Athena
Frederick.
I watched in disbelief as he laid limp and lifeless on the floor. My father. He had made the world make sense after I had lost my father. He had given me a quest, a reason to live.
And now he was dead.
Sobs wracked my body as I stared at him, the urge to let out a long painful sound was strong. I couldn’t do that with Luciano’s hands clamped on my mouth. Tears blurred my vision and I looked away, burying my face in Luciano’s arms.
Something warm trickled down my face and the metallic smell of blood filled the air. I looked up to see his shoulder bleeding and instinctively reached out to touch the wound.
“You’re injured,” I whispered, searching his stony face. His eyes glared at something behind me, while his hands held me tighter.
“It’ll pass. I’m okay,” he muttered, wrapping his hand over mine. “Those bastards won’t be though.”
I followed his gaze and watched in both horror and shock as two men stepped in sight, holding large guns and wearing dark glasses. They surveyed the area, and nodded satisfactorily when they saw the dead men that littered the ground.
One of them slung his gun over his shoulder, pulled off his glasses with a black gloved hand to reveal familiar mischievous eyes.
“Damian,” I whispered.
Damian was responsible for this.
What the hell was happening? I didn’t understand. Why… Why would Damian do something so damn risky? He was supposed to be working with the FBI. He was supposed to be working with me! Why would he put Frederick in danger?
I tried to shrug off Luciano’s hold on me, wanting to demand answers from the jackass. How could he do that Frederick?! Frederick was dead because of his damned recklessness.
Luciano’s grip tightened and when I looked up in protest, he looked surprised. Well that was new. He hadn’t looked surprised when I told him I worked with the FBI, he hadn’t looked surprised when they showed up. Why exactly was he looking like he had seen a ghost?
I glanced back at Damian and saw that his partner walked towards the mass of dead men on the floor and took off his glasses as he leaned down to check the faces of the dead men..
“Luca,” Luciano muttered. “That bastard,”
Luca?!
I’d recognize that blonde hair and blue eyes anywhere. It certainly was Luca. Oh shot, hold up. Things weren’t making sense. How… What exactly were Luca and Damian doing together? What on earth was happening?
“See the pretty mafia lord anywhere?” Damian asked, blowing air on his gloves as if they were the most amusing thing in the world.
“No,” Luca grumbled.
“I’m sure he’s there, somewhere,” Damian said. “There’s no way anyone could have survived that shoot out. We made sure to spray them down. Unless he’s a damned cat and has nine lives, there’s no way he survived it.”
“You underestimate Luciano,” Luca said, his thick Italian accent evident as he moved around the place, examining the dead bodies. “He is the most sneaky bastard. We need to make sure that this was done right or shit will blow back in our faces.”
I looked up at Luciano to see him clench his jaw in anger. I guess he hadn’t seen that coming. He hadn’t seen his best friend betraying him coming at all.
“Oh please,” Damian scoffed, found a stump of a collapsed pillar and sat on it. “That was what everyone said when I wanted to embark on this mission. Oh Luciano’s undefeatable. Oh he’s the lord of trickery and deception. Oh never underestimate him. And here we are. Bastard didn’t know his best buddy was going to stab him in the back.”
Luca winced at Damian’s words, shaking his head while I gritted my teeth. Was it Luca all along? Had he been working alongside Giorgia? That would make sense right? Luciano did suspect Giorgia. And it wasn’t because I had implicated her. Hell, Luciano had claimed to know that I was working with the FBI. That meant he must have known that the evidence against Giorgia back then was planted by me. But he suspected her anyway. He must have had further proof that she was against him. All along with Luca.
Those bastards.
They deserved nothing but death.
“But this was a fool proof plan, no?” Damian continued, “Athena did come in quite handy for us.”
I listened with brows furrowed at the mention name. He had only been using me! But why exactly? Last I checked, he had claimed to have something against Luciano. Claimed to want to bring him down.
I had been so blinded with my need for revenge that I hadn’t bothered to figure out what exactly he wanted and why he wanted to get rid of Luciano.
“For you that is,” Luca said bitterly. “She was rather troublesome for me. I hated that she caused Giorgia so much trouble.”
Damian sniffed haughtily. “You are way too obsessed with that woman,”
“You’re one to talk, what was the deal with that green eyed witch? I told you to cut things off with her the minute Luciano steps in Sicily,” Luca grumbled. He paused searching the dead bodies and glared at Damian.
“She was fun to keep,” Damian replied with a shrug. “Have you heard her voice when she’s all excited? I could swear that I was in love the minute she raced after me that night. Attraction at first sight I tell you.”
“You’re crazy,” Luca replied and I almost nodded in agreement. “You’re crazy Castello,”
“I knew it,” Luciano whispered. “The freaking Castello.”
Castello? That was the gang that had attacked Luciano more times than any other in the past. I saw it now. Damian was the leader of the Castello. And for reasons best known to only Luca, he had joined hands with him.
Whatever reason it was, they would pay. Both of them. With their lives. I would see to it. My eyes riveted to Frederick and I closed my eyes. I would avenge him. There was no way we could escape. Luciano’s shoulder was injured, the building was dilapidated. Before either of us could run very far, they would shoot us down.
Attacking them seemed like the best course of action. The only course of action. I would kill Damian Castello or die trying.
“Relax,” Luciano murmured soothingly and I almost laughed.
Relax? That was all I did! That was all I had done and where had that led me?! Nowhere. I lost the only man who served as my father figure, my mentor, my parents, everything! They would pay! The last thing I wanted to do, right here, right now, was relax.
“Wait here, Raven,” he whispered, patting a hand on my arm. “Please, just trust me okay?”
“No,” I protested weakly, shaking my head at him. I had lost Frederick, I couldn’t lose him either. “Don’t go-”
“I have to. I’ll handle this. It’s only a matter of time before they discover we’re here. This pillar won’t hold very long.” He explained, his dark eyes softening when I clung to him tighter.
“I can’t lose you too,” .
Luciano chuckled, stroked my chin softly. His eyes were sad briefly, before he blinked and looked away.
“When I give the signal,” he said, pulling out my gun, the one he had snatched out of my hands, “You make a break for it okay? Don’t look back, not once, not ever Cara.”
Without waiting for a reply, he cocked the gun and walked out into the open.
“Isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” He asked in a dry tone, pointing the gun straight at Luca. The latter rushed to take his gun but Luciano shot at the rifle. “Hands up where I can see them or I’ll aim at your heart next, Fratello.”
I watched from behind the pillar, trying to quell my shaky nerves.
“Ah shit, I guess everyone was right, Luca,” Damian muttered, rising to his feet. Luciano immediately put a bullet in his legs, causing him to fall to the ground, groaning heavily.
“Keep your damn mouth shut,” Luciano ordered. “This is a family matter,”
While Damian writhed on the ground, Luciano fixed the gun on Luca. “What gives, Brother, never thought it would be you in a million years.”
Luca shrugged unapologetically. “I suppose you were always too gullible for your own good.”
The mafia lord chuckled. He looked quite the sight. His shirt was soaked with blood that streamed from his injured shoulders. A few cuts marred his hardened face giving him a severe look. His chuckle was dark and wild, giving an eerie feel.
He would not go down that easily. That Much was clear.
But that didn’t mean that I would run. I had scores to settle with the bastard that writhed on the floor, howling in pain.
“Tell me,” Luciano urged. “There had better be a better reason for you to stab me in the back like this.”