Chapter 98: GUN!
Carmen
I thought nothing of it and was about to enter, only for Nico to stop me.
His hand came to my shoulder before I could take another step forward.
"Enter and inform him first," Nico ordered, and four months ago, I would have thought he was simply being paranoid.
But now, I myself felt I hadn’t been careful enough, taking a few steps back until Nico was slightly in front of me.
We waited for the guards to do as he asked. They nodded before heading in, pushing the door open wide enough for us to see that it was indeed Gotti inside the room.
He was covered in a lot of bandages like before, but he looked enough like him.
The guard returned to his post by the door, leaving it open.
"He’s waiting for you," the guard said, and this time I saw no reason why we shouldn’t step in.
Only to see Nico whip out his phone and begin to dial a number, which had to be Gotti’s.
Better safe than sorry, I reminded myself, watching Nico put the phone on loudspeaker. The bodyguards behind us somehow knew enough to pull out their guns as they stood around us.
The least I expected was for Gotti to pick up the phone and answer it, yet somehow the phone continued to ring.
That was more than enough for my eyes to widen in shock as I watched the guards react.
The bandaged man on the bed pulled out an AK-47, and the other guards began shooting.
Our guards returned fire as I ducked, opening my purse to pull out my gun, but Nico grabbed my hand and ran, with Martin behind us, as we headed straight for the elevator.
Only for Nico to pass the elevators and take the stairs.
I didn’t ask any questions. There was no time.
Dashing down the stairs as the sounds of gunfire echoed behind us, my heart pounded hard in my chest as we ran.
My head stayed low, following Nico, who also had his gun out. The alarms had been pulled, ringing nonstop. There was shouting and screaming as we made it to the ground floor.
Nico’s gun was tucked under his suit, and I hid mine in my purse as we headed for the entrance.
Nurses and doctors were trying to keep a handle on the situation as people panicked, and sirens sounded in the distance.
There were a lot of questions on my mind, but one of them was whether Nico had a license for all the guns in our hands.
The security cameras would have picked it up, and the police were bound to come asking questions.
Still, beyond all that, I couldn’t help but wonder, if that wasn’t Gotti, then was he dead?
Were we wrong, and Vito wasn’t actually the rat, but Gotti instead, using Vito, who was too careless to keep an eye on his companies?
Was Vito telling the truth?
If he was working with the enemy, why would he lose two fucking limbs?
I hated how many questions were piling up in my head as I followed Nico closely, only for my expression to darken.
The entrance was crowded, far too crowded, and worse was the fact that the police had arrived much earlier than they should have.
I glanced at Nico, and from the tightness of his jaw, I understood that he knew what I meant.
Someone had called the police even before the gunfire on the upper floors started.
That couldn’t be for a good reason.
I watched as more officers entered through the entrance in larger numbers.
Worse was the way they looked around, like they were searching for something, before moving straight toward Nico and me.
Martin and the others behind us had already holstered their guns under their jackets.
"Officers..." I began, only to stop as I watched them raise their guns directly at Nico and me. One in particular had a look filled with hatred.
"Gun sighted!" he screamed, which was impossible, especially since we had all hidden our weapons.
Even more shocking was when Nico instantly dropped to the ground, raising his hands, followed by the guards, who did the same.
"Down!" another officer shouted.
My jaw tightened as I went ahead to kneel, meeting the eyes of two officers I fully intended to pay back for the disrespect.
I had barely settled when they were on us.
I wasn’t surprised to feel the chubby, middle-aged one move closer to me, sliding his hands around my body without care, a small smirk on his face, before snatching my purse.
He nodded when he found the gun.
"The intel was right! They are the shooters!" he shouted.
I watched as all eyes focused on us in shock and fear while they took Nico’s gun and those of his guards.
"Check upstairs! Find who they were shooting at or who they shot! Fucking monsters!" another officer, who looked more in charge, barked as he stepped closer to us, his eyes filled with the need to deliver justice, which I found laughable.
Relax, Carmen. Snapping in anger won’t help. Moreover, the cameras are right there. Even if they are corrupt, the cameras can’t lie.
I forced myself to stay calm, especially when Nico himself wasn’t reacting.
One after the other, we were handcuffed, our hands pulled behind our backs, and led outside.
It was all I could do not to rage.
What shocked me more was seeing media stations already waiting, their microphones shoved forward as they bombarded me with questions while I was pushed along.
"Is it true that you are a secret assassin?"
"Who were you paid to kill?"
"Was this a show of power? This is a hospital! How callous can you be?"
My face reddened with anger as I listened, keeping my head down as more pictures were taken.
This was wrong.
And what was worse was the fact that it was clearly a setup.
The only thing stopping me from exploding was the fact that Nico seemed completely unbothered, when all I wanted to do was smash the cameras in their faces.
