L O R E N Z O

I'd known from the moment I'd stepped foot into Alessio's office that this wouldn't be over before tonight, yet I didn't know why I had left texting Andrea to the last moment. Or why I felt the need to text her at all. There was a fucked-up war going on inside me, and for the first time, I didn't know which side I wanted to win because despite myself I didn't think I even knew what had me wound so tight. Deciding not to ponder anymore on that, I typed a quick message, and hit send before turning my phone off and walking out of the SUV, Alessio hot on my tail with our men following close behind. Milan's younger brother, Stefano had accompanied me and Luca since I hadn't wanted Andrea to be left alone. Luca was standing to my right, his eyes narrowed at the seemingly deserted structure in front of us.

"You know the plan," I nodded at Alessio, who scowled but remained silent.

I was aware that Alessio was less than ecstatic about his lack of participation in tonight's plan, but it wasn't like I had many options. It would be naive of me to assume with certainty that Carlo would be in this fucking house, but it would be ignorant of me to believe that it couldn't be a trap. The only reasonable solution I'd found to this dilemma was dividing the men so in the off chance it was a trap, I wouldn't be leading all of my men to their deaths. My jacket flapped against my chest as a gust of wind blew past, and I took that chance to remove my gun from the holster and remove its safety before walking off with Luca and Stefano on my sides, forming a triangle.

I was glad for the nightfall because it had made our job easy by masking us with the shadows of twilight, however, we still stopped a decent distance away from the building to prevent setting off any alarms–if there were any. Walking slowly until we reached the wrought iron gate, after which we started looking around. Only when nothing seemed amiss did I motion for Luca and Stefano to round up the walls for a way in. For the condition of the walls, the gate looked quite new, in fact, it appeared it wasn't rusty at all.

"Hey, Renzo," Stefano's voice crackled in my earpiece, and I pressed the button to connect mine to Luca and Stefano's.

"Yeah?"

"I found a way in,"

I rushed in retracing Stefano's steps, my brows rising when I spotted him already sitting on the wall. Apparently, he'd  made himself comfortable, and was looking at me with a small smirk on his face. It was then I realized, I might have made a mistake in bringing him along tonight. Stefano had a penchant for recklessness, especially when it resulted in chaos.

"Do you mind throwing my Barrett up?" He ran a hand through his hair as I reached for the rifle he'd balanced against the wall and threw it up.

Stefano caught the rifle in his hands and got into position as he scoured the perimeter.

"Renzo, something is not right," Luca muttered as he joined me by the wall.

"What do you mean?" I pocketed my hand, already contemplating contingency plans in case something was to go amiss.

"It's too quiet."

"If it really is a safe house, they won't be having a fucking party here," Stefano's hiss cut through the silence and Luca cursed under his breath.

"You know what I meant." He hissed back before turning to me, "I don't think you should step foot inside"

I didn't get a chance to break their spar as the sound of glass shattering somewhere over the wall silenced both of them. Stefano muttered something under his breath, causing me and Luca to turn our heads up to look at him, only to find that Stefano's finger was pressed against the trigger almost like he was getting ready to take another aim. The crazy fucker shot at something or someone.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Luca beat me to asking Stefano, and he went one step further by tugging on his leg.

"Stop, you asshole." Stefano kicked him off, "I'm trying to see something."

"Enlighten me, Stefano, because I don't remember this being part of the plan." I managed to speak without having the anger running in my veins do the talking for me.

"Sorry, boss, I was just trying to see if the cunt is the only one here."

"We never knew if he truly was here." I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to rethink the next steps.

Stefano was many things, but he was not good at following a simple plan. I suppose his adoration for chaos had forced his hand, and while I wasn't pleased about this development, this wasn't the place I would chide him for it. Or remind him that I was his Capo.

"Cazzo."

"What?"

"There's men coming out the back," Stefano muttered before moving himself on the wall so he was covered by a tree's branch.

"Of course!" Luca hissed, "You might as well have blown a trumpet and invited them over for tea."

"Luca," I said, making sure he could hear the warning in my voice.

"I can see around five men. I can take them down but I'm not sure if there's more."

"Wait." I motioned him to stop with my hand as I turned to Luca, "I think we need backup."

Luca nodded, taking out one of the burners we'd taken with us for the job, "I'll text Alessio."

"Do that. Tell him to send some men, have the rest encircle the perimeter so no one gets away, and also tell him to stay put."

