"It's me. I chose this. I chose all of this — this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. I've been moving towards it my whole life." ― Aron Ralston

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Giovanni Leone Santorini's POV

            I swigged another shot of Jack Daniels straight and a bit better this time. After several shots, my tongue and throat got accustomed to the taste and mouthfeel of the "sour mash" whiskey as they refer the JD. "Another, boss?" Vianno asked and I nodded my head lightly. My elbows propped on the counter of the bar leaning in, with my head a little hanging low. My eyes burning holes onto the marble counter as I stared through it. 

Vianno slides another shot of Jack Daniels in front of me. I gave him a brief glance and then swigged the alcohol again, then lightly slammed the small glass on the counter making a loud clanking sound. My eyes trained onto the empty glass with my hands clutching the glass tightly. My head already feels heavy with all the amount of alcohol I had, but I'm not going to stop until my brain will stop functioning and my heart stops beating. 

I squeeze my eyes shut, real tight as I tried to block the stinging truth Vito reported me this morning.

"We are right. Salvo Giudici is Lucky. He is Juan Flavier Bermudez best friend, known for "scarface", and if you ever remember Angelo Giudici, Enna's best friend captor?"

"Yes. He's still in Jail, right?" I responded with my brains floating and couldn't comprehend too much after the shocking news. 

"Yes," Vito responded shortly. "Anyway, he is the only son of Juan Flavier Bermudez, the owner of the Bella Casino, named after the only girl he loved, Marbella Giudici, Salvo's sister. And, you know what's interesting?" Vito made a short pause. 

"What?" I asked glumly with my head almost bursting with an agony of the truth. The truth that the father of the woman who stole my heart, is the killer of my family.

"Isn't it interesting to know that Salvo and Juan Flavier were friends, where in fact, Salvo took her sister away from him, and someone who knew Juan Flavier well, said that he used to be Salvo's family gardener." My wandering thoughts suddenly trained on Vito's words. 

"Interesting, indeed" I mumbled but it was enough for Vito's grasp.

"Yes, it is. I dig on the story more and yes, they were best friends, but then when Juan Flavier fell in love with the younger sister, he openly disapproved the romance between them, because he feared his sister would struggle in life because Juan is just a gardener. From then on, they became enemies, but when Juan came back, he found out the woman he loved died in delivering the baby, he was very mad, but after a year, he came back again and the two reconciled. I'm thinking that Juan Flavier was plotting revenge against Salvo, but then he died in one of his estate on an island in Spain. Do you get where I am going, Gio?"

"Is is the encounter between the FBI and believed to be a drug lord, way back our teens years?" 

"Yes. I believe, Salvo tipped the FBI and sent his men to trap him. They found million worth of illegal guns and cocaine in his villa. He was shot when he tried to escape," explained Vito further. "Nobody knew it, except those who works for Salvo, but then they turned their back on him after they found out what happened and he also set some of his loyal men up, that some of them gave their loyalties to the other family, like Viggorino."

"Another, boss?" Vianno's voice dragged me back to reality. I turned to face him and nodded. 

"On the rocks," I said flatly and he nodded. 

Not long, he placed it in front of me the glass of Jack Daniels with ice. Seeing the ice met with the liquid, I could literally hear the faint crackling sound of the ice melting with the liquid. 

I  made another swigged and another. It didn't leave much unpleasant mouthfeel in my throat.

I watch Vianno who was attending three other guys after serving a group of ladies. He looks contented and happy with his job. He started showing off his bartending stunts. He tossed one bottle and catch it from behind, then he did juggling three bottles at once and spinning one repeatedly with just his elbow. By the end of it, he's incorporating cup-stacking stunts to pour three drinks for the guys who was watching him in awed. A loud hoots and cheers broke out after a nice and entertaining bartending tricks show.

My eyes drifted to the different bottles of alcohol on the mirrored shelvings, then I thought I saw a reflection of Isaias and Vito. My head snapped back to the glass shelvings and from the mirror, I saw Vito and Isaias behind me, then a tap on my shoulder.

