3. Damian

3

The pulsating beat of the music reverberates through the walls, the bass line thumping in sync with the lights that strobe in a dizzying array of colors. The dance floor is packed with writhing bodies, moving as one sweaty, undulating mass to the driving rhythm.

At the bar, people jostle for the bartenders' attention, shouting drink orders over the booming bass that seems to rattle my bones. Colorful liquids slosh into glasses, garnished with brightly hued fruit and tiny paper umbrellas.

The thumping beat can be heard all the way into the basement where I lean against the wall, my eyes fixed on a struggling, bloodied Invicta soldier tied to a rickety, wooden chair.

"I'm going to ask you again," I say in a bored tone, picking an invisible piece of lint off my shirt. "What is Invicta planning?"

The soldier spits a bloody gob of mucus at me, and Edo backhands him, the soldier's head snapping back from the force of his hit.

I sigh and remove myself from the wall, circling the Invicta soldier like a predator would their prey.

Although I have an air of nonchalance, I'm raging on the inside. This fucking asshole won't tell us shit.

In a recent gun fight against Invicta, one of my soldiers was captured. He was returned to us in pieces, which enraged me.

He was a goddamn good soldier.

This Invicta soldier was caught prowling around headquarters and was swiftly captured and brought to The Underground, where we do our best interrogations.

Normally, Edo's methods extract the best information from our prisoners, but this Invicta soldier won't fucking say a word.

The soldier laughs and smiles at me, showing off bloodstained teeth. "Invicta is always watching you, Damian Iacopelli," he taunts. "The Boss can't wait to finally eliminate you."

My hand curls into a fist.

Invicta's Don claims my father ordered a hit on his girlfriend and daughter fifteen years ago. As revenge, Bobby Shields had my father, mother, and sister killed.

We've been at war with Invicta ever since and it's been escalating in the last few years.

I grind my teeth together. I had nothing to do with my father's hit on Shields's woman and kid, and Shields got his revenge by killing my father, so what the fuck is his issue?

Invicta needs to let this fucking go, but Shields is hell-bent on destroying my gang so I have to fight back. It's what my father would have wanted.

Goddamn, Dad. Why the fuck did you eliminate Shields's girl and his brat?

But I can't let this fucking creature know he's annoyed me. Instead, I crouch down by the soldier and look him up and down. Blood runs in rivulets down his body from numerous knife wounds. His one eye is nearly swollen shut and his nose is crooked.

Pathetic.

I glance at my consigliere coolly as I stand up, brushing off my slacks. "Finish him."

Edo smiles with delight. "With pleasure."

The Invicta soldier's screams fill my ears as I leave the room, shutting the door behind me. Once I do, I hear nothing as the soundproof walls prevent anyone from hearing Edo torture the Invicta fuck.

"So, did he squeal?"

My sister, Natalia, leans against the wall outside the interrogation room, one leg bent beneath her and arms crossed.

I shake my head. "Not a fucking word."

Nat scowls and pushes away from the wall. "Goddammit. We can't keep losing men, Damian!"

"I know that!" I snap, running a hand through my hair. "What the fuck do you want me to do, Nat?"

"Something other than what you're currently doing, which is fucking ineffective!"

Before I can rip into my sister, the interrogation room door opens and Edo emerges, splattered in blood.

"Job's done," he says grimly, shutting the door behind him so I can't see what remains of the Invicta member.

Nat glares as Edo cleans off his bloody knife with a white cloth.

"Has the most recent shipment come in?" I ask Nat, wanting to change the subject before we rip each other to shreds.

The filthy look she shoots me indicates she knows what I'm doing and will only let it go for now. I expect nothing less from Nat.

"Yes," she says, tucking a lock of short, black hair behind her ears. "It's all been accounted for. The boys will be here in the next hour to pick it up."

I grunt and pull out my phone, thumbing through recent messages. Uncle Vinny wants to meet with me soon to talk about an important matter.

"How much are we supposed to make?"

"Five hundred thousand," Nat says evenly.

Edo whistles. "That's some good shit."

Nat shrugs. "It's a good batch."

I'm over this conversation. Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I jerk my head at Edo.

"Let's go. We have matters to attend to at home. Nat, I imagine you'll be staying here to keep an eye on matters?"

Nat shoulders ahead of me. "Of course. I don't trust anyone else with the delivery."

I settle into the buttery soft leather seat, Edo beside me, as my driver closes the door with a solid thunk.

The plush cream leather molds around my body as I stretch out my legs, rolling my neck to try and release any lingering tension. Instead of relaxing, my body feels tense.

I can't stop thinking about fucking Invicta.

