Every fibre in my body froze. I glared at the pistol he was holding out to me. My chest tightened so hard that breathing was a chore. I'd thought he only wanted to teach him a lesson.

I stood there, looking him back in the eyes and putting all effort into not punching him on the mouth. I knew that restraint would snap if he said those words again.

Fuck blowing my cover. I couldn't kill an innocent man.

“You know what? No, I'll do it myself.” He said suddenly. His tone  was full of spite which I felt wasn't for me. He turned to the guy I'd just beaten.

"You know I only came here to teach you a lesson." He said calmly, menacingly. "Your daring to stand up to me was pardonable. But this? Gays like you don't deserve to live among us men."

I wanted to say something to stop him. I wanted to kick the Glock out of his hand, my mission be damned. Before I could execute any of the above, Alacran had pulled the trigger.

The gunshot resounded with a dreadful finality. He'd killed the man. He looked at the man's lover who seemed too stunned by his man's murder to make a sound.

"Hopefully, you'll love pussy over dick in your next life." And then he pulled the trigger again. Spitting on both bodies, he turned and was on his way.

I didn't know it was possible to be more rooted to my spot than I already was. I stared at the dead bodies as a cruel reality punched me in the gut.

I had done nothing to save them.

"What are you waiting for? Are you planning on organizing a funeral for them?" Alacran's voice came from behind me, so devoid of emotion.

I turned slowly to look at him for a few seconds without a word. I was so angry that the most ferocious instincts snapping through my veins was to pummel him to death.

But for what? Alacran had already killed these men. Attacking him and killing him meant foiling my revenge. Alacran walked out and I followed behind him. The instincts were still burning in my veins as I drove to the gang house.

If he noticed it, he didn't say anything. But I supposed my always stoic expression helped me to conceal the rage I was feeling.

"Ah faggots." He finally said when we were getting closer to our destination. "Why do they prefer ass when there's pussy?"

I didn't say anything. He probably didn't expect a reply since he knew I wasn't chatty. When we finally got the gang house, I got down to open his door for him.

"What they were doing was a taboo. Never let men like that live." He told me pointedly before taking the lead.

I followed without a word. Why had he said that? Was he trying to justify himself? That was so unlike Alacran. What had happened to him for him to hate gay men like that?

How many men had he killed simply because they were gay?

My nightmares had disappeared the day I started to execute my plans for revenge for my parents' death. But they returned that night.

This time it wasn't my parents in my dreams. It was the two men, screaming and calling me a killer. Over and over again.

I startled awake and I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night.

I told myself that Alacran was going to pay for every innocent life he'd taken including theirs. But I knew it would never make up for it.

Yes, Alacran had pulled the trigger, but I was just as responsible for the death of those men. How far was I willing to go for my revenge?

******

The next morning, the following, and the one following it, I was seized with an unrest I couldn't seem to shake off. An agitation so strong I feared it would break through any facade that I put up and make Alacran and his men suspicious.

Ever since Alacran made me his righthand, his men had been rude to me and liked to pass snide comments. I always ignored those remarks. Not so one morning when Pietro taunted me.

I kicked his legs from beneath him and punched him in the stomach. While I was at it, I grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar and slammed his face into the floor.

"You lost your position because you weren't good enough. Don't fucking blame me for your incompetence. The boss has chosen me. If that's so hard for you then you can go and suck your mama's tits. But I am superior to you and you are going to respect me."

Standing straight, I glared at all the other men around. "The same goes to you all."

Notwithstanding Alacran actually praised me for putting Pietro in his place, I knew the other men were going to notice that something was off about me.

When I planned my mission, the Godfather was my main target. The others who would have to die along the way were people I didn't have a personal score to settle with but who deserved to die for serving him, Alacran included.

But now I hated Alacran with a burning passion if not half as ardently as I hated The Godfather. I hated him for what he'd done to those men. I hated him for what he'd made me do to them.

It was something I couldn't let happen again. I couldn't allow another innocent person to die just so I could prove my servitude to Alacran. I had to speed up my plans. Somehow.

Problem was, I didn't even know how.

"They intercepted the shipment and stole it all. All the drugs." Alacran was saying as we sat around the dining table having lunch on my eighteenth day.

The dining table could only carry four people but only three were there. Alacran, Pietro and myself. The other men were eating wherever they could find.

