Betrayal was just a word the gullible clung to after gifting their trust to the wrong people, only to find out too late that it was a gamble. With this kind of mind and perception of life, how could one feel such a puny emotion when they never trusted anyone to begin with?
My father used to say, “A knife in the back only hurts if you let someone close enough to use it.” I’d lived all my life setting boundaries, detaching myself from any sort of emotion. Only a handful of people were close to me, and only a couple of them had my trust.
I was the kind of man who struck deals based on guarantees, who saw everyone as a potential threat and viewed the world through a broken lens. Some called me a madman; others said that I was a cynic, a demon from the pits of hell. But I was just a simple man who saw people for who they truly were—selfish and hypocritical.
It was that same selfishness that created the rift between the Romanos and the Tarasovs. I’d never liked Dante, the Italian Mafia boss who thought he ruled the streets of Chicago, whose name instilled the fear of God in the hearts of his enemies. I had no personal quarrel with the man—I just didn’t like proud people in general.
Deep down, I knew Dante would try to double-cross me and manipulate our deal in his own favor. But I went ahead and sealed the deal regardless. Not because I trusted him. No. Because I wanted to see for myself what kind of man he truly was. I wanted to see just how greedy he could be.
Dante Romano had that reputation—the reputation for getting away with anything, even when he was at fault. The man had some of the best lawyers in the city at his beck and call, two of whom were his own sons. He practically had the legal system in the palm of his hand.
He believed he was invincible, untouchable, and that he could do as he pleased. Dante’s faith in his power and influence was beginning to get to his head, clouding his judgment and boosting his ego.
The man was a snake, cunning in every way, proud and arrogant. He fucked up, and now his carelessness had caused my organization a great loss. Our deal was simple, yet he failed to hold up his end of the bargain. A shipment of weapons meant for the Bratva had mysteriously disappeared without a trace, stolen under his watch.
The bastard claimed to have nothing to do with it, but when I dug deeper, I found out that there was a chance he was involved in this act of theft. The signs all pointed in his direction, yet he wouldn’t own it. Instead, he denied it and sent a half-hearted reassurance that this must be some sort of misunderstanding.
Coward. He couldn’t even fess up and own his shit.
I told the old bastard that I was the last person on the planet he wanted to mess with. I sounded a warning, making it clear that he shouldn’t push my hand. But the snake took my words as a threat and refused to make amends.
He was testing my patience, subtly challenging me to do my worst. Dante was seeking trouble, and trouble he would find.
I sat in my office, shrouded in the dark, letting it wrap around me like a blanket, like an old friend. In the shadows, there was peace, the kind that only the dark could offer, and I was one with it.
My fingers cradled a half-filled glass of vodka as I reclined in my chair, listening to the voices in my head, the demons that had walked beside me for years. In the black void, I cooked up ways to hurt Dante Romano, to strike him where it would hurt the most. He stole from me, took something of mine, and made it his.
Now, I’d do the same.
Dante thought he was untouchable, that his name, his bloodline, would protect him. He was wrong. Romano might be invincible, but he forgot one thing. Not everyone around him was.
If I were going to break the bastard, I wouldn’t take his material possessions. He’d only acquire more. No. I’d take something he would never recover. Something so precious and dear to him. Men like Romano, as rigid as they were, had one weakness. Family.
He cared more about his family than he did about power and influence. If he didn’t pay back his debt, then he had better be ready to face the consequences of his actions because I would come for him. I would come to collect his most prized possession.
