~ Asher's POV ~
"You must really have a death wish!"
Giulio stood above the fallen Asher. One of his men came closer and he snatched the man's gun from his hand. Giulio aimed the gun at Asher's head and his chest was heaving up and down. Meanwhile, Asher was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. He was barely breathing.
"Just because you got rid of the bomb, do you think it's over?" Giulio taunted. "Ha, it's not over! I'm gonna kill you and I'm gonna go straight after them!"
"Damon's not gonna let you get away with this," Asher said through his broken jaw. All he could do now was stall for as much time as he could.
"Oh, you mean my future father in law?" Giulio chuckled.
Asher narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"That's right, you're looking at the princess's baby daddy," Giulio said proudly. "She's carrying my child right now and Damon's gonna be a proud grandfather-"
Right at that moment, Asher was seeing red. The image of Giulio hurting Zoie burned into his brain. With every remaining energy that he had, he lunged at Giulio.
"Ahhhh!!!" Asher screamed as he knocked Giulio down to the ground. The gun in his hand fell and skidded down the floor. Asher managed to get on top of Giulio, putting his hands on his neck, but Giulio also put his hands around Asher's neck. The two men were choking the air out of each other's lungs. It was only a matter of time before one of them gave out.
"Kill him!" Giulio screeched.
Giulio's men quickly reacted. They drew their guns and-
* BANG! * BANG! * BANG! *
A rain of bullets torpedoed across the room. Asher felt one hit him in the chest and it knocked him back. The bullet went through and through, but there was so much blood gushing out of him, he felt his life draining out of his body.
This is it... This is the end.
Asher was losing his consciousness. It dawned on him that this could be the last breath he took. And though he wished he could still be around to see her one more time, it was enough to know that she was, at least, safe right now.
* BANG! * BANG! * BANG! *
With his eyes closed, Asher could still hear the sound of bullets flying. There seemed to be so many of them and he wondered why. Where were all these bullets coming from? And when he opened his eyes, he saw three big black SUVs rolling into the room, smashing the walls and raining down bullets on Giulio's men. In the middle car, there was Damon. His men exited the car first, battling against Giulio's men. Damon came out too shortly after, also with guns in his hand, firing in all directions.
What is he doing here?
This was a dangerous place for someone like Damon to be in. He didn't have to come in here. The plan was only to get Zoie out and she was out. He should be out there with his daughter. But instead, here he was, risking his life, battling the rest of Giulio's men.
When Giulio saw his men start to fall one by one, he quickly ran back and grabbed Asher by his neck. Asher couldn't fight back. Giulio was pulling him up and placing a gun to his head.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the infamous Damon Van Zandt!" Giulio yelled through gritted teeth. "Welcome back!"
Damon raised his hand up and the rain of bullets stopped. Giulio's men had all fallen to the ground. Some were dead and some were injured. Giulio was the last person standing. He had one gun with him and it was aimed at Asher's head.
"Be careful, one wrong step and his brain's gonna be on the floor," Giulio warned.
Damon's men had their guns all pointed at Giulio, ready to fire at any moment. Damon assessed the situation and gestured for his men to lower their guns instead. It was clear why he came back. He came for Asher.
"Let him go and I'll let you live," Damon said firmly.
"Don't let him get away with this," Asher shook his head instead. It didn't matter to him if he died as long as this bastard was dealt with.
"Shut up, bítch!" Giulio yelled at him, smacking the gun to his head.
"Stop!" Damon yelled. "You've done enough. It's time to end this!"
"Do you think this is the end?" Giulio scoffed. "It's only the beginning for me, mio padre,"
Giulio started laughing like the crazy man that he was. Damon kept his composure as he looked over at Asher.
"I will have you know, your precious daughter is now carrying my child! I've got doctors working around the clock to make sure it's happened!" Giulio announced proudly.
Damon was taken aback. He glanced at Asher again and Asher looked away. Asher couldn't stand looking Damon in the eye. He failed. He couldn't protect Zoie. And now this dirty bastard had done the most vile thing to her.
"I know how religious your wife is. And you too. I'm sure abortion is not going to be an option, right? You can't kill an innocent child's life," Giulio continued.
"We will deal with that later, but we will deal with you first," Damon said, still in that firm tone of his. He didn't want Giulio to see how affected he was.
"Oh, but you don't want to kill your grandchild's father, right? After all, blood is thicker than water," Giulio laughed. "I mean, can you imagine what kind of life that would be for a child to grow up without a father? I'm sure you know all about that. And because of you, I had to experience that too. Which is why I think it's time we break the cycle. Why not let your grandchild have a childhood we both never got?"
Damon swallowed hard.
"So you want me to let you live... for this?" he said in a lower tone.
"An innocent life had formed, mio padre. This is bigger than all of us now. We're bonded by blood. We're a family," Giulio answered, smiling menacingly.
Damon's blood was boiling. He couldn't hide that fact anymore. His face turned red and his eyes were full of rage.
"You fúcking son of a bi-"
* BANG! *
Before Damon finished his sentence, Asher took the opportunity to grab Giulio's gun and he fired straight at Giulio's head.
