Luciano
“Cara?” I called, watching the expression on Raven’s face as she slept. She snuffled, mumbled something unintelligible then buried her face deeper in my chest.
For a woman who was skittish every time we talked, she was rather clingy in her sleep. I glanced out the window to see the night sky gleaming at me. It was time.
Slowly unwrapping her fingers away from me, I sighed when her fingers gripped my arm tighter and chuckled. And she complained that I was possessive? Like she was any different. Leaning closer to her ears, I placed a kiss and murmured, “Relax Cara,”
She did then, sagging like a warm marshmallow against the bed. Good girl. I rose out of the bed, stretched for a while then walked to the closet to change my clothes. It was time to begin what I had come here to achieve.
To find the Leader of the Castello and to end him. That bastard had cost me men, money, and my damned reputation. People in Sicily heard about the assassination. If it repeated itself, the respect my men had for me would diminish. I couldn’t have that.
In a world like mine, respect was as important as life. When your men respected you, they could do anything, hell they would be willing to die for you. I couldn’t let them lose that will. The mafia would crumble to bits if that happened.
I dragged on my black coat, nodding. That must be why Castello attempted the assassination. Not just to kill me, but to fracture the mafia. Before they reared that head, I had to strike, hard and fucking fast.
Fully dressed, I examined my outfit. It was perfect for the night. All black. My Tee shirt, pants and coat. Made to blend in the night and afford me the speed I knew I needed. Fucking lovely.
Stealing another glance at Raven, I contemplated sliding back between her arms and dismissed it instantly. If I was dead, I couldn’t enjoy those arms again. And I had to be alive to protect her as well. Protect her from the world that would gobble her up when they knew she was associated with me, and protect her from herself.
I walked out of the room lightly, closed the door, and made my way to the designated meeting point. Enzo, Luca, and a handful of men waited for me, all dressed in black like I was.
“You’re late,” Luca grumbled.
I shrugged and turned to Enzo, asking in Italian. “Have the Castello members been spotted around here?”
“Yes boss,” He pointed to a club down by the road. “They’re in there. Six fools.”
I grinned, wearing a mask and slapping gloves on my hands before reaching for my Glock. It was time to visit some bastards.
“We should kill them, show the Castello they dare not mess with us,” Luca said as we walked towards the club. The Streets were filled with people. It was quite busy with vendors catering to their late-night snacks.
Ah Sicily, I had missed it quite a lot. The Americans were quite crazy with their security. But here, ah here was chaos. And I fucking loved it.
“We’re not killing them,” I ordered when we reached the club.
Luca’s face fell and I frowned. When had he become so fucking bloodthirsty?
“I need to know who their leader is. And wipe him out once and for all. We injure them, capture them and haul their asses to the base for inspection.” I explained.
“Won’t taking them to base expose us?” Luca argued. “I’d say we kill them-”
“And then what, Luca? How do we find the Castello if their members are dead? We’d be tipping the bastard who leads them that I am looking for him and the more I chase, the farther he’ll run!” I snapped.
He was my friend, but here, I was not standing before the door as his friend, I was standing as the Lord of the fucking Mafia and he had better began behaving like the soldier he was!
Grumbling, he backed down, anger flashing in his eyes. I turned to face Enzo, Luca would come around soon. He was most likely still mad about Giorgia. I tipped my head at Enzo.
“We’re going in,”
The men bust down the door to the club and I heard the minute the DJ stopped playing the song. Everyone watched us walk in silence, fear written all over their faces.
Fuck yes. Power. This was power. The power that I had craved ever since I watched my parents get taken from me. Without power we were nothing.
My parents were good people. What did that earn them? What did it fucking give them in return?! A knife buried deep in their chest, sticking out like the constant flag of peace they kept waving.
I remembered when I had made up my mind never to be like them. I was ten. Five years after my parent’s death, their murderer still roamed the streets of Italy free without charge. The Carabinieri? They had to be the most useless lot in the whole fucking world. They did nothing.
Of course, I had been pissed. I had thought I would go mad with anger and tear out their liver! But I was just a kid. A helpless fucking little kid. I watched the man who killed them, kill others too, and decided that I wanted that power.
That power that made you decide who lived and who fucking died, the power that made you invincible as hell to the Carabinieri, the power to eat and never get eaten, I wanted it all.
“You, you, and all four of you,” Enzo pointed. “Move an inch and your brains will be splattered all over the fucking floor. The rest of you?” He shot the DJ’s mixing device. “Scram!”
The club tumbled into disarray. People screamed as they struggled to fit through the exit door because we had blocked the entrance. One of the six tried to escape by mixing in with the crowd. Singling him out, I aimed at his leg amidst the many people and shot.
He fell like a sack of pasta.
“Boss, that was amazing,'” one of my men gushed.
“Keep your head in the game,” I ordered, staring keenly at the six men who had been singled out, with one of them writhing in pain from the bullet. I had given a simple instruction, do not fucking move. If he couldn’t listen, then he could pay the fucking price.
The club emptied rapidly, but we didn’t have all the fucking time in the world. The Carabinieri may be a bunch of losers and all, but were a fucking pain in the ass if they wanted to be.
“Tie them up Enzo. Luca, drug them. We move back to base.”
Luca nodded and soon with the police siren in the distance, we left the bar.
***
“Boss!” Several people called in a chorus almost startling me.
“Good lord! the Mafia house has grown times two!” I exclaimed and Enzo chuckled.
“It’s all you boss. The money you send to us has helped us greatly.”
I nodded. “You are putting it to good use. Good enough.”
Tipping my head in a bow to all the men and women and even children cheering my name, I and my men walked past them to the meeting room.
The Mafia house had been a thing passed down through generations. Most people in the mafia barely had relatives or anyone to care about it with. Hence the mafia house. They could be with their fellows who share the same views, the same past, and the same thirst for revenge.
It had been where I had met Luca. Where I grew up under watchful gazes. Where I killed the mafia’s old boss, Luigi. And while my hands were stained with so much blood, I didn’t regret it one bit. If I hadn’t ended them, they would have ended me. And considering I was the last of my family alive, I couldn’t let myself get eaten up.
I led my men into the building, down the stairs to the investigation room in the dungeons, directing them to dump our six prisoners.
“Wake them up,” I ordered after the men arranged them, tying them to a pole each.
Large buckets of water were splashed against their faces. However, they remained immobile. Enzo frowned at this, and walked to one of them, slapping him yet nothing happened.
“Enzo,” I called in a warning voice. “What exactly is happening right now?”
“I don’t know boss!” He cried, walking to each of our prisoners and slapping them awake. They remained limp.
There was no way they were faking it. The water was cold, and Enzo wasn’t exactly friendly with his hits either.
I turned to Luca, “Just how much Chloroform did you use on them?”
“Enough to knock them out. I didn’t kill them. if that’s what you’re implying.” He grumbled.
“Sir, this one’s still alive!” One of the men said, pointing at the injured one.
“Well, he’s the fortunate one, get the physician here. Now!”