Corrode - [Charles Leclerc]

𝙏𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚

"Tell the kids to sit on the floor, in the corner". The man snarled, the gun still pressing to her spine. Joanne took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Now!". His voice shook her to her bones. "Do as he says, darlings. Everything will be fine". Her voice trembled and she looked at the scared children that made her feel stone cold all in sudden. "I'm so scared". One of the girls said, her lower lip was quaking and she started to cry soon after. The children hurried to get into the corner of the classroom and Joanne heard the door falling close. In her mind she was thinking about how the men got into the school, why no one had called the police and why no one was coming out, why no one was panicking. She bit back her own tears as she had no idea how she could get the children safe and out of here. "You probably only care about me, let the kids go". Joanne dared to speak up.

She was roughly pushed forward, the joints of her wrists cracking when she caught herself against the table. "Turn around and sit down". The voice barked at her. Joanne got onto her knees and turned to the men, seeing them for the first time. "Mom". Liam was crying too, moving to her side. "That's your son?". She recognized Gabriel's face and his voice now she was looking into his eyes. Joanne didn't say anything. "Answer me!". His voice was so loud she was nearly sure the walls were shaking. "Y-yes". She stammered. "Charles' little family". Gabriel's head cocked sideways. "Speaking about him. Call him now". The look in his eyes never softened, piercing through her being and she swallowed hard. "Let the kids go, please". She nearly begged, trying to calm her rushed heartbeat. Gabriel looked at one of his men and the one on his right reached out to her. Joanne whimpered when he had a tight grip on her hair, forcing her up on her feet again. "I told you to call him". Gabriel drew a knife from his pocket, trailing the blade down the v-neck of her shirt, down her stomach and resting it on her lower abdomen.

"Or do I need to repeat myself?". Joanne shook her head while tears brimmed in her eyes at the thought of him hurting their baby girl. She moved her hand to the back pocket of her jeans and she took her phone out of it. Joanne's fingers were shaking when she dialed Charles' number. She knew he would pick up the phone. Joanne rarely ever called when she was at her work and he knew that too. It took a couple seconds, but Charles' voice sounded through the speaker next. "Joanne?". He asked right away. "Joanne is here with me". Gabriel took the phone out of her hands. "What the fuck do you want?". Charles growled through the phone. "I want to see you here in two hours with the amount of twenty million euro's in cash. That's what I lost when I had to replace all the things you destroyed for me, Charles". Gabriel's knuckles turned white when he clenched his fingers around Joanne's phone. "I'll be there in two hours but you're not getting one goddamn dime of my bankaccount". Charles snarled.

"Joanne, tell your boyfriend to do what I ask". Gabriel sighed and she whined when the other man pulled on the roots of her hair so harshly. "Charles, please. The kids are here, he has a knife to my stomach". Joanne couldn't hold back her sobs. "If you hurt her, I swear to god I'll break your neck with my bare hands!". She had never heard Charles this angry. "Daddy...". Jules sniffled softly, holding onto Liam's arm as they were seated next to each other. Charles cursed under his breath as she could hear. "Joanne, I'll make sure you're safe. I love you". His words made her bite down at her lower lip to not sob too loudly, the assholes didn't need to see her cry like this. "I love you". She softly said before Gabriel ended the call. "Sit down". He ordered at her again and she was roughly tugged down to the floor. Her knees hurt when they hit the ground, however she put herself together and reached to caress the faces of the crying kids. "Charles will be here soon, okay? No need to be scared". She whispered, trying to stay strong herself. Joanne looked around the classroom that was partly filled with Gabriel and his crew.

"Francesca already said you're such a good mother". Gabriel sighed, his boots thumping loudly on the floor when he walked around her desk, opening some of the drawers. He came across a picture frame that a included a photo of her and Charles and the children, which they had made at the beach behind Charles' mansion. "Cute". He threw it over his shoulder and it caused the glass to shatter. "Where is Francesca?". Joanne asked, surprised by the sound of her voice. "Little vixen managed to get out before I could grasp her". Gabriel gritted, crushing a pencil in his hand and throwing the pieces through the classroom. The children were shaken up by it and it broke Joanne's heart to hear them crying softly. "Good for her". Joanne snarled. Gabriel's eyes diverted to her and something in him snapped. With big steps he walked up to her and the boys clamped onto their mother in attempt to protect her. They started to cry louder when his hand curled around her throat, squeezing his palm to disrupt her airflow. "I don't like that tone on you, Joanne". Gabriel said, with each words his grip tightened.

