[1] A War of Blood and Hearts | ✔️

CHAPTER TEN

CRYSTAL

Crystal huffs as she gets out of her car, the one her brother bought and sent to her when she complained about having to walk everywhere, and she makes sure to have her both her purse and her phone before locking it.
Crystal's routine became a little dull after her first month in Italy. Still, she can't really complain; her life is as ordinary as it can be. And although she knows it won't last, she still chooses to enjoy it while it lasts.
Over the past few months she has talked to Lucas a few times and to Nickolas maybe twice. She cannot decide of the lack of communication is because of her grudge to their infinite secrets or because of their conflict with her parents. From the amount of calls Nazi received every time he visited her, she knows for a fact that something big and bad is happening. But she can't bring herself to wonder what exactly is wrong; it would destroy the little peaceful bubble she has created.
Living in Italy reminds her a lot of the four years she spent in America. Even though she is somewhat content here, she can't help but feel a little nostalgic to her little loft in New York.
The Brazilian woman looks around her at the countless cars parked in parking lot as she slowly walks to the mall's entrance. She doesn't really need to buy anything, but there aren't many places she can go without having her secret guards freak out. She doesn't precisely know if the guards are Brazilian or Italian, she does however know that she isn't supposed to know they are there. But if they want to her to be oblivious to their existence, then they should work on their hiding skills.
Most of the time, she tries to ignore their presence, but every couple of days she would see a shadow or hear a shuffle in the bushes outside her house.
When she nears the building she hears some very loud footsteps; people –mostly men- who seem to be running. She assumes it is her guards so she shakes it off and keeps her pace steady.

Crystal walks out of themall with a huge smile on her face. She carries seven bags filled with books,three bags filled with food, and one filled with clothes. She had no intentionof buying anything but she is utterly defenseless against books and junk food. Asfor the clothes, she was in desperate need for a lighter jacket now that springis here. To her, it is still early to wear t-shirts and shorts; it Is not warmenough yet.
She puts her bags in the trunkand she is about to get into her car when she suddenly sees a face she hopedshe won't ever see again. Without thinking about what she is doing, her legsstart walking towards his form that is pressed on an electricity poll, it seemslike he is out of breath.
Crystal regretted the time shespent with Alonso DiFronzo even though every time she recalls that day sheinstantly feels herself smiling. She just knows that sometime in the future,even if it is years from now, she will see him again; her brother's lifeguarantees it. And she has this gut feeling that when that day comes, a lot ofthings in her life will get robbed from her. Her regret is a result of her fearand anticipation of the unknown future.
She never thought she would seehim this soon, and she surprises herself by feeling a little pleased by seeinghim; especially when he seems to be in a really sour mood.
"Well, if it isn't Bagel." Shestands right before him now. Her voice is a lot more confident than she feels.The smile on her face pisses her off, she tries to get rid of it, but shefails.
Alonso looks at her with wide eyes;they hold an emotion that she can't decipher. He stares at her for a fewseconds before his hand reaches out for her until it touches the end of herhair. The mob boss swirls her hair around his finger as if he is trying toconvince himself as if she is really here. At least that is what the tinylittle part of that she is desperately trying to ignore hopes.
At times, she caught herselfreliving their 'adventure' wishing she could go back in time so she canexperience it all over again. She knew that she is not attracted to him, eventhough he is unbelievably handsome. But there was something about him, thisaura of sadness and depression that she has never seen before. For some reasonshe finds this aura fascinating.
"Crys, is it really you?" hiseyes are a little glassy which confuses her to no end. She chooses to ignoreit.
"Ah, so you do remember me. Iwas afraid it would be one of those awkward situations where I have to remindyou who I am." He chuckles at her words.
"Yeah well, it is kind of hardto forget the woman who made you run for miles in the middle of the nightbecause she thought it would be a glorious idea to break someone window with abat." The amusement is clear in his voice. The look in his eyes tells her thathe has a silent desire, but she can't seem to understand what they are tryingto say.
She is about to say somethingwhen Alonso suddenly wraps his left arm around her waist pulling her impossiblyclose to his chest.
