Elias POV (continued)

I had informed Daniel of Ambrosia's fever and he insisted that we find another way to get her to the hospital. He offered to take my truck with Ambrosia but this idea was dismissed as we trodded through the snow back to the residence. It was heavily active with associates patrolling due to the weapon shipments that were to come. This made the lake the safest way to get her off the property.

Explaining why emerged from the woods before the sun had even raised proved to be difficult. Daniel had luckily conjured up an excuse that we were sent to patrol a board perimeter of the house. This lie covered our disappearance and also explained why we were completely drained and almost sleepwalking to get breakfast. Daniel and I had not slept that night as we attempted to engineer a raft out of the materials available in and near the shed.

We collected wood and tied each piece together with rope to build a base. We had emptied storage bins from the shed to fasten to the underside of the wooden raft base to ensure that it would float regardless of the weight added. Then we made questionable paddles by attaching thin wood remainings to the end of broomsticks.

All that was left was to grab food for that morning and plenty of fluids for Ambrosia who tossed and turned throughout the night. It pained me to see her so miserable and that's why we decided to leave the property early that morning.

Well, that's what I decided, I hadn't really communicated this to Daniel and as I ate with him and the other associates that morning I pondered on if I would even tell him.

All I had to do was leave.

He didn't need to know.

I looked up from my plate and watched as Daniel dropped a couple of rolls into a napkin cradled in his lap. He folded the food up with care and slipped it into his coat pocket. Ever since I had shown him, Ambrosia, he wouldn't stop looking at her.

I tried to pass this from my mind as just a friendly gesture but something in me began to feel disdain. A fit of venomous jealousy, I must admit, rose in me when I saw her more receptive to him. Was he planning to escape on the raft with Ambrosia, leaving me to twiddle my fingers?

His face alone seemed to taunt me. Daniel didn't fear me at all, so he was playing me like a fool. We were not quantities, he was not helping me at all. Was he somehow he was using me to get to Ambrosia?

I swallowed the hard chunk of food that was left in my mouth.

I tasted blood.

We waited half an hour before walking back outside to the shed. Ambrosia had already been up and to my surprise, she was now limping around the shed claiming to be waiting for. Daniel helped her to a chair where she sat and eagerly drank the water we had gotten but only nibbled at the food.

She seemed more aware this time and she held up a conversation with me and Daniel very well despite her drowsy tone. We had talked alone for only a few minutes about what Dante and told me. Holding her close in that moment, pushing my face deeper into her messy twists reminded me again of why I adored her.

I didn't tell her about Tania.

"We worked all night to finish it," Daniel spoke leaning back onto a workbench as he explained our tasks. I now sat beside Ambrosia my arm draped around the back of her chair and my hand dangling over her shoulder.

"And it's safe?" Ambrosia asked scrunching her nose in a quizzical matter. Daniel scratched his head and nodded.

"Well...yeah."

Ambrosia turned to me, her glorious brown face enrapturing my eyes and her lips pouted for a moment almost begging me to kiss.

"Daniel should come with us, right?"

My mouth was numb as I searched for the words to really to Ambrosia. It was a bittersweet thing to see her more awake than ever, but what she asking was revolting.

Why did she care about him?

I looked at Daniel who had his eyes tied to me now but he spoke directly to Ambrosia.

"Is that what you want?" he questioned.

"Of course, you are helping us...so it's a yes!" Ambrosia exclaimed.

No, no, no, no.

He couldn't come with us. He was too much of distraction.

I pressed my thumb against my temple as a sharp pain poked into the front of my forehead.

"When do we leave Elias?" Ambrosia's voice cradled my consciousness.

I smiled at her and nervously glanced at Daniel who watched us with a plain face. My eyes rested on her again.

"I was planning on leaving now."

"Now?" Daniel said suddenly. It was a reaction I knew was going to come and still caused me to wince.

"Now," I repeated.

Daniel shook his head and straightened himself his firm forehead creasing with lines of concern.

"And you think they're not going to just find you once you make it to the hospital, Elias? What the fuck do you think is going to happen when Dante finds you missing?" he began to drill questions that I had honestly taken no consideration of.

Daniel scoffed at this reply and threw his arms up in disbelief his hands finding themselves to the back of his head.

"If anyone finds out I helped you escape, I'm dead, then it's both of you!"

Ambrosia wrapped her arms around herself and she moved to the side to cough as we spoke.

"We should leave at night, isn't that when they'll start importing?" she questioned.

