The Mafia’s Good Wife
Chapter 34

~ Damon -

Damon's steps were full of conviction as he continued walking, making his way to Hugo's office. He knew there was probably no chance he could get out of that office alive to see Celina or anyone else ever again after what he was about to do, and he didn't care. I love you forever and always, my Violet...

* CRASH! *

"Mio figlio? What's going on?" Hugo looked up in confusion as Damon suddenly barged through the door. Inside the office, Hugo was sitting by the desk and his two bodyguards were sitting on the side. "Your time's up, Hugo. This is the end-"

*BANG! *

Before Damon could pull his trigger, however, one of the bodyguards already pulled out his gun and shot it at Damon. Luckily, Damon was quick enough to move away and dodged the bullet. It hit the wall behind him. The two bodyguards now raised their weapons up as Damon was still aiming at Hugo.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Hugo roared in anger and confusion.

"Two against one," Damon stifled a laugh as he glanced at the two bodyguards. Then he turned his eyes back at Hugo and said, "But I got mine on you. I don't care if I die, you're going straight to hell with me,"

"Damon, have you gone mad?" Hugo stood up and narrowed his eyes. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Your time is up, Hugo. I let you get away with too many things for far too long,"

Hugo and Damon glared at each other as the tension rose in the room. Damon knew he could pull the trigger at any moment, but that would also mean it was the end of his life. The bodyguards would shoot him the second he pulled that trigger.

"So, that's it? You're going to kill me?" Hugo scoffed mockingly. He was trying to buy time, taunting Damon to get him to speak. "This whole marriage between the two families, was it only a joke to you?"

"I will never join your family, Hugo," Damon shook his head. "I already got my own,"

*SMASH! *

Hugo smashed his fist on the desk in a fit of rage. His family was his greatest pride and accomplishment. It offended him to the highest degree that Damon refused to be a part of his family.

Damon cocked his gun straighter and the two bodyguards responded in the same manner. Hugo raised his hand at the two bodyguards and they looked at him quizzically. Hugo was telling them to stand down.

"I've raised you like you're my own son," Hugo said with his gaze straight on Damon. "What else do you want?"

"I want peace, Hugo. And as long as you're alive, I will never have it," Damon paused for a beat to gauge Hugo's reaction. "You hurt someone I love and I promised that I'll pay it back,"

Hugo's face was stoic and stern, but all of a sudden, he let out a laugh. An ugly, maniacal laugh.

"So, that's the reason you're doing all this? For a damn girl?" Hugo had to wipe his eyes because he was laughing so much. "Well, if peace is what you want, you won't get it even after you kill me," Damon remained silent and kept his gun aimed at his heart.

"Go ahead, try it," Hugo taunted, tapping his chest on purpose as if to mark the target. "No matter what you do to me, you can't bring her back. There's no peace for you in this world, Damon. Just like there isn't one for me too," Damon felt his grip loosening. Hugo was right. No matter what he does, he can't bring Violet back. The only redeeming act he can do for her was to disappear, and he would bring the monster that's been haunting her down with him. "Admit it, Damon. You and I are more alike than you think. We're both made of the same material. We let out pain drive us until we come out on top-"

"I'm nothing like you," Damon scoffed. "I don't belong in this world. Not anymore,"

Damon and Hugo held another staring contest. No one was flinching, no one was moving. There was no sound in the air but the breaths that were being drawn. Any second now, it would be the end.

"Ah. What a waste," Hugo said finally. "We could've had it all,"

Hugo let out a smile, but not the generous kind. It was almost satirical.

"Well, alright, if you want to kill me, go for it," he said as he opened his chest wider. "After everything we've been through, I will call it a privilege to die in your hands. History will remember that I didn't lose to my enemy. I only lost to a friend. A son," Damon swallowed hard. The two of them knew. This was the end.

"Say your last words, godfather," he said through gritted teeth. His finger was pressing harder against the trigger.

Hugo let out a smirk.

"I shall see you in hell,"

* BANG! *

Damon was about to pull his trigger, but a millisecond before he did that, a gunshot was heard from the side of the room. Damon turned to the sound. It was Celina. She was standing at the doorway with a gun in her hand, pointed at him. Damon followed the direction of the gun and saw that his arm had been shot. All of a sudden, he was losing his grip. Blood began dripping from his side and he couldn't even hold the gun up anymore.

"Daddy!" Celina shrieked and raced into the room.

"Celina?" Hugo opened his arms and Celina went straight to him.

"He's a liar! He lied to all of us!" Celina was crying, still pointing her gun at Damon.

At this point, Damon was falling to his knees. His gun fell to his side. He tried reaching for the gun with his left hand, but one of the bodyguards quickly kicked it to the end of the room. He was defenseless now. He had no gun and his right arm was paralyzed. "Yeah, I found your phone, Damon," Celina said again, pulling out his phone from her back pocket. "This whole marriage is a ploy for him to get close to us and he's going to kill daddy! He and his consigliere are in on it! But do you think you can trick me?" Damon couldn't say a word. He was losing his focus and his eyesight. Meanwhile, the blood kept gushing out of him, pooling away in Hugo's carpeted office.

