Chapter 25

Tommy felt horrible. Being in a small room with Xane and two of his righthand men was a bad feeling all round, and the fact that they were in some kind of sleazy private club just made things a ton worse.

At least Xane had taken Tommy's gag out of his mouth, but even that didn't come without its downside. Xane was now expecting Tommy to talk to him…

‘Come on, tell me this isn't the coolest hangout in town?' Xane said, sneering as he sipped on an expensive looking bottle of champagne. ‘Come on, relax. I thought you liked to have fun and party?'

Tommy didn't want to even open his mouth, let alone speak to Xane.

He's everything I hate.

Mean, rude, and a bully.

Xane is the worst person in the whole world…

‘I don't want to do anything with you!' Tommy said, trying his best to sound as brave as was possible under the circumstances. ‘I do too like to have fun. But only with kind, fun people and not absolute butt-stinkers like you!'

Tommy felt his heart beating very hard indeed. He could see that his words had embarrassed Xane in front of his thugs.

It might not have been a wise move to annoy Xane like that, but at this point Tommy simply didn't care anymore. Tommy was sick of living in fear of Xane. Not only had Xane caused Tommy a ton of pain and hurt, but Xane had also managed to put a huge dent in Tommy's relationship with Luca.

But as good as it felt to let loose and tell Xane what he thought of him, Tommy was suddenly aware that there might be consequences too…

‘You are a stupid little cocksucker,' Xane said, taking a huge gulp of champagne straight from the bottle. ‘You're a rude, spoilt, pathetic little freak in fact!'

Tommy might have burst into tears at a comment like that before. But he suddenly felt stronger and more resilient than he ever had done. Xane could say what he liked, but Tommy knew that he was a good person.

Being with a Mafia man like Luca must have toughened Tommy up and given him the resilience he needed to not be scared so much around bullies. Instead of cowering away, Tommy sat up straight and looked Xane directly in the eyes.

‘I'm not scared of you,' Tommy said, a defiant tone in his voice. ‘My Master taught me a lot. And one thing I learned was that if you're confident in yourself then you don't need to fear others.'

Tommy felt proud for taking a stand, but Xane didn't exactly see it the same way. In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth…

‘Ha! Oh my God, what a loser,' Xane sneered, looking at his thugs and shrieking with laughter. ‘Your Master? Well, where is he now? Maybe he did teach you some stuff, but that won't count for anything when I'm through with you, you little dork.'

‘I'm still not scared!' Tommy said, thumping his fists down on the plush seating. ‘You'll never scare me again!

‘Okay, I was going to take my time and have fun with this,' Xane said. ‘But this freak is too annoying. Someone pass me my gun right this fucking second…'

Tommy felt himself go pale.

For all that it felt good to stand up to Xane, he didn't want to die for it. Suddenly Tommy wished that he'd kept his mouth firmly zipped shut.

‘Okay, now it's time to pay the price for talking shit to Xane Troppo,' Xane said, taking a metal handgun from one of his thugs and aiming it at Tommy. ‘Goodnight, Tommy…'

Tommy was about to say a prayer when suddenly the door to the room swung open and in burst Luca. And by the looks of it, he had a friend with him…

‘Luca!' Tommy gasped. ‘Olex?'

‘Long story… will explain later,' Luca said, lunging forward and kicking Xane's gun right out of his hand. ‘Got some business to handle first.'

‘Fuck yeah!' Tommy cried, backing himself up against the wall as chaos reigned supreme in the small room.

Tommy watched on as Luca and Olex set to work on fighting Xane and his two henchmen. It might have been three against two, but Luca and Olex were more than capable of picking up the slack of being a man down.

Tommy wasn't sure exactly why or how Luca and Olex were working together, but he certainly wasn't complaining. The sight of Olex throwing kick after kick into the mid-section of the biggest thug was a sight to behold.

‘Go get ‘em!' Tommy cheered, although his smile suddenly disappeared when he saw Xane sneak up behind Olex and hit him from behind.

‘Not so fucking fast,' Luca growled, pulling Xane back into a one-on-one fight with him. ‘I've taken down one of your thugs, now it's just you and me. And one of us ain't leaving this room alive.'

‘And I suppose you think that's me, huh?' Xane grinned, a sly look on his face as he dodged out of Luca's way and went to grab at something from behind the sofa.

‘Another gun?' Luca said. ‘Let's see how long you hold on to that one.'

But while Luca had been able to kick Xane's other gun out of his hand, that definitely wasn't an option now. It wasn't a gun that Xane was holding in his hand this time, it was a machete.

‘Luca! Be careful!' Tommy cried, now in a state of panic as he saw Xane wielding the long, wide, and super-sharp looking blade. ‘Olex, help my Master!'

‘No, Olex, I'm cool,' Luca said, noticing that Olex had taken out the other thug. ‘I've got this.'

‘One hundred percent you've got this,' Olex said, towering over the fallen thug and watching as Xane and Tommy circled each other. ‘This punk doesn't know how bad a mistake he's making.'

‘Shut your mouth, Russian,' Xane said, his eyes wild and his voice now totally manic as he swung the machete from side to side. ‘I'm Xane Troppo. I'm the new king of these streets. And when I'm done with Sorrento, I'm taking your head off next.'

Xane didn't waste a single second more and took a wild swing aimed directly at Luca's head. Tommy gasped, and it felt like time stood still as the sharp blade headed directly for Luca's neck.

But Luca had seen the move coming a mile away.

Luca side-stepped and then rounded up to Xane's side and hit him with a gut-busting kick to the ribs. Xane was immediately winded and the sound of his ribs cracking echoed around the room as his machete dropped out of his hand.

‘Fuck. You. Asshole,' Xane said, breathless and on his knees, desperately scrabbling around to pick up his machete. ‘You'll never beat me. Never…'

‘Boy, look away,' Luca said. ‘I'm not kidding. This ends here and now. And trust me, you don't need to see what happens next. Go and stand with Olex.'

Tommy did as he was told and went over to Olex who put his arm around Tommy and walked out of the room with him.

‘Is my Master about to…' Tommy said.

‘He sure is,' Olex replied. ‘This is the life we live. Xane played with fire and he's about to go up in smoke. Luca is a good man, full of honor. He'll make it quick.'

Before Tommy could respond, Luca stepped out of the room.

Tommy watched as Luca and Olex exchanged a knowing look. Tommy didn't have to guess what that look meant. Xane was dead. It was all over. Or was it…

‘We've taken Xane out, but this is still his place,' Luca said. ‘We need to bounce right now, just in case we run into any loyal soldiers.'

‘Let's go,' Olex said, stepping to one side and allowing Tommy to fall into Luca's arms.

‘Luca, I love you,' Tommy said. ‘I want us to be together forever.'

‘Me too, boy,' Luca replied. ‘I want that more than anything in the world. I want to love and protect you until the end of time. But speaking of time, we don't have much of it. Let's move.'

With that, the three of them hustled their way out of the club without any trouble. It had been an intense day. But Tommy was ready to move on from Xane once and for all.

And now that Luca was officially his Forever Love, the future had never looked brighter.