"Raffaello Capozzi, the dead man," Michelle greets back in the same manner as I have and tilts his ugly head to one side with his temple touching Mia's.

I can hear the blood running through my veins and my nostrils arch like a bull. My heart is racing wildly making me hum deeply with anger as if throwing fire.

For a second my instinct pushes me to reach for my gun but he reads my mind.

"A... a... I have six bullets in here and two can reach you before you blink, one for you and one for your man," he warns and I know he doesn't talk bullshit.

He is one fucking fast shooter but more importantly than that, I don't want shootings around Mia anymore.

I refuse to blink, with my irises glued to Mia as the corners of my eyes concentrated on Parma's every move. She simply stands there, fucking wrapped by the left hand of the motherfucker, and stares at me, totally disconnected by the fact that he is holding a gun pointed at me or that he's molding her to his body more and more.

All she seems to care about is to show me just how disappointed she is, how much pain I've brought her now, standing in front of her and breathing and staring as if I have other two heads growing.

"Mia, sweetheart, walk away. Slowly, please," I ignore Parma and his gun hoping she would listen the more my voice is softer.

"She will not move. And you know why? Because she is smart and she knows that if I..." he tries to play smart and be the one in control but I move my eyes to him throwing fire.

"You are too close, Parma. You are too fucking close and that doesn't sit right with me right now," I hiss between clenched jaws speaking raw, giving each word its proper weight of hate.

"Uuu, what too close means for you? Ha? Because I know I've been closer, you know. Closer like... somewhere... between... that area, you know? And when we'll be married, I'll spend a while fucking time there, "he tries to be smart and push my anger to a point where hoped I would snap and make a wrong move.

"Mia, listen to me, I know you're angry now, but trust me, just this time..." I move my concentration back to her.

"Just this time?! I trusted you many times, Raffa, so fucking many times that now I feel those times were a waste," she says and the disappointment and the hurt in her eyes take the shape of anger, frowning her eyebrows and clenching the fists.

"Shhh, don't be angry, sweetheart. He doesn't worth it," Parma whispers in her ear and plants a kiss on her temple, a kiss that makes me more adamant that when he dies, he dies by my hand.

But my Mia remains completely unaffected as if he doesn't even exist there.

"I know, Mia..." I continue, hoping that acknowledging her pain will allow me to reach her heart and make her listen.

"You know nothing, Raffa. Nothing!" she suddenly yells with trembling lips, having enough and pushing Parma aside. "Maybe it would have been better if you stayed dead and we all move on with our lives," she completes and turns around, leaving the scene and me sinking in my growing anger.

"Touching," Parma smiles maliciously never removing the aim of his gun toward me.

"Mia!" I shout her name and make one step attempting to walk after her but Parma shoots a bullet to my feet, warning me not to try.

"That's a bad move, Don Raffa," he says and walks backward, keeping me at a distance while freeze.

"Sir, let it go. Just this time. We will make a better plan and get Miss Emillia when it's less dangerous for her," I hear Charles taking the role of good reason and I freeze, chewing my jaws in anger and watching Mia walking away with Michelle in her tail, running to catch up with her.

I turn around and rush to the car while I fish my phone from my pocket, dialing Benito's number.

"What the fuck, Benito? What fucking fuckery is this?!" I roar through the phone when he picks up.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"What's wrong?! Everything is fucking wrong! What the fuck is Michelle Parma doing with Mia?!"

"Did he see you?" he asks while I hear movements through the phone as if he is in a rush for something.

"Oh, he saw me! He saw me alright! And... he took Mia with him," I say and only by spelling the words made me sick to my stomach.

"Fucking shit, kid. You were supposed to stay fucking dead! Do you hear me?! That was the plan!" he roars through the phone making me squeeze my teeth while the veins inflate on my temples.

"You didn't tell me what the plan was, Benito. I should have known you can't be fucking trusted. I should have known better," I reply lowering my voice and mentally killing him times over. "We're done. That's it."

"Capozzi, get your head out of your shit ass hole and meet me at your place," he says while I hear his car engine on. "Send me the location. Now."

"No, I'm on my own. I'll get Mia and then I'll kill you with my own hands!" I roar and hang up, throwing the phone and pushing a roar of rage out of my lungs while hitting the door and the seat in front of me with my clenched fists, feeling fucking alive for the first time in the past year.

I'm thirsty for blood, the murderous instinct in me has just woken up and I'm mad, so fucking mad that I can hear the devils ringing the bells of hell in my ears calling for murder.

