Ch.31: Uncharacteristic

Before Nicholas could climb into the car, one man grasped him and forced him back. Nicholas let out the most dramatic, exasperated groan he could come up with.

"My God," he said. "What now? What do you want?"

The man pointed at the front car. "You'll go in that one. We're not gonna put you all in one car." Then, he looked around for Valentino. "You too, Valentino."

Valentino shook his head casually. "No. I'm going with Albert and Milo."

"Valentino," Sasha said. "Get in that car."

Valentino shook his head again. "I'm going with Albert and Milo."

"Valentino."

"Fine," Valentino said, shrugging. "I won't attend the meeting. Have fun explaining that to your boss."

Sasha pressed her lips together, her eyes sharp and darker than the night. She took a single step closer to Valentino, flicking a glance at one of her men, who immediately grabbed Valentino by the nape of his neck.

"You heard her, Valentino," the man said with a gruff voice. "Move."

Now this was like grabbing a cat by its tail. Valentino tensed and froze. His brows cocked up, then his calm expression returned. He turned as much as he could so he could face the man, smiled pleasantly, and then swung his fist. It caught the man's nose.

A loud, sickening crack shattered the dead silence of the night.

The man stumbled back, doubling over as he held his nose. Blood poured out over his hand and between his fingers.

Valentino shook his wrist. "Don't grab me like that ever again."

Two more men approached Valentino, looking very well ready for violence, but Sasha raised a hand and shooed them away.

"Don't ruin his clothes," she said. "He's got a meeting."

"I swear to God I don't get paid enough to deal with this brat," the man said, looking at his red-coated hand.

"To be fair," Nicholas said. "I would've reacted the same way if someone grabbed me like that, hahaha…"

Sasha looked completely unfazed. "That's on you," she said, glancing at the man with the bleeding nose. "I never told you to grab him like that." Her gaze slid to Valentino, and it was drenched in rotten contempt. "Here's a compromise: you'll go with Milo. I'll send Albert and Julian together."

Take it, Nicholas thought. This was much better than separating them all into three cars.

Valentino looked like he was about to refuse, at least until Albert stepped out of the car.

"I'll go with Julian," he said, giving Valentino a reassuring nod that Valentino clearly found anything but assuring. "You with Milo."

Nicholas smiled. "I like this idea!"

He walked towards Albert, but as he passed by Valentino, he could feel his dreadful gaze and hear his heavy breath. It was fast, through his nose, and noticeable. Audible, more than it should be. Nicholas briefly wondered if that had anything to do with the way the man grabbed him.

In any case, Nicholas snagged Valentino's hat off his head as he'd moved past him.

"I'll be taking that!" he said, and then gave Sasha an innocent look over his shoulder. "I told you I wanted a hat too!"

Putting the hat on, Nicholas and Albert climbed into the backseat of the front car. One man then came and sat to Nicholas's left.

That was enough. Three people in the backseat was enough.

Clearly Sasha's men didn't agree.

Another man climbed in, this time on Albert's side, squishing Albert and Nicholas in the middle between the two guards. Nicholas's breath hitched at the way the elbow of the man to his left was digging into his ribs. At least Albert had the decency to move his arm and give Nicholas space.

Nicholas gritted his teeth, desperately trying to endure the pain. But then he remembered that Julian was actually a brat, too, so realistically he wouldn't really tolerate being squished like this.

So Nicholas pushed with his knee against the man's leg, forcing him aside. The man pushed back. Nicholas pushed back too. And so forth, until the man succumbed and offered a little more space, without even a word from Nicholas.

The engine roared to life, and the car took off. Nicholas rotated his torso just enough to glance through the rear windshield. He could kind of make out the image of Valentino sitting in the backseat of the car tailing them. Sighing, he sat straight again.

The man on his left was staring at him. Frowning. Scrutinizing.

Nicholas's heart skipped a beat.

Oh, God.

"Well, goodnight," Nicholas said, pulling the hat a little lower, so that it obstructed the view and cast a shadow over his forehead and eyes. "Wake me up when we arrive please!"

Nicholas leaned his head against Albert's shoulder, which hid half of his face. The hat hid the other. He closed his eyes.

