(Eros' POV)

          Roland and I stride down the narrow back alley in East Harlem that gives us access to the building Athena is held in. Black cars block off the path on all open ends to prevent pedestrians from entering. With careful inspection of our surrounding, we draw out our guns and infiltrate the structure that is already echoing with gunshots and chaos.

"See! Her men are here. She's going to be fine," Ro points out the obvious, but I can't leave without seeing her in good health with my own eyes.

          "If you want to go, just go. I'm not fucking leaving just yet," I hiss at him in a low voice in order to not attract attention. "I don't need you here."

          His head turns to face me, irritation dangling from his black brows. "Bitch, you have a dislocated arm. You need me and you know it, so stop with the bullshit before I whoop your fucking ass myself like good ol' times."

          With an agitated roll of my eyes, I follow Ro through a dark hallway where dead bodies remain lifeless on the tiled floor with their blood painting the white walls in crimson red. From the looks of it, this building is completely soundproof, which is a smart move for the kidnappers because I would've never guessed them to hold Athena hostage in the city where people are literally walking right by the tall brick building even at this hour of the night. If that wasn't the case, everyone in the ten-mile radius would be hearing the thundering gunshots.

          Making sure not to stress my dislocated arm much, I tighten my fingers on the gun and remain behind Ro who maneuvers through multiple hallways until we hear rushed footsteps behind us. Spinning around, we begin firing off blindly at the men whilst getting behind separate walls for cover. However, I'm certain my bullets didn't hit any of those assholes.

          Shoving in another magazine into the gun, I look across the opening of the hallway at my older brother on the other side who is busy shooting and ducking back as I do the same. "How many do you think are there?"

          After gluing his back to the wall, he inhales a few deep breaths and glances at me as the open fire ceases on both ends. "I don't know," he mouths the words as silence falls on both turfs.

With the rumble of my racing heart playing drums in my ears, I keep my lips sealed, not even allowing a single groan to escape it as distant gunfire continues. A whole minute passes by with no movement or even a sound that can inform us of their presence when Ro suddenly indicates me to remain still and sticks out his left leg as a test that the men on the other side shoot at mercilessly.

          "Fuck!" Ro immediately retracts his prosthetic leg back and lifts up his pants to take a look at the damage caused to the metallic limb. Fortunately, everything is fairly intact, good enough for him to hold the front up with me.

          "Aight! Listen up, motherfuckers," the familiar voice echoes through the air which scrunches my brows at once. "Come on out and I promise you an easy death. I ain't got all night to play trench warfare. I need to go home and watch Gossip Girl."

          "Vince?" I whisper to myself before shouting it out to make sure. "Vince!"

          "Tattoo?" Relief washes over me and allows me to step out to look at the man who stares back at me dumbfoundedly. "Where the fuck have you been, dumbfuck?"

          "I could ask you the same," I yell at him as we meet each other halfway in the middle. "How the fuck could you let them take her?"

          "Watch your tone with me, homeboy." He shoves my chest back, gritting his teeth together in anger as a couple of his men take a firm stance behind him like warriors. "There's no way they could've captured her unless it was all planned from the beginning. I was on the other side of the building trying to look for you and Roman when they must've slipped out with her." His brown eyes dart to Ro who stands right behind me before he pins his gun to my brother's head. "And who the fuck might you be?"

          "He's my older brother," I inform the man and lower his gun myself.

          Vince looks between the two of us weirdly, then chuckles. "From another mother?"

          "Actually, yeah."

          "Mike will enjoy this family drama more than me." Vince violently pushes past me and starts trudging ahead with the rest of us following him. "Incoming!"

          Everyone scatters instantly to dodge the bullets piercing from the other end. I don't know about Ro, but I end up in a closeted little room with Vince who goes back and forth with shooting as I relax against the wall and willingly allow him to do the work. The gnawing pain in my muscles and the weariness in them has me inching toward fatigue, and that's the last thing I need right now.

          "By the way," Vince's voice rises over the booming war erupting right outside our room as he takes a few seconds to change the magazine. "I don't watch gossip girl."

