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 the mall 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 intention of buying anything but she is utterly defenseless against books and junk food. As for the clothes, she was in desperate need for a lighter jacket now that spring is here. To her, it is still early to wear t-shirts and shorts; it Is not warm enough yet.

She puts her bags in the trunk and she is about to get into her car when she suddenly sees a face she hoped she won't ever see again. Without thinking about what she is doing, her legs start walking towards his form that is pressed on an electricity poll, it seems like he is out of breath.

Crystal regretted the time she spent with Alonso DiFronzo even though every time she recalls that day she instantly 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 life guarantees it. And she has this gut feeling that when that day comes, a lot of things in her life will get robbed from her. Her regret is a result of her fear and anticipation of the unknown future.

She never thought she would see him this soon, and she surprises herself by feeling a little pleased by seeing him; especially when he seems to be in a really sour mood.

"Well, if it isn't Bagel." She stands 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 she fails.

Alonso looks at her with wide eyes; they hold an emotion that she can't decipher. He stares at her for a few seconds before his hand reaches out for her until it touches the end of her hair. The mob boss swirls her hair around his finger as if he is trying to convince himself as if she is really here. At least that is what the tiny little part of that she is desperately trying to ignore hopes.

At times, she caught herself reliving their 'adventure' wishing she could go back in time so she can experience it all over again. She knew that she is not attracted to him, even though he is unbelievably handsome. But there was something about him, this aura of sadness and depression that she has never seen before. For some reason she finds this aura fascinating.

"Crys, is it really you?" his eyes are a little glassy which confuses her to no end. She chooses to ignore it.

"Ah, so you do remember me. I was afraid it would be one of those awkward situations where I have to remind you who I am." He chuckles at her words.

"Yeah well, it is kind of hard to forget the woman who made you run for miles in the middle of the night because she thought it would be a glorious idea to break someone window with a bat." The amusement is clear in his voice. The look in his eyes tells her that he has a silent desire, but she can't seem to understand what they are trying to say.

She is about to say something when Alonso suddenly wraps his left arm around her waist pulling her impossibly close to his chest.

"What the blood hell do you think you're doing?" She starts pushing away from him which causes all her bags to fall to the floor, but stops when she sees that has pulled a gun out. He scans the surrounding area very fast before he turns to her with coldness in his eyes.

"Okay listen, we need to get you in your car before you get shot. Which one is yours?" Alonso grabs her wrist and carefully pulls her towards the car she pointed at. Crystal finds herself cursing her luck. If she had not come and talked to him she would be on her way to her house right now, not being on the verge of getting shot.

She cannot help but imagine Nicholas' horrified expression if he was to see the situation she is in right not. He would lock her up in a tower just like Rapunzel no doubt. Crystal giggles at the image of her bring in a long tower as she tries to climb it down at the same time as they start being shot at.

"Are you seriously laughing right now?" The Italian man yells at her she pulls her behind a car and pushes her by the shoulder to get down. He looks over her body quickly, to insure she isn't injured Crystal assumes, before he reaches out into his boots and grabs a second gun.

"Don't move." He simply instructs before he gets up from his position and starts shooting his guns at different directions in perfect precision. Crystal looks at her car which seems now to be near impossible to get to with a pout. She still cannot understand how she ended up in this position.

She finds herself checking Alonso out despite it being a horrible place and time to do so. He wears a black t-shit that shows his muscles, Adidas black pants, and white Adidas shoes. His clothes definitely compliment his countless tattoos, so does his hair that is jelled back in an elegant way.

A few minutes later, the mafia man gets back down to reload his guns. He looks at her then at her car and then at his guns. He seems to be doing some calculations that Crystal believes will get one of them killed. She chooses not to say anything while he is holding not one but two guns.

"Okay, follow my lead. When I tell you to, we will start running to your car. Do not get to far from me so I can keep you safe." He looks at her waiting for her to confirm that she comprehends what he is saying, but her attention is on something else, something that is right behind him.

Crystal looks at him before she places both of her hands on his shoulders. She gives the mafia boss a smirk before she pulls her legs away from the ground and places all her weight on his shoulders. Within seconds, she does a flip and her feet hit the man behind Alonso in the head successfully knocking him out.

"Fanculo, how the hell did you do that?"

"How about we get into the car first 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 bold creepy 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 because Alonso shoots him in his right ear killing him on the spot.