The Sierra Cartel seemed like they weren't willing to back off on their rivalry with the Scorpione Cartel anytime soon. I could see Alacran was agitated even behind his usual shit-eating smiles.

"So what are we going to do, Alacran?" I asked.

"The Godfather needs to know about this. We'll be going to see him tonight." He announced. I stiffened. "Then we'll discuss how to tackle..."

"What?" Pietro exclaimed, looking at Alacran like he was out of his mind. "Alacran, it hasn't even been three weeks you brought him on and you're going to take him to see the big boss?"

He was sitting on Alacran's left, which gave Alacran the advantage of having access to his jaw. With just a slight raise of his butt off the chair, he hit Pietro on the jaw, sending him and his chair flying onto the ground.

"You watch how you speak to me boy." He said calmly, his smile still in place. He waited for Pietro to resist before continuing.

"You're right. It's only been three weeks and he has proven not to be as worthless as someone I once trusted. You should be happy you're the second in command after Gustavo. If you find it hard, then you can go suck your mama's tits."

He looked at me and burst out laughing. I didn't care to join. "You know, that was a good one. How did you come up with that?"

I knew he wasn't expecting an answer so I continued eating my food. There were no women in the Scorpione Cartel and so some of Alacran's men did the cooking. They were good at what they did.

I looked up to find Pietro glaring at me. This time it wasn't with the flare of hope that Alacran was soon going to realize his mistake and dispose me off. It was hatred with a glint of resignation.

For the rest of the afternoon I tried to act as normal as possible when everything inside me was quivering with excitement and anticipation.

Alacran was finally taking me to The Godfather.

******

It turned out Godfather's house was just half a mile from the gang's quarters. But of course you wouldn't know until it was showed to you; it was built underground. Not surprising.

Alacran decided to do the driving just so he didn't have to waste his breath on giving directions. He drove through a sugarcane plantation and then parked at a very non-eye-catching spot.

Five seconds later, there was a beep as if the car was being scanned. Then suddenly, the ground seemed to open up beneath the car and we were lowered down an incline onto a driveway.

Along the route and through to the parking space where Alacran stopped, I could count at least ten men. All armed with rifles.

We got out. Alacran led the way towards a door guarded by two men, and I followed. The men looked at me with narrowed eyes but I was allowed easy pass, probably because I was with Alacran.

The inside of the house was stunning. Everything was decorated in manly taste and accents. Expensive-looking paintings and sculptures lined the walls.

The arts were mostly of guns, knifes and people using them, no surprise there. As many men as there were outside stood at certain positions all around.

I realized my heart was beating furiously inside my chest. I was going to have The Godfather this up close and I couldn't trust my reaction.

I'd imagine so many times how things would go if he and I were to come face to face. It always started with me exploding with rage and ended with him a bloody mess and begging for his life.

"You're late." A man said in the living room, back facing us as we approached.

"Sorry Godfather. Had to take care of a minor issue." Alacran lied. He'd only wanted to show that he had a little control.

Slowly, The Godfather turned to face us. Gazing at his chubby form with his sagging belly, rage was quick to spring to life inside my veins.

This was the man who had ordered for my parents' death, simply because my father had challenged his authority in public. He probably didn't even remember the face of my father.

For a moment, I thought I'd actually jumped to attack him but soon realized it was only my imagination.

Attacking him now without a back up plan would be stupid. With so many men here, I probably would be dead before causing any real damage. Fisting my right hand, I dug my fingers into the skin of my palm to curb the urges snapping through me.

The Godfather spared me a single who's this look before focusing on Alacran. He didn't even bother to ask who I was.

Alacran and The Godfather sat on sofas opposite to each other, and I stood behind Alacran's sofa as the men discussed the shipment of drugs that the Sierra Cartel had stolen.

Alacran had had one of his men infiltrate the Sierra Cartel to find out how and where they hid their goods.

The place was heavily guarded and things could end pretty badly which was why they needed to be strategic in their attack to avoid a lot of casualties from the Scorpione Cartel.

I contributed as much as I could whenever Alacran asked for my opinion on something but I couldn't seem to tear my eyes from The Godfather for long.

"Your man over there seems pretty. . . intense." The Godfather commented when we were finally done and preparing to leave.

"Oh Gustavo is intense like that." Alacran said, looking back at me with a small chuckle. "And very effective."

The Godfather shrugged like he didn't particularly care. "Take as many men as you want, Alacran. Just don't fail me. We're going to show the Sierra where the power lies."

______________________

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