          I chuckle, amused by the sudden conversation. "Whatever you say, man."

          "Breathe a word and I will fucking carve holes into your body and stuff it like a turkey on Thanksgiving. My tigers will enjoy the leg pieces that I'll personally season with garlic and parmesan."

          My brows slowly rise at the determination resounding in his threat that can't be mistaken for a joke. Although, that isn't the eeriest part. "It's very unsettling how much you sound like Athena right now."

          "There's a reason why I'm called her male counterpart." He jumps back into action and shoots off the entire round before getting back to me. "And she also trained me."

          "Interesting," I mumble to myself and follow him outside when the murder-fest stops momentarily. Guess he trusts his men enough to not award them with the same threat or they just know better.

We all march through the long hallways, one after another, shooting and killing people that come for us. Many bodies have already been on the floor, flaccid and stabbed or shot to death.

"Hm, that's Athena's kill." Vince points to the body with a slit throat sitting up against the wall before looking at another one with a knife in its eye. "That's Addy's." He begins his guessing parade. "Athena. Addy. Addy. Athe- Nope. That's Addy too."

          "How the fuck do you know?"

"Just trust me, Tattoo. I've known them for a long time and, by the looks of it, they're running all over the place." He hops over a body and continues, "These motherfuckers should've killed the sisters while they had the chance. Both are highly trained assassins and pretty much unstoppable now."

Doesn't sound like anything new. I know Athena is a strong woman. Stronger than many individuals out there. She's unlike anyone I've ever been attracted to before and that says a lot. Despite all the hardships and our constant banter, I want to be with her more than anything because the magic she has over me has me spellbound and madly in love with her. Although she may never reciprocate the intensity of my feelings in the same manner, it won't kill me to try. It's Athena, after all. She's hard, unemotional, and a heartless bitch. But it's all on the surface. The girl hiding underneath all the facade is far too precious to let go. It'll be one hell of a ride but it's worth it 'cause Athena Estle is the one for me. And I know I won't feel this strongly for anyone else ever again.

Too engrossed in my thoughts, I find myself behind the group, tagging along when I hear faint chattering from the hall we walk past. Leaving them to do their own thing, I saunter toward the voices by myself with my gun. I honestly should stop wandering off alone, but fuck it. My luck can't be that terrible.

"Just block it off before anyone comes in here," Fabian's weak voice claws at my eardrums from the other side of a door that I instantly kick down. Almost immediately, the two men guarding Fabian raise their pistols, but before they can get any damage done, I shoot them dead with bullets to their broad chests.

          A ragged growl slips past my lips at the sight of Fabian's pathetic face. My sweaty palm squeezes the gun tighter, the anger in me boiling my blood further with each second. His reddened eyes confess the overbearing fear in him, his hands covered in bandages due to the severed fingers Addy cut off as his body notably trembles under my murderous gaze.

"Scared?" I ask mockingly, stepping closer to him and compelling him to scoot back.

His Adam's apple bobs up and down when he gulps down his saliva. "Cut the shit and kill me already."

          A spiteful laugh thunders in my chest. "Aren't you going to beg me to spare you?"

          With a shake of his head, he inches further back toward the wall behind him. "It's been a long time coming." Glad he isn't delusional.

          "No more running?"

          "You won't let me even if I wanted to."

          Sighing, I walk a few feet ahead in a leisure manner. "Just to make sure then." I elevate my gun and pull the trigger twice, lodging a bullet in both of his legs which sends him collapsing to the ground with a booming shriek.

          His glossy eyes silently beg for mercy as crocodile tears crawl down his cheeks. Writhing in agony, he gently presses down onto his newly opened wounds to stop the blood from gushing out. "Just get this over with, you motherfucker."

          "What's the rush?" I kneel by his side and place the gun out of his reach so that I can get my hands dirty a bit. "I just need a minute."

          "Do it!" he exclaims loudly before spitting on my face.

          Jaw clenched and fists balled, I grab his throat and press my fingertips deeper into his flesh. "Are you sorry for what you did to the girls?"

