The bar was boisterous and rowdy, scarlet red lights illuminating the interior giving it an angry atmosphere.
The air had a stench of alcohol and cigarette soaring it.
Music was blasting in all corners, hitting the walls and reverberating.
Three men stepped out into the warm summer breeze.
Laughing could be heard amongst them.
The sun was clearly setting, the sky throwing a golden glow across the earth surface.
“Hey man I told you that chic in there is too fiesty”one spoke to the man in the middle between his fits of laughter.
With coffee brown hair swaying across his face, he pushed it behind his ear and folded his arms.
“See how she bodly said you aren’t her type”Another croaked with his deep voice, placing an arm on the shoulder of the one in the middle.
Petro eyed his two friends as they made jest of his attempt to woo a stripper in the club.
“A knife in her throat will get her to submit herself”he spat.
“Alfonso and Tom, you both should fucking stop laughing” petro insists, shooting hard glares at both of them as they head over to their packed car.
“We won’t” Tom replied, laughing even more at Petro’s embarrassment.
“This will get you to stop”an unfamiliar masculine voice spoke from behind them.
With a pivot, they turned their heads to meet a suited man pointing a gun at them.
Freezing at once, their heart beats rapidly.
Attempting to run, they turn forward only to meet another man pointing a gun at them.
Alfonso hastily knocked the gun out of the man’s hand with his feet and panic ensues in the atmosphere.
The armed man behind them pulls the trigger but they are quick to dock down. Neither of the group wants to go down without a fight.
The man pulled Alfonso by the collar and slams him into a wall while Petro quickly scrambled to the ground and reaches for his fallen gun.
He picked it as two other armed men emerged from the alley.
He aimed the gun at one of them and shot.
His heart beat was erratic as he shuffled his feet to the parked car, squating down and leaning against it.
Leaning against the bonnet, he unloaded bullet as the sound of gunshot became more frequent.
The piercing sound of screeching tires made petro peak over.
Tom fought with one man whilst Alfonso fought with two. Punches, blows, kicks became the norm in the atmosphere.
A jaguar, two sedans and an SUV sped towards their direction. Coming to an abrupt hault, about fifteen men all armed and masked stepped down.
“Fuck”Petro hissed. They were clearly out numbered.
Flicking his eyes over to his friends, he aimed the gun at one of the men.
A painful kick on his arm had the gun flying over from his hands.
Petro spun his body around, locking his eyes with the blazing glare of Raphael’s.
He gripped Petro by the collar and slammed him towards the glass windows of the car, making it shatter into smithereens.
Petro fell back towards the bonnet, crawling backwards by the arm in a bid to get away from Raphael.
Raphael roughly stepped on his leg so hard that the sound of a bone breaking was heard.
“I don’t want to kill you–at least not yet” Raphael furiously whispered as he yanked petro up by his collar before kicking him in the groins and pushing the man to the ground.
Raphael turned to access his friends.
They were lying on the ground, groaning and crouching to their groins. They were seriously injured with blood oozing out of their nostrils. Their brows and lips had been cut and their face was characterized by puffy red eyes and swollen faces.
Only one fatality occurred. A guard lay down dead, blood forming a pool around his body.
“Take all of them into the car” Raphael instructed.
In less than a minute, all the bodies were cleared off and dumped into the bonnet of the waiting cars.
Raphael walked into his jaguar with his men.
He reached for the cigarette and lighter in his pockets the moment the engine ignites.
“For their sake I really hope they give me useful information” Raphael mused to himself as he placed the cigarette in between his lips.
* * * * * * *
The men were led towards a gloomy doom warehouse. There were black faint paintings, shattered windows and dusty layered walls.
It was shadowy and gothic.
The interior had an awful scent of blood, dirt and death. It was poorly lit, only a faintly fluorescent bulb hung from the ceiling, swinging slowly and not doing justice to illuminating it.
The three injured men were pushed to the ground, their bodies causing a painful thud as it hit with the dirt of the cold ground.
Raphael stood in the centre, his men forming a flank around him.
He walked towards the horror struck men and he could easily tell from their body language that they were dead scared.
Their body shook and they shivered, their brows raised so high that it was almost touching their hairlines.
He could sense the pleas in their teary eyes and he hadn’t even began yet.
Crouching down to Petro, he yanked his hair causing the man to cry out.
“Who are you working for?”
None of them were willing to talk. They passed glances at each other and stayed mute. Raphael hummed and stood up with a guffaw.
He took his gun from his back pocket and immedately pulled the trigger on Alfonso, shooting him right in the eye.
His eyeball mutilates in an instant, his blood splattering everywhere.
The sight is gory and disturbing.
The two men felt a vomit haul up to their throat.
The remaining two had their tremor rising, their heart beat erratic and their mouths quivering.
“Should I repeat myself?”Raphael warned.
“The ghost”Tom cries as they kept their unwavering gaze on their dying friend.
Raphael gave a mischievous smile.
“Why did Mario die?”
Petro faces him and he shakes his head. “I don’t know. All I know is–is… he.. he had some kind of evidence against the ghost. He was planning on using it against our boss”
He cried like a baby knowing his own death was imminent.
Raphael diverted his attention from Petro to his capos behind him. “Give me every detail you know about the ghost and I might just free you both”
Petro eyes shone with hope and so does Tom’s.
“We don’t know much about him. He really lives up to his name ‘the ghost’ . We have never even seen his face or even seen him in person. He barks his orders from behind the scenes…”
Raphael listened as Petro began explaining.
“So let me get this straight. You work for a man you’ve never met?”Raphael chuckled falsely.
They both nodded. By their body language, he could tell they were being very honest.
“He has an even tighter inner circle of men he trust. We are just his dogs. The only thing we know is his name. Lev”
In a flick, Raphael had his eyes widened in shock.
The only Lev he knew of was Ivan’s brother who had been dead years ago.
Armani killed him and his father, Andrei.
“That’s impossible” Dante bellowed coming over to Raphael.
“Lev is dead. He died so many years ago. Grandfather killed him along with his father” Raphael concurred.
Thomas came over as well as Luca, Marco, Lorenzo and Leila.
They all had their jaws dropped at this revelation.
Instead of getting an answer, they got more questions.
“Do you mean Lev, Ivan’s brother?”Leila asked petro.
“The hell. I don’t know who Ivan is or who his brother is. All I know about our boss is his name is Lev. We don’t know how he looks like, neither have we seen him before. He barks the orders to his inner circle and they assign it to his underdogs and assassins. He is a ghost”Petro replied with a hysterical cry.
“Please free us. We’ve told you everything we know please” Tom begged, his pupils becoming dilated in fear.
With a sharp exhale Raphael gave a nod to everyone’s surprise.
“I’ll free you both” he grits to the joy of the two men.
He at once cocked his gun and he could see the happiness and glee that once saturated their injured face being replaced by terror and dread.
“Y-you pr-promised to free us”Petro stuttered with tears streaming down.
“Yeah. To free you both from this hell called life. And you both clearly don’t have any more useful information to give us. So….”
Raphale signalled to Leila who brought out her gun, aiming it at Tom.
Before the men could say a word, the vociferous sound of the two guns were heard with two bullets kissing the bodies of each men. They both fell on each other, their blood leaving a terrible stain on the wall.
“Is Lev alive? People can’t come back from the dead. What the hell is all these?”Dante angrily seethed.
“Only Armani and Micheal can answer that. Fuck!”
Raphael slammed his fists against the wall repeatedly, his anger soaring and the demon within him wanting to spill more blood.
Instead of getting answers, they got more confusing revelations and foggy plots.