*REBEL SIMMONS POV*

For the first time in my life, my mind was calm. It wasn't racing, deciphering ideas or situations, it wasn't creating a plan or a strategy, for the first time in my entire life, I felt numb. My eyes reread the words on the plain piece of paper over and over again, attempting to comprehend the gravity of the situation I held between my fingers. 

Angie Simmons 

Angie Simmons 

Angie Simmons 

I was told about these death threats. How they arrived at the Vino estate after the territory war in the US. How each held the name of one person. How each hit was carried out to completion no matter how many precautions were in place. I looked up at Dante, who was also looking at the piece of paper, most likely reliving the awful memories of his own past. 

"Pavlovski, what else did he say to you?" Dante asked urgently as he looked at me. I took a deep breath before I perfectly recalled the situation:

"It's so nice to finally meet you in person." He said seriously as he tilted his head slightly, as if he was examining me. 

"I wish I could say the same, Pavlovski." I said as I looked up at him. He smiled at my words, proving that my assumption was correct.

"Hm." He hummed as he narrowed his eyes, making my skin crawl. "Considering the fact that I have about two minutes before your little boyfriend comes looking for you, I'll cut to the chase. You have two options tonight my dear, either come with me willingly," He began. 

"Or?" I said with a scowl on my face. 

"Or I'll be forced to take drastic measures. But either way, you'll be coming with me." Pavlovski said cockily as he looked behind me momentarily before looking back into my eyes once more. 

"Go fuck yourself." I said slowly as I stared at him. 

"Really, you'd choose to stand by the Vino's?" He said, a bit of disgust in his tone. 

"Until the day I die."  I said proudly as I lifted my chin proudly. 

"With that attitude it might be sooner than you think." He said as he scowled. 

"I don't understand. Why would you stay loyal to man who doesn't even care about you. A man who looks at you as an object, just as an asset to his Mafia. A man who was so quick to ignore you, to kick you out as soon as he learned of your true heritage." Pavlovski said as he looked at me with a serious expression. 

"You don't know anything." I said defensively. 

"Oh, but I know more than you think, darling." Pavlovski said as he stepped closer to me. 

"Do you really think Dante cares about you? That he loves you? That man is incapable of love." He said as he looked at me with disgust in his features. 

"Come to think of it, he's incapable of protecting his own family." Pavlovski said as a sinister smile stretched on his face. 

"So you can either stand beside a man who doesn't give a fuck about you, or you can come with me, and be with your real family." He stated as he looked down at me. 

"So what'll it be, Rebel?" Pavlovski asked as he looked down at me. 

Unable to control myself, I quickly grabbed his jacket collar and pulled him towards me, making him hunch slightly. I quickly rammed my head forward, head butting him roughly him in the face. 

"Fuck you." I said as Pavlovski placed a finger on his now bleeding lip.

"Hm. A very...unwise decision on your part." Pavlovski stated as he held his hand out in front of his face, examining the blood on his middle finger before looking at Dante. 

Natalia and Stephan listened closely as I retold the conversation, making Dante's expression harden by the time I finished. 

"So this must be what he meant by 'drastic measures'." Natalia said as she looked down at her hands. 

"When do you think he'll strike?" Stephan asked under his breath as he looked up at Dante. 

"I don't know." Dante said before he took a deep breath. "Call Angelo. Tell him what has happened. Make sure that security is increased and every remaining resource we have is dedicated to securing the safe house." He said calmly. 

"Natalia, inform our family of this new development." Dante said as he looked at them. 

"Got it." Natalia said with a worried expression on her face. Stephan gave Dante a small nod before both of them pulled out their phones, rapidly typing away. 

"And Rebel," Dante said softly as he grabbed my hand. "Thank you... for sticking up for me. For sticking up for my family." He said as he gave me a small smile.

"And the head butt. The head butt was certainly the highlight of my night." He said as he chuckled slightly under his breath. 

"No problem." I said as he squeezed his hand tightly. My small smile soon faded into one of worry as my mind drifted towards my mother once more. 

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for joining us for the 205th Balle des Enfers."  A man spoke on the stage. He was older, just like the rest of the Dons and Capos here. 

"Hey." Dante said as he quickly cupped my face in his hand while the man on stage continued to talk about the history of the Ball. 

"Don't worry... everything's going to be okay." Dante said as he looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I hope so." I said as I sighed and leaned into his hand. Usually, Dante was a constant form of comfort, but I couldn't help but feel this constant sense of unease brewing within me. 