The Italian man grabs her wrist for the tenth time and starts running towards her car. She starts to think that he has a thing for holding wrists. Surprisingly, they manage to get in the car with Crystal in the driver's seat.

"When I said we should get to your car, I meant we should use it to escape." Alonso looks at her with a raised bow.

She mentally face palms herself before she turns the engine on. Sadly, it will take a couple of minutes before they can move.

"Yes, I am definitely going to die." Alonso says softly as the car gets repeatedly shot at. Crystal's heart breaks at what is being done to her precious vehicle, but she decides that her life is more important than her car.

"Relax, the engine is almost warm enough." She says calmly. She is starting to get a little annoyed by herself 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 get her 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 start follow them. From what Crystal can see from the mirror, there are about seven to eight cars.

"So what do we do now? We can't exactly keep driving away from them for long." She hastily turns to Alonso and she immediately paled at what she sees.

"What the bloody hell? When did that happen?" Crystal yells with all her might.

"It is not a big deal, it is just a small wound." He tries to chuckle, but it is evident that the color is gradually draining from his face. Crystal has a feeling that he will lose consciousness and leave her in this mess alone in a matter of minutes.

"A small wound that has you bleeding all over my car. When the bloody hell did you even get shot?" She is genuinely worried for his well being. Besides, if he dies there is no telling what 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 anything about it. She wants to lose them before Alonso faints.

Crystal takes a quick observant look at him. He lays his head on the window beside him as he presses both of his hand on his chest right under his heart. The place of the wound doesn't comfort Crystal one bit, if anything it s freaking her out. The bullet is so close to her heart.

"How do you suppose we do that?" She presses even harder on the gas when she notices a car getting a little too close to them. as a result, Alonso grunts in pain.

"We have to go to my house it is the only place..." His sentence gets disrupted when a bullet breaks one of the back windows causing Crystal to scream and lose control over the car for a second.

"Alonso what do I do here?" she immediately curses herself for slipping out, and she prays that the mafia man doesn't notice it. Sadly, he does.

"You know my name." it wasn't a question. She chooses to take the coward's way out.

"This isn't the time for this. Tell me what to do? They are gaining on us." Crystal cannot tell if she is freaking out because of her big mouth or her brother's reaction when he hears about this.

"Take a right when I tell you to and don't hesitate." His voice is almost a whisper. He pulls away from the window and opens it before he weakly moves his body in a position that would allow him to shoot the cars on their tail. Crystal cringes when she sees the amount of blood that is covering the man's black clothes; they are basically dripping.

"Are you sure you can do this? Don't get me wrong but you look like you just escaped a grave." Alonso tries to give her a stern look but ends up grunting. He curses before he points his gun at the car and starts to shoot away.

"Now" Alonso yells. Well, more like tries to as he keeps on shooting. Although Crystal feels like the only thing that is getting injured is air. Crystal takes a sharp intake before she takes the turn into a more crowded street. Still, the cars are right behind them.

Suddenly, Alonso takes a sharp intake before he drops his guns and tries to grab Crystal's hand. She immediately holds it, leaving one hand on the steering wheel. She is starting to 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 cars seem to have endless supplies; they haven't stopped shooting at them for one second.

"Alonso, I swear to God if you pass out on me I will freeze your balls." She screams as her gaze move from him to the road every few seconds. The mafia boss lets out a light chuckle as he leans into the chair causing Crystal to freak out.

"I think it is a little too late for that." He says as he presses on his wound once again. His right hand goes into his pocket and pulls out something that Crystal can't see.

"The moon is brighter than the sun." Alonso whispers before he finally faints.

"Fuck." Crystal screams hitting the steering wheel repeatedly. She can feel the tears that are threatening to escape her eyes.

Her lack of focus causes her to get shot in the arm. Crystal looks through her window to fins a car right beside hers. The man in the passenger's seat has a smug look in his face as stares at her arm. Filling rage consume her body, she moves the steering wheel to the left causing her car to the enemy's car giving her enough time to press on the gas and put some space between them.

She cries uncontrollably as she drives through the cars. She is not afraid to die, but she is afraid of being captured. Her brother is the Brazilian mafia boss. Which means she is regarded part of the mafia, the least they would do to her is torture her.

She looks at Alonso's body in desperation; he could die of his wound doesn't get treated. Something inside her tells her that he shouldn't die, that she doesn't want him to die. The thought alone gives her a shot of electricity all over her body. She is clueless as to why is that though.

