Zaden's POV

"Silvio is missing." My Uncle Maceo entered my office.

"And." I returned to the stack of papers sitting in front of me.

"He's your brother Zaden."

"And?" I repeated.

Silvio and I don't get along, it's been like this since I arrived, Silvio is younger than me by eleven months, making the both of us the same age.

One of the many secrets my so called parents kept from me.

"He fought someone last night, she showed up at the fight club with money wanting to fight him. They were last seen leaving together and no one knows who she is." He took a seat opposite me. "Sienna is worried about him."

"Did she send someone to go look for her son?" I asked.

"No."

"Then she isn't worried that much."

"Just send someone out to look for him after the emergency meeting your Grandfather called." Maceo rolled his eyes.

No matter what my title was or might be, I will always remain loyal to those I was with before all this. I treated Maceo with the same respect I always did.

~

"If we take out Versana, we take the other four families out." My grandfather Licid grinned.

The room sat quiet and tense as they waited for me to say something.

Versana Vice is in second place, sitting right next to her older brother Carter Soreign.

"We?" I chuckled, clapping my hands slowly. "There is no We, never is and never was." I dropped any kind of humor from my tone and gestures.

"I put you where you are-"

"And I built this all while you and your family went on vacation, leaving me with the responsibility to kill off everyone who came looking for you." I stood and buttoned my suit jacket. "I suggest you stop talking before I decide to put a bullet into your skull."

"Do not disrespect me, I am your Grandfather!" He pointed the end of his walking stick to my head.

"And I'm your Don." I challenged. "Call bullshit meetings like this again and I'll put a bullet in every single one of your heads."

The rest of the table remained quiet but I knew they wanted to say something, and so I waited hoping that someone would.

"We-"

As soon as Rossi had gotten the first syllable out, I raised my gun and pulled the trigger.

Veil made no move to defend his brother and kept his eyes on me as he bled out beside him.

"Must I remind you? I don't answer to anyone at this table." I leaned over the head of the table. "When I say jump, you say-"

"How high Don?" An alluring voice whipped around me, I could hear the smile on her lips before I turned to face her.

Messiah was the first to enter, black market guns only Soreign somehow can get ahold of. His Soreign rings on full display and the same went for the woman who stood behind him, followed by her other personal bodyguards.

"Who are you!" Licid demanded, avoiding the fact that I just killed one of his best friends.

"A nobody apparently." Silvio was shoved by the guard I remember as Felik.

She appeared in front of me, long dark hair framed a heart-shaped face with bright soft honey colored eyes I could never forget.

"Come with me." I snapped and held my hand out to her.

Right now isn't a good time. I tried pleading with my eyes for her to listen.

"I have a proposal to offer." She ignored me and walked deeper into the room with her guards following suit.

"We don't accept from a nobody." Veil turned his nose up to her.

"Versana Vice." She introduced herself and pointed to the three that stood behind her protectively. "These are my guards Messiah, Felik and Preston."

"What the fuck." Licid swore under his breath.

"I want to arrange marriage with The Don." She stared me head on.

"You accepted my proposal the moment you accepted my promise ring, Versana." I growled my distaste. "Show me your hands."

She didn't hesitate and held her hands up, no ring insight. Her brow rose as my jaw tensed.

Everything about her seemed so much more sharper. Her cheek bones sat high on her face and the pink tinge to her plump lips still remained.

Her eyes never wondered, they stayed watching me with a blank expression, the side of her mouth tugging up slightly every so often.

"You made a proposal without notifying us?" Lucio, my mothers younger brother questioned.

"They we're dating before we sent for him." My father Julz stared at her as if stuck in a memory. "So that's who you are. Versana Vice, the daughter of Hayze Versana and Maya Monrovian."

"She's the blushing girl you carry in your wallet brother?" Silvio scoffed. "She doesn't seem like the type to blush."

"You're just not the type I would blush for." She fired back, earning herself a chuckle from Maceo who stood to the back.

"Take Rossi with you." I snapped. "And get the fuck out of my house."

Holding my hand out to Ava, she hesitantly placed it in mine before I pulled her out of the room and down the long halls to my private garage.

"Zaden." She protested, trying to keep up with my long strides.

Opening the passenger side to one of my cars, I pushed her in gently and buckled her in before getting into the driver's seat.

"Where are you taking me?" She broke the silence as I drove.

"Somewhere where there isn't a dead body."

"Why?" Her question wasn't specific but I knew.

Her strong persona seemed to crack in front of me and her tears fell silently.

Watching her cry was something I could never handle, but being the reason why she cried felt heavier.

I drove faster to my destination, wanting to comfort her properly.

I pulled into a small cottage that was surrounded by forest, her security team pulled in seconds later and patrolled the area as I helped her out of the car.

Once inside, we stared at each other blankly, as if it were a silent argument. Our glances battled each other, until I finally spoke.

"Would it be cliché if I told you I lost contact to keep you safe?" I stared at the finger I had once placed my promise ring on.

"No matter how much you try protecting me, I will always be in danger wherever I go." She stated. "With the amount of enemies Carter, Fane and Vice have, yours wouldn't have been a problem."

"I know but at least it was less your brother had to worry about." I pulled her hand into mine. "If it means that you're safe from the shit I walked in on then I'd do it all over again Ava."

"All you had to do was explain this to me, Zaden."

"I couldn't risk anyone here finding out about you. I didn't trust anything here for a while, and I didn't want Maceo stuck between us so I told him to say I was busy."

"A text would have been okay." She sighed.

"Tell me how I was meant to tell l'amore della mia vita over text that I can't be in contact with her. (Italian- The love of my life.)" I pulled her into me. "I can lose fucking everything, but god not you."

"So is that a yes to my proposal." She hiccuped, her hands slowly made their way around my neck.

"Like I said before, you accepted mine the moment you accepted my ring." I whispered into her ear. "Wherever my ring may be."

"It's safe." Her lips brush mine, not innocently, but a tease I couldn't resist.

Her hands guided mine to her neck but froze once she felt the rough scars on my left hand. "What happened?"

"I prefer knives over guns." I frowned down at her as she traced the scars, answering her with all honesty. "I killed someone and injured myself."

"I'm not innocent as before either." She whispered. "Your hands are scarred from murder and yet I trust them completely."