Chapter 5 Leon Carter

Leon Carter He kept his eyes fixed on my wife, even though she had no idea she belonged to me through a marriage she knew nothing about. I felt in my heart that there was no room in my life for anyone else but that woman down there. As soon as she was next to her cousin Lucas, I kept my eyes on her while she danced with her cousin. I pulled my phone from my jeans pocket and looked for Ella's cousin’s number. "What are you going to do?" Gavin asked as he approached. "Man, don’t do this, she’ll get even more suspicious if you call her from here." "I’m not going to talk to her..." I gripped the phone tightly in my hands and walked back to the couch where I had been sitting just a moment ago. I looked at Gavin’s contact and wondered whether or not I should call. Maybe Gavin was right , if Ella saw me here, maybe she’d become even more suspicious and have an even harder time accepting me when I got close to her. "Screw it..." Leon: What is Ella doing here? I kept my eyes on Lucas, who began looking around in all directions, searching for me. When our eyes met, he looked at me as if he were silently apologizing. Lucas: Man, they were going to come alone, you’re lucky I came with them! Irritation got the best of me, and I let my mafia side respond. Leon: Lucky, my ass. Get out of there before I lose the patience I don’t have. I looked at him again and saw him staring back like he was saying, "Excuse me?" Lucas: I’m going to be honest with you, Leon. I don’t care who your family is, screw that. But I’m not going to let my cousin, who was suffering because of you, just vanish. If you want her to go home, be a man and come over here and tell her yourself. I read that, and I felt every one of those words like blades slicing through me because I knew every one of them was true. I left her in the dark after swearing that I loved her and that we’d always be honest, no matter what happened. But I hadn’t expected my mission to spiral out of control the way it did. I took a deep breath as I looked at the girl I loved. I saw her dancing happily with her cousin, and memories of that mission flooded my mind. "Father, how am I going to get into that place?" I pointed at the map of the building where the leaders of the faction disrupting our business were located. "Through here. It’s a narrow passage, but our informant guaranteed both your entrance and exit." I looked at my father, who seemed confident, and beside him were my godfather and Gavin, who wasn’t coming with me , his turn would be in a few days. My mother, Laís, wasn’t there. She was afraid that what happened to my father during his mission would happen to me. With everything ready, I left for Chicago alone, but knowing my parents would be watching everything. A GPS had been implanted in my body, and aside from tracking my location, it also displayed my vital signs, so my family would know if I was okay. When the plane landed, a car was already waiting. I got in and tossed my backpack onto the passenger seat. I turned on the vehicle’s GPS and headed to the location our informant said I could enter. My mission was to kill Riccardo Nicola , the man who had been manipulating Arnold into tearing down the borders that belonged to our family and to the “First.” The man really did get me inside the place, which gave me a certain sense of relief. I walked through the building, tense and alert the whole time. I was posing as a client for one of the prostitutes working there. As I walked through one of the hallways, I noticed it was more heavily guarded than the others I had passed. I saw one of the rooms empty, slipped inside, and exited through the window onto the fire escape. Using the railing, I made my way to the last room and looked in through the window. I smiled when I saw that bastard Riccardo inside. I pulled the gun from my waist and started screwing on the silencer. I looked around and saw that there was an exit for me through the same stairs. I took a deep breath and aimed at the shadow I saw moving. He was with a prostitute, and if she stayed in front of him, she’d be collateral damage, unfortunately. I pulled the trigger and watched as the window shattered in front of me. I took another deep breath when I realized the bastard was still alive , and that the one who ended up dying was Evelyn Gallo, the wife of Chicago’s underworld boss. Even in shock from the scene, I needed to get out of there fast. I turned and started running toward my escape route, dodging a few trash cans on the railing, and when I reached the first floor, I jumped into a huge pile of garbage. The fall was brutal , I ended up twisting my ankle, and then the shooting started. I returned fire a few times until I felt the burn in my thigh. I stumbled and saw my father’s informant , and from the look in his eyes, I knew he was going to betray me. "Sorry, but better you die than me..." Everything went black. He had struck me with the butt of his gun. The stench is overwhelming, and then I’m punched in the face, which jolts me awake instantly. Feeling the pain spread throughout my entire body, I lift my head and see Arnold staring at me with fury. "I hope you’ve got someone who hits harder than you..." I challenge him. "You little shit, you're a dead man!" I glance toward Riccardo. "I already told him you were screwing his wife that your leader is a damn cuckold..." Riccardo walks up and punches me again in the stomach. Bile rises, and I force myself not to vomit right there. I try to keep my eyes fixed on Arnold , he will definitely make me suffer until death finally embraces me. I’m tied by the wrists like a slaughtered animal, wearing nothing but underwear, my feet barely touching the ground. I have no idea how long I’ve been here, but I know they’re waiting for my father to arrive so they can finish the torture , which has included electric shocks, whippings, and burns on my back and thighs. I’m exhausted, and my thoughts are on Ella, who I haven’t spoken to in weeks, and especially my mother, who must be losing her mind with my father by now. With difficulty, I open the only eye that isn’t completely swollen and see Arnold approaching with a cigarette. "You all think you're so great, just because you get to run the damn organization however you want..." he blows the cigarette smoke into my face. "What your father can’t accept is that I’m going to screw him over and take control of the entire Midwest." I look at him and smile. "You’ll never get that far. Before you can clean up the shit Riccardo’s dragging your name through, you’ll be deadddd..." I scream in pain when I feel him drive a blade into my left shoulder. "You’ll die with your father..." My body feels like it’s about to explode from so much pain. I smile when an explosion draws the attention of everyone inside that filthy cell. I close my eyes as smoke begins to fill the space. I hear Arnold barking orders to his men as they rush out, their shouts drowned by my father’s voice yelling for everyone to be killed. My eyes lock on Arnold again, who looks uncertain for a moment but is eventually dragged out by one of his soldiers. I’m in so much pain that I pass out just as my father comes in, wearing a bulletproof vest and holding a pistol in his hand. I knew I was safe. I open my eyes and turn toward my wife , the woman who has no idea she already signed the papers for our marriage. "Are you going to go over there, or are you going to turn your back and pretend you were never here?" Gavin’s question pulls me completely out of my thoughts. "Let’s go to the office. There might be unwanted people here, and they could find out about Ella!" I take a deep breath, look at my phone, and decide to send one more message to Lucas. Leon: I’m heading to the office. Please protect her. Lucas: Always!