"What the blood hell do youthink you're doing?" She starts pushing away from him which causes all her bagsto fall to the floor, but stops when she sees that has pulled a gun out. Hescans the surrounding area very fast before he turns to her with coldness inhis eyes.
"Okay listen, we need to getyou in your car before you get shot. Which one is yours?" Alonso grabs herwrist and carefully pulls her towards the car she pointed at. Crystal findsherself cursing her luck. If she had not come and talked to him she would be onher way to her house right now, not being on the verge of getting shot.
She cannot help but imagineNicholas' horrified expression if he was to see the situation she is in rightnot. He would lock her up in a tower just like Rapunzel no doubt. Crystal giggles at the image of her bring in along tower as she tries to climb it down at the same time as they start beingshot at.
"Are you seriously laughingright now?" The Italian man yells at her she pulls her behind a car and pushesher by the shoulder to get down. He looks over her body quickly, to insure sheisn't injured Crystal assumes, before he reaches out into his boots and grabs asecond gun.
"Don't move." He simplyinstructs before he gets up from his position and starts shooting his guns atdifferent directions in perfect precision. Crystal looks at her car which seemsnow to be near impossible to get to with a pout. She still cannot understandhow she ended up in this position.
She finds herself checkingAlonso out despite it being a horrible place and time to do so. He wears ablack t-shit that shows his muscles, Adidas black pants, and white Adidasshoes. His clothes definitely compliment his countless tattoos, so does hishair that is jelled back in an elegant way.
A few minutes later, the mafiaman gets back down to reload his guns. He looks at her then at her car and thenat his guns. He seems to be doing some calculations that Crystal believes willget one of them killed. She chooses not to say anything while he is holding notone but two guns.
"Okay, follow my lead. When Itell you to, we will start running to your car. Do not get to far from me so Ican keep you safe." He looks at her waiting for her to confirm that shecomprehends what he is saying, but her attention is on something else,something that is right behind him.
Crystal looks at him before sheplaces both of her hands on his shoulders. She gives the mafia boss a smirk beforeshe pulls her legs away from the ground and places all her weight on hisshoulders. Within seconds, she does a flip and her feet hit the man behindAlonso in the head successfully knocking him out.
"Fanculo, how the hell did youdo that?"
"How about we get into the carfirst then I will tell how I did it?" She gives him a wide smile.
"You're enjoying yourself,aren't you?" He chuckles. Crystal doesn't get a chance to answer before a boldcreepy man appears out of nowhere with is gun pointed at her. For some reason,she doesn't feel afraid. She doesn't get to think about the reason becauseAlonso shoots him in his right ear killing him on the spot.
The Italian man grabs her wristfor the tenth time and starts running towards her car. She starts to think that he has a thing forholding wrists. Surprisingly, they manage to get in the car with Crystal in thedriver's seat.
"When I said we should get toyour car, I meant we should use it to escape." Alonso looks at her with araised bow.
She mentally face palms herselfbefore she turns the engine on. Sadly, it will take a couple of minutes beforethey can move.
"Yes, I am definitely going todie." Alonso says softly as the car gets repeatedly shot at. Crystal's heartbreaks at what is being done to her precious vehicle, but she decides that herlife is more important than her car.
"Relax, the engine is almostwarm enough." She says calmly. She is starting to get a little annoyed byherself from being scared of what is happening.
About three minutes later,Crystal starts the car and she drives the car in a speed that would surely gether at least six speeding tickets. At first, it is only them in the wide highway.But it only takes a few seconds for cars filled with angry armed men startfollow them. From what Crystal can seefrom the mirror, there are about seven to eight cars.
"So what do we do now? We can'texactly keep driving away from them for long." She hastily turns to Alonso andshe immediately paled at what she sees.
"What the bloody hell? When didthat happen?" Crystal yells with all her might.
"It is not a big deal, it isjust a small wound." He tries to chuckle, but it is evident that the color isgradually draining from his face. Crystal has a feeling that he will loseconsciousness and leave her in this mess alone in a matter of minutes.
"A small wound that has youbleeding all over my car. When the bloody hell did you even get shot?" She isgenuinely worried for his well being. Besides, if he dies there is no tellingwhat the Italian mafia will do to her if he dies in her car.