"He won't like missing all the action."

"And I don't like all my eggs in one basket." I snapped before I could catch myself, "Tell him it's an order." I managed to finish my sentence much calmer than before.

Alessio would loathe being asked to sit this one out, now that he knew I was requesting backup, but I couldn't let his desire for violence completely annihilate whatever little was left of my initial strategy, and force me to gamble with a losing hand.

"Stefano, you stay up there, and only shoot when I tell you to. Until then make sure you're not seen."

"You got it," the leaves rustled as Stefano adjusted himself to camouflage himself while I motioned at Luca to round up the wall again.

Luca walked behind me, his shoulder brushing against my back as he tried to ensure nobody ambushed us from behind. We stopped when the gate became visible and I motioned at Luca to roll over to the other side of the gate once I'd made sure none of the motherfuckers were looking here. Once Luca was on the other side, I pushed myself away from the wall to peer inside, not surprised to find a few men walking around in disarray, weapons in hand. I turned my head towards Luca, who was already looking at me, and we both raised our guns, pointing at two of the men on the far end.

"Stefano, do you still have someone in your sights?"

There was some static crackle before Stefano grunted, "Shoot when you hear the first shot."

"Copy," There was a hint of glee in his voice and Luca rolled his eyes as he mouthed a curse, before training his eyes back on our targets.

It had been a while since I'd felt any kind of a rush, a bust of adrenaline that would send my heart rate flying, and even today, when I would most likely kill someone, there wasn't any anticipation. It wasn't that I wouldn't enjoy killing Carlo, it was just that all this was stacked as reliably as a house of cards, and I absolutely could not risk being unprepared if the wind blew wrong. So, taking a deep breath, I took aim, pushed my finger against the trigger, nodded at Luca, and shot at the man on the far right. I hadn't even heard Luca's shot when I marked the second man, and shot him straight between the eyes, only pushing myself back against the wall after I'd watched him collapse.

"Stefano?"

"One down." He grunted, "I've got my sights on the other one."

He'd barely even finished the sentence when something sliced through the wind, and I was certain Stefano had done his job.

"Done." Stefano's voice crackled through my ear followed by rustling and a grunt, "I'm on the ground."

Luca pushed away from the wall, the cracking beneath his feet as he made his way to stand in front of the gate. He took a step back, extended his hand with the gun towards the lock, and shot at it before pushing the iron gate open with a loud creak that had a chill travel up my spine.

I shook off the eerie feeling the sound had induced and walked inside, stopping a decent distance away from the house. The front door was sealed shut, they must have used the back entrance.

I moved away from the front door toward the side, looking for another way in when Stefano's voice carried through the quietude of an otherwise calm night.

"Found a way in,"

"Wait," I hoped he would exercise caution, especially after my warning, but Stefano rarely ever listened to the voice of reason, and as I'd expected he had already walked inside the building. His Barrett was thrown on the ground, and by the time Luca reached me, Stefano was shouting to let us know that the main hallway was clear.

I nodded at Luca and stepped inside the dimly lit place. The smell of mold was the first thing that attacked my senses, followed by the sound of footsteps coming from beneath us. Instinctively, I looked at the hardwood floor and motioned at Luca to remain silent as I stepped through the living room into the basement.

As I descended the stairs, the epiphany that it was all too easy wasn't lost on me. There was something going on here, maybe it was just an elaborate hoax after all, but no one would go through the trouble of laying a false trail unless...

"Fuck." The words left my mouth just as my thoughts paralyzed me and I turned around to find Luca staring at me with furrowed brows.

"Call Milan or Alessandro. Right now."

"What–" Luca silenced himself as he realized the trajectory of my thoughts and took out the burner from his pocket.

He dialed Alessio just as I looked around the pitch-black staircase, and reached for the flashlight in my pocket, positioning it above my gun as it lit up my line of vision.

"Yes, Alessio. Now." I could tell Luca was getting exasperated at Alessio's questioning, but I couldn't blame my brother, I'd never once considered the shortcomings of my inability to be in two places at one time before.

"They're fine." Luca murmured to me, "Alessandro's asking do you want them taken to the vault?"