For the millionth time, I curse at my father for supposedly ordering the hit. I don't know why he would have done so as Dad wasn't the type to randomly have people killed—especially kids.

As far as I knew, Dad and Invicta didn't have any beef when Shields's family was killed, so Shields claiming Dad ordered the hit baffles me. He has no fucking proof.

But I can't exactly ask my father why he supposedly did what he did considering he's fucking dead.

For as long as I live, I'll never forget the moment Uncle Vinny called me, frantic, telling me I had to get home now. I knew something terrible had happened, but I wasn't expecting my parents and baby sister to be executed.

Invicta has no fucking shame. No fucking morals.

Okay, maybe it's a bit rich of me to deride Invicta for not having morals considering I'm the Don of the Iacopelli Mafia, but there's a fucking code we live by.

And one of them is that we don't kill innocents, especially children.

What were you thinking, Dad? I wish you had told me.

I rub my temples as I look out the tinted windows, the city passing by in a blur of lights and towering skyscrapers.

Edo breaks the silence. "Invicta is getting bolder."

"I know," I snap. "I don't need to be reminded."

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out to see a text from Scarlett Rafa. I grimace and stuff it back into my pocket.

I don't have the energy to deal with Scarlett's bullshit right now.

"My concern is that Invicta and The Brotherhood will team up and try to overtake us," Edo continues.

I drum my fingers against the car door. "Mario hates Bobby," I say. "But I have noticed that The Brotherhood is encroaching on our territory. Maybe I need to meet with Mario and tell him to fuck off."

A ghost of a smile plays on Edo's lips. "I bet if you promise to marry Scarlett, he'll agree to whatever terms you want."

I grimace. "I'm not sticking my dick in crazy again."

Edo opens his mouth to respond, but it's cut off by the sound of tires squealing. Edo and I fly forward from the force, my face colliding painfully with the partition.

I hiss as the car jerks to a stop. "What the fuck, Jordan?" I roar to the driver, anger coursing through my veins. He'd better have a fucking good reason to pull that little stunt or I'll have Edo deal with him.

"Sir, I'm so sorry, but there's a situation," Jordan's panicky voice fills the back of the car. "There's a girl being held at gunpoint."

Motherfucker.

I seize the gun in the side pocket of the door and burst out of the car, Edo doing the same on the opposite side of me.

We're on a residential street full of shitty looking houses, and standing a few feet away is a man holding a terrified woman around the waist, a gun nestled to her temple.

The deafening staccato of automatic gunfire erupts, shattering the silence.

Edo and I dive behind the car as bullets whiz by in a deadly chorus. I snap a fresh magazine into the gun and chamber a round.

"It's Invicta!" I yell as bullets ricochet off my bulletproof car.

I risk a peek around the car's edge, the acrid scent of spent gunpowder thick in my nostrils. The Invicta soldier has his arm around the woman's throat, his gun pointed in our direction before he throws her to the ground. The woman's head hits the ground with an audible crack.

Edo and I glance at each other and Edo nods. Before I know it, Edo stands up and pitches forward, pulling the trigger. A storm of rounds chews through the soldier's body, flinging him backward and away from the girl as he tumbles lifelessly to the road.

I dart around the car, and Edo and I cautiously approach the soldier.

His leg twitches.

The sharp crack of my pistol pierces the air as I drill the Invicta soldier through the forehead.

For an eternal beat, all was still except the shrill ringing in my ears and the expanding crimson pool around the soldier's body. Edo and I heave identical sighs of relief.

"Nice work," I say to Edo, clapping him on the shoulder. He's always been my best shooter.

He grunts as he looks at the crumpled form of the woman the Invicta soldier was holding hostage.

"What do we do with her?" He jerks a thumb in her direction.

I approach the girl's lifeless form and study her. Long, curly brown hair is splayed against the road and her short, nearly indecent dress is hiked up to her upper thighs. One high heel dangles off her foot and the other is a few feet away.

Is she a hooker or something? She must be. Who the fuck wears clothes like that if you aren't selling yourself?

But then why would Invicta be holding her at gunpoint?

I take a closer look at her. She looks oddly familiar, but I can't place where I've seen her.

I don't normally bring home strays, but I know Invicta will be crawling around soon once they figure out there was a fight—and from the lights turning on in the nearby houses, it'll be soon—and I can't justify leaving this girl unconscious on the ground, especially in front of an Invicta gang member.

Nat's going to kill me for this.

I lift her limp body into my arms and head back to the car, sliding into the backseat. She's ridiculously light and her head lolls sideways, pressing into my chest.

"She's coming with us. We're in Invicta territory. She might know something."