Gentle For Her

Chapter 30

*Athena*

-three years later-

I've been pacing up and down the room the last three hours. Cynthia has been worried about me but she took Zane because he was constantly crying and I've been so out of focused and zoned out that I haven't even realized my own son crying for the past three hours.

"Where the fuck is he", I end the call. I've been calling him for three hours and no sign, no message, no nothing, nada.

His phone keeps going straight into the voice mail. What the fuck is he doing?

I'm starting to panic because he never misses a call, the longest it'll take him to pick up is on the third ring and if he misses, he'll call back right away.

If he's busy, he lets me know he's busy and that I shouldn't call him or he'll give me a time to call him but he hasn't said anything.

He was supposed to be back three hours ago, we were going out and now my makeup was ruined from all the crying I'm doing thinking something is wrong with my husband and my child's father, I can't even pretend to be strong for my son.

"Mama, why are you c-crying", Zane asked in his baby voice. "Hi Zane, mommy's extremely stressed right now", I say, wiping my tears away, probably ruining my makeup even more.

"You look beautiful mama", he said. "Thank you my love", I bent down to his height and kissed him.

Then my phone rang.

"H-Hello", I stuttered, my hands shaking. "Don't come Athena, Don't-", he was cut off.

"G-Grayson", I questioned. It sounded like him but it didn't. He sounded like he was in pain, maybe hurt.

"No it's not Grayson, it's me", the person said. "W-Who's t-this", I stuttered.

He sent a FaceTime call so I accepted. "As you can see, I have Grayson and he's all tied up at my mercy and if you don't come in the hour, I promise you, I'll blow his head off", my eyes were wide. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"W-Who are y-you", tears fell from eyes. "He killed my brother so I'm gonna take the thing most precious to him, you", he laughed devilishly. Who the hell was this guy?

"Leave her out of this", he punched him in the face. His face twisting to a side, blood spilling from the cuts he now had. "No!", I screamed.

"Athena don't come", he shouted. A knife was stabbed into his leg. He screamed out in pain. "No, stop. Don't hurt him please!", I shouted out, tears running down my face.

I had my hands to Zane's mouth and his eyes so he couldn't see anything or speak. I knew he could hear but I prayed he was too young to understand, I didn't want him to see his father this way.

"Then you know what you have to do. One hour, a location will be sent to you as soon as I hang up. No more than an hour or your precious husband dies", the call ends.

I couldn't believe this. I fell to my knees, my son staring at me in confusion and Cynthia standing at the door, tears filling her eyes.

"Athena you can't go", Cynthia says. "If I don't then they kill him", more tears threaten to fall from my eyes.

"Tell Mariano and Giovanni everything, I need you to watch Zane. I'm going. It's my life or my son's, this son of a bitch doesn't know Grayson has a son so he thinks I'm most precious to him however Grayson loves Zane more than me. If he kills me then Zane has his dad and that's fine", I stand up.

"No Athena, Zane can't lose you. He'll grow up without a mom just like Grayson and I don't want him to go through what he had to", Cynthia holds my face.

"I know, I know. He has you, take care of him please, take care of Grayson. I love you Cynthia, just like my mom. I promise everything will be fine", I hugged her.

She hugged me back. The location came through and Mariano puts it into the car and drives me there instantly.

The place we're at is in the middle of nowhere and it's secluded and they were a bunch of trees.

"Okay Athena, you're gonna go in and try to talk it out with him and we'll be out here. Try to distract him for as long as possible to give us enough time to get in and save you both", Mariano says.

I nod. "This is going to work, I promise you", Giovanni said. "I trust you guys", I smiled.

I exit the car and enter the building. I have no idea where I'm going but I see a barely lit room in the back and the door is slightly opened but no security. This is weird, why was it so easy for me to get in.

I enter the room and see Grayson sitting, tied to a chair and his mouth taped up. "G-Grayson", I turn to him.

He tries to say something but I don't understand because of the tape and he sounds muffled.

Then I feel myself being dragged by someone, a gun to my head. "Ahh you made it", the dark voice says.

"Just like you took my brother, you're going to watch as I take what's most precious to you", he laughs darkly.

Grayson was kicking in his chair, trying to get out while he was mumbling against the tape on his mouth but it was pointless. I accepted my death and the defeat.

"Maybe I should make you watch as I fuck her first then kill her. Give her something that her dead corpse can't forget", he chuckles.

Grayson's jaw clenched and his fists were folded and his knuckles were white.

Then a gun goes off and a gunshot erupted through the room. I've accepted my fate and I think it has come to light.

I think I'm dead, the room is silent and I hear a thud. I start to smell blood, I feel something wet at my foot. Am I dead?

I open my eyes to realize that I'm not dead. However Grayson's body is on the floor. "No!", I scream running over to my dead husband. My husband is dead.

Please don't be dead. I can't lose you.