WARNINGS

Violent Displays & Gore (not too extreme/graphics)
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A/N

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• DAMIAN •

Arriving at the location attached to Renzo's message, I parked my car at the dock overlooking the man-made lake; a privately owned port that Father had purchased for our personal use.

Black SUVs lined the path, shipping containers towering over the dock with some stationed on the ground, used as offices and monitoring shafts. Harsh afternoon sunlight shone against the shores, reflecting and illuminating the space around.

Armed men littered around the space, all adorned in combat gear, alert and watchful as they surveyed the area. Footsteps of my men echoed against the cement floors as they flanked me at each corner — despite my instructions for them to stay put.

I sighed and walked forward, not minding the guards observing me as I made my way. I may not be heading their operations, but they sure as hell knew not to question or stop me.

When I reached the red-painted shipping container larger than the others, I bypassed the security and made my way into Leon's heavily guarded compartment; a well-designed office space that resembled the interior of an overpriced yacht. The whole space was filled with maids and servants running about and getting things in order. I stepped past the foyer and found two familiar faces sitting in his waiting area, glum and reclined in their seats.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, watching as Alejandro's eyes fell on mine, a small smile making its way to his lips.

"Well, hello to you too." He had a lit cigar sticking out of his lips with puffs of smoke seeping out. "I thought you'd be happier to see me, it's rare to get a hold of you these days."

"I wonder why," I muttered as I took a seat on the opposite couch from him where a glum-looking Mattia resided. At the sight of me, he shot up on his feet and gave a curt bow.

"Boss."

"Mattia," I responded dryly. "Why are you here?"

Alejandro perked up, "Oh you'll see. It's why your brother called us here in the first place."

I narrowed my eyes at Mattia but he kept his head bowed, not giving any room for questions. My fingers clenched in a fist as I struggled to keep a cool, level-headed demeanor. It was Sunday for Christ's sake. Instead of spending my time waiting for Leon to grace us with his presence at his convenience — after leaving a dramatic message behind — I would rather have spent the rest of my day trying to unpack the elephants in the room with Makua. But when did I ever get a moment to dwell in peace?

"How has decoding the drive been?" Alejandro asked, resting his forearms on his knees as he leaned forward. "Any leads?"

I shook my head, "None. The freaking drive is heavily encoded. Even the best tech personnel on my team couldn't crack it. And they are the best of the best. How did you even get it?"

He smiled, "I have my ways, you have yours. I just called in a few favors and the next thing I knew, I had the drive sitting on my desk. I didn't try to decode it though, all I needed was to deliver on my side of the deal."

"Hmm," I said, mimicking his stance as I mulled over his words in my head. "How about the shit we recovered for you? How's the progress on that?"

His smile faltered ever so little and he pulled the cigar from his lips, allowing a thick cloud of smoke to seep out. "It's coming along just fine, had a few hitches but it's all in a day's work for experimentation."

"And you're not willing to share any details with us?"

"If you specified yourself, then I would say yes. Yes to sharing information with my good friend. No to giving your organization leverage or an incentive to turn against me."

I nodded, leaning back into my seat. "Well understood."

We shared a knowing look just as the distant sound of a closed door met our ears. Followed by approaching footsteps. I sat straight as Leon appeared, flanked by his right-hand man, Antonio, and a bodyguard.

"I'm sorry for the wait." He said, arms held to his back as his eyes went over us. His gaze settled on Mattia and a scowl graced his features. "Follow me."

He turned and started walking the way he came and we were quick to follow. Watching his hands clad at his back, my eyes widened at the blood soaking his white dress shirt and hands. Alejandro and I met each other's eyes in the same second before looking over at Mattia who trailed behind us.

Fear crept over my spine. Not for myself, God no. But for whatever shit one of my Capos, Mattia, had found himself in. If it was something as extreme to make Leon summon me to witness, then I could only pray for his soul. And to the Gods that it was something I could defend him from.

Leon stopped at a double door that led to another attached shipping container made into a room and spun around, gesturing for us to go forward.

