Ghost of my Mafia Lover

Chapter 9

The weather outside is running wild. The rain is pouring and lightning starts lighting the sky with loud cracks of thunder.

We run through the warehouse as I hear an explosion. He presses a button that opens the large door.

“We need to get out of here,” he says. “We’ll use my truck. It’s the only car that can handle this terrain… but–”

The rain is falling harder. He gets into a small room…

“I don’t think this is a good time for a bathroom break,” I say, hearing the Italian hit-men kicking in the door.

“I need to find the key for the truck.”

He comes out holding a box with a lot of unlabeled spare keys.

“How are we going to find the right key?” I say as I open the door to the truck. “Why do you have so many keys?”

He tries a few keys, and the third one starts the truck with a slow crank of the engine as he twists it. The engine starts and then he revs it hard. I get in the passenger seat as he reverses to exit the warehouse and into the rainy roads.

He’s heading to the exit as we’re reversing from the garage.

I am trying to breathe, but I can't catch my breath. All I want to do is get away from the men who killed Marcus. They’re after me too. If only we can get out of here on time….

It’s not the perfect choice for me to trust Owen, he’s been spying on me and I feel there's something he’s still not telling me.

The black car blocks the exit.

Screech!

He hits the breaks and stops just before we can exit the warehouse.

“Is there another way out?” I ask, looking at the tall walls enclosing us.

“This is the only way….” he says with defeat in his eyes.

The black car is parked at the entrance of the warehouse. It doesn’t move. The engine switches off and the two front doors are opened. The two Italians from the bookstore step out and go toward the back door.

“Someone is here for you,” the Italian man says as the door opens. The smell of the cigar is stronger. Stepping out of the car and into the warehouse is Marcus….

“Marcus” are you? Is it really you?

“In the flesh, Sophie,” he says, stepping toward me.

The moment is surreal. It’s like I’m seeing a ghost. The man I love and left for dead on that apartment floor is here, in the flesh. I run to him and hug him. It’s my original instinct… the man that I believed was dead is here in the flesh.

“The whole time…” I touch his body and poke his skin to make sure he’s not a hologram or a figment of my imagination. “It’s really you. I thought you were dead. You mean this whole time you’ve been alive?”

“I’ve been looking all over the world for you,” he says and kisses my lips.

“I thought… I had lost you,” I say still in disbelief.

“I got lucky, but I took care of all the people who betrayed me. The same way I’m going to take care of this roach,” he says.

Like a shark circling a wounded fish, he moves toward Owen.

“Darling, I believe you’ve met Ross and Jimmy.”

“Yeah Boss, we met in the bookshop…” says the Italian named Ross. “She was going to recommend something nice for me and Jimmy to read, ain't that right?”

You see his smug face and feel your skin crawling just like it did when you saw him at the bookstore.

Ross and Jimmy are holding Owen. Marcus walks toward him and drives a strong punch into his gut. “Turns out this traitor wanted to steal you away from me.”

The punch lands and blows all the air out of Owen’s body, his eyes are bulging out in pain.

Marcus kicks Owen in the gut again as the lightning sparks and the rain falls outside. Jimmy gives him a punch to his stomach, as he bends in pain, they just keep beating him as I watch helplessly.

I can’t believe Marcus would do this to anyone, let alone Owen.

“Stop it!” I shout… They all stop and look at me.

“He’s going to learn his lesson… You don’t stick your hand in my cookie jar,” he says to Owen, who’s hurt and bleeding.

“Marco, don’t hurt him… Let him go!” I say, trying my best to protect Owen.

“Are you really going to stand up for this guy?” Marcus says with rage in his eyes. “I sent him here to find you and he started nailing you. Is this schmuck really what you want?”

I find the information overwhelming. Owen was hired by Marcus? He knew this whole time?

“What?” I say, “You’re the one that sent him here?"

“Yeah, this snake works for me.” He says, “There ain't nobody that’s going to take you away from me.”

“What do you want to do to him?” I ask knowing the rules of the streets. Owen’s life is in limbo.

He turns with murder in his face.

“There’s no way I’m going to let him breathe… I’ve got to take care of him — permanently.”

“Don’t kill him… Please.” I say, stepping toward Marcus. He has all the power.

It feels surreal to actually place my hand on his chest. I can feel his heart beating, then I raise it to the shoulder…

He swipes my hand off and goes to stomp Owen’s face.

Owen starts bleeding from the nose. They let him go, not wanting to get blood on their suits. He rolls in the rain, his whole body covered in mud and his face in blood.

They are going to kill him and it’s all because of me. I don’t have time to think, I just take action. I see them kicking and stomping Owen in the mud. Marcus is taking off his shirt, rolling his sleeve and about to kill him for being with me, his woman. I know he’s going to kill him.

I simply rely on instinct and the need to save a human life… it’s not just any human life, it’s someone I was falling in love with… I know he betrayed me, but I don't want to see him die. I can’t stop Marcus or his goons. He’d never listen to me, especially if he's this jealous.

I get into the black, obnoxious car and I start the engine. Marcus, Ross and Jimmy are shocked as the black car reverses. I back up out of the entrance and into the mud and rain where Owen is rolling in. They jump out the way and Marcus says.

“Sophia, what are you doing?” He’s in shock.

I swing the door open and Owen leaps into the car right on time for me to start driving. The door slams as the car is already in motion.

Jimmy pulls out a gun and aims at the car. Marcus steps towards him and punches him in the face.

“Are you crazy, you’re going to kill her.” Marcus says.

“We can’t kill her now," he says as they laugh. “She thinks she can fall in love with that rat? I’m going to take care of both of them myself, but only after we get what we’re here for understand?”