Shoot!

SOREN

“Give me the keys!” I yelled at one of our men who had brought the car to pick up the unconscious Takeshi. “Give me the fucking keys!” I shouted again, firing a shot into the ground beside his legs.

He jumped, dropping the keys on the floor before quickly picking them up and placing them in my palm. My jaw clenched as I unlocked the car, my frustration boiling over.

“Young Don, what about Takeshi?”

“Get another fucking car, you idiot!” I shouted before getting into the car and driving away. I clenched my fist around the steering wheel before hitting the accelerator and speeding straight toward the mansion, well above the speed limit.

Rex. A.K.A. Naked Bullet.

The man I hated more than a bitch who couldn't ride a dick. The man my father had adopted years ago and brought into our mansion. The man my father trusted with things he wouldn't even trust me with.

I punched the horn, telling the car in front of me to fuck off before speeding past it.

The underworld knew him as Naked Bullet. I hated that nickname as much as I liked it. He had earned that name by always showing up alone, without backup or protection, licking his bullet before loading his gun and never missing a shot.

That nickname should've been mine.

Before reaching the mansion gates, I had already started honking from afar, telling the guards to open them. I drove inside, past the water fountain, barely turning off the engine before jumping out of the car and tossing the keys to the guard at the door.

The mansion was divided into two wings. I stayed in the West Wing while he stayed in the East Wing. I headed straight for his wing but didn't change direction when I saw him heading toward my father's office.

“Why don't you ever fucking mind your business?” I yelled, making him stop and turn around. He gave me a blank stare, barely reacting as he looked at me.

“I've told you several times to stay out of my fucking business.” I felt rage burn through me when I saw the corners of his lips tug upward slightly.

“I think you're angry because a useless Don like Takeshi managed to point a gun at you, and I got to witness it.” He folded his arms, his smirk widening by the second.

“Listen here, fuckface,” I said, tightening my fist when his smirk developed into a smile. “When it's my assignment, I want you to fuck off. Doing all this isn't going to make my father think you're suitable to take over the empire.”

“Funny, because the Don asked me to see to it that the job was done.”

“You fucking liar,” I spat. “I bet you begged him, itching to prove yourself, just like the greedy bastard you are.”

“Prove myself?” He chuckled. “You, me, and the entire empire know I don't need to do that,” he said with a calm smile.

I stepped closer to him. “You seem to have forgotten your place. You're nothing but a lackey for my dad, and that's where it ends. Twenty-one years ago and even now.”

The smile disappeared, just as I knew it would.

“A lackey your father trusts is better than a son he thinks twice before sending on a mission.”

“You fucking bastard!”

My fist connected with his mouth before I could stop myself. He touched the split flesh, glancing at the blood on his thumb before licking his lips and spitting it in my face.

I charged at him just as my father's door opened. His right-hand man, Nicholas, looked between the two of us, giving us an unimpressed look before saying, “The Don wants to speak to both of you.” Then he went back inside.

“Wipe that defeat off your face. You don't want your father seeing you so out of control.” Rex smirked before opening the door and going inside.

I ground my teeth to suppress the instinct to drag him back outside by the neck and beat him to death. Instead, I exhaled sharply, which did nothing to calm the anger inside me. I wiped the bloody spit off my face before going in.

The office was spacious, with dark wooden walls, a massive desk at the centre, and leather chairs arranged before it. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the city, while a cabinet of expensive liquor stood against one wall. Everything about the room spoke of power, money, and numerous deaths that had been ordered.

I stood away from Rex, who had his hands folded behind his back and his head slightly bowed. I could see his busted lip, and that made the corners of my lips threaten to curl into a smile.

Nicholas half-sat on the table in one corner near my dad's seat, his arms folded as he watched Rex.

My father played with the rings on his fingers, his eyes moving between the two of us for a few silent seconds before he asked, “Where's Takeshi?”

“I left him with the guards back at the site. They should be at the dungeon by now,” I said, beating Rex to the reply.

My father nodded, standing up and taking slow steps toward us.

“And the cash?”

“I secured some before it was shipped. It's in the containers at the Viscon Palace.”

“Good,” he said as he stood in front of us.

I turned my face away and felt the sharp sting of his hard, rough hand before I even registered that he had slapped me.

I heard another smack beside me, which meant he'd slapped Rex too, so hard that his rings came off. Rex picked up the rings and handed them to him.

“Thank you,” my father said, taking them back from him. “I've told you both before. Report the mission first, then fight somewhere else. Not in front of my door.”

His voice was low and dangerous as he walked back to his seat. I touched my bruised lips, moving my jaw to feel the pain.

“Now, for the reason I called you both,” he said as soon as he settled into his seat. “Takeshi isn't the only one paying with fake money. Don Pedro paid with that fake shit too. His next engagements will be at his club, and he'll be there for the next couple of days. Take back double what he owes me. Along with his head.”

I nodded. “I'll go in three days because—”

“There's no 'I' in this,” my father said before nodding at Rex. “You're going with him.”

I didn't bother hiding how much that didn't sit well with me.

“I can go alone. I'd rather go alone.”

“And I'd rather you go with him.”

My frown deepened. “I can deal with the Spanish Don alone. I've done it before, and I can do it again.”

“Yes, you have, but this time, you're going with him.”

“Why? Because you don't think I can do it without him?” I demanded, looking directly at my father.

“Of course I know you can do it alone. You're the son of Don Luca. You're my son and the heir to this empire.” A small smile touched his lips. “I know you can do it.”

“Then why?”

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he rose from his chair and walked toward Nicholas.

“A Don should always watch his back whenever he's out in the open or inside a locked room.” He tilted his head toward Nicholas. “And while someone watches his back, another person needs to make sure the front remains safe. An additional pair of eyes shouldn't be a bad thing, don't you think?” he asked, looking at me.

And then it clicked.

My father's words. His little smile. The way he'd insisted Rex come with me. He wasn't just assigning me a partner; he was putting Rex in the position he'd been pushing for all along.

I pulled out my gun and pressed the muzzle against the side of Rex's head.

“I'd rather blow his brains out than make him my right-hand man.”