★LUCIANO★“Quick question, Master Luciano. Please where is my son, Pablo? I haven't seen him around.”Casting a cursory glance at Romano, I clenched my fist. Beforehand, I had instructed him to tell her Pablo went on a long trip to Africa. So for her to be asking me that same fucking question all over again, meant Romano failed to do so. Romano dropped his gaze to meet the floor and I twitched my lips before returning my attention to Andrea. “Pablo is not going to be around for a long time,” I informed her. “I sent him on a mission to Africa and don't bother trying to contact him. There is no network in his location.”She stared at me quizzically but before she could think of saying anything else, I was already on the way to my room.Entering my room, I shut the door behind me. Afterward, I plopped on the bed and heaved a sigh. These past few days have been fucking stressful. Furthermore, I was expecting some merchandise from Russia tonight so I'd have to visit the seaport to wait f
★JANIE★Wiping off the tears from every corner of my eyes with the back of my hands, I expelled a sharp air out of my lungs.Breathe, Janie! Exhale! In out, in, out, I schooled myself. I knew with time everything was going to get better. I just had to make sure I calmly strategize my plan and figure my way around here. Then I can make a move. But all this wouldn't be possible if I don't eat, would it? Reluctantly, I dropped the knife on the floor and stared blankly at it. I could not believe I had set up my mind on killing myself a few moments ago. I still had a lot of life in front of me; I haven't attended college, and I have not gotten married. And to say the least, I haven't gotten someone to pop my cherry yet. So where the hell was I hurrying to? No, Janie. You can do this. Luciano is no match for you, just avoid him like a plaque until you can get the hell out of here, I thought to myself. Then I shuffled to my feet, switched on the faucet, and washed off my teary face. When
★JANIE★I bit down on my lower lip. Damn! Why would I offer to treat him? I could care less if he bled to death, that would make everything a whole lot easier for me.Somehow, my thoughts don't correspond with what my mom had taught me. Part of her lessons was to be good no matter the circumstances, or how much the person was bad to you. Luciano stared at me in shock, and he twitched his lips without uttering a word. He walked past me slowly and I followed right behind. I heard Romano clear his throat as we walked away. Perhaps, they might be as stunned as I was at the moment for offering to treat someone who caused me so much pain and ripped me of my dreams. Maybe, this might turn out well, I thought to myself. Alas, I could treat him in exchange to be set free. There was no damn way I was going to render such a benevolent act without expecting anything in return. I'd be damned. Out of sympathy, I walked up to him and encircled my arm around his waist, then we ambled into his roo
★JANIE★"What are your reasons, huh?" I fired back. "What are your fucking reasons?"Hot tears poured down my cheeks as I glared at him. With my lips curled in disdain, I took a couple of steps backward. "Look at me, Janie," Luciano said softly as he tried to touch me, but I pulled away. "I don't want to look at you!" I bellowed angrily. "You are a monster!" With a swift maneuver, Luciano grasped me and wrapped his good arm around my waist. My breath hitched at that impact then I started struggling with him to set me free. But the more I did, the more his grip tightened. "Call me whatever you want, Janie. But I want to protect you. I want you to be under my wings where I can reach you." He moved to cup my chin, but I tilted my head sideways. "Protect me?" I scoffed. "You of all people don't know how to protect anyone. Rather you would just kill, kill and kill!" I seethed angrily. Luciano retracted his hand and sighed. "I promise not to ever hurt you, Janie." "Too late. You alrea
★LUCIANO★“Okay, the merchandise record is clean,” I informed Romano. “Get some men to deliver what Jonas wants. And they should tell him - I want my money in full.” “Yes, Boss.” Romano walked away to do my bidding. And then Francesco walked up to me. “Boss, we are running out of fuel for the vehicles.” He bowed in deference.“Okay. Meet Romano to hand you the credit card for fuel. And do not purchase more than this month's budget." “Yes, Boss.” he stomped off. I arranged the record book neatly in my stack. Went around once more to observe the warehouse and the goods, then I paused. Heaving a sigh, I looked around, wondering what I was missing. An empty feeling clouded my guts and I didn't know what that was— could I have missed something while checking the rate of my merchandise? Just then, the thought of Janie grazed my mind. It was then I understood why I felt somewhat empty and miserable. I hadn't seen her since yesterday morning after our little scuffle. I didn't even know i
★LUCIANO★A stab of hurt cut through my veins. Instantly, tears welled up in my eyes, but I closed them shut to suppress my tumultuous nerves. Although, I expected something like this to happen eventually. Yet, at some point, I decided to cling to the ray of hope I had left. I hoped she could fight it and come out victorious.Visiting my mother every month, my heart usually clench in pain whenever I saw her. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. Painfully, she couldn't hear whatever I had to say. Why now? For seven freaking years, my mother slipped into a vegetative state. After we lost my sister, father, house, and everything we owned ten years ago, she had never been the same again. Unluckily for her, she traveled from Italy to China just to purchase some products for her company. Only to hear of the unfortunate attack, the next day. Because of that terrible news, she slumped. And that was how my uncle had to help her get admitted before his death. She had been on several me
