Chapter 34

"Is everyone alright?" Lindsey asked as she inspected each one of us. Luckily, no one was badly injured, just a few scratches on most of the people.

We were gathered up in an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town, discussing the steps to our plan. Who knew what would've happened if I didn't notice the tracking device on time.

"None of us is either dying or having a concussion, so I'd say we're fine," I said sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes at me.

"This is no time for jokes, Amelia. We're going up against a powerful gang, which includes your sister, by the way. This is one big of a deal and we need you to cooperate." Wesley scolded.

"Whatever you say, big guy." I grumbled out with an eye roll.

"Stop bickering like father and daughter, you two." Lindsey sighed, and Wesley scowled at her.

"There's no way that I could be her father. She's nothing like me, and I'm only thirty-four. Give me a break." He huffed, and I rolled my eyes once more. How childish could a grown-up man be?

"That's not the point," I interfered. "Chase was abducted yesterday, and we need to act fast. Who knows what they might be doing to him. We already know where they are, so instead of just relaxing here we should get our asses moving."

"By the information we've recollected, Chase was the one to give you that necklace, wasn't it?" A random guy asked, and I looked at him.

"Yes."

"And he confessed that he was working for this gang before, which gives us enough reasons to not trust the guy at all. Maybe this whole 'getting kidnapped' thing was part of their whole plan." He commented and some around the room hummed in agreement.

"I know the guy. I can tell if he's lying or not, and it was evident that he wasn't lying when he told me he didn't work for them anymore." I said, and the guy raised an eyebrow.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Because, why else would he jump in front of a bullet for me and get kidnapped by the people he ran away from? That boy may be clumsy, but he sure as hell isn't stupid enough to jump back into their arms." I said with a clipped tone.

"I've got to agree with Amelia on this one," Wesley interrupted. "I may not know him as much as Lily, but I can tell the guy fears these people. Something tells me that he was threatened to give Amelia the necklace. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case either way."

"What about those friend of yours?" the guy snapped. "Why believe a boy you just met and not the friends you left to die?"

"They had been lying to me even before I joined that gang," I snapped back. "They knew about my father and sister for more than three years! Chase, on the other hand, was held victim. They threatened to hurt an important person to him, and forced him to do things against his will!"

"Alright, enough," Lindsey said calmly, and we all looked at her. "Amelia, we will continue with your plan. We attack tomorrow night. First, we need to settle and gather up everything we need. We will finally discover who has been behind all this. If it's true that the person is, in fact, your sister, we might be facing your father as well."

"You have a really messed up family, Lily." Wesley chuckled, and I raised an unamused eyebrow at him.

"This is no time for jokes, Wesley." I shot his own words back and he stuck his tongue out at me.

A grown-up could be very childish after all.

Everyone started making their way out of the abandoned mansion and into their cars, driving away to the gym. Once we got there, we made our way inside from the running track and walked down the stairs to the shooting range. Luckily, the bodies were taken care of. but there was still lots of evidence of the events that took place here yesterday. Apparently, the police was stupid enough to leave the weapons intact with some yellow signs of evidence.

"Alright everyone, pack up!" I shouted and started throwing weapons inside duffel bags after unloading them. The others did the same, and soon enough, we were all packed up. We headed back to the old mansion and started setting everything up for tomorrow night. We went inside different rooms, and when I walked inside mine, I cringed.

The entire place was covered in dust, and everything looked old and rusty. At least the furniture was covered in plastic...

I walked toward the queen-sized bed in the middle of the room and got rid of the plastic that was covering it. The bed looked like it was at least seventeen years old, to say the least. Not like I knew about bed aging, though.

Well, as long as I wasn't sleeping on the floor, I was more than fine with it.

I threw myself on the bed and sighed as my sore muscles made contact with the bed. The constant feeling of dread and worry nagged at me every single minute of the night. Hoping that Chase was alright, and wondering if Danielle and Kenneth were killed back at the basement. The constant wonder of why my sister was behind all this also kept nagging at me to the point of wanting to explode.

Something told me that this was what Gregory wanted all along. Gregory might be the mastermind behind everything, if not Bryce.

