CHAPTER ONE

RICARDO’S POV

My phone began ringing while I was driving back from the secret mental health care hospital my mom was in.

I didn't want anyone to know that she was even still alive, so far only Angelo whom I trusted the most among my men in the gang knew and swore to keep it a secret.

That was why my men and my escorts didn't follow me. Aside from that, I never went out of my residence alone. It's too risky given that I was the mafia king.

I checked the person who might have been calling me and saw that it was Angelo, the guy I trusted the most in my gang.

Angelo began working for me when I was newly made the king of all mafia gangs after my father passed away.

Hoping he wasn't calling me because of a problem, I picked up the call with one of my hands still on my steering wheel.

“ Speak, I'm listening “ I answered the call with my not-so-obvious Italian.

Angelo didn't normally call me unless there was a valid reason behind it and I feared there was trouble that why he was calling.

“ Boss, one of our shipments has been hijacked “ Angelo’s baritone voice boomed through the speaker of my phone.

My worst fears had been confirmed, but who dared to hijack my shipment?

Everyone in the mafia world knew that I, Ricardo D’Arezzo never joked with my shipment. The person who hijacked it must have had a lot of nerves to do so.

“ Find out who…. “ But before I could finish passing the instruction to Angelo I began to hear gunshots and see bullets flying towards me.

Shit, I cursed and ended the call.

The worst thing was that the people that were firing at me weren't driving behind me.

They were driving towards me from the front but hadn't drawn too close yet.

Two bullets unexpectedly broke through my windscreen and shot me in my chest area. I yelped in pain, reaching out to take out my gun, and began to shoot at them.

I saw a bridge ahead of me and when I drove through still shooting at them, I discovered that they parked their two cars blocking the way out of the bridge and ten armed men alighted from each of the cars, so I stopped my car immediately.

Since I was the mafia king, I was familiar with every mafia gang in my city, because before any gang was created, they always came to me for permission.

But these men didn't look familiar at all which got me wondering. I parked a safe distance away from them and pretended to be dead due to the bullets they shot in my chest, which I was profusely bleeding and getting weak.

When they noticed I stopped shooting at them, three men walked towards my car, one holding a gallon of what I couldn't yet fathom, while the rest seven stood behind their cars taking cover.

Through my half-squinted eye, two men amongst three men who walked forward from the others walked to my car door but didn't open it.

They just looked inside and when they saw I was bleeding profusely with my eyes closed, they assumed I was dead and nodded their heads to the one holding the gallon.

After which they walked away to meet the guy holding the gallon.

Once they were standing with him he opened the gallon and poured the content on the ground which began flowing towards my car until it settled on the ground underneath my car.

It was then it dawned on me that they were trying to burn my car and make it explode.

When the man was done pouring the fuel on the floor he lit his lighter and threw it on the fuel which immediately caught flames and the men turned their back walking away.

When the fire started drawing closer to my car and I saw that the men were leaving, I quickly opened my car door and jumped down into the river beneath the bridge with great difficulty since I was shot and had lost a lot of blood.

I had to be alive to get back at these assholes. Immediately I jumped down the bridge, I heard my car explode before my body finally went into the river.

I tried to swim but each time I did, I felt intense pain and discomfort whenever I tried, the pain intensified more and more until everywhere went pitch black.

*****************

The next time I opened my eyes, I saw a gorgeous purple-eyed brunette lady staring at me.

I was instantly fascinated and mesmerized by her eye color. I wondered how a human would have such eye color or was I dead?

Immediately the purple-eyed brunette saw that I was awake, and she rushed out. I took that opportunity to sit up and take in my present environment.

I was in a room that didn't look as luxurious as my house but it was conducive and still had a homely feeling.

So I wasn't dead after all.

The brunette came back with a glass of water and seemed displeased when she saw me sitting up on the bed.

“You shouldn't be stressing yourself now, it's a miracle you are even alive,“ She said with her voice which sounded melodious to my ears and then she tried to feed me the water by herself.