"Just before I got in the car.We need to lose them." He changes the subject, but Crystal doesn't say anythingabout it. She wants to lose them before Alonso faints.
Crystal takes a quick observantlook at him. He lays his head on the window beside him as he presses both ofhis hand on his chest right under his heart. The place of the wound doesn'tcomfort Crystal one bit, if anything it s freaking her out. The bullet is soclose to her heart.
"How do you suppose we dothat?" She presses even harder on the gas when she notices a car getting alittle too close to them. as a result, Alonso grunts in pain.
"We have to go to my house itis the only place..." His sentence gets disrupted when a bullet breaks one ofthe back windows causing Crystal to scream and lose control over the car for asecond.
"Alonso what do I do here?" sheimmediately curses herself for slipping out, and she prays that the mafia mandoesn't notice it. Sadly, he does.
"You know my name." it wasn't aquestion. She chooses to take the coward's way out.
"This isn't the time for this. Tell mewhat to do? They are gaining on us." Crystal cannot tell if she is freaking outbecause of her big mouth or her brother's reaction when he hears about this.
"Take a right when I tell youto and don't hesitate." His voice is almost a whisper. He pulls away from thewindow and opens it before he weakly moves his body in a position that wouldallow him to shoot the cars on their tail. Crystal cringes when she sees theamount of blood that is covering the man's black clothes; they are basicallydripping.
"Are you sure you can do this?Don't get me wrong but you look like you just escaped a grave." Alonso tries togive her a stern look but ends up grunting. He curses before he points his gunat the car and starts to shoot away.
"Now" Alonso yells. Well, morelike tries to as he keeps on shooting. Although Crystal feels like the onlything that is getting injured is air. Crystal takes a sharp intake before shetakes the turn into a more crowded street. Still, the cars are right behindthem.
Suddenly, Alonso takes a sharpintake before he drops his guns and tries to grab Crystal's hand. Sheimmediately holds it, leaving one hand on the steering wheel. She is startingto become really overwhelmed; she is driving, keeping an eye on the hostiles,and she is worried at Alonso. Not to mention, that whoever is in these carsseem to have endless supplies; they haven't stopped shooting at them for onesecond.
"Alonso, I swear to God if youpass out on me I will freeze your balls." She screams as her gaze move from himto the road every few seconds. The mafia boss lets out a light chuckle as heleans into the chair causing Crystal to freak out.
"I think it is a little too late forthat." He says as he presses on his wound once again. His right hand goes intohis pocket and pulls out something that Crystal can't see.
"The moon is brighter than thesun." Alonso whispers before he finally faints.
"Fuck." Crystal screams hittingthe steering wheel repeatedly. She can feel the tears that are threatening toescape her eyes.
Her lack of focus causes her toget shot in the arm. Crystal looks through her window to fins a car right besidehers. The man in the passenger's seat has a smug look in his face as stares ather arm. Filling rage consume her body, she moves the steering wheel to theleft causing her car to the enemy's car giving her enough time to press on thegas and put some space between them.
She cries uncontrollably as shedrives through the cars. She is not afraid to die, but she is afraid of beingcaptured. Her brother is the Brazilian mafia boss. Which means she is regardedpart of the mafia, the least they would do to her is torture her.
She looks at Alonso's body indesperation; he could die of his wound doesn't get treated. Something insideher tells her that he shouldn't die, that she doesn't want him to die. The thoughtalone gives her a shot of electricity all over her body. She is clueless as towhy is that though.
Crystal looks at his hands tofind his phone in one of them. While keeping an eye on the road she reaches outof the thing. She almost cries harder when she sees that it is unlocked; hemust have unlocked before he fainted.
The names repeated a couple of timesin his recent calls include Nazi's and her brother's. Since these choices are abig no, she calls the third name. She puts the phone on speaker and throws iton her lap when she sees that one of the men has a riffle. She attempts todrive faster but it doesn't help much when she can barely control the drivingwheel due to her wounded arm.
Just when she is about to giveup, the person picks up.
"Alonso, where are you? You weresupposed to be here thirty minutes ago." A male voice says.
"I am not Alonso." Crystalanswers between cries.
"Who are you? What have youdone to my boss?" the man's voice turns cold.