The next day we were all ready for the battle. We drove near the old, secluded bar downtown and parked some blocks away, doing or best to stay undetected. Once the sun started to set, we began checking our earpieces to make sure everything was under control. When things were ready, we got out of the cars and made our way to the entrance stealthily.

My heart was thumping erratically, and I was more nervous than anything. I honestly didn't want to deal with these people anymore, but I had to. To get Chase back, to finally bring an end to them.

To find out who my father was.

Everyone got into their positions, making sure that the two people guarding the entrance didn't spot us. It was fairly easy since they seemed to be distracted with something on their phones. Static came from my ear, soon followed by Wesley's voice. "Is everyone in their positions?"

"Yes." All of us said simultaneously. I kneeled on the ground behind a wall and peeked over my shoulder to look at everyone else.

"Everyone goes on my signal," I said and glanced at my watch. I waited a few seconds before gripping my automatic gun firmer and taking a deep breath. "Go!"

Everyone instantly charged and ran to the bar, lifting their weapons up and readying themselves to shoot. The guards noticed us and started shouting orders, but we took them down in an instant. Lindsey kicked the door open, and I shot down three more men that were charging at us. A piercing pain shot through my thigh as a bullet grazed my thigh, and I hissed.

I pushed the pain aside and continued to shoot at people as Wesley killed the man that shot me. Some of our men were down, but I paid little mind to that even if it made me sound cruel. I focused on fighting the enemy—either knocking them out cold or killing them. Just as I thought, none of the powerful men were showing up, leaving the dirty work to their slaves.

I was suddenly pushed against a wall and the air was knocked out of me for a short moment. The enemy kicked the gun from my hands and kicked me in the stomach. I tried to make out who it was, but their face was covered with a mask. That alone made it hard to identify her, that and the hoodie covering their hair. Although I could clearly make out the prominent green eyes. They sent a punch to my face, but I blocked it with my arm before kicking the back of their knee.

They lost balance and kneeled, and I used the opportunity to slam their face against my knee. The yelp they let out in pain as they fell on their back let me know that it was a girl. I lifted my foot to stomp down on her stomach, but she was quick to roll away. I pulled my butterfly knife from my boot and slashed at her, successfully cutting her arm. She groaned and kicked my side, which I received, following it with a right hook, which I blocked.

We fought like that for at least three more minutes, and I was already feeling the familiar ache in my muscles. Scowling, I managed to grab my gun from the ground and aimed it at her. I pulled the trigger, but she moved out of the way just in time for the bullet to pierce the wall behind her. I groaned in frustration and aimed at her again, but she took the gun from my hands in an instant. She put me in a headlock, and I could see from the corner of my eye how Wesley fought his way over to me.

I clawed at the enemy's arm and started getting myself out of the headlock. I elbowed her side repeatedly until she loosened her grip and I threw my foot back, kicking her stomach. She slammed against the wall and clutched her stomach, then pulled something out of her pocket. I ducked, when she threw it forward, only to realize that it was not directed at me.

The grenade flew over my head and landed a few feet away from the others.

"Grenade!" I yelled at them.

A familiar blinding light shot out of the grenade, and the girl I was fighting off covered my mouth and held me back. I started struggling against her, but when I was about to break free something pierced through my neck. I yelped at the sting and she threw me to the ground. I looked up to notice a needle in her hand, and I scowled in anger. My body started going numb, and I did my best to get up, but it was useless.

Before my eyes closed completely, however, she pulled my head up by my hair and removed her mask.

My eyes widened just a fraction as I made out her features, and she smirked down at me smugly. She pulled her hoodie back, revealing her features completely and pouted down at me mockingly.

"Poor little Amelia can't move? What a pity," She mused and chuckled darkly. She started dragging me away and I fought to stay conscious, but it was useless. "Sweet dreams."

Before I could completely blackout, I croaked out the only word I could muster. "Izzy."

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[Edited: September 12th, 2020 by michh_44]

Of course Izzy was suspicious. So if you thought that she looked sketchy, you guessed right! You can't trust in anyone, not even your shadow. So far this story has been full of betrayal, hypocrisism, and surprises. What do you think? Click on that star and I wish you a very good day.