Chapter Five

Luciano.

I held the knife tightly in my hand as we walked out of that dreadful place. It felt good to breathe in fresh air again, instead of the contaminated air inside.

This was the first time in years we had stepped outside. My brother had spent so much time cooped up inside, that he seemed indifferent to leaving. But I knew staying in that hellhole was just as suffocating for him as it was for me.

“I thought they would be here, waiting,” Adriano said beside me. I looked around but said nothing. I had thought the same, but it seemed he hadn’t gotten the memo. I glanced at Adriano, ready to speak, but stopped when a car drove in—three black SUVs speeding into view and stopping in front of us.

Adriano and I exchanged glances, and I straightened my back, preparing for whatever was about to unfold. We stared at the cars, waiting for someone to step out, but my brows furrowed when I realized he wasn’t in any of them.

Even with the tinted glass, it was clear he wasn’t there.

The men emerged from the SUVs, each wielding a black baton, their expressions blank as they stared at us. My brother and I shared another glance before taking our positions, ready to defend ourselves as they charged at us.

One by one, they rushed forward, batons raised, aiming to hit us in any weak spots. Despite the pain coursing through my body from the previous torture, I was determined to fight. There were sixteen of them and only two of us, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t take them down.

They swung their batons at me, but I was quicker. I dodged to the side, landed a punch, and cut the throat of the nearest attacker. I didn’t stop until every single one of them was either dead, bleeding, or incapacitated on the ground.

I blinked, breathing heavily, my chest heaving as I looked at the carnage around us. I glanced at my brother and raised an eyebrow. He nodded, and that was all I needed to know he was fine.

I threw the bloodied knife to the ground, standing in the midst of the chaos as we watched a solitary SUV drive in. It stopped in front of the building, and the driver’s door opened, revealing one of his many men. The driver walked to the back of the vehicle and opened the door. The boss stepped out with a slight grin, but froze when he saw the scene before him.

He scowled and, without acknowledging us, walked over to the nearest man who wasn’t dead and kicked him in the chest. The man grunted and spat out blood.

“How is this possible?” he growled at the injured man struggling to stand. Before he could rise, the boss sent another kick to his stomach.

“How the hell were they able to take you all down without getting a scratch?” he yelled, and I scoffed, still trying to catch my breath.

I was trying really hard not to skin him alive right then and there.

There were many ways I envisioned his demise, but that couldn’t happen now—it wasn’t part of the plan.

“Answer me, damn it!” He kicked the man again, and the poor guy wheezed, letting out a loud breath that sounded almost like he might pass out.

“I...we...tried...our best, boss—“ he managed to utter before being cut off.

“Your best? It wasn’t fucking enough! They’re still here, you idiot!” The man said nothing but extended his hand.

The driver who had opened the passenger door stepped forward and placed a gun in his hand.

“Boss...please...”

“You’re nothing but a waste of space. An idiot!” he hissed, and the man pleaded for mercy. But in the next instant, his body dropped to the floor with a gunshot.

The boss adjusted his suit jacket and turned to face me and my brother.

“You aren’t supposed to be out?” The bastard, Pedro Rodriguez, head of the Spanish mafia asked, tucking the gun back into his waistband as he locked eyes with me. His gaze was cold and calculated; I was certain I wore the same expression. This was the bastard who had ruined my life and my brother’s.

The same man we had once trusted.

“Our sentence ended a week ago, Pedro. We’re supposed to be out,” I replied, my words sharp enough to cut.

“You’re not supposed to come out until I—“

“You don’t get to dictate anything about us, Pedro,” Adriano interjected.

“You killed those men, didn’t you?” Pedro’s gaze connected with mine, and I met his stare, both of us knowing I wasn’t going to answer.

“What do you want?” he asked, impatience dripping from his voice.

He had the nerve to act as if he had somewhere important to be rather than being here with us.

“I’m sure you didn’t break out of prison and send those men to alert me for nothing,” he continued.

I scoffed.

“You don’t get to question us, Pedro.” His eyes flicked to Adriano.

