Chapter 154

Christian gasps in horror, stumbling a little as he instantly drops his arm and fumbles at the knife, which falls to the floor. “Iris!” he cries, his voice shaking. “What the –“

But then he growls, grabbing my arm, tugging me aside. I gasp a little in surprise – not pain – and look up into his face.

“Iris, don’t you dare do that – don’t you dare ever jump in front of a fucking knife –“

“But I –“

“You could have been hurt!”

“Christian!” I shout, slapping my hands hard against his muscled chest in desperate agony, shaking my head. “You were going to kill him!”

“I still fucking am!” he shouts back at me, yanking my arm again, pulling me aside.

“No!” I shout, stumbling a little as Christian moves me out of the way and then bends for the knife. There’s a clatter at the door as Nico and Frankie arrive, gasping at what they see.

“Frankie!” Christian shouts over his shoulder as he stands with the knife again in his hand. “Come and get her! She’s acting insane!”

“I am not!” I protest, fighting against my husband’s grip on my arm, interposing myself again between Christian and his captive. “I’m not letting you do this, Chris!”

“Iris!” Christian barks, bringing his face close to mine, clearly losing his temper. “You are out of line! This is not your –“

“No!” I shout – scream really. I throw out my arms to the side as if I could block Calvin from my husband, as if I could actually protect him. The action makes Christian’s hand fall from my arm. God, in reality I know that I never can do enough – that I’m too small, and too scared, and to easily shoved aside. But fuck - I’m going to try.

“Iris –“

“No, Christian!” I scream. “He is a person! He has a fucking daughter! This is not happening!”

“Please!” Calvin shouts behind me, his voice terrified, shaking, aware that he has moments to plead his case before his blood pours out over the floor. “I have a wife! And two sons as well! They’re – they’re young! Twins – they’re just eleven! They need their father! They – “

“Shut the fuck up!” Christian barks at Calvin, who moans and falls silent. “Iris, get out of the way!”

“Christian!” Nico shouts behind him, coming forward.

Frankie’s there, though, reaching for me, obeying his boss’s demands. “Iris,” Frankie says, pleading. “Please, Iris –“

“No!” I gasp, pulling away from Frankie’s grip too, dodging backwards so that I stumble almost onto Calvin’s lap. “No, Frankie! Don’t – he’ll kill him – he’ll kill him, Frank!”

I look up at Frankie, desperate, knowing he’ll help me –

But the sheer pity in his eyes as he shakes his head lets me know that this is inevitable. “Iris, please,” he calls, holding out his hands for me.

I moan, letting my hands drop, not giving in but – but knowing that it’s pointless – that I can’t fight them, not even one of them, let alone all three.

Frankie takes advantage of my realization, at the way the fight goes out of me, and he takes me by the shoulders, gathering me close to his body and then spinning away from Calvin, past Christian and into the room. He pulls me hard against him, falling back against one of the walls and wrapping his arms around me – one tight around my waist, the other cradling the back of my head so that my face is tucked against his chest.

“Christian!” Nico barks, loud. But I just shake my head, not knowing what to do – not knowing what to think –

Calvin screams in terror – not yet in pain – and I know that the final blow must be coming –

“It’s all right,” Frankie whispers, his voice shaking, holding me close to him. “Close your eyes, Iris – don’t look – it will all be all right –“

“It won’t!” I moan, but I do as he says, pressing my eyes even tighter shut and burying my face against him almost so that I can’t even breathe.

“Christian!” Nico barks out, and I hear the hard slap of a hand on flesh. “Stop! Think for a minute!”

The room goes quiet for a second, the only noise Calvin’s panting breath.

“Get your fucking hand off of me, Nico,” Christian growls, livid.

“Two minutes,” Nico snaps, his voice tense to a breaking point. “Two minutes, outside this room, to consider this move. And then I’ll let you do whatever the fuck you want. He’ll still be here in two minutes, Chris.”

There’s a long pause as tears start to slip from my eyes, as I start to shake. But then Christian growls in frustration and I can hear him turn, hear his footsteps pound out of the room, followed by Nico’s softer ones.

I gasp, turning towards Calvin, and I see briefly that he’s alive – that he’s staring at me –

But Frankie’s hand is there, turning me back to him. “No,” he says, stern, making me look at him as he shakes his head. “We’re out of here, Iris – come on.”

He turns me then, back towards the door, using the arm around my waist to pull me with him.

“But –“ I whisper, desperate, looking over my shoulder towards the captive.

“This is not your call, Iris,” Frankie says, his voice still hard. “You are leaving this room – there is nothing you can do –“

I moan again, devastated by it, but I let Frankie drag me away. Because he’s right – there’s nothing I can do.

We move quickly into the other room where Nico and Chrisitan stand tensely talking, the knife shining on the table next to Christian. Nico sends me a dirty glare, his arms crossed, but otherwise ignores me. Frankie pulls me over towards them – not because he wants me there, but because I think he’s desperate to know what’s being said and he can’t yet let me go.

Christian doesn’t even look at me, his eyes focused on Nico.

“Think about it, Chris,” Nico says, his voice tense. “What on earth do you even get by killing him right now?”

“Fulfillment of the deal!” Christian barks back. “Bonetti betrayed me – this is the consequence!”

“Right,” Nico says, nodding quietly. “So Bonetti gets punished – but what do you get?”

Christian just stares at Nico like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Quite frankly, so do I, even as I sniff and wipe at my nose. Frankie just stands solid at my side, his arm around me, half for comfort and half to let me know that I’m not going anywhere.

When silence reigns between us Nico nods. “Right,” he says, sharp. “You get nothing. Some fucking vengeance.”

“You’re going fucking soft, Nico,” Christian growls, glaring hard at his top man.

“No, that’s fucking Iris,” Nico says, snapping out a hand to point at me. I don’t react – too shocked and upset to give a crap about Nico’s bullshit. “Who I told you was too close to this – she shouldn’t even be here, Chris, even if today she did stop you from making a mistake –“

Frankie tightens his arms around me at those words and I stand a little straighter in surprise, but neither Nico or Christian look over at us.

“It’s not a mistake –“

“Think about it, Chris!” Nico snaps, glaring hard. “You send Bonetti his man’s head in a box and then what? You have no leverage and you start a war. A war, by the way!” he says, throwing his hands up, “that you have no means of fighting! Don’t you get it, Chris!? We have nothing!”

We all stare at Nico as he stares back at us like we’re complete idiots. And, at least in my case, I guess he’s right – because I have no idea what he’s talking about.