Luciano
“Where to, Boss?” Marcus asked as I stepped into the back seat of the Chevrolet. It wasn’t my kind of taste- the Chevrolet I mean- I was more of a Mercedes or a much more rugged car.
My enemies knew this too. I’ll bet they kept their eyes peeled, watching every Benz on the road, hoping one of them had me inside. That fucker was relentless! Of course, I wasn’t surprised. I knew the life I had signed up for when I had wandered into the mafia years ago.
How many years has it been now? Eight? Ten? Whatever it was, it felt like a gazillion years ago. I couldn’t remember how exactly I got in contact with the mafia, but I knew what I had always wanted.
Power.
Power got you whatever shit you wanted. Power protects you. Power made you feel fucking safe and you wouldn’t see those you cared about die like sheep on the damned streets of Rome. That was fucking power!
And I got it. I worked my ass off from scratch to get that fucking power! Now some pathetic flimsy excuse of a man threatened to snatch it from me? He had to be crazy.
“The Vita,” I replied, staring out the window at my empire.
The Moretti Industries. Not many men in the underworld strived to create a name for themselves outside it. But the mafia was only a fleeting business after all. Recent threats constantly reminded me about that shit. If I relied majorly on my people, I’d be fucking dead meat.
Money was the answer.
Money was power. It got me half the protection I had needed in the past five fucking years. And that was something, wasn’t it? Before I became Lord of the Mafia, No mafia lord had lasted three years. They were either gutted, poisoned, or bombed to death. I had managed to create my own space with my damned crew. If I didn’t have a shingle to my name, I’d be super fucked.
“Boss? Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Marcus asked, his green eyes watching me warily through the rearview mirror. I always thought he always did have the eyes of a woman. It was a good thing I had schooled him on how to keep a blank face.
“Si. I must meet with the men. If we do not nip the recent threats in the bud, a full-blown war will be on us.” I replied, rubbing my jaw as I thought things over.
“What about the murders?” He questioned, kick-starting the engine.
My shoulders lifted and lowered in a shrug. “Just a momentary distraction. They don’t matter.”
Marcus nodded in the front seat and for a minute silence reigned in the vehicle. I mused over how my day had gone and if there was anything suspicious that I had overlooked. Death could be right under my nose and I wouldn’t know it.
My phone buzzed in my chest pocket and when I fished it out, a grin slipped on my face.
Fratello!
“Oi Luca! A pleasant surprise, Si?” I said, picking up the call.
“Ciao Luciano,” Luca’s pansy voice reached my ears. The bastard spoke in a high-pitched voice, trying to sound like a woman. “I thought you would never call me again. Our last night was…What do you Americans call it? Wild?”
“Crazy,” I supplied. “At least half the women I’ve fucked said that.”
“Ah, then I really must come. These women here take me for granted… fanculo!” He swore suddenly.
I heard shuffling, more swearing, and a familiar feminine voice on the phone. “Luciano?”
A chuckle slipped from me and I relaxed in my seat. “Good to hear from you, Giorgia. Please tell me you haven’t murdered Luca yet?”
Giorgia snickered. “I am planning on it. And you as well, you nasty bastard. Left us to dry here in Italy, didn’t you?!”
“Ah come on Giorgia, You know I did not. Italy needs you two or shit hits the fan.” I tried to sound soothing but I suppose Raven was right. Soothing wasn’t my thing.
Ah, Raven. Fuck I had barely thought about her all day. And that was because I had forced myself not to. She was ever at the tip of my mind, ready to slip in, to possess every part of me.
Madness.
Intoxicating madness. She was fire itself and I craved every burn, every hunger, every maddening desire. My eyes closed as I recalled our last time together, two days ago. In the shower. My fingers buried deep within her as I watched her moan and cry and make those mewling sounds that made my pants fucking tighter.
Those sounds. I could never get over them. I’d had to move her out of my room after that. It was either that or I made sure she would never leave.
“… did you hear a word I said at all?” Giorgia’s snap reached my ears and I chuckled. I hadn’t heard shit.
“Sure-”
“Boss!” Marcus yelled suddenly, swerving away from the road. The phone flew out of my hands as I swayed.
“Explain!” I ordered, looking around me. Oh shit! shit! I had gotten carried away. A rookie mistake! My head was meters away from the noose and I still had lost my mind for a few costly minutes.
Breathe and fucking think, Luciano!
We were on the highway. Marcus drove fast like the car was on fire, swerving through lanes at an incredibly fast pace. Something was after us. That had to be-
Bang!
The back windshield was dented with a bullet, creating streaks on it.
“Get down boss!” Marcus yelled and immediately I stooped down on my knees.
The windshields of the car were strong, but they would not hold out much longer if those bastards kept shooting.
“Find a shortcut!” I barked, reaching under the back seat. “Roll down the right window, keep your eyes on the road!”
“Luciano!” Giorgia’s scream reached my ears from the phone.
“Luca! Cut the call right now!” I snapped, yanking a firearm, and turned to face the racing vehicles behind us.
“Don’t you dare!” Giorgia yelled. “Luciano-”
Marcus reached into the back, swiftly taking the phone and cutting the call.
“Good,” I commended, peering through the front sight of the gun. Some bastards were going to get hit. “Keep driving, head for the Vita, call Bravo!”
“Yes sir!” He replied.
Trying to breathe evenly, I studied which vehicles housed my assassinations. With half my body hanging out of the window, I seemed like easy prey. But that was only if I didn’t take them out first. Squinting, I noticed one of them in an Audi, reloading his gun. He must have been the one to hit my windscreen.
Fixing that dent was going to cost me hundreds of dollars, I thought with fury, and sprayed a series of bullets his way, deflating their tires and piercing through their windshield. Satisfaction crawled through me as I watched their car, skid and turn to the sides. Aiming at the second vehicle, I had almost made my shot when a bullet whizzed past my ear.
Fuck! That was close. I glanced back to see the shooter hanging out of the window the same way as I did. Locking my jaw, I maintained my aim and nailed one right on the fucker’s head.
Two down.
“How many cars were they?” I asked Marcus, slipping back into the car to reload.
“Two-”
“Oh, he must be mad. Sending two pansies against me? Who the hell does that bastard think I am?”
“And a truck!” Marcus yelled, cutting me off, with another swerve and then I saw it.
A fast incoming truck aiming right at us. It slammed into us forcefully, throwing us off the road and everything went black.
***
“Boss… Boss!”
A loud shrill ringing in my ear, someone yelling my name in the distance, I was still being dragged out, and I could feel the roughness on my back. Who the fuck was that?!
“Boss!” Marcus yelled again and my eyes flew open.
The evening sky was glowing a mix of red and orange. For a minute I was five again, staring at the sunset with my father. But the sky wasn’t the same. And neither was I.
The loud ringing turned out to be gunshots. I tried to rise from the ground where I was, holding my head up to see I was covered by two dozen men in black. My men.
A shootout had ensued in the middle of the road. Marcus grabbed me by the arm, groaning as he helped me stand up. His right arm was bloodied and he needed medical attention fast.
“Call the doc!” I ordered. “You need to fix that.”
“You’re worse, boss,” Marcus muttered, pointing to my head. “You’re bleeding-”
“Never mind that,” I snapped, hobbling away from him, ignoring the sharp pain that drifted up my legs. I yanked my gun out of the partly damaged vehicle.
“You need to leave. They’re after you-”
“I’m not leaving my people to get slaughtered like pigs. We’re the Moretti Mafia. We live or fucking die together.” I said darkly. “These fuckers have chosen the wrong people to mess with.”