“You speak when we want you to, and right now, you’re being a fucking nuisance.” His jaw was clenched, as if he were trying to restrain himself from doing something stupid, a warning that he might lash out at any moment.

Pedro glanced at Adriano and said, “I would have thought that being in that damn prison would have changed the way you speak to your elders, Adriano. Do you want a replay of what kind of punishment you get for being a ‘nuisance’?” His lips curled at the side as if he had just said something disturbing.

This provoked a reaction from Adriano, who snarled and lunged forward to punch Pedro. But I was quicker; I held him back and stood between them before he could make contact. Two men in black suits appeared behind Adriano, guns pointed at us.

“Suelten sus armas,” Pedro ordered, and his guards complied, lowering their weapons quickly. He locked eyes with me again.

Pedro squared his shoulders, watching me with those calculating eyes, thinking he was in control. What he didn’t know was that I was way ahead of him. It was risky to be here with him, threatening him in a way that could get us killed. But we would rather die trying than live like cowards.

Adriano pulled away from my grip, and with just a glance at him, I knew he wouldn’t do anything stupid. I turned my attention back to Pedro.

“We need to talk,” I ordered.

Pedro’s brows shot up. “And who the hell do you think you are to command me?” he asked.

“You do not want to find out what would happen if you don’t,” I threatened again.

“You’re threatening me?” He grinned as he relaxed his shoulders, as if we couldn’t do anything. “With what, if I may ask?” he stated the obvious.

“Trust me, Pedro, you wouldn’t want to know what I have.”

“Unlike you boys, I have nothing to hide,” he replied, so bravely that anyone standing around would have believed him.

I would have believed that too if I were still the naive boy who looked up to him years ago.

“You don’t?” My eyes crinkled slightly as he stared at me with a bored expression. I was sure he wouldn’t seem so indifferent if he knew what I was about to say.

“I don't think I have the time or energy to waste reminding you of our unfortunate encounter years ago.” I noted how his expression shifted at that piece of information. Of course, he knew exactly what I was talking about.

Everyone could see how quickly his reaction changed, and that was all I needed to know I had gotten his attention.

I hate to say it, but I needed his help to reenter his circle. After what we were accused of, it would take time to get back on our feet. He was the quickest way in, and I didn’t mind playing him at his own game.

“Take us somewhere private to talk, or better yet, we need to be alone,” I ordered again.

The two guards behind him listened attentively, their hands resting on their guns and ready for action if needed. They were waiting for their leader’s command, but I knew Pedro wouldn’t provoke a fight. He would be too foolish to let that happen; it would ruin his perfectly crafted plan.

The tension in the air was palpable as he finally said, “Follow me.”

One of his guards stepped forward, frowning and clearly displeased with his boss's decision.

“Sir, you can't be alone with them…”

Pedro paused, not even glancing at the guard, and said, “Are you questioning me, boy?”

The soldier stepped back, mouth shut, but not without casting a glare at us.

Pedro's body was tense as he gestured for us to follow him. I looked at Adriano, who appeared ready to attack and end everything right there.

“You should have let me kill him,” he growled. I could tell whatever Pedro had said had triggered him, but I didn’t know why. He was restless and wouldn’t calm down until Pedro was dead. That was something we both wanted, and it would happen.

“And where would that get us?” I narrowed my eyes at him. We had just escaped one mess; I didn’t want us entangled in another so soon after the first.

“Control yourself, Adriano. We don’t want everything to go to waste,” I whispered to him.

When Adriano reluctantly nodded, we followed Pedro to his car. He got in the front seat, and I took the passenger seat while Adriano begrudgingly settled into the back.

The air was thick with tension as we all sat in silence. Pedro’s hands clenched and unclenched on the steering wheel. He let out a breath and unbuckled a button on his shirt before finally speaking.

“You should know that threatening the head of a mafia won’t help you both, considering you just came out of prison and killed sixteen of my guards.”

“Fifteen,” Adriano corrected him, glancing at him.

Pedro shouldn’t count the last guard’s death against us when he was the one who had actually killed him.

