Episode 9

The night was in full swing at a casino-bar in the city, an intimidating man observed the bustle below, in the most famous casino in the country. Wealthy men, politicians, businessmen, or criminals, bet heavily, beautiful women drank the finest wines while supporting those greasy subjects.

He elegantly swirled the glass of whiskey, took a sip, the last, in fact, and then placed it on the tray the waiter was holding. The young man, already aware of what he had to do, added more ice and poured another drink.

"Sir, please, forgive me! I didn't know what I was doing! Besides, those bastards had my family, I couldn't refuse."

A man in his fifties cried.

That subject was lying on the floor, completely bathed in blood and missing some teeth. He ignored him, which was interpreted as another blow, and so it was, one of his men kicked him hard in the stomach.

The man crawled to his feet and desperately grabbed his shoe. His face was against the ground as he begged for his life.

"Let go of me, trash" he pulled his foot hard and, once free from the grip, placed it on the subject's head, "You should have thought twice before betraying me."

"I couldn't, I swear, I didn't want to do it! They forced me," the man kept crying and screaming. Now that his betrayal had come to light, he feared that his family would pay the consequences of his misdeeds. However, whether it was the Bernocchi or the Di Marco, they were going to kill him.

"No one in their damn life can betray Alessandro Bernocchi and get out alive, did you hear? No one!"

Alessandro put an automatic nine-millimeter gun behind his head. The man cowered on the ground, whimpering. His whole body went cold as he listened to Alessandro load the gun. It was two seconds of tension, but, for him, it felt like two thousand years.

"No, you don't deserve to have my gun stained with your dirty blood," he said. The guy on the floor was relieved, "Asher, you know what to do."

Asher, Alessandro's right-hand man, approached the man on the ground and dragged him to a back door. From there, there were some stairs that went down to the basement, he pushed him carelessly and he rolled down. Upon reaching, the man had died from multiple head injuries and a broken neck.

"Throw him to the sharks," he ordered. The two guards picked up the body and carried it to a black van, then drove out of the casino.

Asher returned to the second floor of the establishment. Alessandro was sitting on a huge black leather armchair, a beautiful brown-skinned woman was sitting next to him. He was reading some papers intently.

"What do you want?" he asked, irritated. Asher hadn't spoken, but kept his eyes fixed on his boss, obviously Alessandro noticed that look and didn't hesitate to ask.

"I found him," he said.

Alessandro, putting the papers aside, got up hastily and walked towards him. Asher was grabbed roughly by the neck, Alessandro placed him against the wall, and looked at him with inquisitive eyes.

"If it's false information, say goodbye to your life," he warned.

"I checked, it's him," he said, "it's Elio Mancini."

Asher handed him a flash drive that he took from the inside pocket of his jacket. Alessandro released him, stared at that memory, almost as if it held the country's dirtiest secrets.

"Give that bastard traitor's wife a million, tell her that her husband died on a boat in the Pacific Ocean, don't let her know what kind of trash he was," he said, as he put the USB in his pocket. Alessandro, although a ruthless man, had always remained true to his three principles: not killing innocents, children, or women, at least not those who had nothing to do with that business.

"Kai, I'll be in my office, don't let anyone disturb me." Alessandro looked at the girl, "Find my brother, he has what is necessary to make the sale safely to the Russians, take care of that" she nodded, "If that's all, goodbye."

Alessandro walked to a black door and locked himself in that room.

He sat down at the computer, took the USB out of his pocket, inserted it, and opened the folder with all the information Asher had collected.

There were photographs of that boy, information about his birthday, his family, his job, and his home address.

Finally, after four years, his search had paid off.

Alessandro still remembered, as if it had been yesterday, the first time he saw him.

At that time Elio was barely fifteen years old, working part-time as a delivery boy in a pizzeria. He was passing by in an alley when he saw him, the boy was fighting with a couple of local gangsters.

Alessandro, seeing that they outnumbered Elio, went to his aid. They fought together, covering each other's backs. For Alessandro, it was as if he had found his soulmate. Beauty, purity, and fierceness were all in one person. He had been involved in several "relationships", looking for that spark that would make him fall completely at the feet of a person.

It was not a matter of gender. He was looking for someone to love, perhaps in a sick way. And it only took a few minutes next to Elio, to decide that he was the one he had been looking for so much.

It was so exciting, so natural, they combined their blows, protected each other, it was as if they were united by some supernatural force.

"Thank you so much for helping me." Those were his words and that angelic voice was etched in his mind and heart. "I'm sorry, I have to go, I'll make it up to you another day, bye."

Alessandro was so captivated by Elio's beauty that he couldn't even answer or ask his name, by the time he came to his senses, the motorcycle was getting smaller down the road.

After that day he began to go more often in that direction, completely deviating from his usual route, however, he never saw that boy again.

He would have even liked to be his friend, his search was unsuccessful, he asked the neighbors about him, even searched the pizzeria, but he never found anything that would lead him to Elio's whereabouts. Now that he knew his whereabouts, he wouldn't let him go again.