I took a step into the dimly lit room and scrunched my nose at the pungent stench of blood and something foul — or rotten. A bloodied man was strung up from the ceiling by chains, dangled helplessly around as blood oozed out of the multitude of cuts marring his body. His hair fell over his eyes as his groans and muffled whimpers bounced off the walls.

"Who's that?" I asked once we all entered, the door shutting behind us. Leon walked forward to the side table filled with various torture tools and ran a hand over each one of them.

"A man." He said with a small smile, running a hand over his blonde waves. "Someone I used to know."

I kept quiet as he made his way to the man, grabbing a fistful of his hair and tugging back. The man let out a screeching sound, his face showing but unrecognizable from how red and blotched it'd become. "This is Aldo. One of my most trusted and loyal men. You remember him, don't you, fratello?"

At my silence, he smiled wider. "You see, Aldo here has been the best 'delivery man' for Piro since I got my hands in the business. He swore his allegiance to my faction, our faction, and vowed to be diligent when it came to handling Piro, and do you know what happened?" He turned to Alejandro now, whose face was as stone-cold as I'd ever seen him. "He was supposed to make a delivery to the Delgados but I got a tip from your friend here, that the shipment was incomplete, so you could imagine my surprise, right? There was no one else I trusted enough to handle it aside from him. But the real question was who was the stolen batch being delivered to?"

My eyes honed in on Mattia's frozen frame as he spoke. Mattia was a mountain of a man, able to illicit fear from his enemies and people who merely set their eyes on him. But his face now, though straight and composed, held unto a facade I was all too familiar with. Fear.

"Do you see where I'm going with this tale now?"

"I do," I said, "But if I'm getting this whole thing correctly, you're saying that a man at his last leg of life, stole from our allocated batch and blamed one of my Capos for the theft. On what grounds? For all we know, he could be saying that to throw our scents off and cause internal discord. What if he sold our stash to our rivals? What if he's been doing so for years? You've called us all here for a traitor's alleged confession?"

Silence graced the room as Leon let go of Aldo's head, taking cautious steps as he came up in my face. "I'm getting sick and tired of this brass, tactless attitude of yours, fratello. First, that goddamned dinner and now you're trying to undermine my intelligence? You think I don't know what you're trying to do here?"

I narrowed my eyes at him as we glared at each other. His eyes were ablaze, erratic and ready to pounce at any slight movement. "If you're trying to accuse my men of anything, even as a fucking leader, you come to me first. I'm your Underboss for Christ's sake."

He chuckled, voice lowered to a harsh whisper. "I'm sorry, I tend to forget. You're too busy acting like a lapdog for a leech who will suck out the life out of you and discard you when she's done. If you want me to treat you as my next in command, then fucking act like it."

The room fell silent as we stood, the only sounds being that of our bated breaths. After what felt like an eternity, he pushed back and turned his attention to Alejandro. "Don Delgado, I apologize on behalf of my family for our shortcomings regarding the last shipment. I invited you here, in the presence of my brother and his accused Capo so you could give your verdict. Whatever you want to do to either of them, I will allow it."

My eyes fell on Alejandro's. Any call for bloodshed was like offering candy to a child for him. There was nothing in this world he detested more than being disrespected. And despite his calm demeanor, he was probably fuming at the seams from the revelation. His eyes met mine before fleeting towards the strung-up man. "I'll handle that one personally. Do you have a shotgun available?"

Leon quirked a grin. "Of course." He snapped his fingers and the doors opened, revealing a group of men. "Bring Mr. Delgado a short-range shotgun."

They nodded and in time, they brought the weapon he asked for. Alejandro took the gun, flexing it in his hands before aiming it at his target.

Aldo, though delirious and obviously dehydrated, rose his head slightly, mumbling pleas that were barely audible. He paid him not mind and shot the gun at his crotch, his dick and balls erupting and drawing a strangled cry from him.