Albert chuckled. "Comfortable?"

"It was," Nicholas said. "Before you laughed and your shoulder shook and it hit my face. Stop moving, please."

"Oh, sorry."

Albert's shoulder was completely still after that.

Nicholas sighed. 

Don't apologize, he wanted to say.

But that wasn't like Julian.

So Nicholas said, "It's okay. Say sorry one more time."

"Sorry."

"And one more time!"

"...Sorry, Lian."

"I forgive you!"

• • •

It took a long time for the car to finally stop moving. Nicholas had kept his head down on Albert's shoulder the entire ride, so he hadn't been able to catch the surroundings. Letting out a quiet, pained grunt, he straightened in his seat and glanced out the window.

The other cars had arrived as well, and Nicholas exhaled in relief. Doors clicked and opened. Feet pounded against mud and gravel and stones. Valentino exited one car, dragging Milo behind him, his eyes sweeping over the car Albert and Nicholas were in.

Nicholas's heart thumped.

The windows were closed, so the conversation outside sounded muffled, but by the men's frowning faces, and the way Valentino held tightly onto Milo and moved him behind him, it was clear they were already arguing again.

"Valentino, go to your meeting," Sasha said. "Get it done. I won't hurt Albert or Milo. I'm just keeping them here until you come back."

But this wasn't Valentino's goal; he hadn't brought them here just to make sure no one would hurt them. He'd brought them here so he could run away with them: take them somewhere far and safe, away from the organization and this whole insanity.

The men ganged up on Valentino. They clutched Milo and pulled him over to their side. Another one pointed a gun to Milo's head, the only trick spineless cowards like them could pull. Nicholas's blood boiled. How many times was Milo going to be used as bait?

Albert tensed beside Nicholas. "Milo!" he said.

Valentino looked in Albert's direction, his pupils shrinking with horror. Nicholas looked back at Albert, and predictably, the man had pressed the barrel of the gun to his head too.

Now what?

"Valentino," Sasha said. "I admit, I won't kill them. But I'll hurt them. You'd hate that, wouldn't you? Do you wanna hear Milo cry again?" 

Valentino looked at Milo, then Albert, then Sasha. He'd said he wouldn't attend the meeting if she threatened him with them, but this wasn't looking good. Even Nicholas wasn't sure what the best decision here would be. He couldn't tell if Valentino had seen this coming. He hoped he did.

"Fine," Valentino said.

Sasha pointed ahead. Nicholas looked in that direction; an abandoned two-story building stood in the far distance, its stone tiles illuminated by flickering dots of light here and there. Shadowy figures passed by, walking inside.

So that was the place of the meeting, and those were the cult members.

"Go," Sasha said.

Valentino turned and met eyes with Albert one last time, but there wasn't a hint of fear in them. Not even a tendril of panic. Nothing. Then he left, walking towards the building, leaving utter silence in his wake.

"That's not like him. There's no way he agreed so fast," Sasha said. "Usually he'd lose his shit if I threaten him with Milo and Albert." Taking a few steps forward, she squinted at the building, watching Valentino. "What in the world is he planning?"

Valentino stood at the entrance, surrounded by his people — the few ones who hadn't entered the building yet, either. Chatter echoed all the way over here. Some of the cult members were a little too close to Valentino, too eager to see him, to speak to him. Valentino nodded and talked to them, dividing his attention equally to everyone.

Then Valentino turned back and pointed in the general direction of Sasha and the rest. The cult members all glanced at where he was pointing.

Goosebumps trailed across Nicholas's arms.

"Sasha," one man said. "What's Valentino doing? Why is he pointing in our direction?"

Sasha's sharp jaw was clenched, and she watched on with an alarmed frown. "I'll never get a break from this family and their bullshit."

The real question wasn't why Valentino was pointing in their direction; it was why he was walking right back towards them, followed by a few of his cult members.

• • •

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Btw this is the last arc in the book! So we're heading towards the end right now.

Also! There's a special flaschback chapter about Julian and Thomas coming soon. But don't worry it won't affect the regular, main updates on Saturdays 😊 I will post the flashback chapter in addition to the main chapter in the next 2 or so weeks.