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I follow Arton through the warehouse, past the teams of men, and down a flight of stairs leading to a bunker room.
Two men are chained to a wall, beaten and bleeding. One of them is crying. I snarl at them, disgusted by the weakness on display. “I hear you have been conspiring against me?”
“It won’t happen again.” The first man splutters, spitting blood.
“I know it won’t happen again,” I say, drawing my gun.
“No, wait, Antonio, we are family, please -”
The bullet penetrates his skull with such force that his head snaps backward. A loud cracking sound echoes against the cement walls.
The second man’s eyes are so wide with fear that he looks frozen, almost comical.
“Antonio, I can help,”
“How do you suppose you can help?” I ask dryly.
“Lucas, he threatened my family. I had no choice. I had to do what he asked.”
“You had a choice. You could speak to me. You definitely had a choice. Unfortunately, you chose the wrong side.”
A second shot fires from my gun, hitting him in the throat, causing a fountain of blood to erupt from him. He begins to gargle and splutter, drowning in the thick red sludge of his own body.
I watch closely as the life drains from his eyes.
“Have the bodies put on display somewhere. I want every member of the family to know what happened.” I say, turning my back on the carnage of blood and death. “It is time to let them all know who I am and what happens to traitors.”
Over the next day, my actions cause a massive ripple effect through the family. My message was loud and clear, prompting people to respond and pledge their allegiance to me, assuring their commitment. It is a dark world where the best way to have people respect you is through death.
But it is the world I am running, and I'lldoanythingto get Seraphina back.
“The family meeting is set. Everyone has confirmed that they will be in attendance,” Arton confirms.
“And your father?”
“He will be there. I don’t believe he knows we know what he has done. When I spoke to him, I made it sound as though we believed those men were working independently of anyone else and that we believed the threat was now resolved.”
“Good, but we still need to be very alert for anything he might have planned.”
“Your numbers have increased considerably since yourmessagereached the family. I don’t think he has much of a force left on his side. But I agree, we should be ready for anything. The meeting is tonight at your property. We have given the impression that it is a sort of welcoming gesture regarding you moving in there.”
At eight o’clock that evening, I was standing in what was once my father’s dining room with my entire family around the table. The room is so packed with people that some of them are standing, and some are seated. “I wanted to thank all of you for being here tonight,” I say to the room of people.
“Thank you for having us.”
“We appreciate the invite.”
“It is about time we all came together like this.”
I nod. Running my hand across the head of the table, a sly smile on my face. Seraphina is in my thoughts as she has been almost constantly since she went missing. But I push it away. Right now, I have something to do that requires my full attention.
“I know things have been unstablesince my father passed away. And I wanted to see each of you, face to face, to let you all know that from here on out - there will be no more of that. The instability of the family has been something I have been looking into and dealing with, and tonight, the final piece of that puzzle is about to be resolved.”
I nod toward two of my security men. “Please, will you escort my uncle Lucas to stand by my side?”
I look toward Lucas, who shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Antonio, that is unnecessary.”
“Lucas, please,“I gesture politely, and he stands, pulling his arm away from one man who tries to grab it.