"Don Raffa, we need to gather the men. I can do that tonight, have a plan by the morning, and then we move," Charles speaks while he is driving the car to somewhere I don't even know reading my thoughts when our eyes meet in the rear mirror he says "We're going home now," and I tell him nothing.

I'm not thinking straight right now and I need his clear brain to think for me.

When we drive the car through the gates of my villa I can see a car parked at the front door and Benito getting out of it.

I wait no more and jump out of my car while it's still in motion and run toward him, roaring his name and hitting him in the chest with my both feet.

He falls in the back where I swamp on top of him, grabbing his shirt and pulling his face up, inches away from mine.

"You promised Mia to him?! You approved of their marriage?!" I yell and his straight face defying me makes me even more furious.

"It was never going to happen."

"She left with him willingly! She turned her back to me and left with him!"

"You were not supposed to show up! That was the deal!"

I smash my knuckles to his jaw, throwing fists one after another splashing his blood on the stones of the pavement while he does nothing.

"Fight me!" I roar in frustration while he remains limp and stubborn.

I hit him again and again, shouting my anger and demanding him to fight me until I have enough and pull my gun out pointing it between his eyes.

"Fight me!"

He stares at me, breathing heavily and wiping some of the blood on his lips.

"I'm not fighting you, kid. Not today."

I feel a hand landing on my should and I snap out of the heat of the moment, raising my eyes and meeting Charles.

"Don Raffa, let's talk. I'm sure Don Enzo has a good plan, he can't risk his daughter's life," he tries to avoid the one thing I wished for right now, Benito's last breath.

But whether I like it or not, Charles is right so, I put the gun away and allow Benito to stand up, walking ahead into the house and leaving the doors open as an invitation.

My knuckles are bleeding as well and I go first to the kitchen where I wet two towels, one for me and another for Benito.

I find him and Charles in my office and as I walk in, I throw one towel to his chest which he fetches with no hesitation while I wrap mine around my hand.

"You fight well, kid," Benito says and I know he means it.

"The fuck I do! You didn't make any move," I blame him for not sizing his strength with me. I know I would have gotten out of the fight in a worse state than he is in right now.

"Well, you're not my enemy, Raffa."

"Do yourself a favor and stop calling me kid," I speak staring at him with daggers in my eyes.

"You are a kid. You are like my kid. I know your father, we grew up together," he pushes his luck.

"Stop fucking preaching to me! And stop talking about my father," I yell grabbing my gun again and pointing it at him.

"Will talk about your father, whether you like it or not. We need closure, we both need closure."

"My kind of closure is a bullet in your skull with your name on it. I can see yours is chatting," I hiss and stare with a devil's look.

My words make him freeze the process of wiping the blood on his face and take a deep breath, lifting his eyes at me showing for the first time he had enough of me.

"Treason doesn't taste good, does it? I saw your father's betrayal in Fabio's eyes when I met him first. I wished I recognized it then as I did with your friend," he continues while wiping his hands on the same towel. "And put your toys away, Raffa. We are on the same side," he continues speaking making my temples throb in rage, and stands up, leisurely walking for the booze that Charles has prepared for us.

I hum gravely and squeeze my gun with bloody fingers, unlocking the trigger but I'll be damn if Benito bothers a bit.

"Mia is my first borne. Her mother was a whore in one of my clubs in Naples, a bad one but I paid her to keep the baby as I was afraid I won't have the time to have others," he starts narrating his life story which I wouldn't normally sit in listen but he talks about my sunshine, and I simply freeze.

"Whenever Mia's mother was drinking too much or sleeping high in some corner of the club Mario would take her and take care she was well and alive. Mario watched her all the nine months of pregnancy and made sure she doesn't put my baby in danger. I owe Mia's life to your father but... he thought to take another life in the change of that... and maybe two..." he continued while playing with the booze in the glass, watching it and finally throwing it down his throat.

"Now, I'm not killing you first, kid... not because I owe to your father or because I loved him, or maybe because I'm afraid of you," he talks while already in front of me with arms pinned to my desk and his chest glued to my gun. "It's because my daughter loves you and I believe you deserve a chance," he completes staring into my eyes.

In a fraction of a second, he grabs the gun from my hand pointing it to my forehead and his own gun toward Charles before he had the chance to wrap his head around what's going on.