          A sadistic smile feathers his mouth as I loosen my fingers a tad bit. "I did what I had to do." His blue eyes stare into mine with the intention to harm. "Even as a little girl, A-Athena was mesmerizing and had a quality that just pulls you to her. You know what I'm talking about, right?" He coughs up, wincing and squirming like a dying rodent. "We've both fucked her and know how hard it is to walk away from a good pu-"

          Not giving him a chance to finish his sentence, I hold my hands over his wounds and insert my thumbs into his ripped flesh, driving the little bullets further into his muscles as he screams bloody murder at the top of his lungs and punches my aching shoulder repeatedly. Reaching for my gun, I pin it to his crotch and catch the glimpse of pure horror in his eyes before I squeeze the trigger and force out another tortured cry from him. His pain only makes me smile wider like an evil demon feeding off of suffering. I don't know when I became this person, but I'm not too bothered about it because men like him deserve nothing less.

***

(Athena's POV)

          Addy elbows a man in his face before throwing his body over her shoulder and slamming it onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. Meanwhile, I sprint and bounce off a wall up in the air only to come down hard on the other man holding up the front. Slamming my fist into his face, I knock him out and immediately whip out my gun to shoot him, but all the ammo seems to have run out. Chucking the useless weapon away, I use my knife to stab it into his neck.

          Breathlessly, I wipe my face in a quick motion and stare at the blood staining my palms in crimson red. It isn't from one man but from countless. Addy is on a roll and so am I with the adrenaline pumping through our veins. Despite going through all these lousy henchmen, I haven't gotten to my mother or the culprits.

Casually fixing my jacket, I walk alongside my little sister and head further down a small hall that houses two rooms. We raid one and see nothing before inspecting the other one in which we find Maxen curled up in a corner.

"Look who it is!" I exclaim and enter the room with a lazy smirk. "Our dear brother."

"What are you doing here all by yourself, loner-boy?" Addy asks him, looking around the room for anyone else.

Maxen slides himself up the wall and stares at us with genuine fear. "After I left with Holland and your mother, I was coming back to release you both because I didn't want them to kill you, but then I started hearing gunshots, so I hid in here. I don't know how to fight and I know I'll get killed out there."

"What makes you think we're going to spare you?" I twirl my knife and inch closer to him.

"Athena, he hasn't done anything wrong," Addy tries to reason with me.

"Oh, shut up," I snap at her before turning back to my half-brother. "You've been planning this with your mother and father. You're just as much responsible as they are."

"I was forced to do this!" he yells to explain himself as his brows slam together. "I don't want my sisters' blood on my hands."

I scoff, rolling my eyes. "Something to know about me, I'm not the sentimental type." Wiping the dirty blood off the knife with my fingers, my eyes nonchalantly sear holes into his skull with an intensity meant to kill. "Although, I apologize for what I'm about to do."

Before I can pin him against the wall and jam my blade through him, he speaks up immediately and stops me from harming him. "I know where your mother is." His distressed eyes dash between Addy and I. "Let me take you to her."

"Don't try to lure me into a trap!" I seethe.

"Just hear him out, Athena," Addy butts in with her weak advice.

"You don't get to speak." I direct my anger to her. "You trusted Maddox blindly and now you're asking me to trust him. Learn from your bloody mistakes."

Not another word leaves her mouth, but the callous look on her face says it all. "Fine!"

"I swear I'm not lying. Kill me if I am," he offers.

"Oh, I'm going to kill you regardless."

"Just come with me before they harm her," he pleads desperately. "I lost my mom when she decided to walk on this path of revenge, but you can save yours."

Even though I don't trust a word coming out of his mouth, I nod and motion him to get moving. "Hurry up before I change my mind."

As he walks ahead of us, I poke the pointy end of my knife to his lower back to make sure he doesn't try to pull a stunt on me. We collectively take a flight of stairs at the end of the hall and head down when I see a few men skipping up. Before Addy or I get to put them to their deaths, one of them voices his intention and identity.

"Glad to see you alive, ma'am." The man nods in acknowledgment and wipes the sweat off his cocoa colored forehead. "We work for Zachariah D'Angelo. He appreciates you saving his daughter and is indebted to you."