"So please, enjoy your meal, and have a lovely evening." The man said, making the ballroom erupt in applause as he made his exit. 

As soon as he was off stage, a projector turned on, completely filling the large wall with a black screen. The ballroom filled with whispers as everyone anticipated the next event. 

I looked around the table to see the Vino's staring at the screen with their eyebrows furrowed and confusion evident on their faces. 

"What is this?" I asked quietly as I looked back at the black screen. 

"I don't know." Dante said as he clenched his jaw. 

"They've never done anything like this before." Natalia whispered as she looked at Dante. 

My breathing hitched as the screens suddenly came to life, flashing white for a moment before displaying a small window in the upper right hand corner. 

It was in black and white, and looked as though it was a security footage of some kind. 

It stayed on the screen for a second, before another small window filled the spot next to it. One after another, these windows rapidly loaded, displaying what seemed to be security footage of a building. 

"Where is this?" I asked as I looked at the wall, which now showed armed guards in every window within the screen doing their patrol. 

"It's... it's security footage of the safe house." Natalia said as her voice cracked. 

I looked the top right hand corner of the screen, showing the front gate which was guarded by dozens of men and women. My heart dropped as I saw one man pointing towards the gate before firing his weapon, causing the others to follow his lead. The gunshots rang out through the ballroom as everyone watched in horror. 

The guards began falling one by one as they defended the property. Explosions rang out as bodies began flying onto the lawn of the safe house. Once most of the Vino members were down, I watched with wide eyes as hundreds of armed soldiers stormed the front lawn, their rifles prepared and ready as they walked closer to the front door. 

My eyes fell to the next screen, which showed Angelo loading an automatic machine gun as he stood behind the massive door. He had ammunition strapped to his waist as he yelled out orders to his members. 

"Isa, get them them out of here!" Angelo yelled as he pointed to Florence, Harry, Giana, and my mother. Isa gave him a quick nod before motioning for them to follow her. Right as they began running, Angelo took his position beside the door. 

A few moments later, bullets rained down through the wooden door. Angelo ran to the other side of the room, preparing himself for the invasion. The door was kicked down, and everyone on both sides began open firing on one another. I watched Angelo agilely kick over a couch for cover before unloading his machine gun onto the incoming crowd of soldiers. 

He took out a grenade, and pulled the pin out with his teeth, before tossing it through the door. It quickly exploded, taking out a large chunk of the incoming soldiers. 

"No." I heard Natalia breath as we continued to watch the Vino members begin to fall. Angelo continued to fire off his automatic machine gun until he depleted all of his ammo. He then tossed it to the side before grabbing two glocks from his waist, firing both of them as he began to move across the room. 

He grabbed a soldier by the shoulder, turning them around and ducking quickly as they threw a punch towards his face. He quickly jabbed him in the stomach before uppercutting him. He side stepped him and wrapped his arm around his neck before pressing him towards his own body, using the soldier as a human shield. 

Bullets pierced the soldier as Angelo continued to fire off his glock. He quickly dropped the soldiers lifeless body, turning his attention to the rest of the room. 

He pulled out a small device from his pocket, clicking it as he ran across the room, making explosions detonate across the floor and front of the house. 

My heart sank as I saw a soldier coming after Angelo from the side, shooting him twice and making him yell out in pain. 

"NO!" Stephan screamed as we saw Angelo fall to the floor. I looked over at Natalia to see that tears were streaming down her face as she tried to steady her breathing. 

"Brother..." Dante whispered. His breathing was erratic, his nostrils flared with his hands clenched so tightly that he was shaking. 

I turned my attention back to the screen, scanning the rooms until I saw Isa and my mother. They were in an office towards the back of the safe house. I watched as Isa ran towards a bookshelf. She pulled on a small statue on a shelf, causing it to move to the side and reveal a panic room behind it. 

"Stay here. No matter what you hear, don't leave. Got it?" She said as she grabbed her own glock and cocked it. I watched in fear as my mother nodded quickly, tears streaming down her face before she closed the door. 

"Isa, don't go. Please!" I heard Florence beg as she grabbed her daughters arms. 

"I love you mom, that's why I have to go." Isa said as she gave her mother a sad smile. 

"I'm coming with you." Harry said as he stood up. 

"Harry..." Giana said as she grabbed his arm. 