I turned to look at them and all three of us gave each other a brief manly hug before the two stood on either side of me since all the stool were taken.

"Chivas, top shelf," Isaias ordered and Vianno nodded. The Caveman Bar is owned by one of our valued customer, of our illegal beer, Carlos De La Vega. He was one of our biggest retailers. His bars were in the hotlist of bars in the US, mostly New York and Los Angeles. 

"Black Label," Vito nodded lightly to the bartender and he attended to them at once. 

"We found more tapes from Juan Flavier's old estate." Vito casually leaned closer to me so I could practically hear him. "We haven't started playing them," he informed and then he turned around and leaned back on the counter, both elbows propping him up as he looked over the pack and loud room. 

Isaias propped his elbows on the counter and leaned in. "What's your next move?" he casually asked with his eyes trained on Vianno. Vianno then slides their drink in front of them. Vito turned around and  grab his drink then turn back to its position.

I averted my eyes away from him and sighed. I knew it in my heart that he is the Lucky guy though I didn't entertain it, ignoring my inner thoughts nagging me all the time. Confirming it that it was him, is like a bomb shattering me inside. Half of me is desperate and fired up to get the justice, my family deserves and half of me is killing, my hope to be with Enna were falling into its imminent death. My heart shattered into tiny million pieces, leaving a deep hole in my heart, feeling hollow and empty.

My eyes were starting to get cloudy and I blink it back the tears that were trying to blur my vision. I let out a loud breath and turned my head to watch the people around who doesn't seem to have any ordeals in life. At one corner, I spot a couple who were shamelessly making out. Women and men dancing, grinding in the dancefloor with the beat of the blaring music, almost blasting the roof. Businessman chatting and laughing, with hot ladies on each arm on display. 

I turned my head back and look at Isaias. "He has to pay what he did to my loved ones," I clenched my jaws and swigged the last content of my glass with my eyes furiously staring at oblivion. I ignored the pain slowly crawling in my heart. The brokenness slowly settling in my heart, realizing that this action will lead to losing the only woman I love.

"Considered it done." He nodded darkly with determination. "He's in Italy, and guess who he came to visit?" Isaias mysteriously paused as he swigged his drink. 

"Who-"

I felt my phone ringing and I averted my attention to the phone in my pocket, vibrating incessantly.

Bambolina

"I'll be back," I said and slowly got off the stool and headed for the exit door. 

As soon as I got out of the loud bar in the back door, I connected the call. "Hey. I've been calling you multiple times already. Where are you?" she nags. I could hear deep curiosity and suspicion in her voice or it was just me, being too paranoid.

"With Isaias and Vito, just hanging out for a bit," I said casually, not wanting her to hear the sadness and hurt in my voice. I swallowed the lump that suddenly stuck in my throat. 

I heard her sigh and my heart broke. I shut my eyes briefly just to block any emotions trying to control me then flick them open again and shoved my free hand inside my pocket, then shuffled around the area, tottering a bit as I felt the alcohol kicking in my system while talking to her.

"When are you going home?" she asked, sounding sad and hollow, the same way I felt. Hollow and broken. The longer we talk, the heavier my heart is, and the unbearable pain intensified, widening the hole in my heart.  

"We still have so much work to finish, bambolina." The last word almost choked me. "We just had little drinks to have a break then back to business," in my convincing tone.

"Alright. Good night, Gio." A rasp tone didn't sit well with me. "Bye," and she ended it. 

Bye

It meant a lot, yet it means only one thing to me. "Goodbye, bambolina." I mumbled softly, unconsciously gripping the phone tightly. I felt the tears streams down on my cheeks as I tasted the bitter truth of that one word. 

I stared into the night, hearing the bustles and hustles of the city as I tried to stop the tears streaming down my cheeks. I never cried in my whole life, not even on my parent's death. I thought I'm not capable of such thing. I thought I have no goddamned tear dam, yet now, I felt like my tears are endless. 

