Black Angel

Chapter Seventeen

Derrick

    "D, we have her location! But there's one more thing you need to know before we head there." Ryan sounded exhausted. He would be after thirty-four days of non-stop research.
    "Julio is a Perreira and the one from that... blowjob video."
    I froze. He what?!
    "I need you to repeat that, Ryan. And don't call it a blowjob!" My voice was low but dangerous.
    "Julio is a Perreira, D. He has her."
    Shooting up to stand, I growled "Send me the location. Now." And with that, I produced my phone and called Valentino. "We have her."
    "Send me the location. We'll be there." With nothing more to say, I sent him the location I got from Ryan and sped off in my RS7.

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    We surrounded the warehouse and put on our silencers. Soon, all the guards outside were dead, leaving only the ones inside remaining. And that bastard Julio.
    I held two fingers up and motioned to go inside.
    I must admit, Valentino trained good assassins, because I didn't hear a single thing besides men falling to the ground with pained grunts.
    Meanwhile they cleaned up everyone and the scene, I made my way downstairs with two of Valentino's men. We saw only one door down here and my heart skipped a beat.
    She might be in there, suffering, as we stand here.
    Looking to my right, I nodded to one of the men and he pulled out a lock picking set. A few minutes later the door cracked open in a slim gap, and I kicked it open.
    The sight made my blood boil.
    Her on her knees. A fucker in front of her, fucking her mouth and the betraying bastard behind her. Julio. Who was about to push his cock inside my girl.
    My vision turned red by rage. Pulling out a knife of my waistband, I threw it towards him with precision and it got stuck at the base of his dick, nearly cutting through the whole thing which wasn't difficult, judging by his size.
    Julio screamed and the other guy pulled his cock out of her mouth, stumbling and falling to his back. Zola didn't really move. After she saw me, she just sat back on her heels, her head cast down.
    Is she blaming herself or feeling embarrassed?
    I shot the guy on the ground with a bullet between his brows and made my way over to Julio.
    "Well, well. Which little bastard do we have here?" I approached the man lying on the ground and knelt beside him.
    I plucked the knife out of his dick and stabbed it in his abdomen, twisting it.
    That elicited a high-pitched scream out of him. Not turning away from him, I said with a low voice "Take this one to your basement. Keep him alive. I'll be there to make sure he suffers." Then I stood and made my way over to Zola.
    She still sat there, naked, her head cast down.
    How could I not think about dressing and checking her first?
    "Hey, baby. It's me. I'm here."
    I pulled the sheets of the bed over her body before I scooped her up in my arms. She didn't move. Was she paralyzed by the violence? Was she hurt in a way we couldn't see?
    With her on my arms, I jogged to my car and placed her on the passenger seat. "I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here." I soothed the hair out of her face and tilted her chin, but she refused to look me in the eye, silent tears leaving hers.
    Not wanting to push her any further, I slid into the driver's seat and drove off. Valentino told me we could use his infirmary down here in Madison if anything went wrong.
    He happened to own several buildings all over the States, each of them had an infirmary, an armory and several other rooms.
    The ride to the mansion was silent. I glanced to the passenger seat a couple times, but she remained still. Grabbing her hand in mine, I gave it a kiss and let our hands linger on the middle console.
    When we arrived, we were greeted by guards outside the mansion. It was located in the south of Madison. "Laston." I said.
    That was the code Valentino and I agreed on for a quicker ID-check. The guards nodded and opened the gates to the mansion. I drove in and stopped in front of the entry.
    Getting out, I jogged to the passenger side and scooped her up in my arms again.
    Knocking on the door, it opened immediately. "The infirmary!" I said, urgency in my voice.
    The elderly woman led us upstairs and I lowered Zola on one of the beds in there. Right after, a doctor came in and ushered me out. I refused to leave her side another time.
    "Sir, I need you to trust me. I will help her." The doctor said. I was glad she was a female. I sighed and got out.
    I kept waiting and waiting until two hours flew by.
    "Mr. Brandner, Ms. Laston would like to speak to you." A nurse said and I went there instantly. They changed her into a hospital gown and nearly her whole body was wrapped up, her mouth still had red cracks on the corners. Seeing me, her eyes got glassy and one more tear slid down her cheek.
    "Could you leave us alone for a moment?" I asked the doc, my voice soft as I looked at Zola, my eyes never leaving hers, as if she's going to disappear if I looked away.
    "Do you want that?" The doc directed the question to Zola and she nodded. After that, the doc left us.
    "May I?" I asked carefully, pointing to the end of the bed. She shook her head and patted beside her instead. I smiled and sat down next to her, curling an arm over her shoulders and pulling her close, with my head on top of hers. "I'm here baby. I've got you. It's over now. Everything's over."
    "Derrick, I have to tell you something."
    Her voice was hoarse and she trembled beneath me.
    "Everything, princess." I said and kissed the top of her head.
    "Julio, he..." She hesitated and I guessed I already knew.
    "He talked about the car accident. The one where... Where you lost your father and sister." The more she spoke, the more her voice got quiet.
    My heart stopped for a moment. What?
    "Today, before you came in and stopped them... doing that, I overheard a conversation between him and Mario." So the other man's name was Mario. Okay.
    I nodded and she forged on.
    "He said it wasn't an accident."
    I froze one more time.
    "W-what do you mean?"
    "Derrick," She whispered. "Julio cut the brakes. He's one of them. He just acted like he was your friend, he spied on you. I'm so sorry. And now I'm also not even the pure woman you met and deserve anymore. God, Derrick, I'm so sorry. For everything. For him betraying you, for you going through such a hell and... for disappointing you." Her voice was barely audible in the end.
