The Doc & Her Don

Chapter 27

Somebody was toying with Luciano.

In between searching for Rose, staying hidden in the shadows, and trying not to get himself killed, someone was following him.

It couldn't be that he was seeing things, that his mind was playing tricks on him, so why does he continue to see his mother almost everywhere he looks?

Sweat rolled down his face, his breathing erratic and harsh as he continued throwing jabs at the punching bag. Flashes of memories ran through his mind like a vintage film on repeat.

Luciano finally stopped, abruptly enough that Apollo glanced at his best friend who still had yet to acknowledge him. Luc's eyes were stuck on the table a few feet in front of him, where a package teased him.

It had a note attached to it, 'To my devil child, Luciano' the words written out big and bold in ink. In his mothers handwriting. When he finally felt he would go insane, the man ripped the package open.

His eye twitched. The package was filled with photos. Pictures of his family from childhood, taken all from his mothers favorite place. An old family home that overlooked the ocean. The peeling paint, and splintered boards could be seen even with the grainy quality of the photos. She probably loved the place because it was an accurate representation of how she felt all the time. Breaking, splintered, close to becoming undone with time.

As a child, sometimes he would find her standing on the edge of the cliff, looking as if the water was calling out to her, inviting the woman to jump and sink below the waves. It was moments like that, at her highest vulnerability, when he felt the closest to her.

As he continued going through the photos a sinking feeling in his stomach grew. Picking up the last picture in the pile Luciano froze. It was a picture of Rose, beaming at the camera posing for her graduation.

He got the message loud and clear, and this time he was getting his girl back no matter what.

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Rose could hardly breath.

She could hardly do anything after dinner with Klaus, hell during it she could hardly eat. Her anxiety was through the roof, she wasn't a psychologist or anything but Klaus wasn't necessarily balanced in the head.

Not to say any of the people surrounding her were either, but the way he looked at her during dinner had her on edge the entire time. She tried to remain calm, she especially didn't want him to be perceptive to her escape plan so she played to his whims as best she could.

It made her sick to her core but she did what she had to. Now that she was back in her room, she watched the door carefully, waiting for the older woman to come in, to save her from this mess.

A million thoughts ran through the woman's mind. She thought of her life before Italy, how she took so many things and people for granted, how she should have been more careful to avoid getting people she loved caught up in this mess.

She also thought about this lady of the house that she was going to meet. Did that mean Klaus and Luciano's mother? Was she not dead, or was this a trap that would get her even deeper in trouble?

Rose was so caught up in her thoughts, she hardly noticed when the door opened. It wasn't until she heard a small click! that she realized someone was in the room with her. Eva smiled again the young woman.

"Okay, herrin, the young master is down." Rose sat up at those words.

"You didn't-"

"Only a bit of medicine. Now we have to hurry, I took care of almost everyone but we don't want to get caught waiting around." She spoke lowly before turning to the closet. Opening the door, she walked into the back, Rose trailing after her.

Eva pushed aside some of the clothing, knocking on the wall. Rose blinked in shock when she heard it knock back.

Pressing on the panel, the wall opened to reveal a passageway that seemed long and dark. Two familiar faces peeled back at the woman as she gasped.

"You're the two brats that tried to kill me!" She hissed out, whispering harshly at the two little boys. One of them shrugged, "You're the old hag that tried to crush me with her bag." Eva reached out with lightning quick speed as she smacked him upside the head.

"That's not how you speak to her! Both of you, mind your tongues." She glared at him as he rubbed his head.

"I was just saying!" He huffed, "Sorry Herrin." He mumbled out a half apology to which Rose gave a mm. She turned to Eva, "Aren't you coming with us?"

A small smile graced her lips, "I'm staying here."

Rose frowned, "You can't, I mean what if they figure out you helped me escape, then what?" She tried to reason with the woman but her smile still stayed in place.

"I'll be fine, Herrin. I'm prepared for anything that comes my way, but you all must be going. Jasper, Hans, you know what to do." That was all that was said before Rose was pushed into the small opening with the young boys. Her arms were grabbed and she was pulled along through the dank tunnel.

Her heart ached as she muttered a small prayer for Eva, but still, she knew that if Klaus even had an inkling of suspicion the woman helped her, she wouldn't be seeing her again.

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What do a group of people say when they all tried to kill each other and are now traveling in an awkward silence?

Yeah, I can't figure it out either. Jasper and Hans led me out the house through the tunnel until we ended up going through a ladder that led to a hidden opening in the forest. From there they gave me a bag that was stuffed with money, food, and a change of clothes.

According to the boys we were only about a few hours away from our arranged ride, but we were a while away from our location. After trekking for what seemed like hours, we crowded into an inconspicuous trailer car. The driver didn't speak much to me, not that I could understand anything because he only spoke German.

In the short time I was with Klaus I managed to pick up on a few phrases but they spoke too quickly and way to quietly for me to understand anything with complete clarity. The trailer was comfortable, it had two tiny windows in the top that were open so we could get fresh air.

There wasn't any light but it did have a small chair and two beds in it. I sat across from Jasper, the one who I almost crushed with my bag. "How old are you?" I asked but didn't get a response.

He just glanced at me before shrugging.

I tried again, "How did you two end up. . . well in this mess?" He paused, like he was thinking.

"The Vinetti's killed our parents. Miss Alice took us in, kept us off the streets for a while and decided to ask us to watch her son as payment."

That means she is alive. I sucked in a breath. Jasper and Han were so young, they had so much more ahead of them than this life of violence and crime. Something compelled me to reach out to him.

The boy flinched hard as I placed my hand gently on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Jasper." I spoke to him but he shrugged my hand off, looking away while he mumbled something under his breath.

I sighed, leaning back against the cool metal, this was going to be a very long ride.

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