Chapter 9

(Jake’s POV)

I was so sleepy from driving all the way along with Aston. My head was about to burst from not sleeping most of the night during the trip. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. The bed felt so soft and fluffy. I should probably thank Aston for booking us such a good inn. I didn’t even notice Val had slid in beside me. I was in a deep sleep until I felt like I needed to go to the restroom. I woke up and went to the restroom to relieve myself. I should have done it before going to bed, but I must have forgotten. Oh, well.

I slid back into my bed’s warmth. I was drifting away until Valerie kicked me out of the bed. Ouch. I rubbed my butt to ease the pain a bit. I grabbed Val’s leg and threw it away from my side of the bed. That didn’t even wake her up. Now I knew where Arthur’s sleeping genes were from. I slid into the covers again, melting into the warmth I felt behind.

Val turned over and grabbed along the blanket, making my body suddenly feel cold. I pulled the blanket back to my body, just to get taken away again. Seriously, is everyone’s wife like this or just mine?

I decided to make truce by letting close to her so that I could leech off of her warmth. I snuggled in. Finally, sleeping like I wanted to. I felt Val turn around to face me.

“Please, don’t take Alex away.”

Was she having a nightmare? She looked so worried. I was so happy my kids had such a great mother. I patted her head hoping that the nightmare would go away just by doing this. For helping her out, I received an expected gift. Her leg swung and hit my family jewel. I silently screamed as I balled up, hoping that would ease the pain just a little jerk.

“Ha, that’s what you get, you jerk.”

I counted back from ten so that I could control my anger and become calm and collected. I didn’t even reach seven until I heard Alex began to cry. I counted all the way down and took a deep breath. I sleepily went over to Arthur and Alex’s room. Then, it suddenly stopped. That was weird, but I didn’t think too much of it since babies have always been weird, especially Alex. Thinking he stopped, I started to walk back to my room until I heard him cry again, but a little lower.

Probably, my voice could soothe him as Val’s does.

“Alex.” It came out more lazily and soft than I wanted.

I went over and opened the door to see two men in an all-black outfit. Damn, Assassins. Did Duke Lorenzo send them for revenge or something? One of the men was holding a towel against Alex’s mouth. It looked like he was trying to not close his eyes. Was the towel drugged?

I looked over to see Arthur was fully awake and was looking at the assassin that was right next to him. The dagger looked ready to stab Arthur, but the assassin’s eyes were on me. The eyes looked as if he was trying to taunt me in coming closer to me. Arthur gave out a little whimper which was enough to distract the assassin. The assassin swung the dagger at Arthur. Arthur started to cry. That must have done something to me because the next thing you know is that I was slamming the assassin into the wall. I grabbed him right by the shirt and punched with my right arm. 

I pulled off his mask to see a guy, probably in his twenties. He had black hair and black eyes. There was a big scar through his right eye, which was closed. That one eye that made eye contact with me.

“Who sent you here?”

At first, the guy didn’t respond and then he just gave me a smile with a shrug. I leaned towards the man and stared him right into his left eye.

“Fuck. You. Son of a bitch!”

I was angry, but not simply angry, more like in rage. I am always the fun-loving dad that doesn’t cus or get easily get angered, but he had fucking hit my damn nerve. I wasn’t even thinking as I kept on punching into the assassin’s face, but then I heard the window shatter.

Alex!

The other assassin had Alex in his hands and was ready to jump out. Alex was unconscious. There must have been some type of sleeping drug in that towel. The assassin was about to jump out.

“Wait! What do you want?” The assassin shook her head. Does that mean there is nothing? I tried to reach out to grab, but he twisted out of the way.

“Goodbye.” A woman? Then she jumped off the window.

“No!” I tried to follow that woman out the window, but I felt a piercing pain on the side of my stomach. I  groaned out loud in pain as my hand went towards it. I was stabbed by the same dagger that threatened Arthur. The assassin was really injured, especially his face.

“VALERIE, WAKE UP! WE HAVE A FUCKING EMERGENCY!” I literally yelled from the top of my lungs. I was satisfied when I heard footsteps coming over here. Val came through the opened door.

“I told you not to-” I heard a gasp of horror as she saw what was happening. 

“Val, call Aston on the transmitter to get here quickly and get the other. One of them took Alex and got out.” Val froze and panicked. “Go, hurry!”

That made Val run to get the transmitter. I turned to the assassin.

“Now, tell who sent you?” He started to choke up blood and his head went limp. I quickly checked his pulse, but none. I turned to Arthur. “Stick with mom.” When I saw Arthur nod, I ran out to the roof of the inn and tried to look for the woman assassin.

I scanned the area to see if I could find her anywhere. It was still dark outside, so everything was dark. There wasn’t anyone outside, so that sort of helped, but there were no movements. I did go off on my own to go search for Alex. After thirty minutes or so, I crossed Galtero.

“Any luck?”

I sadly shook my head, tears were starting to form in my eyes. 

“Don’t worry. We will find him.” With that hope, we both parted ways and searched both day and night without any luck. Val broke down crying, along with Arthur. Diana and Anna tried their best comforting her, but it never soothed her down. Eventually, she locked herself in Arthur and Alex’s room.The guys were helping me calm down and did their best to help us.