“You should have thought about that before you had us locked up,” I shot back.

His head whipped to the side. “I didn’t get you locked up because I wanted to! You both killed your father, my friend. What do you expect me to do? Shake your bloody hands and pat you on the back for a job well done? You both know I had to do it.” He shook his head in disgust as we glared at him.

I wasn’t surprised that he was acting this way, trying to make it seem like it was our fault.

“We didn’t kill our father, Pedro. You of all people should know that; we were framed,” I said, my jaws tightening at the mention of my father. He didn’t have the right to bring him up, and the nerve he had to call him his ‘friend’ was infuriating.

“Oh, you were framed?” he asked with a humorless laugh.

“Then I believe you. You guys are so convincing,” he replied sarcastically.

“We were framed!” Adriano interjected angrily.

“Why the hell would we kill our own father?” I demanded.

“I don’t know, for power? His wealth or his position? I could go on and on about so many reasons why you killed him,” he said without blinking.

So this was the alibi he was using.

“We had no part in—” I started, but he cut me off.

“Let’s see. The weapon used on him belonged to you, Luciano. Your fingerprints were found on it, and it was discovered in his chest. The autopsy showed that—”

“His autopsy was tampered with,” I snapped.

“Use your head, old man. With all the years you've spent in this world, you should know when evidence is forged. We were framed; that is the truth.”

“The truth?”

“The fucking truth is that he’s dead and not only did your knife have your DNA on it, but everything concerning his death pointed at the two of you. I arrived when he was bleeding out and looked like a corpse! No matter what we did, he couldn’t be saved. The doctors tried, Luciano. You took my best friend from me,” he shouted angrily.

We all went silent, trying to calm our racing hearts and boiling blood.

“I don’t care what you believe, Pedro. We were framed, and after thinking it through, we came up with a solution to prove our innocence,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck to relieve some tension.

“Yeah? And how do you plan on doing that?” he asked.

I paused for a moment before speaking up. “I spoke to Carlos.” I watched as his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“There’s no way you spoke to him. He wouldn’t give you an audience,” he retorted. He was right but I could be able to get one.

I gritted my teeth together. “He did. I spoke to him, and we agreed to make peace. We came up with a great idea to clear our names. Everyone expects us to react violently because of what happened, but with this alliance, we can prove we aren’t anything like that and also prove our innocence.”

He paused for a moment, processing my words before asking, “And what’s this brilliant idea you’ve come up with?”

“An alliance.” His eyes locked with mine, but he didn’t interrupt me.

“Absolutely-fucking-not!” I cut in before he could go on.

“An alliance would be the only way for us to prove our innocence.”

“Tell me why the hell I would let you two murderers back into my circle? Give me one good reason why I should help you boys clear your name, stained with your father’s blood.”

A dark chuckle escaped my mouth. I couldn’t help but laugh at his words. One reason he says? I had plenty.

I knew it would come to this—he might respect Carlos, but that didn’t mean he would do anything we told him.

“I thought as much; you don’t have anything,” he bragged, satisfaction evident in his tone.

“Because you’re a friend?” Adriano asked, sounding unsure and causing Pedro to look at him.

“That ship sank a long time ago, boy. The both of us means nothing to each other.” I ground my teeth to stop myself from punching him.

“If this is all you wanted to discuss, then I think we are done here. You clearly don’t have anything worth my time,” he said, reaching for the door handle, ready to leave.

“I thought I mentioned something earlier,” I said, rubbing my palms together.

He paused and glanced back at me. “Out with it, boy. I don’t have all day to waste,” he growled. His behavior was nothing short of rotten, and I wondered how he would react after hearing what I was about to say.

I crooked my finger, beckoning him to come closer. He stared at me skeptically at first before leaning in. I leaned down until my mouth was right by his ear and whispered words he never expected to hear from me or anyone else. His breath hitched, and his eyes widened as he processed what I had just said.

“T—that’s a lie. There’s no way you would know about that.” I stared at him with a challenging look.

“Prove it.”

I thought as much.