“I don’t see why we need this conversation here, Ollie.”
He ignores me like I didn't even speak. “You’re here so you can see what happens when my men don’t follow my rules. You’re going to see what happens when YOU make them not follow my rules.” He lets go of my arms, taking a step back from me. “Then maybe you’ll understand that my rules also apply to you, whether you are one of my soldiers or not.”
He uses my favorite line against me, the tone of his voice digging its way under my skin making me feel uneasy.
“Wolf.”
My eyes shift to watch Jessie move at my brother's command. I watch him stand beside him, and even standing in front of me, he won’t look at me directly. He moves ever so slightly to avoid the hand I reach toward him.
“Stand back Delaney.” It’s Remy who says it. I frown, looking between the three men. Donatello’s face is twisted into a sneer, eyes narrowed on Jessie, who is standing just out of reach, his crystal gaze locked onto Remy, waiting for his next command. Remy is looking at me, an eyebrow raised as I stay standing in my place, still not having moved.
“Delaney. Back up.”
I feel the panic rising in my chest, wondering if maybe Donatello wasn’t just exaggerating about how he thought this meeting would go. I feel my head shaking, the tears already sliding down my cheeks. “Ollie, please don’t.”
“Backup, Delaney.”
“Ollie, I’ve learned my lesson. We both have. I’m sorry.”
“Back. Up. Delaney.”
I grab Donatello’s hand bringing his palm to my chest. “Ollie, I get it. Please.”
“Shoot him.”
Jessie raises his gun and I scream his name, pausing his hand for just a second as his eyes flick to my face. I can see the indecision, see that he doesn’t want to do it.
I hear the ringing in my ears before I realize what’s happened, my eyes moving from Jessie to Remy’s gun pointed next to his. The hand against my chest tugs and I turn to see Donatello fall to the gravel, blood blooming across the front of his shirt.
I fall next to him, pressing my hand over the hole in his chest, still squeezing his hand in mine. “Donatello! You’re not allowed to leave me. I’m your life and I’m right here. You can’t leave me.”
I can see his heart throbbing in the vein on his neck. His chest just barely rising and falling beneath my hand, but he isn’t responding. His face is turned away from me, cheek laying against the gravel.
Something snaps. A violent, loud, wet crackling that brings me to my knees and crushes my lungs. My body is shaking as I stare, willing my burning eyes to unsee what just happened. Will it undone. It’s only after my sob echoes in my ringing ears that I realize the sharp splintering grind is coming from behind my own rib cage.
My fingernails press into my palm as the words scrape past my lips, biting and cutting them like knives, “Ollie, what have you done?”
He drops to squat by my face, forearms resting on his knees. “You have a choice, Piccolina. Leave him to die and be done with him or bring him to the end of the drive where there is an ambulance waiting and hope he makes it.”
“Bring him? How?” I can barely breathe through my sobs, clutching Donatello’s hand to my chest, my other hand frantically trying to feel his heart behind his bloodied torso.
“You better hurry, Delaney. Each second you waste here is a second less he has to live.”
He stands from me and I look at Donatello laying in the gravel. I have to at least try. Letting go of his hand, I move to reach under his arms and behind his back. Lifting with all my strength I pull him back with me. He barely moves a foot and I’m already heaving. His big body completely lax in my arms. I look to Jessie, desperate for his help.
“Jessie, help me!” I’m screaming through my tears. Doing everything I can to move Donatello as it is, but way too slowly for what he needs. “Jessie!”
“He won’t be helping you, Piccolina. You’ll do this on your own or not at all.”
I’ve only made it maybe five feet, and my muscles are screaming at me to stop. I can barely even see past the tears in my eyes, my hair sticking to my face and neck. “Ollie I can’t! I need help.”
I look at Jessie one more time, my hand clutching the fabric of Donatello’s shirt as I try to get a better grip. “Sometimes you have to admit defeat, Delaney.”
I just keep pulling him, constantly looking over my shoulder to see how much farther I need to go. My arms and legs are shaking with the effort and I’m covered in sweat and blood. My tears making the dust from the road stick to my face. I’ve pulled him half the distance I need to and I can see the ambulance at the end of the mile drive.
My foot slips and my butt slams to the ground, Donatello’s body landing on my lap. I move my arms so they wrap around his shoulders and head, press my cheek against his as I rock us. My breaths are so rough his head rises and falls against my chest with each one. I can’t see Remy or Jessie well through my tears, but I know they’re still standing there watching my heart shatter like a sick sideshow.
Closing my eyes, I force myself up grabbing Donatello once more to
