Dangerous Illusions

Chapter 31

"Listen, I didn't ask you to protect me, I can take care of myself. I have for a while so I don't need you to come and make it more difficult to stay off the radar. It's hard enough, trust me. So I get that you had good intentions, but don't you ever, and I mean ever, keep a life-changing thing from me again. That is definitely not your call to make on your own." I said, letting go of her wrist I walked to the living room to find my dad, uncle, and Daniel sitting on the couch.

When they finally noticed me, they just stared.

"What?"

"She was just-"

"Don't you dare take her damn side!"

Rob whistled and muttered something of me 'being on my period' under his breath.

"I will slit your throat if you say that again. Family or not."

His eyes widened and I sat down next to my dad deep in thought about Paul.

"Elna, if I may, what's bothering you? It can't only be your sister," My dad asked with a slight mock in his voice.

I turned my head to slightly glare at him, but voiced my concern, "It's Paul. It feels like the kidnapping was too easy. It's like he wanted us to take him. He wanted us to get Elizabeth back. He knew that we would figure out where he was, it's like he planned all of this."

"Are you saying this is a trap?"

Just then one of my dad's men came running up to us with a worried and scared expression evident on his face.

"Conner?"

"He's gone. Paul is gone."

"WHAT!?" All of us yelled,

"WHERE IS JASE!?" My uncle asked him clearly furious,

"He-He's dead..."

My uncle and dad fell silent as shock consumed their facial expressions.

"No, no, no. He can't. He can't be!" My dad yelled and raced to where we held Paul.

I soon found out that Jase was my dad's best friend. Apparently, he was my dad's best man at his wedding.

Running after my dad, I soon stopped in my tracks as I saw the sight before me. This was definitely Paul's doing, it was his trademark, after all, it's sick. Me being used to seeing this, I tried taking my dad away. It looked like he was going to pass out any moment now. He refused at first but eventually, he walked up with me, unshed tears forming in his eyes.

We were met with Rob and Daniel on their way to the basement, my father's state stopping them,

"What-"

"That bastard is going to die, one way or another. I won't stop until I see him dead. That is a promise I vow to keep," My dad seethed before walking away, unfortunately, Rob grabbed his wrist, "What did he do?" He asked although my dad stayed silent, no emotion evident on his face anymore.

"Jack, what. Did. He. Do." My uncle prodded him for answers starting to get annoyed and angry himself.

"He killed Jase." My dad said shrugging,

"I know that! How?"

"He slit his throat and wrote something on the wall with his blood okay!"

"What did he write?" Rob asked after a while through gritted teeth, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

"I-I don't know. It wasn't English or anything that I can read."

"That's because he isn't actually English." I pipped up, looking at the floor, "It's Spanish. He was born in Spain. He took my sister and I there a couple of years ago when he tortured us. The message is part of his trademark. It symbolizes his home, his past, his cruelty, his vengeance and his loyalty to his boss and family."

"I take it you know what the message says then?" Rob asked,

"I didn't read it but I could try and translate. I haven't spoken Spanish in a while,"

We made our way to the basement and I saw my uncle tense at the sight before him. "Listen I'll take him up and ask someone to clean this later. You and Daniel figure this out. Please," Rob said, pleading us. His eyes filled with hope that we would be able to.

I nodded and gave him a small smile as he lifted Jase's body and left the hallway back up the stairs. When he was finally out of our sight I turned towards the blood message on the brownish wall beside me.

I took a picture of it just in case we need it and started translating, "La sangre fluirá a medida que mi poder crezca, ¿pensaste que habías ganado? bueno piénsalo de nuevo esto es solo el comienzo del baño de sangre en sus vidas. Muere morirás, caerás caerás, pero entiende una cosa, nunca me arrastraré,"

I gasped and read it again, and again trying to make sense of the message.

"What does it mean?" Daniel asked concerned. Ignoring him I tried memorizing the passage, "Elna what does it mean?" He tried again,

I ran past him and went to my dad and uncle, Daniel catching up quickly.

"He-He is sending a warning. A death threat. He is not playing around, and he will not stop for anything," I blurted out when I stopped in front of them,

"What do you mean?"

"The message, the translation...." I said running a hand through my hair,

"Blood will flow as my power grows, you thought you won? Well, think again. This is just the beginning of the bloodbath in your lives. Die you will die, fall you will fall, but understand one thing, I will never crawl." I started pacing as I went over the words in my head,

"I knew it was to easy, he wanted us to catch him, to bring him here. This isn't just about him bringing me and Liz back to the place we ran from, he's going to-" I stopped mid-sentence as a thought crossed my mind.

"Shit!" I bolted to the computer in the meeting room and searched through some files after logging onto my gang's server. Typing furiously I noticed the rest entering the room with skeptical looks.

"Elna?"

"There is more than one message in the translation,"

"What does that mean?"

"Found it!"

"Found what!? Elna would you stop talking in riddles and explain!"

"He isn't just sending a warning. He explained his plan in the message,"

"Plan? Plan for what?"

"His plan for war,"