I'll Always Choose You #Watty's2023

16. Gio

"Gio?" I frowned as I heard my name being called.

"GIO!" I looked around trying to figure out who the person was but all I could see was darkness.

"HELP ME!" The same voice yelled, the sound echoing all around me. I could feel my legs running down the endless hall towards the voice but it felt impossibly hard and I felt like I was just going in circles as the same person kept yelling my name and asking for help.

"NICO?!" I heard myself yelling at the voice, "WHERE ARE YOU!? NICO?!"

Then suddenly the sound of gunfire sliced through the silence making my heart thump in my chest as my legs kept carrying me down that endless hall of darkness.

"NICO!?"  I yelled as I saw a soft light at the end of  the tunnel with a body crumpled on the ground. Tears were already streaming down my face as I got closer to him. His beautiful hair was matted blood as his eyes stared up into nothingness. Blood pooled around him and I cradled him in my arms.

"Please don't leave me," I whispered as I rocked him in my arms not giving a fuck about the blood staining my clothes red, "please don't leave me."

I could feel his pulse slowing and I sobbed. Sobbed like I've never done before. I was too late. Too late to safe him, like I had been when my parents and baby sister were killed in cold blood.

"Please come back to me," I whimpered kissing his face over and  over as tears fell like rain onto his face, "please come back to me baby."

"Gio?" I heard my name being called in the distance yet I ignored it as I held Nico's dead body in ny arms, "GIO!"

I felt a soft hand shaking me and I jolted awake knocking my head against the intruder, who cursed.

"Ouch, fuck, Gio you have a head as hard as a rock," they whined and I blinked my eyes at the sound of Nico's voice and I looked towards him before grabbing him and holding him. He squeaked at the sudden action and tried to get away but after a moment he gave up and instead hugged me back, "bad dream?" I only buried my face against his neck and he tightened his hold on me, "I'm not going anywhere, Gio, I promise."

I swallowed the knot that had formed in my throat as I held him close, that dream felt so damn real that it still had me shaking.

We sat there, with him rubbing my back and whispering  soothing words in my ear and me just reeling my emotions back in, on my bed for god knew how long before we finally pulled away. Nico cupped my face and gave me a small reassuring smile before softly pecking my lips. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?" he repeated and I nodded, "good, now come on, you've got a lot of work to do."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

********

"Boss?" I looked up when I heard a knock on the door and saw Arrow poke his head in, "may I?"

He walked in when I nodded and closed the door behind himself before approaching my desk. I leaned on my chair and waited for him to continue, "You know that letter that arrived two days  ago?"

I clenched my jaw at the reminder. A letter had arrived shortly after I had shown Nico his private library and no one knew who had sent it and for who it was until Cam read it out loud to everyone.

I could still hear him as the words replayed in my head.

'You may have gotten rid of Patrick but that doesn't mean you got rid of off all of his clients. One by one they will all show up and they will want to reclaim their possession that is currently living under your roof. Be ready for the day when you'll wake up and won't find him'

"Cam and I may have narrowed the list of 100 potential suspects down to 1," Arrow said making me raise a brow, "we ran the finger prints left behind on the paper and we got a match."

"Who leaves their prints on a letter that's meant to be a threat?" I asked at their stupidity and he shrugged giving me a deadpanned look, "only an idiot who doesn't know that their prints can be traced."

"Exactly, the asshole has a very long list of crimes" he said, "all including children" he added making me clench my jaw. That's one of the things that I hated about people. The abuse of children of any kind just angers me to no end. I may be a gang leader but even I knew that children weren't to be messed with no matter who their parents may be. I'm not that cold hearted as people may think I am. After all I had a baby sister and I would have given my life for her if I knew I'd never see her again after that fatal day. She was my whole world. And I know that had she lived, Nico would have loved her just as much as I did. My parents would have taken him in just like I had and would have treated him like another son.

I shook my head at those thoughts and refocused my attention back on Arrow, "His name is Robert Smith," he said and I snapped my head up at the mention of his name.

"What did you just say?" I asked making him blink and raise a brow.

"Robert Smith," he repeated slowly with a frown, "Why?"

I clenched my fists on my lap as the bastard's face began to form in my head. The same bastard that had tortured my mother, the same bastard that had cut my father's throat, and the same bastard that had violated then killed my sister was now coming after Nico and I'll be dammed if he thought he'd get away with it.

"He's dead," I sneered making Arrow stared at me with confused eyes before it slowly dawned on him and he soon grabbed his phone and dialed a number.

"Get the cars ready, we're going hunting tonight."