    I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Again: What?
    One, Julio was responsible for the car accident. He cut dad's car's brakes. He killed dad and Daisy.
    But we already knew he was a betraying bastard. So that one wasn't new information.
    Two, he not only is a Perreira, but he also spied on me, trying to get information to tell the Perreira's and use against me.
    Three, Zola indeed was blaming herself for getting kidnapped and raped, which might I add was one, because of me and my past and two, because of that dead prick Mario and his soon-to-be-dead companion Julio. He would die slow.
    Those Portuguese bastards. They ruined my girl. Physically and mentally.
    They will pay, baby. Believe me. I'll make them suffer for what they've done to you.
    "Hey, look at me."
    When she didn't, I took her chin between my index finger and thumb and made her look at me. Silent tears were streaming down her pretty face.
    "Nothing of this is your fault. It's all my fucking fault and I need to tell you. I can't keep those secrets from you anymore because I can't protect you if you don't know how dangerous my life- our life is and will be even more. I'll have to tell you. Even if I might lose you after telling you everything."
    There was a questioning look on her face.
    "When I was sixteen, my sister Daisy got ill and needed a new kidney. We've waited years for the right donor, but we never found one. Her body refused every donated kidney. Then, when I was twenty-three and mom already dead for two years, my – in that time – friend introduced me to Francesco Vonanno. He married into the Perreira Family and took over the reins, not changing the name of the organization.
    Long story short: He said he could find my sister a new kidney, one which her body didn't refuse. Fortunately, he did. I was a boxer at that time, and they wanted me to pay them for the kidney by boxing in their name, making me win several championships. But the worst: they made me kill. They made me a hitman and didn't even bother hiding my identity. But what I didn't know back then: they were recording everything to use against me later. I've never wanted to do any of it, but I ended up having to do all of it. Daisy's life was at stake. I couldn't just let her die. After mom, neither me nor dad wouldn't bear the weight of her loss.
    And when I paid back every penny, they refused to let me go and threatened me with that what they recorded. I couldn't go to jail. My sister's life was still at stake and dad wasn't fit enough to work anymore.
    So, I stayed for a while until one day they did let me go. I didn't understand why they would do such a thing, but I didn't question it either. And I also didn't know that Julio, which I knew as Pablo, was growing up as a spy. By that time, I was twenty-five and he was eighteen. When the accident happened, I was so furious that the police couldn't trace the ones responsible for that accident. Since that day, I was alone and didn't have anyone. Then, right after you've moved in, the first threats came in. They threatened me with you. With taking you if I don't work for them again. In their mafia."
    She stared up at me with wide, glassy eyes. Instead of horror, I saw sadness and sympathy in them. She really was concerned about me while I was telling her the most horrific part of my early adult years.
    "I was talking to a hacker friend of mine which I met when I was in military for compulsory military service, when I remembered that he knew another mafia don. Valentino Di Voglio. I asked him for help and here we are now."
    A frown built on her brows.
    "But why would he help you? Derrick, you can tell me everything, you know I won't ever judge you. In fact, I'm the last person to judge anyone. Please, open up. Tell me. Let me in. Don't leave me in the dark on my own."
    I let out a long sigh. "I'm working for them now. I started a week ago, when I contacted them. Same conditions."
    Her eyes widened even more, and she gasped, lightly clasping a hand on her mouth. "So you're a boxer and hitman again." She whispered. That wasn't a question. It was a clarification.
    I nodded. She must be terrified.
    But instead of pushing me away from her, like I feared she would, she hugged me.
    "I'm so sorry. If I'd been more careful and didn't get myself kidnapped, you wouldn't have to sell yourself to this dangerous world again. I am so fucking sorry, Derrick." She sobbed into my chest.
    I knew, she would blame herself. Even if she's right about me selling myself, it didn't feel like I just did that.
    I rather feel like I've paid a little price for the best reward I could dream of. Her.
    "Hey, shh. Everything's fine. I'm here. I'll always be. But I have to handle one last thing before I can take you back home." I said, preparing her for the fact that I'm going to torture Julio.
    She shook her head, a tear escaping her eye one more time.
    "I know what you mean. Don't. I want to do it."
    She what?!
    "Baby-" She interrupted me.
    "No, please. He'll pay. I want to make him pay. He may not have taken my virginity, but he still took my innocence and the power to decide. And since all the other ones who participated in this are dead already, the only one left I could take all of this out on, is either Julio or myself. So, please. Give me a chance to make him pay. Otherwise, I don't know if I can continue living like nothing happened. I need that. Please."
    I stayed silent.
    Looking around, as if anyone else was there to witness what she was about to say, she pulled my head down a few inches and spoke into my ear. "I wanted to give you my every first. To live it with you. I'll make him pay for taking this from not only me, but us."
    Her voice dropped to a whisper and was dripping with danger and hunger. The hunger for revenge. And I don't remember any time in my life that I was so turned on.
    There was a fire in her eyes, mirroring the one inside me.
    "We will, baby." I bent down to kiss her, but she pulled back.
    "Not before I brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth with bleach."
    She chuckled, trying to hide the crimson spreading across her neck and down to her chest because she felt uncomfortable kissing me before she cleaned her mouth out of those pricks. So, I bent down to kiss her cheek instead and whispered in her ear right after.
    "Nothing of this was your fault. I hope you know that, sweetheart."
    Pulling back, I looked down at her and saw her smiling at me, the fire growing in her eyes.
    "Take me to him."
    And that I shall.