"Baby, I found you."

...----------------...

The door was kicked down, the plump man instantly startled, got up from the leather chair, grabbed the gun next to him, on the glass table, while grabbing his pants, the woman, who was sitting on him, also adjusted her dress.

"Who the hell dares to interrupt?!"

His eyes widened when he saw that man dressed completely in black enter, the head of a dragon painted on his neck, he knew that the rest of the body was distributed on his shoulder and arm, the patch on his left eye was synonymous with respect.

Four other men also entered, surrounding the man, while Dragon occupied the leather chair behind the desk.

"Well, well, I think you're having a good time here," he said, resting his feet on the desk, "lower the gun, David, you wouldn't want me to get rough, would you?"

The man instantly became nervous and quickly lowered the weapon, the girl, in panic, ran out of the office slamming the door shut.

"Mr. Bernocchi, what, what a pleasure to have you here" David had a nervous smile, sweat ran down his forehead and his face had turned pale. He clumsily tried to button his pants, then his trembling hands went to his shirt, haphazardly buttoning each button.

"Two years, my dear friend, two fucking years you knew how to hide well. Just like a rat afraid of a snake."

"It's not what you think, sir" the man was grabbed by the shoulders and knelt in front of the desk, "I didn't hide."

"No?, so why did you move, leave your family and change your name to Lian?" Dragon stood up and walked towards him, unholstered the gun he was carrying at his side and put it in front of David, "My brother is very angry, he appreciates me taking care of the job, or your children and wife would be fish food."

"No, don't do anything to him, I can tell you everything you want to know, I'll tell you everything, but don't hurt them." The man hit his head against the ground and pleaded for the lives of his loved ones, and his own.

"No. That problem is none of my business, you will go with Alessandro and tell him yourself."

"But Mr. Alessandro is going to kill me the minute he sees me walk in the door."

"That's not my problem anymore" Dragon put the gun back in its holster on his left side, "but if you show him that you're useful, believe me he'll keep you alive, of course...until he's done using you."

"A-and after that?"

"Let's see, you have two chances. First, he sends you to visit the sharks, or, he sends you to another country so you never come back. It all depends on your luck and how useful you turn out to be, of course."

"Boss, there's a problem with...!" The young man froze at the entrance. The image in front of him was anything but fair. Five armed people were intimidating his boss, the man who had helped him with a harassing bastard, in his eyes, was a good person, despite the shady nature of his business, "Who are you and what are you doing?"

"It's adult business, kid, don't get involved. You better go," Dragon said.

"Kid?, I'm more of a man than you, son of a bitch, you think it's cool to bully an older man? You think you're so brave because you carry guns and men with you?"

"Luka, it's okay, nothing happened to me, calm down, you don't want to mess with these people." David grabbed his hands and covered his mouth with his free hand.

—Luka, it's okay, nothing happened to me, calm down, you don't want to mess with these people. —David stood up and tried to calm him down. Luka was a defender of people, he couldn't help it, he always ended up in fights defending others. He appreciated his help, although he knew he didn't deserve it. He also didn't want him to provoke Dragon's anger, or he would end up worse than him.

—That's good, you got a protection dog, too bad it's a Pomeranian —Dragon mocked.

—Too bad you can't even get that far, cyclops —Luka crossed his arms and smiled mockingly.

Dragon's men surrounded the boy, all with their hands on their weapons, they pointed directly at the young man, Luka didn't even blink, he even looked at him more coldly.

—Put down your weapons, leave the cute little dog —Dragon approached him and grabbed him hard by the chin—, or should I say, little dog.

Luka's patience reached its limit and he stomped hard on Dragon's foot, his lips trembled with anger and he raised his hand against the man.

—Luka, stop it, don't mess with them —David grabbed him by the hands and covered his mouth with his free hand.

"You better keep him tied up, or next time I won't be so lenient with him."

Dragon walked out of the office followed by his entourage of bodyguards. Luka was left trying to get out of his boss's grip and go and yell a dozen things at him. He hated arrogant and abusive people, that man was both.

"Sir, why didn't you let us teach that bastard a lesson?" asked one of the bodyguards.

"Remember, we don't hurt innocents," he said, adjusting his gloves, "besides, he looks like a Pomeranian, cute and small."

The man raised an eyebrow in confusion. He had never heard his boss speak in such a light tone, plus he had a flirtatious smile, something he had never seen in him.

...----------------...

"Luka, what's the problem?" David let go of him and made him sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"That guy, who does he think he is?" he muttered.

"Forget about him, he's a dangerous man" David took his place, "better tell me, what's the problem."

"Slot machine number two is not working, a customer took almost all the money."

"Good, good, I'll call that idiot, now please go make sure they give him the corresponding money... I have a headache."

"Is it because of that idiot? If I can help you, I will."

"I wish I could, boy, but you shouldn't get involved with those people..."

"Are they that dangerous?" David didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Luka had seen them using guns and yet dared to ask that.

"Just stay away, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

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