Chapter 2 LOVE TURNED HATRED

CHAPTER TWO

JASMINE'S POV

I clutched Lorenzo tightly to my chest, refusing to let Rafael take him from me. I couldn't leave without Vincenzo. I needed us to run together, as a family.

"Don't you dare come near me for this boy! Not until his father is ready to come with us we leave together or not at all!" I screamed at Rafael, my voice laced with panic and pain.

We were still caught up in our argument when the sounds tore through the night again.

Bang! Bang! Boom!

Gunshots erupted violently, the booms shaking the ground beneath our feet. We hadn't even realized how close the enemy had gotten, not until the chaos exploded right on top of us. We were caught in the crossfire.

The intruders had already begun shooting at our security team near the gate. Only a few guards remained inside the house with us, and they were clearly outnumbered and overwhelmed.

Then, another deafening blast rocked the walls around us. I screamed a raw, guttural sound, as I felt Lorenzo's small body shift in my arms. Something was wrong. I could feel it.

The world seemed to stop right in that moment.

Gunfire rang out like thunder, but all I could hear was my own scream, that was piercing and heart-wrenching when I realized something was terribly and horribly wrong.

Lorenzo, who had been so warm and alive just moments ago, loosened his grip on my blouse. His tiny fingers fell away.

"No," I whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. A terrible numbness washed over me. My arms felt heavier, too heavy. I looked down and saw red.

It was blood, so much blood.

"No... no, no, Lorenzo!" I sobbed, collapsing to the floor as I cradled him to my chest. "Lorenzo, stay with me. Mama's here, I'm right here!"

His head tilted back, his lips trembling as though trying to speak, his eyes were fluttering, but no sound came. Only silence, the silence that was deafening and terrifying silence.

And then, his eyes closed forever. Never to be opened again.

"Vincenzo!" I screamed, my voice wild and broken. "Our son, he's been shot! He's dying! This is your fault! I begged you, I begged you to come with us! But you insisted on staying back, and now look at what your stubbornness has cost us!"

Tears streamed down my face like water falling from the waterfall, it mixed with blood and smoke as I rocked back and forth, holding Lorenzo like my arms alone could keep his soul tethered to this earth.

"Don't go, Lorenzo, please! please stay with me. Stay with Mummy. My love, my joy, my whole world... I can't do this without you. Please, don't go!" I wailed, my cries echoing through the chaos.

The gunfire raged on outside. Flames crept into the estate. But none of it mattered. Not to me. My world had shrunk down to the lifeless body in my arms-and the unbearable truth I refused to accept.

"Please..." I whispered now, no longer screaming. My voice was broken, a fragile plea to the heavens. "Please don't take my baby..."

Outside, the Moretti security team fought back fiercely. Echoes of gunfire dropped enemy soldiers one by one, but they were still grossly outnumbered. Rafael had picked up a fallen guard's weapon and joined the battle. He fought like a man with nothing left to lose.

But then....

"Argh!" he cried out in pain and boom! Everything went black.

I held my son tighter. Rafael had vanished into the smoke. Vincenzo was still fighting somewhere with every ounce of strength he had left. Then, without warning, flames began to consume the house.

Unbeknownst to us, the intruders had planned a final move to burn down the place and leave no one behind.

Crash! Smash!

The windows of the living room shattered as fire burst through them. The building was mostly wooden, and it was summer. The flames spread fast. Too fast.

From the thick smoke emerged a man their leader. He approached Vincenzo, who was restrained by two of our own men, likely threatened into obedience. The stranger stared directly into Vincenzo's eyes.

"Vincenzo," he said coldly, "a simple warning was never going to work with you. You refused to back down from the contract, the one you're dragging with Jason. But now I think we've made our message clear. Next time, we won't stop at your son. Next time, we'll take your life."

Spat! Spat!!

He spit in Vincenzo's face twice.

Then, as if on cue, his men released Vincenzo's arms and began to beat him mercilessly. Blow after blow, like they had been ordered to leave him half-dead in the fire.

As they prepared to leave, two of the attackers seized me.

I couldn't scream. Couldn't move. My mind was numb. Am I dead or just in shock I asked within my inner soul.

Then I heard him,

"Leave my wife alone!" Vincenzo roared. "Where are you taking her!"

The leader turned and sneered.

"What can you possibly offer her now, you pathetic fool. You want her to burn alive with you of course we're taking her to safety. Something you clearly can't provide."

A soldier rushed back inside. "Sir, we have to go the building's about to collapse!" he said panting.

"I'm done here," the leader said flatly, then turned his back on Vincenzo and disappeared into the smoke. They left him behind. They left him to burn.

*******

A FEW DAYS LATER

VINCENZO

"Where on earth did they take Rafael" I muttered, pacing like a madman. "I don't even know if he's alive... or dead."

It was all Jasmine's fault. Every last bit of it. I told her to leave with Rafael and Lorenzo when she had the chance. But no, she insisted I come with them.

And now.., I've lost everything.

Not us, but me. Because I'm the one who can't find my brother.

Because my son is gone,gone forever. Oh, my Lorenzo. My Rafael.

I stared blankly at the scorched remains of the Moretti estate, now reduced to ash and twisted ruin. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air, choking and bitter like the guilt that now consumed me.

My fists clenched as I remembered Lorenzo's tiny hands, the way he used to hold onto my fingers like they were the only safe thing in the world. "I failed him, I failed them all" I muttered to myself.

The nights were the worst. I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw and heard Jasmine screaming, Rafael's bleeding and saw Lorenzo's lifeless body cradled in his mother's arms.

I heard her voice as it was echoing and accusing. It was breaking and also pleading. "You did this." She was right. I didn't pull the trigger, but my pride might as well have. My obsession with that damned contract blinded me to what truly mattered.