"Damn," Leon laughed, folding his arms and watching the scene with amused interest. "And they say I'm brutal."

Alejandro didn't crack a smile. In his element, he liked to be focused, to draw out the pain of his victims as long as he could. Something we sadly had in common.

A few shots later and Aldo's body was riddled with holes and excess loss of blood. His body sagged from its bindings, the ground, and surrounding walls draped in his guts, flesh, and blood. My eyes wandered to Mattia. His face was dead straight but his eyes told a different story.

Alejandro was still tinkering with the gun and as much as I wanted to punish Mattia for this slight, I couldn't help but wonder about Dario. What would he do if he found out I was even present when Mattia was being executed? How could I stop it? Deep down, I knew I shouldn't. Theft within the family was grounds for a slow and brutal execution. Mercy wasn't in our line of work.

But Alejandro dropped the gun on the side table and turned to us, a sly smile on his lips. "I have chosen to forgive you for this slight, Mattia." He said, "Unlike you Italians, we Spaniards have a way of showing mercy — sometimes. And let's just say I'm considering my friendship here. Wouldn't want us to leave on a bad note like that time in Prague, D."

I narrowed my eyes into slits, watching the mischievous smile gracing his lips. "I'm going to owe you one, aren't I?"

He walked up to me and patted my shoulder. "I'm thankful to have such a bright friend like you, D. It saves a lot of explaining. And yes, you will. So be ready for my call. Unless you don't want to owe me any favors, then I can just rip your capo to shreds, aye?"

"Then I owe you one." I gritted out, taking a deep breath as his laughter rang out.

"You never seize to amaze me. It seems like what your brother is saying about you is true... you're growing soft. Never in a million years would the Damian I know, accept to be in my debt for a mere replaceable soldier. Times really do change."

He wiped out the specs of blood staining his skin and moved to leave, never regarding Mattia. His eyes fell on me, "Keep your phone close, dear friend. I'll be in touch soon." And with that, he left.

The silence in the room could be cut with a knife. I looked over at Mattia who was ground in his heels and frowned, "Leave us. And when I get back, you better have a good explanation for this."

He bowed, "Yes, boss. Thank you." And he left.

Leon was still staring at the dead body, wiping down his hands and fruitlessly at his ruined suit, spinning on his heels to face me. He pointed towards the body. "He was a good man, you know. Top of his game, loyal to a fault, and very intelligent."

"That's nice to know."

He smirked. "What I'm trying to say is that despite all his traits that I liked and the fondness I had with him, I was still willing to let him go. To stick to the rules of the Famiglia and set an example for the soldiers under my command, do you understand that? No one would believe that Aldo had faltered and I didn't save him from being punished. Just like you did with Bernando, and every other man who slighted you, is the same way you should've approached this. Owing the Delgados a favor is huge. Yet you made the decision for a mere capo that could easily be replaced."

"He's not that replaceable. He and Dario... despite whatever happens between them, he's the one person I know that has held him down for years. He would never forgive me for—"

"So bloody what?!" Leon yelled, catching me off guard. "If you kill his bloody fuck buddy, you arrange a new one for him, better yet, accuse an enemy for taking him out so he can be of freaking use beyond that hospital he runs. We are the freaking kings of New York City and we need to start acting like it! I don't need this whiny side of you, Damian. You are my fucking Underboss, a damned talented sniper and hitman. Anyone with brains and eyes can see what you've fucking become. You need to wake the fuck up from whatever la la land you've found yourself in and realize that we're in this hell hole together."

"If you don't want your enemies to hit it where it hurts like they did with..." He paused, clearing his throat and taking a deep breath, "If you don't want the same thing to happen to you then you better wake the fuck up and remember every single shit that father taught us. We can't afford to be seen as 'soft' or 'losing touch' for anything. Do you hear me?"

"Yes," I said, swallowing down the bile, "Loud and clear."

"Good." He said, making his way past me and towards the door. "Now let's head to my office. We need to have a plan for the general meeting next week. Or we're as good as done."

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