★LUCIANO★Without remorse, I turned to the second captive. “Now where were we?” “Please, I promise to do whatever you ask me to do. If you ask me to serve you for the rest of my life, I will. Please just spare me, sir.” His voice shook with fear. I leaned towards him and asked; “And why should I believe you?” He fidgeted back and forth. “Because I have never wanted to be part of Ramos Ashton's army. I am just a young boy trying to navigate my way and purpose in life. Alas, I went to him because I needed help with my mother's hospital bills. She had stage four cancer, but Ramos gave me a condition that I enlarge his coast by becoming a part of his henchmen so he could assist me. However, he didn't.” What? For the first time in history, I felt pity for someone. Perhaps, it was because he mentioned the word mother and I knew how much they meant to every individual, or maybe because I just lost mine. So I removed his blindfolds and hardened my jaw. “Why?” His eyes flickered with fe
★LUCIANO★“She has no choice but to do what I ask of her.” I paused, aiming steadily at the bull's eye target. Instinctively, I released the arrow and it went flying until it landed in the bull's eye. Then I continued. “She belongs to me now.” Romano cleared his throat and hand me another arrow. “And If I may ask – why are you so interested in Janie?” Narrowing my gaze to his, I dropped the bow on the table and hardened my jaw as I faced him squarely. “And why do you ask?” “Well......because the girl is so young and pretty, but this world we live in.” He gestured at me and him. “.... ain't for her.” Rummaging through my muzzled hair, I inhaled deeply and exhaled afterward. “That's where you are wrong, Romano. The life I want to create for Janie is quite befitting for her. And very soon, I will begin to unfold them one by one.”Romano gave me a playful jab on my arm. “I hope you are not falling for the pretty girl?” He said amidst a series of teasing chuckles. “No, she looks lik
SEBASTIAN’s POV“Now, the choice is yours. I want to leave here this instant with Janie or the van blows up and your girl alongside your right-hand man dies."The moment those threats left my lips, my heart jammed painfully into my chest and I did not know the reason why. Maybe because standing in front of Luciano after all these years brought back some nostalgia or because I wanted to see him cave in. I want to see him through defense. I want him to be broken up until the extent of going on his knees to beg for my mercy. But fucking Luciano seemed to remain unwavering despite being in a distressful situation. With a gunshot wound on his arm oozing out blood and running in fine lines down his arms and cascading in droplets to the ground, he still stood as though he had the whole situation under control. Fucking hell…I mean that’s what I have always admired in the man. All those times I worked alongside him, I wanted to be him so bad. However, when I realized I’d never measured up t
*LUCIANO*As I stepped out of the van, I dipped my hand into my back pocket, ready to pull out my pistol and start blowing off the heads of these motherfuckers obstructing my way. But before I could, a voice cut through the atmosphere. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Immediately, I froze.Even without seeing the face of the person who had just spoken, I knew. That voice was all too familiar for me to miss. I grew up with him, dined with him, joked with him, cried because of him when he lost his parents, and mostly especially tortured myself for days after supposedly ending his life. I clenched and unclenched my jaw as I sharply got a grip on myself and looked around, searching for the face of the bastard who intended to stab me in the back years back but he was nowhere to be found. Not in the mood for silly games, I hollered. "Come out wherever you are and face me!" With my fingers still curled around my gun, I waited hoping little Sebastian would be man enough to stand in fro
“But Sir-" The nurse began to say only to shut her mouth as she noticed the dead gripping glare Luciano issued her. She seemed perturbed. She didn't feel it was right to move someone who had just regained consciousness, and for reasons she wasn't sure of."Why are you still standing there?" Luciano growled, "Get her dressed, I am moving her now!” He commanded before lowering his head back to the cell phone in his hand and typing ferociously on it. Still, the nurse stood her ground. She did not make an effort to move. Deep down, I could have warned her not to mess around with Luciano, but I did not understand the situation also and was as confused as the nurse. A few seconds later, Luciano raised his head from the phone to look at the nurse. When he noticed she hadn’t made a move yet, he clenched his jaw and reached for his back pocket. Before I knew it, he brought out a pistol, cocked it, and then aimed it at the nurse. “I do not like to repeat myself over and over again.” Terri
