Luciano
When I was sixteen, I’d gotten a bullet lodged in my arm during a mission. We were supposed to retrieve a batch of smuggled piranhas by the coast and I had been pretty stoked about it for two reasons.
One, it was the first mission I had total control and utter authority over. The mafia lord then had slowly descended into a state of madness, hiding from everyone and suspecting even his own shadow. I suppose when a man takes lives for a living, he reaches a point where he starts to fear for his life.
His Consiglieres had decided that I was a young lad filled with promises and I had the ruthlessness to lead a squad of ten men down Sicily to retrieve their goods. And I was fucking excited. I’d chugged down a bottle of beer for good measure, revved around the street on my bike with Luca in tow.
We screamed around town like banshees, laughing our heads off and when night came, we hauled our asses to the port by the coast ready to seal the deal.
But then Luca slipped up.
He ticked off the dealer, had the man arrange his goons. Those fuckers were fierce. I’d felt the blows they landed on my head for months! But nothing had hurt more than that fucking bullet. They had aimed for Luca initially and I had played the hero and jumped right before the gun. Earned myself a bullet in the arm.
Right now however, staring at the bastard I had taken a bullet for, I wished I had delayed just a tiny second. Just a millisecond. Perhaps I wouldn’t feel as horrid as I did at the moment.
Luca had the audacity to look angry. He looked like I was the one who had betrayed him by not dying. The nerve of this jackass. We had been through life and death together! We had fought the worst of battles, climbed the highest of hills. I called him brother! To think he could betray me,… Fuck I couldn’t even believe my damned eyes.
“Talk,” I spat, my grip on the gun tightening and I watched his every move. Who the hell did he think he was? “Speak Luca, explain why the fuck you betrayed me!”
“Like that would. make. a difference,” he retorted, hands trembling beside him. The pathetic wimp was afraid.
Ha! I almost laughed. He was right to be. He had tried to kill me! Fuck, if I wasn’t so damned fortunate, id be on the floor with my eyes rolled up in my head. And it would all be because my best friend, my brother wanted me dead for reasons I couldn’t fucking fathom.
“Oh it will, ” I replied, stalking towards him, my eyes trained on his every move. Not so far from him, on the floor was the fucking Castello who had caused the whole damn ruckus.
Damian Castello.
Bastard had been after me for years now. He groaned as he tried to rise to his feet, however injured it may be. My mind drifted to Raven. Fuck, I had to keep her safe. Once I engaged Luca, I’d give her the signal to. make a break for it. Damian should not be able to catch up with her with his injured leg and if he tried anything, I’d shoot the second one off.
She had to be safe. I would make sure of that.
“Why can’t you just fucking die?!” He bellowed, throwing his hands in the air. When he looked at me, his blue eyes flashed with something I had never seen and never thought I would see in Luca’s eyes.
Hatred.
“Maybe because you haven’t yet!” I spat. “I trusted you. I trusted you Fratello!”
“Don’t call me that,” he hissed, gnashing his teeth. “I am not your brother!”
“If there was a problem, Luca,” I said, willing myself to look him dead in the eye. “If there was a fucking problem, we could have talked. We could have sorted shots out between us. You didn’t have to take it this far!”
“Yes I did!” He yelled. “You have no idea how… How annoying it is to always walk in your damned shadow. Everyone worships you. They adore you. You’re like some god to them. What about me?!”
I couldn’t believe my ears right now. He did this out of jealousy? Nasty petty jealousy?
I laughed at the thought, a short harsh sound that sounded as hard as nails to my ears. Waving my injured hand behind me slightly, I signaled for Raven to leave. I couldn’t turn to check if she did, but she was smart, I was sure she would take the hint. I would wait some. minutes and when I was certain she had left, I was going to raise hell. Big fucking time.
“Quit mocking me!” Luca gritted through his teeth..
“You make it easy,” I shrugged my one good shoulder. “I had hoped you would betray me for a rather tangible reason. Something like my ruling was terrible, or I had committed an unforgivable sin towards you. That would be less ridiculous than fucking jealousy. Do you have any idea how much of a sissy you sound like?”
“I guess to someone like you, that sounds ridiculous. But it was everything to me. You sicken me Luciano,” he said thickly. “I watch you give me orders like a dog, and all I feel deep down is disgust. Nothing more.”
I shook my head, watching him sadly. “I called you brother. I gave you power. And this, this is how you treat me?”
He reached for his gun and I fired a gun past his ear in warning.
“You know I never miss a shot,” I said, readjusting my aim. “Reach for that gun again and I’ll blow off your arm. An arm. for an arm right?”
He chuckled darkly and held his hands up. “If you wanted to kill me, you would have a long time ago. I know you Luciano,”
“Do you?”
“You know that I do. I have lived years with you, I know what fucking makes you tick. It’s exactly why I was able to deceive you, don’t you think?” He explained cheerily. “To the world, you are the invincible Morretti. One who can never be defeated. It took years of planning and planning to be able to achieve that wound on your shoulder. How crazy is that?”
“Very,” I said, humoring him with a wild grin.
“That bitch of yours is alive isn’t she? That has to be the only reason-”
I fired past his ear, grazing his lobe this time and watched him. wince. His hands touched his ears, wiped off blood and he glared at me.
“We’ll see how long you’ll be able to last like that,” he hissed. “When you’re gone, taking over the mafia will be fucking easy as pie. I’ll have the respect I deserve and Giorgia will have no one to look to but me. She Spent all her life loving you only for you to pick an American bimbo over her!”
I growled at the term he used for Raven and considered putting a bullet to his brain. What was I holding out for anyways? A fucking apology? A flat out confession? I definitely wouldn’t be getting either of that from the look of things. So why bother?
“It was fun using her. Right Damian?” He said,
“Sure was,” his partner groaned, struggling to remain on his feet. He had ripped his shirt and tied a cloth over the wound to stop the bleeding. “Man, you’re tenacious. My legs going to be on a strain for weeks!”
“Keep talking and your mouth’s going to follow,” I threatened.
Damian Castello laughed and shook his head, he cocked his gun then, pointing it at me. “I don’t think you’re in a position to make threats buddy,”
Ah crap, I suppose there was no use postponing what was to come. Raven ought to have escaped. I had stalled, waiting for Enzo and the men, but knowing Luca, he most likely had done something to ensure they couldn’t get here.
I was fucked.
But I sure as hell wasn’t going down alone.
“Give up, Luciano,” Luca taunted, waving his hands at me in mockery. “There’s no use resisting. I won this round. Embrace your death with open arms. Do not worry, I’ll tell the Consiglieres you put up a good find fight until the-”
A large chunk of stone hauled out of nowhere and landed square on his face. Luca crumpled to. the ground in shock and I whipped back to look behind me. A flash of golden hair whipped me in the face and in a blink, my gun was gone.
Raven!
She stood before me, pointing the gun at Damian, breathing heavily.
“If you think I’m going down without a fight,” she yelled, “Think again you bastards!”
“Ah shit,” Damian grumbled, “You two are a pain in the rear.”