A laugh escaped my lips 1A laug
hapter 1
Chapter 1
“Boss, please. I promise you, it was a mistake.”
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I stared down at Rizzo, kneeling on the rough floor in an abandoned alley. My right–hand man! I was beyond enraged that he’d betray me like this.
My fists collide with his face again and blood splatters all over the floor. He almost rolled over but I grabbed him by the collar.
I lowered down and leveled my lips to his ear. “Hey, hey, eyes on me. Where is it?”
Rizzo shook and his hands trembled behind his back. “Boss, please. I’m sorry, let me fix this.”
“Where’s my fucking shipment?!!” I screamed as I landed another blow to Rizzo’s chest.
He falls back, landing on his ass as he lay on the dirty ground breathing heavily and whimpering in pain but he still managed to say.
“Marco was supposed to overlook the shipment. I don’t know where it is. I swear.”
A laugh escaped my lips. “Marco? I fucking gave that shipment specifically to you! You know how much I hate excuses, Rizzo.” Rizzo whimpered.
“Get on your fucking knees, now!”
He struggled for some minutes before he finally got on his knees and I grabbed his collar. “You’re fucking worthless to me and to this gang.”
The look of pure horror that crossed his face was enough to tell me that he knew what was coming his way.
“Boss, please.”
I raised my gun and aimed it directly at his forehead.
Rizzo’s eyes went wide as soon as he saw the gun aimed at him.
“Boss, please don’t do this.”
I looked him dead in the eye as I pulled the trigger and shot straight through his forehead and into his brain.
Rizzo’s gaze turned hollow as his body collapsed to the floor. Just then, I heard a high–pitched scream.
“Cazzo!” I cursed under my breath as I noticed a figure running off in the other direction.
I motioned to the guards who were standing with their backs to the walls, already waiting for
instructions to follow.
“Clean this up.” I gestured to the body on the ground. “I’ll take care of whoever this is.”
And then, I took off in a sprint after the running figure. The first rule of the mafia? Never leave behind a witness.
I’m already in enough fucking shit as it is because of stupid Rizzo.
20:33 Phu, 6 Feb
Chapter 1
ALESSIA GUZMAN
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“Hey Al, are you sure you want to be walking home alone again today? I have just an hour until my shift is over and I can drive you.”
My best friend Isabella and also my coworker at the diner asked me with a frown on her face. I almost groaned out in frustration because every single night, she always bombarded me with her many concerned questions.
I wasn’t dead yet, was I?
“Isa, for the hundredth time, I’ll be fine,” I replied and reassured her with a soft smile.
“It’s a Friday night, Al. A woman as beautiful as you are shouldn’t be walking home alone.” She reiterated.
“So a woman is not as beautiful should?” I tried to lay off her concern with a joke.
She threw the cloth she was holding playfully at me. “You know that’s not what I meant.” She said, My smile broadened.
“I’m used to it by now and I’ll be fine, love. Don’t worry about me.” She sighed and slumped her shoulders in defeat.
I wrapped my arms around her for a quick hug, easing her worries. “Goodnight, love.”
“Goodnight. Now you be careful out there.” Isa warned, pointing a finger at me.
“Of course.” I gave her a bright smile and walked off.
I stepped out of the restaurant and the cold air hit me like a punch to the face. Cold shivers ran down my spine and I increased my pace to get home quickly and escape the cold night air.
Even with the cold, the streets were full of people coming and going in opposite directions, into one club or the other. It was a very busy Friday night and it made me feel a lot safer.
Well…that was until I turned the corner leading to my apartment and heard a voice carrying through the wind.
“Get on your fucking knees, now!”
At first, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me because the wind began to pick up, rustling between buildings and rattling some abandoned cans on the ground, and even though it was a sound I heard almost every day for the past six months, today, it sounded weirdly creepy.
“You’re fucking worthless to me and to this gang.”
I heard the voice again and this time, I was certain that my ears were not playing any tricks on me. The voice, which was Italian, was coming from the alleyway in front of me.
This doesn’t sound good. I had warning sirens going off in my head. Deep down, I knew I should walk away quietly and fast but I was sucked in by curiosity and pure nosiness. As I walked quietly deeper into the shadows, I heard a man sob.
“Boss, please.”
Just as I got close enough to realize what was going on, a loud gunshot went off. I screamed, stumbling over my own feet as my heart pounded in my chest.
I looked up in fear from where I fell to the direction of the shot and I saw a tall man holding a gun and standing over the bloodied heap of the man he just shot.
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7 20:33 Mu, 6 Feb J
Chapter 1
Two men also walked out from the shadows. Of course, my scream must’ve alerted them and the one with the gun was already looking in my direction and I felt my heart drop straight to my feet. Without a second thought, I punched myself of the ground, turned around, and started running for my life.
I rounded a corner into a street that led me far away from my apartment. I could hide out somewhere before it was safe again for me to go back.
I had been running for some minutes now and my lungs felt like they were about to collapse. The wind whipped my hair all over my face as I ran and I took the risk of slowing down to glance at my back, praying I was not being followed. I saw nothing but a dark street and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Thank God,” I said as I finally stopped running and placed a hand on my chest in a weak attempt to control my rapidly beating heart.
“Thank God?” A voice not belonging to me said, just as a tattooed hand wrapped around my arm and I shrieked
h escaped my lips 1
