“Do you take me for a fucking idiot, Bruno?What are you saying — that I’m weak?”I snapped.He stepped up in my face.I could smell the anger on him.
“I don’t care if you look weak if you don’t retaliate,” he growled, grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me close until his eyes pinned mine.“They’re here to kill you, Alessandro.Open your goddamn eyes.”
I shoved him back, hand coming up to his neck for a second, pressure light, reminding him we weren’t just brothers — we were soldiers.He pushed; I pushed back.It was business, not a fight.
“Ten minutes fixes this,” I said.“Why do we need to negotiate?They came into my property.”
“Because if they can kill your men, they can finish you,” Bruno said.“Last time this happened, we lost her.”
The words landed like a hook.For a second I froze.I forced my gaze away from him to the window and slowed my breathing.The memory was a hard one, and I couldn’t afford to flinch now.I’d learned to bury it.Today was not the day to lose control.
“Get the cars ready, Bruno,” I said, setting my jaw.The knot in my throat loosened, replaced by a steady, cold focus.“Tell the ragazzi.I want the family on this.”
Bruno let out a short chuckle and walked out to do it.
“You got it, boss, right on it,” he chuckled before he jogged out of the room.
I stare at the door as I watched him leave and just think about what he said when his words repeated in my head like an echo.I clenched my fists, looked away, then approached the window and glared at the fucking sky.I fucking hated everything.
And all this began when I lost her that day.
Ariana.
The only woman who I fell in love with passed on, and it kills me every time I hear the circumstances of her death because I couldn't do anything or be there to save her.It was all my fault, and I was going to spend the rest of my life knowing that Ariana died all because of me.
I blinked a couple of times as a tear escaped my eye.I shook the thoughts off and wiped my face before I turned to the table to grab the guns I would be using to kill every one of those motherfuckers who dared to step inside my brothel.I shoved them in my pockets before I turned toward the door and left to, obviously, cause havoc.
We reached the brothel after some time, so right now I stood in front of my private property with my men right behind me.All our guns were ready to shoot, but the only problem was that we had no idea where in the brothel these men were.According to Bruno, there were men flooding the place, so it was difficult for him to track which ones were ours.
I instructed the boys that before we stepped in, we should hide our guns and spread out so nothing looked suspicious.A few of my men entered first before I did, and as soon as I did, my nose was filled with the metallic smell of blood; I clenched my jaws and roamed my eyes around the place — nothing was touched.It was quiet in there; I saw a few women roaming around the place with half their pussy and tits out for the world to see and a few men, but no one in particular.I stood in the center with eager eyes before I caught someone waving their hand from the corner of my vision to get my attention.I turned my gaze toward it and saw Bruno gesturing for me to come upstairs.When I reached him, he placed a finger against his lips before he proceeded to walk up the stairs.
I stopped him from going further and took over, walking in front of him.This was my fight.I brought this on so I couldn't let Bruno be the first one to get hurt.In fact, I would be damned if he did.
My jaws clenched with anger when we reached the top and found the dead bodies of my men.They were scattered all around the hall, and when my eyes bounced to each and every one of them, they finally met the culprit who stood at the end of the hall: Leonardo Gusto.
The cocksucker who once worked with me now is working against me.He was a member of my Italian tribe, my mafia, until I found that he had been snooping around to feed my inside information to the one and fucking only Vito D’Angelo.I still have no idea why the fuck he decided to shove himself up D’Angelo's ass, but as soon as I heard that he was involved with him, I decided that I was going to assassinate him through Leonardo.I have been planning to end that bastard for years now, and it was now time.
He was the only reason why Ariana left and he was going to repent for his wrongdoings.
I glared at Leonardo with a determined look to kill him today because I no longer needed him.He was not a relatable source to me anymore; in fact, I was glad he came here today.For as long as I could remember, Leonardo was a very intelligent man — he knew what he was doing and he made sure that no one took him for shit.However, when he worked alongside me, I learned that his biggest weakness was his father, who treated him like he was worth nothing.Leonardo was a man with the looks and the brains, so any stupid woman would fall for his conniving traps.I know that once he used them, they ended up dead or turned into his whore because he had no respect for them.
“Well, would you look at what we have here, boys?”Leonardo said as his voice echoed through the hall.He spoke with so much enthusiasm and his voice laced with the accent we all shared.“Alessandro Ferrazzo and his bitch,” Leonardo chirped before he began to approach us with a herd of his men behind him.
“No, no — nothing of that sort,” he answered with a smirk.“I've come to pay a little visit, as you can clearly see.You really forgot me, didn't you, as I still haven't received an invite.Therefore, I came to congratulate you on your new business.I made quite the entrance, didn't I?”He snorted as he pointed at the dead bodies of my men.
“You see, Gusto, retaliation comes when you provoke it, no?I don’t get why you go through the trouble of proving your loyalty to your fucktard boss by ending a few of my men’s lives when you could just do it with one — mine.”
“No,” he shook his head, “I can’t do that.That’s my boss’s job.Besides, where’s the fun in killing you here and now?I want entertainment, like any man with this job.”His laugh filled the hallway, and Bruno beside me started laughing too.
“Is it that, or are you just scared?”I leaned in, voice low.“Scared I’ll be the one to carry your body to D’Angelo so he can see what he’s gotten into?”
Leonardo stopped laughing.He blinked at us, anger boiling up in his eyes.Venom cut his face as his teeth clenched.I tucked one hand in my pocket, kept the other on the gun, and watched him with a smug look.
“I’ll not leave until I’ve got your body in my hands to drag to D’Angelo,” he snarled like some mangy tiger.“This is war, and I will win.”
I laughed.
“Is that so?”I mocked, still grinning.“Don’t you think it’s a little stupid to visit one of my brothels and threaten to drag my body to D’Angelo — the next name on our hit list?”I smirked, nodded my gun at one of his men, and pulled the trigger.The dickhead collapsed.“Come on, Gusto, keep up.If you take me to D’Angelo, he’ll be the one to turn up dead.”I tsked.
