to sleep, he just wanted to go home and get this all over with.

He couldn't do it anymore.

"Yeah. Here, let me help you." Stefano lowered himself and Jason wrapped an arm around Stefano's shoulders so he could help him get up. The two of them slowly shuffled towards another room and the minute they got inside, Stefano pushed him into a big chair and closed the door after him. The lock made a loud clicking noise.

Jason comfortably sunk into the big chair, feeling how his body relaxed. Stefano was running around grabbing all sorts of things, but he wasn't paying any attention to that.

"What are you doing here?" Stefano murmured.

Jason swallowed. "You don't know?"

"Of course I don't! I'm just here for business and suddenly I see someone faltering through the hallway covered in blood, barely able to take another step... and it turns out to be you." He sounded concerned.

"I... It's a long story. I just need to get out of here." Jason mumbled, too tired and too hurt to speak.

Stefano grunted. "You're going to have to tell me." He ordered Jason to roll up his sleeves so he could take a look at the wound. Within seconds, Stefano began patching Jason up.

"It's too much, I can't. I physically can't talk." Jason muttered irritably, feeling how those small sentences already drained every least bit of energy he had left in his body. Stefano hummed. "Were you in the fire too?"

In the fire too? Who else was there?

"Alexia. I just came back from the hospital." He added, carefully cleaning Jason's arm. Jason merely nodded, not thinking about Damian, himself or the pain anymore. Alexia. The hospital? Was she hurt badly? Was she okay?

Stefano continued talking when he realized Jason wasn't going to reply. "She told us when she woke up that you were there too. I mean, we should've believed her, it was your parent's living room after all, but you weren't there when we got there... How did you even leave?"

Jason shook his head. "I didn't leave." He whispered, forcing himself to talk.

"What are you doing here?" Stefano coaxed again, fishing out a bandage. Jason cleared his throat and counted to three before he started talking. He didn't give the detailed story, he just said Damian tried to kill him.

"Why would he... wait, Alexia, huh?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah."

"Fuck!" Stefano furrowed his eyebrows together and cursed. "Having Damian after your ass ain't good, Jason, he is the leader. Not officially yet of course, but you're practically dead right now. He'll catch you eventually."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for the pep talk."

Stefano ran a hand through his hair, standing up. He started rummaging through the drawers as he spoke. "I'll give you a head start, okay? I'll patch you up, make sure you've got enough money and weapons on you... As long as you do one thing for me."

"What is it?" By now, Jason was aware of the fact that Damian was going to come after him wherever he went. He would never be safe.

"Go the fuck away. I mean it. You have got to leave, I don't care where you're going, just make it far from here."

Jason's stomach churned. Go away? Where was he supposed to go? He had his parents here, college, Chaz and Ryan... Alexia... He couldn't leave her. Not after everything that had happened, that would be cruel. He promised her he would make sure she wouldn't marry that son of a bitch, how could he leave after that?

How could he just leave her in general?

"Um..." Jason murmured, not really sure what to reply to this. Stefano looked at him sharply. "You'll die, McCann."

After a bit of a heated discussion, Jason agreed to leaving as soon as he left this bunker. He promised to not look back, to not contact her, to not show up until this entire issue was over with.

The worst part is, he promised to never come back, not under any circumstances.

-

Hey guys! I know I said I wouldn't update for a while (although it has been a while already), but A CERTAIN PERSON forced me to update...

Smh.

Anywayyy, I'm really excited for this chapter so I hope everyone likes it as much as I do!!

Love, M