I hum, cocking a pleased brow. "Tell him I said thank you for sending his goons as an aid."

"Although it seems you don't need help." He smiles a bit at my sister, his pearly whites peeking through. "Your men are scattered throughout the building."

"Led by?"

"Vince I believe," he replies.

So thankfully no Leo or Mike. The amount of crap I'd hear from them would be endless and unnecessary at this point.

"Well, tell D'Angelo we'll do business again." With a subtle dip of my head, we part ways and continue the trek to the place Maxen leads us to. Entering the basement, he leads us to a secret passageway hidden in a wall and discloses an office room where my mother is standing by Mandy.

In a split second, Mandy gets behind Edith and holds a knife up to her throat. "Give me my son and I'll let your mom go."

"Is that a threat, Mandy?" I step sideways and grab Maxen by his arm, holding my knife in the other hand. "Or should I say Isla?"

"Let him go, Athena," she warns me, poking the knife further against Edith's neck which rips a frightened cry from her lips.

"I'm barely holding him, Mandy. He can run to you if he wants to, but he's too much of a wuss to fight me, unlike Maddox who put up a good fight until I killed him, of course." I flash the woman a mocking smile that visibly riles her up. "Just remember Maxen is the one who brought us here."

          "Mom, let the woman go. Please!" Maxen begs his mother with an apprehensive frown, but she denies his request with a curt shake of her head.

          "They will kill us, nonetheless," Mandy reminds her son and peers at me when I take a tiny step forward. "Stay back! Don't make me stab your mother, Athena."

          "Actually, go ahead," I challenge her, releasing Maxen's arm. "You'll be doing me a favor."

          "Wow!" Mandy chuckles, lowering the knife to Edith's waist. "You'll let your mother die willingly? How heartless are you?"

          "Heartless enough to kill your son," I present her a smile as Addy steps up behind me. "It'll be funny if I repeat history and kill your other son too."

          "Stop provoking her," Addy whispers whilst squeezing my arm.

          Shrugging off her hold, I take another step ahead. "I should bash Maxen's head in the way I did to Maddox. It was really fun seeing the last ounce of life leave his body."

          Mandy grits her teeth together as her cheeks flush with rage. "You bitch! I'm going to kill you."

          "Let's not be delusional now, sweet Mandy. You only have a knife." My feet saunter forward by a few inches as I play with my own knife. "The odds might have been in your favor if you had a gun."

          "I do." Maxen draws our attention to him as he stands behind me and Addy with a gun in his hands that is trained at us. Sneaky bastard! "I'm sorry."

          "I can't believe I was beginning to trust you," Addy shakes her head in disappointment as Maxen moves around us while I get ready to throw my knife at him, but his next action takes us all by surprise when he turns his gun and aims it at his mother instead. Attaboy!

          "I'm sorry, Mom." A tear fell from his eye as his lips quivered. "I can't let you do this."

          "Have you lost your mind?" Mandy screams at him without shifting the knife from Edith's waist. "You need to kill them before they kill us."

          "Mom, you're the one who has lost her mind. Look at the monster you've become," Maxen retorts, shaking his head at the sight of the woman he doesn't recognize as his mother. "Revenge has driven you crazy."

          "You're going to side with them over your own mother?"

          "I'm siding with what's right and standing against the wrong people, Mom. That's what you taught me, and now you're doing this to the girls who've done nothing."

          Mandy's nose scrunches before she spits onto the floor. "You're a disgrace. I should've given you up and kept Maddox to myself because he would've been a better son to me."

          "Stop it!" Maxen shouts out in anger. "I wish you would've kept him because that sick asshole deserves a shitty mother like you who ruined my life for revenge."

          I chuckle internally, enjoying the family drama before I glance at Edith whose teary eyes pierce a daunting feeling through my chest. "Save me, please," she mouths as the banter between mother and son continues.

"I will," I mouth back with a reassuring nod whilst trying to cook up a rescue plan for her. I just need to get close enough and disarm Mandy unless Maddox actually shoots his mother, but I doubt that'll happen.