*JANIE*My eyes flung open to the blinding light in the room but I was forced to shut them back momentarily. Letting out a small groan, I let my mind dwell on my Parent's disappearance and then Mr Luciano being shot. "Mr Luciano?" I tried to say but it came out in a hushed whisper. Tears gathered in my eyes as I tried to move, but found it quite difficult. Have I been shot too? Am I going to die? "Janie!" I heard someone's voice call out to me. It was a familiar one. Straining my neck toward the direction of the voice, I saw a worried Mr Luciano walking across the room to me. But. . . But he was just,Was that all a dream? His hand touched my arm and it was surprisingly soothing. "Don't try to move, just lay down," he urged me, as I lay down trying to comprehend what was going on. "Luciano?" I found myself repeating, obviously surprised to find him in good shape when he had just been shot a few minutes back. "I'm here," he said, his hands squeezing mine softly.For some reaso
*LUCIANO*For every second I pondered on it, I felt more confused than the last. The truth is, I barely know what to believe. As I paced around in Janie's room, thinking about the letter I had received. The thought of Sebastiano being alive was something I couldn't understand. "It can't be him," I mumbled to myself, trying hard to disregard the fact in front of me; his letter. His death was something I could vividly remember, and it had no survival plot, no means of escaping death.I remember never wanting his death to occur, never wanting to path ways with him being family, but his jealousy was something I couldn't comprehend. He changed overnight, or maybe I didn't notice on time. Sebastiano was a lying, sneaky, and cunning bastard who wanted to take over my empire, disguising himself as a trusted ally.Three years ago, Seb, as I liked to call him, and I worked hand in hand. He was my cousin, and a trusted accomplice. Apart from Romano, I could count on him whenever I needed some
*JANIE*Exhausted from another day at school, I rushed back home. My dad was sitting in the living room, on the black couch that I had dribbled writings on as a child. He said he wasn't going to get rid of it because he wanted a lasting memory. Cute. He had his eyes fixed on the TV, perhaps watching the ABC Entertainment channel he loved so much, with the remote in his hands.He greeted me with a smile on his face the moment he realized I was at the door, and with that I quickly rushed over to where he sat and gave him a hug, a nice warm embrace."So, how was school today? Any trouble?" He asked, as we both pulled apart from the hug "It was fine," I replied with a little smile on my face. I guess it wasn't that convincing because he decided to ask me again."Are you sure?" I could notice the hint of worry on his face."I'm being serious Dad. It's actually going well. The school's environment is unique, and blending in has really been good," I explained, but he still shot me a weird l
*Luciano*I stared at the evidence in my hand continuously, finding it hard to agree that my most vile enemy had nothing to do with Janie's situation. There have to be some loopholes. I killed Ramos Ashton's henchmen a few days back for attempting to kidnap Janie, and this must have been the way he decided to get back to me after all. After moments of silence, I watched Romano pace around the room, probably thinking exactly what I was. It was very simple. We were trying to figure out what other rivals I could have. One who was as smart as to aim from a long distance, whose contentment was my death. Even though I had few other enemies, none seemed to match my description of ruthless killing. I had considered this rival a coward because he was scared to come out and face me. Pfft."If he wasn't the one, then who the fuck is?" Romano voiced his thoughts aloud, asking rhetorically."Another rival that we barely know about isn't good, but I will find him and make sure he pays for everythi
LucianoStaring at Janie as I sat on the chair next to her bed, I could feel my heart ache even more. Three days had gone and she hadn't moved a muscle, different from her usual persona of running away and making sure her presence was known. Ramos Ashton was going to pay for his carelessness, and I was going to make sure of it. For every single day, she laid on this bed without a movement, it would be the same amount of bullet I'd put through his chest the moment I saw him.For a couple of minutes, I looked at every inch of Janie's body, hoping to get a sign of her body moving at any point, but I couldn't. I had seen in movies where a patient or loved one would move their fingers after the patient's loved one beckoned on them to get better and they would, but I had been waiting relentlessly for the past three days, hoping she would do the same, an act I had never done for anyone in a long time."It's been three days Janie, please open your eyes," I spoke as I squeezed her right hand s
★...X...★"Boss, please please I'm begging you, I didn't mean to shoot the young lady, she just popped out of nowhere." The idiot begged profusely. Saliva oozing out of the corner of his mouth, irritating the shit out of me. Cocking the gun, I placed the metal on his skull and spat without remorse. "Say your last prayers.""Boss, please... I'm begging you with everything I own. You know I've been serving you for quite a while now and I won't just slack off, but the whole thing was a miss calculation. I had my gun out for Luciano. I was aiming for his chest as you instructed before she emerged out of nowhere and got in the middle of it all." He cried helplessly. My chest tightened. How could this idiot ruin the plan I've been strategizing for months? Months! What was so difficult in shooting someone? Aim, pull the trigger, fire. And down, the person goes. Fucking asshole, I cussed at him. These past few months, I have spent it, cooped up in my hole, strategizing on ways to make L