I chuckled softly like a madman. If Vito or Sai sees me, they would literally beat me, but it felt good. It felt good to cry out the pain inside my chest. It felt good to cry silently the frustrations, anger resided in my chest for a long while. 

"Ahh... VAFFANCULO, VITA!" (Ahh ... FUCK, LIFE!) I screamed loudly as I vent out my anger, frustrations, and pain starting to shelter in my heart. 

After a while when I sobered, I wipe the last tears and stared into the darkness, feeling numb, and lost. 

I heard footsteps approaching my direction. I didn't move as I casually place my hand inside my coat pocket where my small revolver is tucked.

"Hey, Leone!" It was Isaias. I turned to face him. I saw Vito trailing behind Isaias. 

"Are you alright?" Sai asked. Vito was holding a bottle of beer with his free hand resting in his pocket. 

"Yeah. Just trying to get some fresh air," I lied. My hands curled inside my pockets.

"Why can't we just have a day, instead of night?" Vito started as he stood beside Sai, his eyes scanned the surroundings where only a dim light from the back of the bar, provided. The next light was a few meters away. Our eyes drifted to him. "It looks calm yet full of nightmares. It looks peaceful but enemies prowling just waiting to pounce. It looks quiet but deadly." Vito sighed deeply. He place the beer close to his mouth and chugged it. He then threw the empty bottle in the bin a few meters away, and it shoots right in making a loud clanking sounds as it engaged with the bin. "Goal," he murmured with his eyes trained on the bin, with a satisfied grin.

"So when do you want us to make a move?" Sai asked in a very casual low tone that just enough for our hearing. Our eyes casually scanning around us.

"Soon," I responded ignoring the fresh pain surging through my heart. It felt like a vice gripping, twisting it painfully.

Vito piped in. "What about Enna?" I clenched my jaws and numb my heart. I welcomed the scenes of my parent's lifeless body laying in their own blood. Neck was cut in half, his legs, shoulder, his groin and his ... I shut my eyes tight and block the graphic image, clogging my brain, shuddering me inside. Their brutal death fueled my anger, the passionate revenge that sheltered in my heart for so long, desperately wanting to sets off. 

"The people I loved the most, needed the justice they deserve. I will let him pay what he did to my family. I will kill him slowly, and feel the pain he inflicted on me and on my family," I grit out darkly, my muscles tense, my eyes blazing red, and I could imagine him, slicing his neck ever so slowly, and hear him beg, cry and then slowly cutting where his blood runs and watch as the blood draw from him. I want to see him, lay in his own blood, the same fate he imposed to my family.

"I want him as soon as possible, at the old hide-out." With that, we separated for the night. I drove straight to my new penthouse, where Enna lived. I have four cameras secretly installed in her room, kitchen, two in the living room and her guestroom. I had it installed when we went on a vacation in Cuba. 

I smiled bitterly when our memories in Cuba flashed through my head. It was the happiest moment of my life. I will die, at least, knowing that my feelings for her were returned. It just painful that our relationship has to end, in a very sad ending. 

If maybe in the second life, I will find her, I will make sure that we will never be apart. 

My phone beeps and it was Tristan.

"Isaias just called me about Salvo Giudici. I'm seeing him right now," he said cooly. I met Tristan through Rafael. He is his chief security and after that kidnapping, Isaias and Tristan became close. He was nice, but I have a hard time trusting people.

"Where?" I asked darkly. I parked the car in the underground garage and turned off the engine.

"He's entering Dolce Vita bar with a hot chick," he chuckled softly. "Just tell me what to do, then I'll call you when it's done," he admonished and I knew he was dead serious.

"Call Sai and he knows what to do," I said and ended the call. I quickly headed straight to the top floor of the building to my penthouse, where I spent my whole month, avoiding Enna.

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A/N: Here we go guys.. We are nearing the end. I hope you all like it and continue to support this story! thanks a lot! I'm so very late to go to sleep...