As I take a sneaky step ahead, Mandy continues babbling. "I'm going to die soon, but I won't die alone."

"Mom, don't!" Maxen yells as Mandy presses the knife to Edith's stomach.

"Too late," she quips.

Chills pull on each hair on my body as I witness Mandy lift the knife up high and bring it down to ram it into my mother's side. It happens too quickly for me to act even when she raises the knife again to stab Edith a second time, but Maxen fires off a bullet that pierces through Mandy's shoulder and forces her back. Addy immediately grabs the gun from the man's grasp and shoots the woman dead with a bullet to her head as I rush to my collapsing mother.

"No!" Maxen screams, watching his mother fall lifeless to the floor, while I hold Edith in my arms and look over her stab wound.

"Mom!" Addy kneels to the other side of her and sets the gun aside. She presses down on the wound, urging a painful cry to wiggle out of our mother's mouth. "She's losing a lot of blood. We need to get her to the hospital soon."

          "It hurts so much," Edith sobs.

          My heart is in turmoil over the next course of actions. I could rush her out of here and get her the medical attention she needs, but from what I'm seeing, she won't make it, and that fact wrings my heart ruthlessly. I've only gotten a few hours of my actual mother over the past years when she remembered me and Addy, but for the most part, months went by with her treating me like a stranger. Perhaps this is her end, so it's time to say goodbye.

          "No," I exhale.

          "What?"

          "We are not taking her to the hospital."

          Addy stares at me, puzzled. "She'll die."

          "I know." I swallow down the lump in my throat with excess saliva and sigh. "I think you should say goodbye."

"Don't, Athena," she advises me with an undertone of warning in her voice as she refuses to believe the reality with a fierce shake of her head.

"Addy, listen to me." I reach over slowly and grab the gun from beside her. "She's in pain and she's not going to make it."

"Doesn't give you the right to kill her!" she spits out furiously, her ruthless glare seeping into me as she tries to snatch the gun back from me but fails.

"Addy, be realistic. I'm going to put her out of her misery rather than having her bleed out in my arms."

"You can't d-"

"I can't see her in pain!" I yell.

"Then let's take her to the hospital. There's a chance she might make it."

"You literally wanted to kill her yesterday. Why the change of heart now?"

"I was angry," she explains herself, her eyes welling up as they gaze down at our mother. "I'm not anymore."

          Another saddened sigh escapes me, urging me to squeeze her hand. "Addy, her time is up. You and I both know it."

          "At-Ath-Athena is right, sw-sweetie," our mother suddenly whispers through her pain, taking us both by surprise. She has never been lucid for two consecutive days, so this is a first. "Can I-" She swallows down the wedge in her throat and continues with a sad smile. "Can I g-get a goodbye?"

          Tears begin streaming down Addy's face as she looks down at Edith who stares back at her with tears drowning her own eyes. "I don't know how to say goodbye, Mom."

          "Say an-anything you want to, baby," my mother encourages her as her hand shakily reaches up to caress Addy's cheek. "I'll go happily."

          Taking a deep breath, Addy lowers her head and kisses Edith's forehead gently. She lets out a soft cry and sniffles. "I love you, Mom, and I'm so sorry for all this." Addy's body trembles as she embraces the dying woman tightly, leaving her wound unattended for me to cover with my hand. "But I can't watch you die."

          Edith nods her head as Addy rises up to her feet and takes a step back. "I un-understand."

          "Take Maxen with you and make sure he doesn't leave." My eyes travel to the man who has his dead mother pinned to his chest as sobs break him down in a cruel way that almost makes me feel bad for him, but that woman made a stupid mistake without realizing who she was messing with. "I'm not done with him yet."

          Addy goes over to the mourning man and talks to him before separating him from his mother. They exit the room, allowing me to lay my mother flat on the ground. Taking her hand, I maneuver it to her injury and replace it with mine so that I can get on with the task I need to complete.

          "Close your eyes," I tell her, palming the gun with sweaty hands.

          "No goodbyes?" She coughs up blood, looking into my eyes sadly.

