Savior : The mafia and Doctor story

Chapter 11: The Mask Slips

Some weeks later, Angelo assigned Diana a new mission. Joshua tried to stop her, but she wouldn't hear it this time — it had been long enough, she told him, she was fine now. What she didn't say was that she'd stopped believing that a long time ago. Joshua wanted more than anything for her to walk away from this life for good, but he knew better than to say it outright; she'd never listen if he pushed too hard. She hadn't wanted any of this at the start either. But years of doing this work had worn something down in her, had trapped her in a trauma she couldn't seem to climb out of. She had no fight left for herself, even when she knew, clearly, that this was hurting her. That was the cruelest part — knowing, and still not being able to leave.

She went on the mission anyway. For three months, everything moved exactly according to plan, and she was close — closer than she'd been in a long time — to finishing it clean. Then, one night, gunfire broke out where it wasn't supposed to, and in the chaos, someone shot a child.

Diana watched it happen, and something inside her split open. The memory came flooding back before she could stop it — Angelo, years ago, killing an innocent person in front of her the one time she'd dared to disobey him. Her chest locked tight. Her hands stopped working. She collapsed right there on the ground, though by then the mission itself was already finished; her men had cleared out every last rival. But she wasn't the one who came out of that night unscathed.

Her men called it in. The other three brothers were tied up elsewhere, so the call went to Joshua instead, and for a moment panic cracked straight through him before he forced himself to breathe.

"Take her home," he told them. "I'll handle the rest."

They did. When Joshua reached her, she was barely conscious.

"Sis, are you okay? What's happening?"

"Yosh," she murmured, eyes unfocused, "don't hurt the kids. Don't let them die. Please — tell him. Don't kill them."

He thought about their private hospital, then remembered it was the middle of the night, long past the hours the family's usual doctors kept. There was only one person he could think to call.

George picked up, groggy. "Hello? Who is this?"

"It's Joshua. Joshua Williams — remember me?"

"I— no, I don't think—"

"Diana Williams. My sister."

"Oh. Yes, I remember."

Joshua explained everything in a rush. "Please, can you come right now? You're the only one who can calm her down. I'll send you the location."

"I'm on my way," George said. "Try to keep her steady until I get there."

"I'm trying."

By the time George arrived, Joshua's attempts had gotten him nowhere. But the moment George stepped into the room and reached for her, Diana threw her arms around him before he could even speak.

"George, save me," she sobbed into his chest. "I don't want to be here — these people are so cruel, they're killing kids, I— I—"

"It's okay. It's okay, I'm here," he murmured, holding her steady. "You're safe. No one's going to hurt you or anyone else. Just breathe. Breathe with me."

"George, don't leave me. I need you."

"I'm not going anywhere. You're protected here."

And once again, in his arms, she felt something she couldn't find anywhere else — a stillness, a safety that neither of them fully understood. After a while, her breathing evened out. He gave her water, then something to help her sleep.

Joshua was still crying quietly by the time it was over. George looked around the mansion for the first time — the sheer size of it, more staff than family, twenty guards posted at the front gate alone. It didn't look like any home he'd ever seen.

"Mr. Williams," George said gently, "you need to calm down. You have to take care of her."

"How, doctor? Tell me how." Joshua's voice cracked. "As long as she's in this house, she'll never have a moment of peace. Even I couldn't — that's why I left."

"Why? What's going on with your family? Why won't you ever tell me anything when I ask? What happened to her — what is this trauma she's carrying?" The questions spilled out of him all at once.

Joshua hesitated, then let it go. "My family — we're mafia. Gangsters."

"That explains the mansion," George said quietly.

"It's always felt like this. It could never be a home — just a house full of shallow, cruel people."

"Tell me what happened tonight. What put her back in that state?"

Joshua told him about the shooting, about the child.

"What?" George's voice sharpened in disbelief. "How could anyone do that?"