"I didn't do anything. Some people shot him,he is unconscious and severely bleeding in my car."
"And you just happen omagically know the pass code to his phone?"
"Look you don't have to trustme but please help me. I don't know what to do."
"Are these gunshots?"
"They are shooting at us. I don'tknow what to do or where to go. And Alonso is turning really pale. The gunshotis really close to his heart."
"Did he tell you anythingbefore he passed out?"
"Um yeah, he said 'the sun isbrighter than the moon' or 'the moon is brighter than the sun' I don't exactly remember.I was busy freaking out." It takes the man a few seconds to reply causingCrystal's heart to nearly stop.
"Okay what is your name?"
"I'm Crystal." She is toofreaked out to care that she told him her name.
"Okay Crystal I am Alberto. Ineed you to listen to me carefully. I tracked Alonso's phone and I have men headingto your location right now. They will be here in a few minutes."
"I don't think we will last afew minutes. They have a riffle." If it wasn't for the adrenaline, Crystal believesthat she would've had a panic attack by now, maybe two.
"It's okay Crystal just calmdown. I need you to take the next left. The street is more crowded, it willmake it difficult for them to aim at you." She does as she is told with a shakybreath. She has never been this scared in her entire life.
"Okay, now what?" She can feelthe shakiness in her voice slightly disappear.
"I need you to stay close tothe cars. The closer you are to the other vehicles the safer you'll be."
"Alberto, Alonso's lips areturning blue." She says when she takes a glance to her right.
"Is he breathing?" The panic inAlberto's voice is lucid.
"I don't... I don't know." Crystalfeels like she can't breathe at this point.
"Check his pulse." He orders inurgency. She wants to yell at him and remind him that she has shooting cars onher trail, but her terrified state prevents her from doing it. So, she managesthe wheel with her wounded arm as she places the other one on Alonso's neck.
"Bloody hell." She yells whenshe almost crashes with a car on her left. Thus, she immediately places bothhands on the wheel, gripping it tightly.
"What? Is he dead?" Crystalhears shuffling on the line indicating the Alberto has become restless.
"No, he is still alive. His pulseis barely there though."
"Okay, help is two minutes andforty seconds away, In the meantime I need you to use a cloth to press on the woundto slow the bleeding." Crystal shuffles through the back seat of the carlooking of the sweater she knows she left here last night but she doesn't findit. So in desperation she just presses on Alonso's chest with her hand usingall the strength she can muster.
Crystal leans down in her seatwhen the lunatics decide to use the riffle. She yells out when almost all the glasson the car gets shattered and some of it is collide with her skin.
"Crystal, I need you to pick upyour speed."
"I can't, my hand hurts somuch. I am scared." She had never said those three words to anyone, not evenher brother. At this moment however, she feels like admitting it will bring hercomfort.
"I know, but you have to go a littlefaster. Backup will be here in less than a minute. You can do this." Crystaltakes his words of encouragement to heart and presses on the gas. Thatbackfires when the car once again gets out of Crystal's control. Thus, they are about to run into a building.
The Brazilian woman closes hereyes and covers her face with her hands as she awaits the impact to hit andpossibly kill her. The impact, however, doesn't come. Instead the car doesalmost a full turn before it stops. Crystal opens her eyes to see four blackjeeps surrounding her car.
"It's okay Crystal. These are ourmen; they are not going to hurt you." Alberto assures her. Still, she findsherself on high alert.
"They are going to bring you to me okay? Iwill see you in a few minutes Crystal." Crystal watches as men come out of thecars. Some head their way, and some shoot the hostiles.
Men run over to Alonso's sideand open his door. They gently pick him up and take him to one of the cars. Thena blonde man comes to her and gesture for her to get out of the vehicle.
Crystal looks back on Alonso'sphone to see that Alberto has hung up. She picks up the device in her goodhand, and get out of the damaged car only to be pulled into a jeep; a differentone than the one Alonso is in.
She puts Alonso's phone in her pocketand turns her attention to the three men in the car with her.
She is too tired to actuallystudy them but she knows that the Italian Mafia is on really good terms withher brother's mafia. Therefore, they will not hurt her. With that thought inmind, she allows her eyes so close as she drifts into a world of oblivion.