"I've loved you! I gave my heart to you!" Celina kept screaming and sobbing. "And this is how you repay me?"

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry," Hugo cooed and hugged his daughter tighter.

Damon looked up at her with all the strength he had left. She was searching his face, looking for any signs of remorse, but he didn't have any. Damon's gaze was empty and lifeless. Meanwhile, rage and anger burned away in Celina's eyes. She really believed he loved her, and now she felt like the stupidest girl on the planet.

"Get him," Celina said to the bodyguards.

One of them then walked over to Damon, and before Damon could do anything, he smacked the back of his head with the gun.

* SMACK!*

And everything turned to black.

***********

Damon was drifting in the darkness for a long time. He knew he was conscious, but he couldn't see anything but darkness. It was cold and quiet where he was. He was alone with only his thoughts and they weren't good thoughts.

Is this hell, right here? No fire, no devil, just emptiness?

Damon saw himself walking in the dark. He didn't know where to go, but he just kept walking. It seemed like the thing to do. He kept walking and walking and walking, until suddenly, he saw something in the distance.

It was a door. A bright red door.

Damon picked up the pace and he started jogging towards the door. For a moment, it felt like the door was getting away as he was running towards it. No matter how fast he ran, the door was unreachable. Damon didn't give up, though. He ran harder and faster, and the door was within his reach now. He reached for the handle, pulled it with all his might, and he hurled himself straight into it. "Damon?"

Damon heard a familiar voice. He looked around the room and he couldn't believe his eyes. He was back at his house, in his bedroom.

"Damon?" the voice spoke again.

Damon turned around and his jaw fell to the floor. The most beautiful woman with bright purple eyes was staring right at him. For a moment, he could only freeze like a statue, thinking he had seen an angel. "Violet?" he said finally.

"Hey! I've been looking all over for you. Are you alright?" Violet threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

As soon as her body met his, Damon felt safe and warm. It was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He linked his arms around her little body and held her tighter.

"I... I don't know. What happened to me? Where am I?"

Violet looked up at him with those beautiful eyes. The confusion in Damon's face faltered at her sight.

"You're home," she told him. "You're safe,"

Violet's hand reached for his cheek and Damon leaned his face into her hand. She felt warm and nice. He missed this feeling so much.

"Damon, listen..." Violet said suddenly. "I have to tell you something,"

"What is it?"

Damon waited and studied her expression. The smile on her face fell flat and she was having trouble trying to speak. Damon narrowed his eyes as Violet opened her mouth. She was about to say something when suddenly- * SMACK!*

Damon felt a sharp pain on his face and his eyes jolted open. The first thing he saw was the dangling fluorescent light above. He was inside a dark room that resembled a basement or a dungeon. He tried moving his hands, but they were chained together behind his back. "There he is!" Hugo's voice was loud and obnoxious. "Welcome back!"

"... Ugh..." Damon groaned groggily. His face was stinging and blood trickled from his torn lip. Meanwhile, Hugo was rubbing his knuckles and there were traces of blood there.

"Yes, you're not dead just yet," Hugo said as if to answer the question burning in his mind. "But you will be,"

Damon realized Hugo had him locked up in the basement. He was sitting on a wooden chair with his hands chained up. His ankles were also chained to the chair and he was inside a metal cell. Outside the cell were two bodyguards, watching him. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" Damon spat. The taste of blood was bitter in his mouth.

"What will I gain by doing that?" Hugo laughed. "See, unlike you, I am a very patient man. Don't get me wrong, I will kill you, but I'm going to make sure there will be no retaliation. I plan to outlive you, Damon, for a long, long time,"

Damon fell silent as Hugo started walking circles around him. After what he did, he should've been dead already. He remembered one of the bodyguards hitting his head with a gun before he passed out. They should've finished the job. What was Hugo planning to do by keeping him alive?

"What are you gonna do to me?" he said finally, watching Hugo's every move.

"You'll see," Hugo replied cryptically. He was having too much fun, taunting Damon like this.

"You know, I am truly, very disappointed in you, my son," Hugo said again. He stopped walking and stood right in front of Damon. He tilted Damon's chin up and Damon flinched away, but Hugo only held his face tighter. He was gripping his face so hard, his nails were digging into Damon's skin.

"We were going to have it all, be one big happy family," he continued. "But you just had to ruin everything, didn't you?"

Hugo's eyes were dark and terrorizing. He wasn't bluffing or anything. Damon knew what Hugo was capable of, and he was terrified.

"Well, now I will have it all. And you will be left with nothing,"

Hugo then lifted his fist as if he was about to hit Damon. He swung hard and Damon flinched. But just before his fist landed on Damon's face, Hugo stopped. He was playing with him on purpose.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Hugo let out a maniacal laugh and stepped back, looking at Damon with a condescending smirk. He then walked all the way back until he was out of the cell door and the bodyguards closed it behind him.

"Enjoy the rest of your pathetic days, Damon. It will be your last!"