1. Congratulatory gift

Caspian Bianchi

~•~

“Please, boss…” he cried. “It was a mistake on my part.”

I scoffed, looking at his form that was tied up and hanging upside down, tears and blood streaming down his head like a little bitch. It was a miracle he could still talk at this point. “A mistake?”

He tried to nod but the position he was in made it impossible. “Yes, sir. I promise it will never happen anymore.”

Of course, it was not going to happen again. I wanted to end his life already but I wanted his death to be slow and torturous so every other man would learn from his mistake. He has to pay the price of trying to double-cross me. Did he think he could sell information about me and go Scott free? He had to be fucking delusional.

I took a drag of my cigarette, blowing the smoke right on his face. He coughed when it hit his nose and I stepped back so I wouldn’t have more of his irritating blood on me.

“When did you strike a deal with them?” Then again, before I ended his life, I needed to know.

“About two months ago.” He cried.

I hummed. “How much did they offer you?”

“Half a million, boss.”

“I’m not your fucking boss, little bitch.” His loyalty to me ended the day he struck a deal with my rivals. Why did he think he could easily come back and work for me?

“Boss, I–“ his words were cut short when a bullet suddenly pierced the middle of his head.

I rolled my eyes as I turned around and as expected, Antonio was standing by the door with a gun in his hand. My first mistake was teaching that little brat how to use guns. I arched an eyebrow at him and he chuckled. “Come on, that bastard has been in here for a few days.”

“I was going to give him a few more.”

“He’s a waste of time. You have more important things to do.”

Sticking the butt of my cigarette into the latest corpse, I walked toward Antonio. When he saw me coming, he took several steps back. “More important things like what?”

He laughed nervously. “Let’s go to your office first.” Then, he ran out of the basement, heading straight for my office.

“Feed him to the dogs.” I turned around to order my men before joining my little brother in my office.

My office was always locked, but Antonio had a key so when I entered, he was already in there waiting for me. I turned to the left to see him sitting on my chair. Opposite my table was a mirror that covered the entirety of the wall. Antonio said I had a kink for mirrors because of how much I put them all over the house but over the years, I’d learned to ignore him because all teenagers were blabbermouths.

“Have you started studying for your exams, you little shit?” I asked as I took a seat opposite him, not bothering to chase him away from mine. He was in his last year of high school and he wasn’t entirely interested in it. He was more interested in shooting guns and killing people.

Antonio also wasn’t looking forward to college, but I was going to force him anyway. Before he would properly be a part of the mafia, he was going to have a degree to his name.

He sighed. “Fuck that.”

“I am going to kick you out if you don’t pass.”

“I’m your only brother, you won’t do that to me.”

“You’re not my only sibling.”

“Whatever. I’ll just start my gang if you do.”

“I’ll wipe them out.”

Antonio pouted. “You’re no fun.”

Sometimes, he acted like a baby, and other times, he acted like he was the toughest man in history. I loved him regardless. He and my sister were the only family I had. Our parents were long gone and we had to look out for ourselves.

“What’s the important thing I have to take care of?”

“Oh, yes. I think the bastard I just killed gave off our location. I saw a few men lingering around.”

“Did you kill them?”

“Not yet.”

“Find one of the snipers to do that.”

I had no plans of moving again. There was no way I was going to give up this house. I had spent three years decorating it to my taste and the vineyard that surrounded it was not anything I was going to give up. Aside from the usual dealings of the mafia, the vineyard was an independent business that thrived just as well. It was such a huge compound that one would have trouble walking around without getting tired.

“That was the least important matter. I have more important news for you.”

“Spit it out already, Antonio.” He liked beating around the bush as though to increase the tension and curiosity. It merely irritated me.

Antonio opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, the door to my office was pushed open. I gritted my teeth, turned around, and glared at the person who just entered without knocking.

Pedro didn’t pay attention to the look I was giving him. “She is getting married.”

“Damn it, Pedro,” Antonio whined. “I was going to be the one to break it to him.”

I immediately knew what they were talking about. “Getting married?”

“Well, not exactly getting married.”

“Then, what the fuck is she doing? Stop testing my fucking patience.”

The two men shared a look as my brother answered me. “She is having an engagement party right now, so I’m guessing marriage isn’t far off.”

“Marriage?” I scoffed. “With that bastard?”

“Are you going to stop it?”

I pondered on Pedro’s question. It would be better for me to let her live her life the way she wanted. She had moved on, probably forgotten about me. I didn’t want to go back into her life and ruin it again. I knew that if I saw her, I wouldn’t be able to hold myself back, but I guess I had to give her my congratulatory gift, didn’t I?