“Here have some water,“ she said as she fed me the water and I was reluctant but drank it because my throat felt very dry.

Then she went on to say while still giving me the water “You’ve been passed out for five days now and…“ But before she could continue talking she was interrupted by my sudden coughing.

Hearing her say I had been unconscious for five days instantly made me choke on the water I was drinking.

I knew my men would be worried and searching everywhere for me.

So I spoke for the first time since I woke up “Please can I make use of your phone?“ My voice came out a bit hoarse, while she rubbed my back to help calm me down.

She gave me a questioning look but still gave me her phone.

I knew Angelo’s number by heart so I quickly typed it in and dialed his number. He picked up after the third time that it rang.

“Hello, this is Angelo Diaz on the line,“ Angelo said after he picked up the call.

“ It's me, “ I said and that was all it took for Angelo to recognize my voice and his voice immediately changed to that of worry and concern.

“Boss we have been searching everywhere for you, our perimeters got breached and we got attacked the same day that you went missing. What happened?“ Angelo asked with concern evident in his voice.

“I'll explain everything to you when I get there. Track the location of this number and come pick me up immediately“ I said and ended the call.

Then I gave the phone back to the brunette lady.

“You can't go yet, you are not fully healed and I haven't finished your treatment“ She pointed out.

I wasn't used to having a lady care about me this way and being with a lady like this aside from the females in my gang and mafia world or a business meeting was new to me.

So I didn't know the right words to say to this beautiful lady who saved me.

“What's your name?“ I asked her.

“Valentina Di Maria“ She answered and went to a table stand to bring medicine for me. I was grateful to this lady but I had to go.

“Look, Valentina, I have to go now, my people are in danger. Don't worry I will get better when I get home“ I said while trying to stand.

“But I'm a doctor and…“ Valentina wanted to continue talking but was interrupted by me again.

“I have a personal doctor too, don't worry,“ I said and stood staggering a little while standing but gained my balance after a few seconds.

Valentina sighed and stretched the tray that she was holding that had some pills and a glass of water on it.

“Since you have made up your mind at least take these painkillers before you leave, “ She said urging me to drink the painkillers.

I drank the pills to show my gratitude and also because my body ached a bit.

Then I sat on the bed waiting for Angelo to come pick me up. While Valentina left the room.

While waiting for Angelo, I couldn't help but think that those people who tried to kill me and the one who attacked my men might be working hand in hand to destroy me.

It was no coincidence that the day some gang tried to try to attack my home, that same day some men too tried to kill me.

This meant that someone out there wanted me dead and I guessed that the person wanted to get my position and title.

This only meant one thing. War was coming to my doorstep.

My thoughts were interrupted by Valentina who opened the door halfway and peeped in notifying me that Angelo was there.

I stood up immediately feeling a bit energized and walked out of the room.

My gaze locked with Valentina’s for a moment before I walked to where she stood in her well-furnished parlor, seemed like she came from money.

She opened the door for me without saying a word to me. I walked out and was unhappy to see Angelo with bruises and a bandage on his wrist.

But Angelo looked more than happy and relieved to see me. I walked faster to him as I examined his body with my eyes.

While my men bowed their heads to me as I walked towards them, of course, Angelo wasn't as stupid as me not to come out without escorts who were fully armed.

“We thought you were dead Cardo, “ Angelo said to me and I sighed.

I knew he was really worried because he only called me Cardo on rare occasions when he was scared.

“We'll talk about it on our way home,“ I said to him and he nodded.

He went to thank Valentina before he came back and entered the back of the car.

When I wanted to enter the car, I couldn't resist the urge to turn and look at Valentina one more time.

And when I did, she just nodded at me before going in and closing her door.

There was something about her that was alluring and steered up a feeling inside me, but sadly my life didn't permit me to search further to know what the feeling was.

The only things on my mind were hunting down and spilling the blood of the men who tried to kill me and my gang members whom I considered as family.

They planned on bringing the war to my doorstep but I was going to take it to their doorsteps instead.