* BANG! * BANG! * BANG! *
Asher had no remorse. He kept firing at Giulio's head, chest, and stomach. He did it over and over again until there were no more bullets in that gun. The gun was only clicking, but even then, Asher still pointed it at Giulio. If he had a hundred more bullets in there, he would waste it all on this sad excuse of a man.
Giulio was dead. A pool of blood formed underneath him. His face was unrecognizable. His brains had splattered on the ground. After a few more clicks, Asher then dropped the gun to the floor. His body felt weak, he had no more energy. He fell to the ground and looked at Damon with the last breaths he had.
"Maybe you can't kill him, but I can..." he said with a bitter smile.
Damon had a look in his eye that Asher couldn't decipher. He ran in Asher's direction, and he caught Asher in his arms right before he was about to pass out.
"It's alright, son. It's alright," Damon said. "You're gonna be alright,"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Asher saw nothing but darkness. For a while, all he felt was pain. The pain from the wounds on his body and the pain in his chest because he knew he failed to protect Zoie. But after a while, all the pain seemingly dissipated. He felt nothing but emptiness. He was just floating in the darkness. Until finally, he saw a ray of light.
Asher stood up and walked to the light. He came closer and closer and the light got brighter and brighter. Until finally, the bright light covered all of his body and he was transported someplace new. It wasn't dark anymore. It was bright. He found himself lying on the ground. There was green grass all around. Asher looked up and saw a row of tombstones surrounding him. He was in a cemetery. His father's cemetery, to be exact.
"Dad?" he croaked. He saw a man standing by his father's tombstone. The man had his back turned to him, but for some reason, Asher could feel that this was his father.
"Hello there, son," the man said as he turned around. He had dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes too, very similar to Asher's. He was wearing an all black suit and tie, with a crisp white shirt, and leather shoes.
"Is that really you?" he asked.
"Are you expecting someone else?" the man smiled. Even the way he smiled was similar to Asher.
"No, but... does this mean I'm... dead?"
"No, you're not dead," the man laughed and shook his head. "You're just somewhere in between,"
In between?
The man continued smiling as he put a hand on Asher's shoulder. Asher could feel that hand on him. This felt too real to be a dream.
"Why am I here...?" he asked his dad.
"I don't know, why do you think you're here?" His dad asked back.
Asher looked around. He even looked down at his hands and feet. His body felt strong, it didn't seem like it was his time to die. But yet, he felt like dying. That was his soul that felt that way. And he felt this because...
"Dad... I've failed..." he croaked. "I couldn't protect her... And now she's..."
"It's not your fault, son," His dad shook his head. "You've done your best,"
"No! I shouldn't have left! I shouldn't have taken my eyes off the screen! I shouldn't have-"
"Could've, should've, would've, we all have a lot of those," his dad cut him off. "Me too. I wish I saw it sooner that Hugo DeSantis was a dangerous man. I wish I could've lived and stayed with your mother. I wish I could've been there for you, to watch you grow up and be the man that you are. I wish for many things to be different, but the fact of the matter is, life goes on. I moved on to a better place, your mom could still find happiness even after me, and your godfather found peace. Just because things don't go the way we want them to, it doesn't mean that it's over,"
Asher couldn't hold back the tears from falling off his face. Yes, tears. He never shed one in years and now he couldn't stop.
"Dad..."
Adrian let out another smile and he pulled Asher into a hug. Asher could only sob as he held onto his father's suit.
"You're not dead, son. You still have a chance to make things right," Adrian whispered in his ear. "And as for me, I've done my best, so I have no regrets,"
Adrian put his hands on Asher's face, locking his eyes with his son.
"For what it's worth, I'm really proud of you, Asher. I've been watching you all these years and I couldn't be more proud. You've grown up to be such a stand-up guy. You wear your heart on your sleeve. You don't think twice about your own life when it comes to the people you love. You really are my son. I love you, son,"
Maybe this was a dream, but nothing felt more real. Asher could feel it in his bones. His dad was here and he was saying all these things. Asher pulled his father into another hug and held on for as long as he could, closing his eyes to savor the moment.
"Asher..."
In the midst of it all, Asher heard a voice calling after him. It was a girl's voice. Slow and soft, almost like a whisper.
"Ash..."
Asher heard it again. He opened his eyes and noticed the sound was coming from another direction. Asher looked at his dad and his dad nodded his head.
"Go," he said.
Asher didn't want to go. He wanted to stay with his dad for as long as he could. But yet, there was something about that voice that was pulling him. And so, Asher took one last look at his father before going in the direction of that voice.
Asher went past a row of trees and the voice got louder and louder. Until finally... he found himself standing in front of an old church. The voice was coming from inside the church. Asher stepped closer and pushed the wooden door back. Inside the church, standing in front of the altar, was a girl wearing a long white dress. She had dark brown hair and eyes that shone like purple diamonds.
"Asher..." she said with that beautiful smile, and Asher's heart dropped to his feet.
"Hey, sweet girl..."
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- - - - - - To Be Continued - - - - - -