That would mean alerting my father, and I wasn't willing to answer his questions about Carlo's interest in Andrea all over again, especially if all this turned out to be smoke and mirrors, however, I also couldn't risk the safety of Andrea and the twins. I ran my hands through my hair as I weighed my options,

"No. Shut the blinds, get Alex there, and more men." Luca relayed my words to Alessio as I continued walking down, his footfall following mine, "And not a word of this to Andrea."

"She will figure it out, Renzo."

"I know." I sighed just as I stepped away from the stairs to a landing.

I looked around with my flashlight, the hair at the back of my neck rising when I found nothing. I was certain this was where the footsteps had been from. It didn't make sense. Luca began to speak but I silenced him with my finger and motioned for him to take cover as I turned off my flashlight and let the darkness engulf everything. By this time I was certain Carlo wasn't here, but if there was an inch of this place I hadn't scoured, I wanted to know about it. I would be gratifying if I could capture one of the men here, perhaps they'd lend me some insight into whatever the fuck it was that Carlo and Cillian want.

I took a step forward, and the floorboard creaked, making me still. It was only then that a gunshot rang out, followed by a low curse from Luca as he turned his flashlight on again, shining it around the room. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to make out a shadow in the corner of the room. Not bothering to think about it, I brought my gun up, and shot at the shadow, hoping to get him alive. There was a scream and made my way across the room toward the person, who was slumped on his back. Feeling for his gun, I threw it out of reach and leaned down to check his pulse, a little disappointed to find that he was dead.

"Dead."

"Let's get out of here." I turned out and walked back upstairs, surprised to find two pistols in my face.

I didn't get a chance to look at the faces behind the pistols as something hit me on the head, making my vision blurry just as a piercing pain broke through my skull, and I nearly lost grip of my gun. I shook my head, trying to get my wits about me, and this time when the room came into view, I could make out Stefano's unconscious form on the ground.

"Drop that gun, Lorenzo." The coldness of the barrel felt foreign against my flesh, but by this time I also knew that it was nothing more than an elaborate hoax, and if there was one thing I knew it was how to get out of sticky situations.

Seeing as there were only two men, I forced myself to relax, and holding the gun lazily in my hand, I assessed the room once more to be sure.

The motherfucker pushed the gun deeper into my forehead, "Drop. Your. Weapon."

I took a step toward the men, making the gun dig deeper into my head, "No."

The words had barely even left my lips when I kneed him in the balls and held his wrist and turned him around, holding his own gun under his chin, while pointing mine at his partner, all while shielding myself with his body.

"Now, now, if I were you, I'd throw the gun away." I pushed the gun under his partner's chin, making him groan.

It was only then that Luca pushed away from the staircase and shot the fucker standing in front of me in the chest. I pushed the fucker I was holding away, making sure to keep his gun in my hand, and shot him in the legs. He screamed as he fell to the ground with a loud thud that echoed off the walls of the house.

"You're bleeding." Luca pointed to the side of my head, and I touched my fingers to the tender spot only to have them come away with blood.

"It's nothing I can't handle." I shook my head to clear my vision some more and walked toward Stefano.

I sat on my haunches and brought my fingers to his neck, looking for a pulse. Relieved to feel his pulse, I stood up and asked Luca for his burner phone.

Dialing Alessio, I waited for him to answer, "What now?"

"It's done."

"Did you get Carlo?"

"No." I looked at the whimpering form of the man I'd just shot, "But I found someone."

"Who?"

"Will explain later." I ran a hand through my hair, grimacing when the strands that had stuck to my wound sent a piercing pain through my skull, "You need to get here."

"Be there in five."

It wasn't long after that Alessio burst through the doors of the house, his men hot on his tail, their guns raised. Upon seeing us, they lowered their guns, and Alessio walked inside, his eyes dancing between me, Luca, Stefano, and the man I'd left alive.

"Is he?" Alessio pointed to Stefano.

"No, just knocked out." I placed my gun back in the holster, "We need to get out of here, and I need to interrogate him," I motioned toward the motherfucker lying on the ground.

"You're bleeding,"

"No shit," I grunted as I wiped away the blood that had almost gotten into my eye.

"You should let the doc take a look at it, could be a concussion."

"I will after I'm done with him." I turned towards Guilio, one of Alessio's captains, "Burn this building to the ground after we're gone."

He nodded, and I walked out of the house, my fingers itching to inflict some pain on the man I'd captured. Even if it wouldn't prove fruitful in getting information, it would at least feed my demons, who'd suddenly decided they wanted a pound of his flesh.

***

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