Chapter 3

Nico's Pov

Beth Stone stared in disbelief at what I said about her father being alive and I saw that she was about to ask several questions. “Stay put and shut up!" I yelled at her as I brought the car to a stop. She could put us all in danger if she talked too much.

With a simple glance at the vehicles that had just surrounded mine, I could tell they belonged to our gang, and I was almost certain that this encounter wouldn't end well for either of us. Luckily my car had tinted glasses so they wouldn't know she was inside, that's if she kept quiet like I said.

I tucked my pistol into my back pocket and stepped out of my car the same time my boss, Dante “The Serpent” Moretti stepped down from his.

His weathered skin contrasted sharply with his silver hair and he wore a tailored black suit, which fitted him snugly. As usual , his gold signet ring on his knotted fingers glittered in the dark as he tapped his hand rhythmically against his ivory cane.

The men with him respectively stepped down from their cars too and spread out over the area and I knew it wasn't a friendly meetup judging from their faces.

I was the Underboss and these were men I led but in the low light, they refused to meet my eyes and I knew that I was in a lot of trouble. Except it was very important, The Serpent didn't move around much.

Apart from the fact that he was old, it was too dangerous as there were many assassins from rival gang who were waiting to catch us unawares. We were Cosa Nostra after all, the biggest Mafia gang in the country.

“A bird told me a tale so I came all this way to look you in the eyes to confirm this tale. Why did you trick your brothers and keep the girl for yourself? You didn't inform me you had her already?” Dante inquired lazily as he reached into his breast pocket, and brought out a box of cigarettes. One of his henchmen hurried to hand him a lighter, and only when he had helped himself to a puff of the cigarette did I reply.

“I thought the place was empty and I didn't know she was hiding in one of the rooms but rest assured, I was on my way to deliver her to you.”

“It sure looks like you are going against me. You were nothing more than a whelp when I found you, I took you in as a son and this is how you choose to repay me. I ignored all the whispers about you till now so I'm very much interested in what you have to say for yourself.” He teased before taking another puff of his cigarette. Tossing the remnant of the cigar stick onto the floor, he raised his face to meet my eyes. “So I assume the girl is sitting in your car now? I'll take her off your hands myself.”

“Try to act normal,” I whispered to Beth as she was dragged out of my car by the closest goons to me. She was brought down to her knees in front of Dante who seemed pleased to finally set eyes on her.

“I can't wait to make an example of you to the world but first I have to clean up this mess,” He said to her before turning to me. “What about Carlos? I don't see him among your men. He stayed back so shouldn't he be with you?”

I thought of Carlos' body lying down outside the house. I hadn't cleaned it up yet as I didn't think the showdown was happening so soon. I weighed my answers before finally deciding to go with a lie.

“Carlos was killed by a ricochet—”

"By you." Dante interjected, completing my sentence before I had the chance to finish it.

I realized that the gig was up, and I had more than one traitor on my team. I was completely fucked.

Dante gave a signal to the men around him and two of them began advancing towards me. I brought out my pistol from my back and aimed it at them. The rest of them were prepared for me though as they all brought out their guns and aimed at me in turn.

“You must be curious about how I know about everything." Dante continued as he once again pulled a stick of cigarette from the box in his breast pocket. “Like his name implies, the Fox is a sly one.”

Betrayed, I turned my eyes towards the consigliere who had come out of the shadows to stand beside Dante. Antonio “The Fox” Ricci was the last person I had expected to betray me as sparing Beth had been his idea and his demand for helping me overthrow Dante. The duo looked like brothers as they stood together and Antonio winked at me as he caught my eyes.

“You son of a bitch! You set me up!” I thundered, rushing at him but a shot in my direction brought me to a standstill so I had to be content with fuming at him.

My gun was taken from me and I was forced to the ground besides Beth who was silently crying at this point. I found it infuriating but didn't say anything as we were both going to die. We didn't take kindly to traitors and as the Underboss, my death would be drawn out to serve as a deterrent to others who wanted to follow my path.

“We will have to record how we kill her and upload it online as a lesson for other cowards determined to bring us down. I don't need to tell you what we'll do to you since you already know the drill and you've handled executions of this sort in the past. Throwing your life for hers, one will think you are lovers. Any last words before we kill her?” Dante said mockingly and I could see that he was enjoying himself.

I refused to utter a word and spat in his direction. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break down.

“Defiant to the end eh. I'll be handling your torturing myself and you'll be begging for death by the time I'm done with you.”

“I'd rather die before I beg for my life,” I said, staring back at him without fear.

“I don't want to die,” Beth sobbed beside me, her previous confidence now gone in the face of sure death.

“Its a bit late for that. You don't have much of a choice now, do you?”

“So none of you cowards can stand up to the old man. You're better off with me in charge and you know it,” I yelled out to the gang as a whole but got no reaction from them.

“Just give it up Nico, you can't win. At least not till I say so,” Antonio said, strolling towards me.

“What are you saying? He's not leaving here alive and why does he need your permission,” Dante asked looking confused behind him.

“Oh shut up, look around you. Your time is up,” Antonio interjected sharply, cutting him off with a finger to his lips.

“Bastards! You wouldn't dare? What do you think you're doing?!” Dante said the moment he realized that the guns pointed at me were now on him.