"My love," Harry said as he grabbed her hands in his. "The day I married you, I promised to protect you. Do you remember that?" Harry said as he gave Giana a small smile. 

"But Harry-" Giana protested as tears pooled in her eyes. 

"I'll protect you with my life. I love you my darling." Harry said before the two shared a passionate kiss. She gave him a small nod, before Isa and Harry both closed the bookshelf, concealing the three woman in the panic room. 

"Weapons?" Harry said in a serious tone as he straightened his sweater vest. 

"Over there?" I saw Isa say in confusion as she nodded towards the south facing wall. 

I tilted my head as I saw Harry walk over to the wall and press a few buttons on a panel. The wall split open, displaying a cache of hidden weapons. He picked up a bazooka, and smiled widely. 

"Hello old friend." Harry said as he gently stoked the heavy duty weapon. I watched as he grabbed a small arsenal and strapped it to his chest and waist before walking out of the room with Isa. 

At this point, the soldiers stormed most of the safe house, and began clearing out rooms, searching for their target. They began closing in on Isa and Harry's location. 

My heart raced as I saw Isa and Harry pull out their glocks and walk down the hallway, shooting every soldier that they found. Harry had a scowl on his face as he rapidly fired off his handguns, killing each soldier with deadly precision. 

As they turned the corner, they were bombarded with a group of a dozen soldiers. Harry quickly kicked an assault rifle out of a soldiers hand, making it slide across the floor. Meanwhile, Isa ran across the hallway, grabbing the gun that Harry knocked out of the soldiers hands. 

She quickly cocked it before she began unleashing a flurry of bullets onto the soldiers as she continued to walk backwards. 

Harry was stuck in hand to hand combat with the soldier. I watched as he took three hits to the face, never moving or losing his focus as he slowly turned his head and looked at the soldier before bending down and grabbing his ankles. Harry stood up, and tossed the soldier into the wall with ease before grabbing his gun on the floor and shooting the remaining soldiers. 

I looked onto another window to see that they were getting flanked, and soldiers began running towards them from every direction. 

Noticing the enemy approaching, Isa and Harry retreated back into the office, closing the door behind them before locking it and getting into a defensive position. 

Harry bent down onto one knee as he prepared his bazooka, ready to blow the door off the hinges. 

The soldiers on the other side of the office quickly kicked the door down, causing Harry to immediately unload his rocket launcher. 

The room exploded, killing the front line of soldiers and creating a massive hole in the wall. I watched in horror as Harry and Isa were outnumbered, rapidly firing off their weapons in an attempt to protect their loved ones.

Harry fired off his ammunition quickly before resorting to hand to hand combat. He was surrounded, and threw punches rapidly, taking down at least six men around him. But his efforts were in vein, and soon, he was being taken down by five men who were beating his mercilessly. 

I watched helplessly as Isa ran towards her uncle, firing off her glock at the men surrounding him when a soldier came from behind her. She grunted as she elbowed him in the stomach, making him hunch. She then bent down and leaned forward, tossing the soldier over her and making him land on his back. 

I held my breath as I watched dozens of soldiers begin to attack Isa. She fought them off, taking down eight of them before one landed a blow to her cheek, making her lose her balance. 

Tears streamed down my face as I watched a soldier with a blade in his hand straddle her. She grabbed his wrists as he leaned forward, trying to defend herself. 

I let out a whimper as I heard Isa let out an ear-splitting scream as the blade pierced the skin on her face. The soldier then managed to free his hand, and quickly thrust the knife into Isa's chest. 

"NO!" Natalia screamed as she clutched her stomach. Her sobs were uncontrollable as we watched Isa and Harry lay motionless on the floor.  

I continued to watch helplessly as the remaining soldiers stepped over their bodies and towards the bookcase. They quickly rigged the sides of it with explosives, before stepping back and detonating it, revealing the door. They shot the edges of it, bending the metal before three men opened the large door of the panic room. 

Florence, Giana, and my mother sat in the corner as they cried hysterically. The soldiers walked closer to the women, and hit Florence and Giana with the butts of their guns, knocking them out cold before turning to my mother.

I began crying silently as helplessness filled my entire being. I couldn't do anything as I watched them knock my mother out, then proceed to drag her by her arms out of the panic room. 

"Target acquired." I heard the solider say over the speakers. 

Tears rapidly fell down my cheeks as I fell to my knees on the floor. The last image I saw was my mother being dragged carelessly before the entire screen turned black.