collateral chaos

Eighteen

"When can we see Mom?" Luca asks as Bella serves them dinner in the hotel.

"As soon as it's safe. She's working right now anyway," Bella answers, "Eat up."

The kids and Bella all eat dinner, the body guards in the back.

"Can she come to put us to bed?" Matteo asks between bites.

"Not tonight, love," Bella shakes her head. He frowns but goes back to eating his chicken.

"How long are we gonna stay here?" Thea asks.

"Until your Mom says it's safe to come back," The brunette answers. She has to hold back the need to cry. It's hard keeping the kids away from their mom, but it's even harder to not know if they are safe when an attack happens. The kids continue to eat, unknowing of an unmarked car outside of their hotel.

***

Sadie and her men wait in the dark, waiting for the Russians to strike. It's 11:30 and still no attack. They're simulating a normal routine where Sadie would be asleep by now, in hopes that they can catch the Russians by surprise. Men are staked out all over the Estate, in almost every room. Sadie, however, waits in her bedroom with Trent and some others.

"Where are they?" Vaughn asks.

Sadie looks around in the darkness, "I don't know. The Russians are sneaky bastards."

Trent and the others chuckle. Sadie smiles. She needs some lightheartedness before she has to attack a mafia.

Out of nowhere an alarm in Sadie's room goes off.

"What the hell?" Trent asks as he prepares to shoot.

"What is that?"

"Where are they?"

Sadie stands up and searches for the source of the alarm. She finds a little button on her nightstand. It takes her a minute to remember what it's for.

"What is that?"

Her eyes widen, "It's from Bella. They're after my kids! Go, get everyone! Get the helicopter!"

Sadie takes off in a sprint for the SUVs with some of her men following.

"Get in the cars! To the helicopter!" Trent yells at the other men throughout the Estate. One by one, the men reveal themselves. Sadie stops before getting in the car.

"Wilhelm, tell Trent to keep three hundred men here, in case they're baiting me," Sadie orders. He runs back into the Estate with a machine gun slung over his shoulder, "Everyone needs silencers! They know we're coming."

***

"Let my kids go, Sadie will still come if it's just me," Bella negotiates. She and her children sit on the floor with the body guards, defenseless. A tall man from the Russian mafia points his gun at all of them.

"Sorry, no can do," He replies in a thick Russian accent.

"They don't need to be here. You kill in front of your children?" The brunette asks. He shrugs.

"It will build character."

"Let our Mama go!" Luca shouts.

"Luca, be quiet, it's okay," Bella hushes him. The man walks around the circle of hostages and crouches down.

"You want me to let your mama go free?" He asks. Luca nods confidently, "I'll let them go if you stay here."

"No, no!" Bella shouts. Matteo cries next to her.