Broken Bonds

Chapter 31

Elijah Romano

Before we could settle in our seats, the sound of gunshots rang loudly through the air. The people in the restaurant took a second to realise what was going on before they started going ballistic, running out of the restaurant, fearing for their lives.

Nodding at Alex, all of us whipped out our guns from the back of our waistband. Seriously, we are here for a vacation, not for a mass shoot out. And moreover, we cannot take any risks here because Ari is with us. We cannot let her get harm.

While people were still busy running away, Alex and I scanned through the surroundings while Enzo and Theo were safe guarding Ari. We did not want to take any chances while she's with us.

A few men who were dressed in black appeared from parts of the restaurant, pointing their guns and shot a few rounds at us. Thankfully, we managed to dodge them and took cover in time.

Alexander Romano

As I took cover behind one of the chairs which were stacked up at the back of the restaurant, I quickly scanned through the area once more and shot two of the men down. Clearly they were after us, judging from how they were firing shots at us continuously. But the issue here was that we cannot go on a full shoot out here because Ari is with us. The chances of her getting hurt was higher than anything and none of us would want to see that happen. Over our dead bodies.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw three of my younger siblings hiding behind the abandoned cardboard boxes as I noticed the look of fear and panic that was etched onto Ari's face. She looked as though she was going to go into a panic attack at any point in time. Theo looked extremely worried as he tried to calm her down, but nothing was working.

The sound of gunshot reminded her of that night, which was a painful memory for all of us. She went into a panic attack once back in Italy, when some of our enemies sneaked into our home and tried to kill us. That was the main reason why we cannot afford for a mass shoot out now. But the situation was not looking good, and we have to do something, before the enemies can further attack us.

Reine Parker

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes shut as I tried to control my breathing. The sound of gunshot was triggering memories from the past. And I cannot let that happen, not now at least.

I was taking cover under the table which I was sitting at, with some of the fallen chairs shielding me from the sight of those men in black. Digging my nails further into my palm, I composed myself and looked across the restaurant and spotted Bea.

She had her eyes closed tightly as well, with her hands covering both of her ears, trying to breathe normally. She was probably experiencing the same thing too.

"I can do it." I muttered under my breath as I dug around my bag, for both my gun and my headphones. Roman and Damian had both trained me on how to use a gun and to aim accurately, after much persuasion from me since they were reluctant at first, seeing as to how I react to the sound of guns. But avoiding it was not the solution either, so I braced myself and started to train. And I could say that I had a pretty accurate aim.

Hanging the headphones on my neck, I silently loaded the gun as I continued observing the situation. I muttered a prayer of thanks when I remembered that Damian had installed a silencer on the gun for me. This was going to make it easier.

All of a sudden, a rapid and heavy breathing was heard from the back. I turned back in alarm, and realised that Ari was having a panic attack. This caused the men to fasten their pace as they moved towards the back. Shit.

I noticed both Alexander and Elijah jumped out from their cover and shot down some of the men who were still advancing towards them. Lorenzo and Mateo were shooting some of them too, until I noticed that Lorenzo ran out of bullets.

As much as I did not want to see them, I did not want to see my sister getting hurt because of this. Without hesitation, I crawled slowly to a spot where I could take a better aim and shot those who were still advancing towards the three of them. Pulling on the trigger once, twice, and thrice.

Those men fell, one after another, as the Romano looked around in confusion. Luck was definitely not on our side as more of their men entered the restaurant. Just how many are there left? I need to get Bea out of here soon, she's not going to last here.

Not caring a single fuck, I moved swiftly from my hiding spot to somewhere near the three of them. Mateo was the first one to notice me and his eyes widened in shock. Lorenzo stopped his long string of curses too and froze.

Without giving a single glance to any of them, I took off the headphones around my neck and placed it over Bea's ears. I pressed on the button at the side such that the music would start playing and she would no longer hear those gunshots.

Her head lifted up, with tears still flowing down her cheeks. It seemed that her panic attack had finally stopped, because she managed to keep her focus on me. After ensuring that she was fine, I said in a stoic voice,"Get her out as fast as possible. There's more men coming in."

None of them made a move, as they were still staring at me. I glared at them and lowered my voice,"Take her out now before things get messier!" Mateo seemed to have understood the severity of my tone and he immediately got up from his position.

"Get out of here with them. You shouldn't be here." Lorenzo's voice broke out, as I turned around and looked at him with a completely unamused look. I ignored his words, as I continued keeping a lookout for any oncoming enemies while Bea and Mateo were making their way out.

It seemed as though the other two had saw me as well, because I caught them moving towards us from my peripheral view. Lorenzo tried to get me head out too, but I did not budge at his words.

Seeing how I was not responding to his words, he sighed and finally shut the fuck up. Having to deal with an oncoming panic attack was not making my mood any better. It was very much energy consuming trying to control my mind and not let the attack take over.

It seemed as though the other two had understood the assignment that we needed to take cover for both Bea and Mateo to leave this place, and they finally got into their positions.

She has to get out of here before things get out of hand.

updated! thank you all so much for all the votings and comments that were flooding in ever since yesterday! <3 much love for that JWNWNSJWNSNSJW

Happy reading! -3/10/2022