I lean against the backrest of my chair, unbothered by the gun he has taken from me so swiftly and now he's pointing it to my eyes as overwhelmed as I feel for admitting that I'm good e Pugh for his daughter.

That is a fucking big-time recognition that boosts my chest with pride and reestablishes my self-esteem.

"Now, I don't wish to fight you, but rather I need you to help me get Mia back safe," he completes and I smirk, something that seems to make him happy as he lowers the guns and lay mine on the desk in front of me.

"Gentlemen, I'm one call away from gathering twenty men in one hour. It is for you to decide how to use them," Charles speaks while putting his gun away.

"Good. Now, Michelle Parma has Mia, I'm sure taken to some place where he only knows. We can't count on Mia to find the place. She's too angry now and she won't collaborate," Benito explains while sitting on the chair in front of my desk wiping his lower lips which bleeds again.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Trust me. I know my daughter. What I don't know yet is where he keeps the shipment."

"No shit! And you thought to use your own daughter as bait?" I ask him with growing anger.

"He would have never had the chance to reach her but..." Benito pauses before accusing me. "... you should have stayed put, kid. Between the two of us, one has to get out of this alive, for Mia's sake."

I realize now that what he had been always trying to do was to risk everything, including himself to get this shit done before we all die by the hand of the Moroccans or Mexicans... or Parma's.

"I've been searching all docks for the past months. No trace of it but I know he has it because his plan is "to know me better", hence his closeness to Mia and offer the shipment in the change of my life. Unfortunately for him, an old Don will always have friends everywhere. I allowed his plan with Mia because I knew she would never fall for him and also because I was planning to have him killed when I find the shipment. And their so-called marriage would have happened only after I find it."

"Hm," I hum tapping my fingers on the edge of my wooden desk and taking in the information that is given to me one by one, arranging them in the drawers of my brain where I can find them later and have a plan done.

"My mistake was that I didn't consider you. I should have known you'll come for Mia, and damn, it wasn't easy to keep Michelle and Mia away from your eyes. I knew you were watching."

"Really?!" I hum ironically.

"Kid, what you do now I'm already teaching my son for when he'll take my place. And... I was in love too, I know how it is."

He's speaking too much. I don't know if he's doing that to cover the anxiety of having his daughter taken or because he likes me, but his bubbling is interrupted by his phone buzzing.

He pulls the phone out from his pocket and when seeing the caller his eyes darken and eyebrows frown, lifting a finger to his lips hushing us, and laying the phone off the desk, picking up and switching on the hands-free.

"Michelle, good evening," Benito says.

"Good evening, father-in-law," the motherfucker speaks laughing, making my ear pop and jaws clench while Benito lifts a finger at me and signals me to bottle up my anger and I agree. For now.

"What can I do for you?" Benito asks so perfectly pretending everything is just fucking alright and we are not both burning in hell's flames knowing the motherfucker has Mia.

"Plenty... you can do for me, but for now there is something I can do for you."

"Which is?"

"Give your daughter back, with conditions, of course."

"Give my daughter back?! To give my daughter back means to have her, against her will... or mine. Is that the situation?"

"Don Enzo, I'm not stupid. I know you have ties with Raffaello Capozzi, quite close ones. And speaking about that... How is it going, Raffaello Capozzi, the dead man?" he continues making my silence useless.

"Engraving a bullet with your name," I replied between clenched teeth, mentally killing him again and again.

"I suggest you stop that. If not, for each threat I hear from your mouth I'll send a finger of beautiful Emillia to her mother; until she has none," he replies and anger fogs my brain making me roar and fetch the gun from the desk throwing it to the wall and grabbing the phone in my hands.

"Motherfucker Parma, listen to me and listen to me well. For each strand of hair that moves on Mia's skin because of you, I will fuck your ass hole so hard that it bleeds and you cry blood. I will pluck your nails one by one and pepper salt on them while you whine and I laugh. You better run, fast and far before I reach you because when I do, not only that I'll take Mia safe and sound, I'll make sure I'll crucify you and leave you to be food for craws," I shout while holding the phone close and spitting on it every threat. "I'll find you, Parma. Don't sleep tonight. Don't sleep any night because I will not stop until I kill you."

"Make me," he challenges and I throw the phone, smashing it to the walls and grab Charles's gun from the waist of his pants, and shot all six bullets while I roar.

"Now, let's get Mia back," I tell the two men accompanying me in my office and nothing seems to make them happier.

~~~~~
Dear Reader, thank you for being here. 🤗