"I told you — my family doesn't have limits," Joshua said. "They forced her into this life. She never wanted it. They tortured her, tried to do the same to me, but I got out. I should never have left her behind. I should've taken her with me." He was crying openly now.

George pressed a glass of water into his hands. "Drink. Slow down."

Joshua drank it in one go. "I'm fine. I keep telling her to leave all of it, come away with me before it's too late — she won't listen. Please, doctor. Talk to her. Convince her."

"How could I do that?" George asked. "I'm no one to her."

"I don't know anything anymore," Joshua admitted. "My mind's gone numb."

"First, you need to steady yourself," George said. "Get her into therapy. Even if she won't leave the work behind, at least get her talking to someone. She needs it."

"She won't listen. She never listens to me."

They talked a while longer before George finally left. By morning, Diana was awake.

"Sis, you okay?"

She remembered the night before all at once and winced. "Yeah… I did that embarrassing thing again, didn't I. Yosh, how did he even get here? How did Dr. Adams show up?"

"I called him."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you were in that state again," Joshua said. "He's the only one who can calm you down."

"I said all those things to him again," she murmured, mortified. "What is he going to think of me?"

"I don't know. But I've been thinking something else — at least hear me out this time. Why don't you just leave? We could go abroad together. You could get real therapy there. You're never going to be okay while you're still in this house."

"Not this again, Yosh, and do you think we can escape do that now?—"

"Why won't you listen?" he burst out, then caught himself. "Fine. Fine, at least come to therapy sessions with me."

"What? Where is this coming from?"

"Dr. Adams told me to."

"What exactly did you tell him?"

"Nothing much. He can see it for himself — he's a doctor, he understands more than we do."

"I'm not doing any of it," she said flatly. "And if something happens to me again, take me to our own hospital. Don't call him."

Joshua gave up on the conversation entirely.

Later, alone, Diana found herself thinking of George again despite herself — the memory made her cringe, but underneath the embarrassment was something warmer, something soothing. The way he always told her she was safe. Despite everything, she wasn't ready to walk away from this life. She craved his steadiness even as she told herself she didn't deserve it, convincing herself that all of this — the mafia, the violence, the misery — was simply her fate. She didn't blame her parents. She didn't blame her brothers. She'd made her peace with it, or told herself she had, even as her mental health kept crumbling underneath her, even as the panic attacks and the old trauma kept clawing their way back to the surface.

Then, one day, it happened again — and this time, it ended with a slap that sent her to the floor. Kai and Lloyd froze, stunned, as Angelo stood over her, shaking with fury.

"You did it again," Angelo snarled. "The same mistake you made years ago. I thought you'd finally learned. Apparently not."

She had let a pregnant woman go during a mission — a woman who had only been caught up in the crossfire, uninvolved and innocent. Angelo wanted no survivors, ever. And after everything, after all these years, Diana still hadn't hardened into someone who could kill without conscience, unlike the rest of her family.

"She was pregnant," Diana said. "She was innocent. She just got pulled into something that wasn't hers."

"Are you out of your mind?" Angelo shot back. "She saw everything. She could talk. We don't leave loose ends like that — when will you understand? I thought you'd finally learned your lesson. Clearly you need another one. Don't worry. No one escapes me. I'll find her, and I'll kill her in front of you, exactly like I did all those years ago."

Something in Diana finally snapped. "You won't do anything," she said, voice rising, years of silence breaking all at once. "You're not just a tyrant — you're a psychopath. How can you spill innocent blood like that? Killing a rival, fine, that makes sense in this world. But innocent people? What's the point?"

"Watch your tongue," Lloyd warned.

"I won't."

"Is Yosh the one filling your head with this?" Kai asked.

"Yes," Diana said. "And I should've listened to him a long time ago."

"Enough," Angelo shouted. "Guards!" He turned back to her, cold. "Take her to her room. Lock her in."

"I'll go myself," Diana said. "Do whatever you want."