I nodded at her inquiry and

"So to make sure we aren't followed, we've got to kill Dante," Ambrosia's voice was as cold as the winter weather, and Daniel and I looked to her.

"And how can the three of us do that?" Daniel gasped.

I looked around the shed as my hellish intentions reared its ugly head. I pointed to a corner where several cans of gasoline lay stood.

"Combine those with the aerosol cans and we're golden," I asserted.

Daniel took in a deep breath and rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead as he stared at the canisters before nodding.

"Are you certain they won't see you?" Ambrosia questioned her head turning to grab our attention.

"Everyone will be downstairs and in the basement storing the new cargo," I replied.

The room had grown quiet as that sentence lingered into the air.

"Alright, so where will place them?" Daniel questioned his voice barely discernable. I stood up and picked up a can rolling it between my hands before speaking up.

"We should do a four-point effect, and connect them all with a trail of gasoline."

"Aerosol can number one should be in Dante's office then," Daniel concluded.

"No," Ambrosia spoke up, "It would be impossible to get back in there to light the trail...and he would smell the gasoline."

"So we do the trail on the second and third floors?"

Ambrosia nodded as she offered more insight. "There is a small sitting room on the second floor above Dante's office, put it there, and if it blows up like you said it should ignite his roof and room as well."

Daniel took up a marker that had been laying on the shed table and marked the containers as we spoke.

"The second, third, and fourth should be in each of our rooms, Ambrosia's being the closest not the second floor and Daniel and mine on the third," I proposed and earned a hum of agreement from the two.

"Okay, so then we meet up in Ambrosia's room last we'll start the reaction because..." Daniel began.

"It's closer to the exit stairs," I chimed in.

The plan had been set. Prematurely, but it had been set. The cans would go up to each designated room first and we would then follow the afternoon to spread the gasoline.

The time between the gasoline spilling and the fire starting had to be extremely small to verify our success. Once the reaction went off a domino trail would follow and with everyone working in the basement the structure of the house would evidently crumble on top of them.

I had left Ambrosia in the shed with a gun for protection and supplies we would carry in a backpack once we had made it off the property.

Daniel and I had packed the aerosol containers into large back garbage in which we combined with excess cut wood and claimed to be firewood when we were questioned before entering the house. The gasoline was poured from its original large canister into a smaller bottle, thus making it easier to transport.

Avoiding the congregation of men that had started to form on the first level of the house we discretely made our way first to Daniel's room to hide the gasoline underneath his bed and then set the plan in motion.

Each can of chemicals was placed in the left corner of the room when entered and Daniel and I each took turns setting the cans up in the rooms consistently waiting five minutes in between to allow for movement and prevent suspicion on the specified floors. When I had finished placing the last can I agreed to meet Daniel back in his room to decide on what to do next as we waited for nightfall.

As I walked back to his room I could hear a muffled voice speaking. Fear shot through my body as I slowed my brisk walk into a long stride, it sounded like Avril. I stood off the side of the opened doorway of Daniel's room and craned my neck to peek into the room.

"So what have you been up to kid, I caught word of you creeping around here with Dante's pet," Avril spat thumping his black boots along the floor as he circled Daniel.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Daniel mumbled shoving his hands into his coat pockets and watching Avril as he stalked him.

Avril moved towards Daniel's closet where we had stashed the black bag. He turned it upside down and dumped the extra logs of wood we had used as decoy pieces into the middle of the room. Seeing that there was nothing of value Avril started to attack a large dresser.

"What the hell are you doing?" Daniel exclaimed in irritation attempting to get a hold Avril's shoulder.

Avril shrugged him off and moved farther into the room in the direction of Daniel's bed. They were now too far from my line of vision and I pressed my back onto the doorframe before making the decision to enter.

Avril was now standing with his gun cocked at Daniel. The hot-tempered was no sputtering cures and demanding Daniel inform of his actions. I raised my hands up and walked towards him attempting to explain.

"Avril, he was just helping me bring in some wood for the fireplaces, we had to be out all day to collect," I insisted with a look of false desperation on my face. Avril looked at me with a burning disgust and slowly lowered his gun.

He didn't believe me at all. He bent over the bed and I could feel my heartbeat coursing through my hand and feet.

Not the gasoline...

With one motion Avril pulled the mattress up and cast it off the bed frame. An array of hundred dollar bills was cast underneath the mattress.

My eyes widened as I took in the mass amount of drug money and I looked to Daniel whose face had become ghastly pale. He knew had fucked us up, smuggling money from Avril was dangerous and especially at a time like this.

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