𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 88 : 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐀 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐄𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐭.

𝐌𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚'𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬°°°

The first thin ray of dawn sliced the horizon just as Antonio stepped onto Otowi Bridge. Though he wasn't tired, Nevena’s constant, anxious chatter behind him had worn him thinner than any distance.

“Are we close to the city now?” she asked.

He didn’t answer, rather he slipped a hand into his pocket and retrieved his phone.

He thumbed the screen alive and dialed Grinch's number. As soon as the line connected, she tipped her head forward, ear brushing his, eavesdropping childishly.

He noticed but didn't rebuke her. “Grinch,” he said as soon as the receiver connected. “I’m heading for the border. Negotiate a pass for me”

“Which border?” Luca's voice floated through, instead of Grinch's.

“Thailand” Antonio switched the phone to the other ear. “I will cross Otowi and cut through Sangre de Cristo. That's the route.”

“Keep breathing. I’ll grease the wheels.” he assured and killed the line.

-----------

Back in the shadowed ship, Lucas took a long drag from his tobacco and exhaled it like it was poison he could finally expel.

“Don,” Carlos throated , holding out the phone. “The call’s connected.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he muttered, staring at the device like a live grenade.

“Let the dog out, loser,” Clifford’s voice scraped through the speaker. “I don’t have all day.”

Lucas trash the pipe and snatches the phone. “Clifford. I have a deal.”

“How about you say my help?” Clifford countered with a mock dominance. “My boys already clocked your Blade Knuckles on the bridge.”

Lucas exhaled again and dived straight to negotiation. “How much for him to pass your territory? Name it. Anything.”

Clifford’s dry chuckle crackled from the speaker, this was his opportunity to get back at Lucas. “He’s your blade and also your shield. It will cost a lot , my friend.”

“Meaning?”

“I want full authority over your cartel in Malaysia. All routes, all deals. Mine.”

"Clifford—" Lucas gritted in frustration.

“Do we have a deal?” Clifford rasped with a wicked grin. “I'm a busy fellow. Someone gotta to keep Sangre de Cristo safe.”

Lucas contemplated for only thirty seconds. Malaysia was his biggest drug mine, but at the moment, his Blade is worth everything. “Send your best men. I need no scratches on him”

“What of your word?” Clifford insisted.

“I will send my men with the paperwork,” Lucas assured. “We are bonded by Mafia's promise, therefore I can't dent my reputation”

“Pleasure doing business with—”

Lucas cut the call before he could savor the last victory mock. He turned to the shadows waiting in the room and picked the capable ones. “Grinch, Casso, Scrooge, McDuck —you know what to do?”

They four men nodded once and dispersed.

--------

Antonio lowered Nevena after the call, rolled his shoulders, then lifted her again and continued the journey.

Halfway across the rusted steel span, his foresight sensed engines growling low behind them. When he glanced back— there was nothing.

He quickened his stride anyway, aiming for the far end where the forest swallowed the road. Ten more steps and the roar became real.

Dirt bikes erupted from the treeline behind them, headlights slicing the gray dawn.

The old bridge protested when the squad bombarded it with their motorbikes. Metals clinched. One rider's front wheel misjudged, dropping through splintered metals.

Fortunately, the man leapt but his machine vanished into the gorge with a metallic scream that thummed into the sea.

Antonio exhaled with a smug satisfaction and broke into a race.

“Careful. The bridge is already falling apart.” Nevena cautioned with each stomp from Antonio's feet. “I think—”

“Allow me do the thinking” he snapped her shut, maintaining a safe pace from Breanna's hot pursuit. As he reached the other end, he stopped cold.

Rough looking silhouettes advanced from the forest ahead, Vincenzo and Cesar at the front, flanked by hard-eyed soldiers.

“They’re everywhere—” Nevena choked, and he felt her heartbeat stuttering against his back.

Not giving up he pivoted sharply, the way he came but Breanna’s team already crested the rise in a coordinated wave, close enough to taste cordite.

“Bees knees{wonderful}” he cussed, there's no daring act for two cartel lords united and no antidote for a scorned woman, all hungry for the same pound of flesh.

“We are dead meat” he spat, setting Nevena down gently, keeping her behind him. She clung to his coat, legs trembling.

“It can't be,” Nevena objected. “I think we should go to the police,” she suggested after weighing the difference between the two squads.

“At this point the police are the worst option,” he cut in, calm as ice.

Breanna stepped forward first, cuffs in one hand, Glock in the other. “End of the line, Antonio. You’ve got no choice left. Come with me.”

“In your dreams,” Antonio murmured. “They not going to let you take me.”

“Really?” Breanna sniffled and lifted her eyes to the cartel lords. “You must be delusional, my love.”

She raised a hand, waved once. “Come on over, partners.”

Antonio’s eyelids flared. Confusion, then understanding, hit like a blade between ribs.

“Surprise?” Breanna purred, trailing the muzzle of her service Glock along the side of his neck. “I called in a little help. Hope you don’t need an introduction.”

“Are they… together?” Nevena whispered, voice cracking. “I know that man.”

“Don’t panic,” Antonio said softly, squeezing her palm. “I won't let her succeed.”

"Stop the heart talk and surrender already.” Cesar's voice cut across the tension, colder. “I came a long way, just for my own pound of flesh”

“Go to hell.”

The soldiers behind the two cartel lords clicked their weapon to end him, but Vincenzo held them back. “I don't know about Ceaser, but I want the bastard alive. The son of a bitch made me homeless”

Ceaser turned at his comment and sneered. “Thinking of a damn home in a situation like this. This piece of shit battered my consigliere. Cardoza.”

“You guys can argue over custody, but I have more reason to take him” Breanna added feasibly. “Many murder are tied to his name. Aside from that, I have personal scores to settle with him.”

The three stared at one another, a poisonous triangle of greed and vengeance. After much deliberation they couldn't draw an agreement. Vincenzo and Ceaser weren't willing to forfeit him for Breanna.

“Shamus! You can have the girl,” Cesar finally grunted. “Knuckles is worth more in our hands.”

Breanna's lip curled in opposition. “How generous of you. But I disagree. Take the girl. Sell her and make up for your losses. Moreover she’ll make a fine escort.”

Vincenzo’s gaze slid over Nevena—slow, appraising and lustful. He reached out, fingers grazing toward her chest to access her market value, but Antonio slapped the hand away with a stern warning.

“As long as I breathe,” he said, voice low and lethal, “you don’t touch what’s mine.”

Vincenzo’s face twisted at the audacity of a cornered man, his pistol came up fast, and a single shot cracked across the bridge.

Nevena threw herself forward —instinct, not thought.

The bullet punched through her shoulder instead of Antonio’s heart.

Blood bloomed dark across the black T-shirt— she gasped once, and sagged against him, boneless.