The Gangleader's Gem ✅

28

Beep...

Beep...

Beep...

"So, it's been a week," I sighed as I rested my chin on my forearms. "The compound has been overrun with Silvestre's men and they have been helping out the remaining children as much as possible."

My eyes stared at his immobile form, taking in the steady movement of his chest. He was pale with bags under his eyes and a tube shoved into his mouth.

"They finally tallied up the deaths... Fifteen killed, twenty injured," I sniffled before wiping away the tears falling on my cheek. "Artemis, PJ and Orion are nursing gunshot wounds. We lost Gavin and Hanes yesterday...They had been fighting so hard but..."

My words came across in a sob as I think of the night we had shared before the meeting. How hopeful Gavin was and how brotherly Hanes was to all of us. They didn't deserve to die. None of those children deserved to die.

The only reason many of them were alive right now because of Shanice De'Santos. She was the one to figure out they were children, issuing the call to subdue rather than kill. She was the one that saved Vanni, keeping him alive until medical attention could be given. She was the one taking charge of the compound, going room to room speaking to, and soothing the children who mourned the loss of their sisters and brothers, their friends.

"The funeral was this morning...they were buried near the compound... Mrs. De' Santos got the men to build a small burial plot for them. She has been taking care of everyone since that day. She even had a service for them, people going up to say parting words, to get closure," I informed sitting up in the chair, eying my black dress that had grass stains.

"I cried. I went to each grave and cried... m-my father tried to hold me but my mom, she knew that space was what I needed and stopped him. Leaving me be," I said with a sad chuckle. "I talked to each one individually, recalling a memory I would always treasure. Gavin, Hanes, Charlie, Fernadez, Carla, Yonique, James, Mateo, Flynn, Charolette, Domonic, William, Paula, Jericho and Jenny... they might be gone but never forgotten."

I grasped his cold hand in mine, gazing at his sickly features finding the beauty in how peaceful he looked even with a tube down his throat.

"I don't want to add another name to that list, Vanni. S-So please wake up," I cried listening to the steady beep of his heart monitor. "Please..."

With that, I stood to my feet, kissing his forehead. I took one last look at him before I exited the room and walked down the hall, stopping at another door. Stepping inside, I gazed at the man lying on the bed dead to the world.

The grey room almost identical to Vanni's looked more like a cell than an infirmary. If it weren't for the medical machinery, the hospital bed and living patient you would think it a morgue having no windows.

I stepped towards the large figure, the bandages covering his face, red coating them. He looked like he was in pain, his fingers twitching and his heart monitor fluctuating.

You'd never think he was a dangerous Mafia leader with the way he looked so vulnerable, lying here.

Cristiano Silvestre was rushed to the infirmary the night of the meeting after an explosion almost burn him to a crisp. I overheard my parents talking, they said Roberto had came back seeking revenge and tried to take him down after they killed his parents.

"I know you may not be able to hear me, Mr. Silvestre but I am doing this for my own benefit so it does not matter," I stated looking down at him, eying the tubes in his nose. "I understand your reason for shooting Vanni. With all the chaos unfolding, we all lost our minds but that does not change the fact that you almost killed him. An inch lower and you would've hit his heart. I understand it was your love for daughter that drove you to it, as she is a beautiful inside and out but so is my Vanni..."