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PROLOGUE
GIOVANNI
I’m distracted as hell as I go through the motions of my workout at Lou’s gym. It’s a tradition that I train here before all of my fights. I’ll miss this place because I won’t need to come here anymore since my last fight as a professional MMA fighter is coming up. But, I have to say I’m not ready to let go yet. I’m not even thirty years old, but I have responsibilities to my family. I can’t exactly stay in the spotlightandbe in the deadliest mafia family in the entire world.
When I take over the position of Capo of the DeLuca family here in Nashville, Tennessee, my focus will solely be on running my business to help my family. I’ve been preparing for the honor of being Capo for my entire life; I just didn’t realize how fast the time would come.
“G! What the fuck, man! If you don’t focus, Kane is gonna rock your shit on Friday.” Sean, my trainer, yells at me from outside of the cage.
“I got it,” I grumble.
As I said, I’m distracted. But not so much so that I couldn’t beat the clown I’m sparring with. I’m the best at this shit. Hell, savagery runs through my blood. And I wake up and choose violence most days, and Sean knows this better than anyone.
He’s just being a dick because my last opponent is supposed to be my hardest. But Ron, “The Killer,” Kane doesn’t scare me.Killerfor Ron is some made up bullshit nickname, but it’s who I am to my core. It’s who I was raised to be.
The bell rings, and my sparring partner looks relieved as fuck. I didn’t even take him to the mat; as a matter of fact, he got off easier than my normal partner. I frown, realizing that I haven’t seen or heard from Leo in about two weeks.
“Good workout, Brawler,” My sparring partner calls me by my MMA name. He’s breathing so hard I could barely understand what he said.
I nod and knock gloves with the lying ass man who didn’t give me any type of challenge. I hardly even broke a sweat. It’s not ideal to have weak sparring matches before fights, but I still have a few days left before my fight, so I can make up for it.
Once the man is gone, I start to unwrap my gloves as Sean climbs into the ring. He crosses his arms over his barreled chest as he looks at me slowly. I just stare at him as I wait for his assessment.
Sean is great at what he does, and he’s the best trainer I’ve ever had. But he nags at me like we’re fucking married, and that shit irks my nerves. It was hard not to kill him at first. I don’t exactly keep people around me that irritate any part of me.So, I’ll have to work on that.
“You think fighting like that is gonna get you that win? Cause from what I see, it’s gonna get you your first loss.” Sean snarls. His brown eyes are narrowed, and I can tell he’s actually mad.
However, I know Sean. He’s not upset about my workout; he’s still pissed that I’m retiring at the height of my career. My manager, Ross, is pissed too. I understand why they’re mad because I didn’t give them a reason for my decision. I wouldn’t if I could because I don’t work for them. They fucking work for me. They’ll get over it eventually, and if they don’t, oh fucking well.
“If you were that worried about me losing, you wouldn’t have me practicing against some weak ass nobody. Where the fuck is Leo?” I question, mirroring Sean’s annoyance.
Yeah, this might be my last fight by choice, but I still want to go out on top. I’m a fucking winner! Losing is not in my blood.
Sean deeply sighs before he nods his head towards the back office. We get out of the ring, and I follow him. Once we’re inside, Sean shuts the door and sits behind the large desk. I’ve had a sinking feeling that Sean has been hiding something from me, but I ignored it. My Papa always told me to never ignore my gut, and being the stubborn bastard that I am, I did it anyway.
“What’s going on, Sean? You know I don’t like when people beat around the fucking bush. Just spit out whatever it is.” It’s my turn to narrow my eyes.
“I didn’t want you to lose focus, but it seems like you’re not concentrating on the fight despite what’s going on with Leo.” Sean pushes his hands through his thick dark hair and shakes his head. “Leo was arrested. Bullshit trumped up charges. He’ll be fine once we get a good lawyer.”
I don’t know the details behind what Leo may or may not have done, but Leo is loyal. Loyalty goes a long way with me. Besides, he’s a good kid, even if he’s gotten himself into a slight jam with the law. I will find out what happened and get him released. My family’s influence runs deep.
“Don’t worry about the lawyer. I’ll take care of it.” I have high-powered lawyers on retainer. It’s nothing for me to make a simple phone call.
Even though Sean knows my family is wealthy, he doesn’t know what we do, but he still should have come to me. I could give him a pass for his ignorance, but I don’t tend to give passes to people. I was taught that giving people second chances could lead to trouble, or worse, your death.No thanks!
“You don’t need to do that, G.” Sean’s words aren’t convincing, and it irritates me that he’s pretending like he doesn’t need my help.
“Whatever, man, just send the information to my office,” I say, annoyance lacing my tone.
“Youroffice, right.” Sean frowns. The word office comes out like he’s been sucking on lemons or something, and I want to roll my eyes.
Between Sean and Ross, I feel like I’m getting a divorce from a hostile ex that doesn’t want to let go. The shit is crazy. I get that I make these two a lot of money, but come the fuck on. Everybody has to move on at some point. I’m twenty-eight years old. It’s not like I would be an MMA fighter for too much longer. No matter how good I am, your body can only take so much beating.
“Man listen, you have got to stop acting like a bitter bitch, and get the fuck over it. I’m retiring, and when I win this last match, you can use my name to get other fighters. You’ll be fine. But the disrespectful tone you’re using with me will get you hurt.Capisce?”
“Yeah, yeah, G. I understand. Damn.”
I nod because the look in Sean’s eyes tells me he finally gets that I’m not the one to fuck with. I don’t know if it was my tone or the dark look on my face, but I’m glad he recognizes the danger his words can put him in.