          In order to avoid eye contact, I force my eyes to wander around the nicely maintained office space, the carpet of which is stained with blood. "This would honestly be very easy if you weren't yourself right now."

          "Too bad," I hear her chuckle with a wince which pulls my gaze back to her.

          "Have you been lucid all day?"

          She rocks her head slowly. "When that lady put the knife to my throat."

          I suck in a breath and stare at her solemnly, dreading the next upcoming minutes after which she'll be gone forever. "Does it hurt?"

          "Really, really bad." Her bloody lips tremble. "I-I-I just wanna say something be-before I leave," she stammers, lifting her free hand shakily to cup my face. "I love you so much, Athena. I've made m-many mistakes, but you and Addy aren't one of them." She weeps in sorrow, reminiscing of the times when everything in the world was alright. "You have grown into a strong woman unlike me. I'm so, so s-sorry for all the pain I've caused."

          I grasp her hand, pulling it away from my face to peck it. "I forgive you, Mama."

          She manages to crack a weak smile. "You do?"

          "Mhm," I hum and return the smile as unwanted tears cloud my vision. Although I try hard to fight off my oppressive emotions, they begin to overpower me inch by inch and make me vulnerable. A momentary lapse can't hurt me. After all, this is possibly the last time I get to talk to her.

          "I forgive you for your bad decisions," I utter, my eyes basking in her features for the last time as a drop of my tear splatters on her face. "I forgive you for everything, Mama. And I'm sorry for doing this."

          "You're doing me a favor, b-baby."

          Before she knows it, I elevate her upper body and crush it against mine in a much-needed hug. "I'm going to miss you so much."

          "You and Addy are the best things that ever h-happened to me," she confesses against the nook of my neck. "My sweet little angel."

         My fingers gingerly rake through her hair as I hold back the waterworks that I know will break my already damaged heart. "I love you, Mama." I finally pick up the gun and position it in the right place behind her to get the heart and end it once and for all.

          "I ne-" Before she could've gotten the chance to finish her sentence, I already pulled the trigger and ended her suffering, realizing I didn't let her finish her last words a bit too late.

          The gun helplessly plummets from my grip and crashes onto the floor with a loud bang that echoes in my ears. My senses numb. Sounds fading, heart dropping, and the world stopping. A prickling shiver stabs every inch of my skin, but my mouth is left ajar, unable to move as her blood spurts onto my hand that rests on her back. Not another tear betrays me at that moment. Only emptiness paves its way in, and I silently welcome it without a struggle. The only thing I can do is squeeze her in my arms and come to terms with the loss that still feels surreal despite the jarring truth right before my eyes.

          Slowly and tenderly, I lay her back on the ground and gaze into her eyes that are left open before I close them. Pressing my lips to her head, I give her a long kiss, knowing that my mother is gone forever. Regardless of all the heartache and suffering, she was still my mother, a great one, and never harmed me. Although, her decisions will haunt me for the rest of my life along with her death.

          I block out the rest of my emotions at once. A part of me wanted to cry my heart out, but that isn't me. I'm a woman with responsibilities and a mission to hunt some men down.

————————————————————

It's been a while but yay or nay?

I moved which is why it took me a while to update. I apologize for the delay. Anyway, I wanted to get this chapter out yesterday as a birthday present to this awesome girl MalejaT Wish her! But I had to wake up early so I'm getting it out now.

Do you think Eros killed Fabian?

Pick one! The Azallion brothers or the Estle sisters?

Who expected Maxen to rebel against his mother and even shoot her?

What is Athena gonna do with Maxen?

Do you think Athena did the right thing by ending her mother's life?

Who's sad about her death?

How do you think the loss is going to impact her and Addy?

Where's Holland? And Jackson? 🤔

Who misses Leo and Mike?

ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO GUYS!!! Who's sad? Cuz I am 😭 but I have something big waiting for you guys after that chapter 😈 And it's absolutely perfect in my head, so that's the exciting part. I know you guys will enjoy that bit.

Further comments and questions are always welcome 🙏

Instagram: reetilicious

Much love ❤️
~Reet