"You should shut up that big mouth if you want your little girl to have a mother". Joanne closed her eyes and gasped for air that wasn't there, her hands curled around his wrist to make him let go and he harshly dropped her before she could black up. She retched a couple times, rubbing her sore skin softly as she leaned on her hands and knees to get the oxygen back in her lungs. Her eyes were stinging with tears. She rubbed her mouth with the back of her hand, her palms then moving to her stomach as if she wanted to feel that the baby girl was still there, and was still fine. "I want my mommy". One of the girls cried and Joanne reached out for her. "She will be here soon as well, honey". Her voice rasped heavily after Gabriel had nearly choked her. She rubbed the girl's cheeks in hope to calm her down. Gabriel hummed contently after he had let out some agression, his gun still loaded and ready to shoot if he needed to or felt like it. He rolled the desk chair from behind the desk and kicked the tables aside to make space for himself in front of Joanne and the children in the corner.

"Let me tell you a story about your dearest boyfriend". Gabriel said, his knife twirling around his fingers while he crossed his ankles and sat back as if he was going to tell a nice story from his latest holiday. "My crew and I settled here in Monaco a long time ago. We did business with the Russians and the Polish crews. Perfectly fine". Gabriel told, shrugging. "But then Charles Leclerc took over the crew from his father and he needed to be the most selfish prick in mafia history". Gabriel leaned up. "He killed my father and stole the business I needed to get my crew off the ground again". His voice rumbled and he dug his knife through the armrest of the chair. "For whole my life I wanted to take revenge for that". Gabriel continued. "I laid low with my crew. We became stronger behind the scenes. We started out plan when we saw that he met you, Joanne. We knew the gorgeous teacher with the cute son would be his weakness". He cocked his head sideways and put on a fake pout. "We had a deal in the harbour. It was supposed to be an easy deal over an afternoon tea...". Gabriel sighed dramatically.

"For that pretty lady of yours". Charles sensed his guards and Pierre next to him having their weapons ready if needed. "You're not the only one who does some research, Leclerc". Charles' eyes hardened when he looked back at the man. His gun lifted before they could blink and the guards dropped dead at the man's side. Pierre shot his knee and the man fell down with a grunt.

"Charles found the need to shoot my partner in the knees and kill the guards when he apparently felt offended by them". Gabriel stood up, spreading his arms slightly. "After we mentioned something about you". He looked at Joanne again. "We send him a warning when he went out alone and we got him good". He grinned in a way that made the shivers of disgust run up her spine.

"My boss didn't like the way you did business with him, Leclerc". The man said before Charles could speak up. "Do I sound like I care?". Charles spat back, pointing the weapon at him. "I'd drop that if I were you". Charles avoided the first punch, but he grunted at the knee that collided with his nose and he spat out the blood. "A message from our boss". Charles' sight was blurry, however he saw the coloured mask the mobster with the knife was wearing.

"We attacked the hangar of his brother, good times too". Gabriel summed up. "And now we're here". He said, simply as if it had been so fun. "Charles deserves to pay for his disrespect. He needs to know how it feels when everything and everyone you ever had is suddenly taken away from you and you don't have the resources to crawl out of hell again. And believe he will go through hell if I have to kill his family and his unborn child". Gabriel crouched down to her level and she turned her head away in fear, not wanting to look him in the eyes. "I hope for you that he'll be here soon, Joanne". Gabriel jumped up. "Else we'll have to call him again to make sure he hurries up". He chirped. "You know what? I like that. A little bit of suspense in between". He nodded at himself. "Give me her phone". He held his hands up and one of his guards handed him Joanne's phone. He unlocked the screen. "Hmm...". He looked at the group of children. "The boy next to you, another Leclerc. What's his name?". Gabriel demanded. "None of your business!". Jules yelled, but it made Joanne tug on his arm.

"Don't be brave now, Jules, you hear me?". She sternly whispered. "Jules". Gabriel caught from the words Joanne said. He started to laugh next. "Come here". Gabriel said. "Don't you dare hurt him". Joanne said, an angry look on her face, holding Jules behind her. Gabriel sighed in annoyance now, walking up to them. She received a harsh slap in the face and he took Jules by his arm, which made the little boy cry for his mother and father. "Take a picture and send it to Leclerc. Let's take some minutes off his time to get here". Gabriel growled, the blade of his knife pushing against Jules' throat, who was sniffling now as one of the guards took the picture and send it to Charles. Joanne held Liam close to her and she closed her eyes as she wished for this nightmare to be over soon.