Crystal looks at his hands to find his phone in one of them. While keeping an eye on the road she reaches out of the thing. She almost cries harder when she sees that it is unlocked; he must have unlocked before he fainted.

The names repeated a couple of times in his recent calls include Nazi's and her brother's. Since these choices are a big no, she calls the third name. She puts the phone on speaker and throws it on her lap when she sees that one of the men has a riffle. She attempts to drive faster but it doesn't help much when she can barely control the driving wheel due to her wounded arm.

Just when she is about to give up, the person picks up.

"Alonso, where are you? You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago." A male voice says.

"I am not Alonso." Crystal answers between cries.

"Who are you? What have you done 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 o magically know the pass code to his phone?"

"Look you don't have to trust me but please help me. I don't know what to do."

"Are these gunshots?"

"They are shooting at us. I don't know what to do or where to go. And Alonso is turning really pale. The gunshot is really close to his heart."

"Did he tell you anything before he passed out?"

"Um yeah, he said 'the sun is brighter 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 causing Crystal's heart to nearly stop.

"Okay what is your name?"

"I'm Crystal." She is too freaked out to care that she told him her name.

"Okay Crystal I am Alberto. I need you to listen to me carefully. I tracked Alonso's phone and I have men heading to your location right now. They will be here in a few minutes."

"I don't think we will last a few minutes. They have a riffle." If it wasn't for the adrenaline, Crystal believes that she would've had a panic attack by now, maybe two.

"It's okay Crystal just calm down. I need you to take the next left. The street is more crowded, it will make it difficult for them to aim at you." She does as she is told with a shaky breath. She has never been this scared in her entire life.

"Okay, now what?" She can feel the shakiness in her voice slightly disappear.

"I need you to stay close to the cars. The closer you are to the other vehicles the safer you'll be."

"Alberto, Alonso's lips are turning blue." She says when she takes a glance to her right.

"Is he breathing?" The panic in Alberto's voice is lucid.

"I don't… I don't know." Crystal feels like she can't breathe at this point.

"Check his pulse." He orders in urgency. She wants to yell at him and remind him that she has shooting cars on her trail, but her terrified state prevents her from doing it. So, she manages the wheel with her wounded arm as she places the other one on Alonso's neck.

"Bloody hell." She yells when she almost crashes with a car on her left. Thus, she immediately places both hands on the wheel, gripping it tightly.

"What? Is he dead?" Crystal hears shuffling on the line indicating the Alberto has become restless.

"No, he is still alive. His pulse is barely there though."

"Okay, help is two minutes and forty seconds away, In the meantime I need you to use a cloth to press on the wound to slow the bleeding." Crystal shuffles through the back seat of the car looking of the sweater she knows she left here last night but she doesn't find it. So in desperation she just presses on Alonso's chest with her hand using all the strength she can muster.

Crystal leans down in her seat when the lunatics decide to use the riffle. She yells out when almost all the glass on the car gets shattered and some of it is collide with her skin.

"Crystal, I need you to pick up your speed."

"I can't, my hand hurts so much. I am scared." She had never said those three words to anyone, not even her brother. At this moment however, she feels like admitting it will bring her comfort.

"I know, but you have to go a little faster. Backup will be here in less than a minute. You can do this." Crystal takes his words of encouragement to heart and presses on the gas. That backfires when the car once again gets out of Crystal's control. Thus, they are about to run into a building.

The Brazilian woman closes her eyes and covers her face with her hands as she awaits the impact to hit and possibly kill her. The impact, however, doesn't come. Instead the car does almost a full turn before it stops. Crystal opens her eyes to see four black jeeps surrounding her car.

"It's okay Crystal. These are our men; they are not going to hurt you." Alberto assures her. Still, she finds herself on high alert.

"They are going to bring you to me okay? I will see you in a few minutes Crystal." Crystal watches as men come out of the cars. Some head their way, and some shoot the hostiles.

Men run over to Alonso's side and open his door. They gently pick him up and take him to one of the cars. Then a blonde man comes to her and gesture for her to get out of the vehicle.

Crystal looks back on Alonso's phone to see that Alberto has hung up. She picks up the device in her good hand, and get out of the damaged car only to be pulled into a jeep; a different one than the one Alonso is in.

She puts Alonso's phone in her pocket and turns her attention to the three men in the car with her.

She is too tired to actually study them but she knows that the Italian Mafia is on really good terms with her brother's mafia. Therefore, they will not hurt her. With that thought in mind, she allows her eyes so close as she drifts into a world of oblivion.