Chapter 1 Assassination

“You'll be a man soon...” Don Antonio Genovese looked at him son with smile that soon turned into a frown. “You'll need to act like it.”

“Tonio, let the boy breath, it's his birthday soon, let him act like the child he is.” Gio's mother objected from the kitchen with a small smile.

One more year and the poor boy will be eighteen, one more year and he'll be considered a man, man enough to take over his father's empire, but until then, she's okay with him acting fifteen. Besides, he was once fifteen wasn't he?

“He should start acting like it, being a man isn't something that just puffs out if no where, you need to practice it, get the mindset, you need to start acting like it.”

“You were twenty one when you took over after you father Antonio, because at nineteen you still weren't man enough for him, now please, let the boy breath, don't ruin his birthday.” She rolled her eyes as she walked out of the kitchen holding a pot of food, which she slowly balanced near the cake. She then turned to the smaller boy. “Go get the candles from the kitchen Luca, it's almost twelve, and we don't want to be one minute late.” She booped his nose and watched as ran off to the kitchen. Returning almost immediately with a pack of colored candles.

“Go grab the plates, Gio. Luca give your papa the candles he'll fix them.”

11:40 PM it's going to be a new day in twenty minutes, and Giovanni's birthday too. She wanted everything as flawless as it could. Half the year she was away for work trips, only coming back for Luca's birthday and retuning before his.

Giovanni had thought she would miss it, with how full her schedule was and more plans for work trips, he'd come to terms with it. She won't return, but then she did, six hours before his birthday and without wasting time began preparing for it, making dinner and cake simultaneously. There's nothing more he could ask for.

Once the cake's set and the lighter's in sight, his mother dished the food and urged them to eat quickly as it'll be midnight soon.

But just as Giovanni was about to take his first bite of the food, a knock came on the door.

“Did you invite someone?” His mother asked in a hushed voice and his father shook his head, his shoulders stiffened. Slowly he placed his hand under the table and plucked out a gun.

The boys glanced up puzzled.

Giovanni felt his stomach drop. With the family he has, he knew a simple knock in the middle of the night wasn't as simple as it looked, and his father's people doesn't visit the house without a notice, it was a rule established because of situations like this. And since his mother didn't invite anyone and his father obviously didn't, either. There was only one possibility, and that possibility made Giovanni's chest hurt so bad.

His father pushed his chair back slowly. “Stay here,” he said without looking at them but a finger in his lips.

“Antonio—” his wife began, but he had already stood. “Make sure the boys are safe.”

Giovanni started to rise, but his mother shot him a look that made him sit again with a frightened sigh. His little brother reached for his arm, whispering, “Who is it?”

“I don't know yet, but don't say anything. Let's wait until papa returns.”

The hallway creaked under his father’s steps as he walked further to the door, soon the sound of the lock clicked, echoing in the almost silent house that was soon disrupted by a loud thud as the door was pushed open with force.

It happened fast but not so fast that Giovanni couldn’t see the black shapes moving through the doorway, the glint of metal in their hands, his father trying to shove the door close but more strangers trooped in with forced taking the door off it's hinges. His shoulder slamming into the wall with a crack as the door burst inward and men spilled into the house.

His mother looked at him with an alarmed look. “Hide.”

Without a question, Giovanni grabbed his brother and shoved him under the table just as one of the masked men stormed into the dinning. The smell of sweat and gun oil hit his nose. The man’s arm shot out, grabbing his mother by the hair and dragging her back. Antonio lunged after her from the hallway, but a blow to his face sent him staggering against the wall, the gun nowhere in sight, the hit left him reeling with a broken shoulder.

“Stop!” Giovanni shouted.

Two more men came in, rifles up as he tried to push Luca farther under the table but a hand clamped down on the back of his neck and hauled him out. Luca screamed, clawing at Giovanni’s sleeve until another man tore him away.

A shot rang out, making Giovanni flinch so hard his teeth clacked. He didn’t see who fired, he hoped it was his father, but a louder thud dragged his attention and his heart sank. His mother was lying on the floor, the back of her dress blooming dark, her hands still reaching for Antonio. His father roared and went after her, but took a shot to the chest too, and folded onto the floor immediately.

Giovanni’s mind went white, as he watched his parents blood pooling around them in a confused state.

Wh-what just happened?

His heart rate picked up as everywhere went silent around his ears, his heart thumping and thumping, until Luca's scream dragged his back to reality. He tried to fight the grip on him but the man holding him slammed him against the wall. The next thing he knew, he and Luca were being shoved through the doorway into the night.

The air outside was in as much chaos as the inside, with almost all the guards dead and the younger servants in a corner, in fear. Giovanni stumbled, trying to catch Luca's hand, but another man struck him in the ribs with a rifle and he folded over with a grunt.

“Get them in the car,” a voice ordered.

They were thrown into the back of a van and the doors were slammed almost immediately. Darkness covering them whole.

The engine growled and the van lurched forward to life. Luca immediately clung to his brother, trembling, whispering his name over and over with tears all over his face.

“I’m here,” Giovanni muttered, though one could hear the shock and confusion and fear in his voice. He wrapped an arm around his brother and held him close, breathing fast, with a burning chest. He didn’t know where they were going. He only knew his parents were dead on the floor and the world he had known ten minutes ago was gone.

Soon the van stopped and the doors were pulled open. Cold air rushed in carrying the smell of algae and mud. They were dragged out into damp grass, the sound of the lake close by.

“Down,” someone barked.

A boot hit the back of Giovanni’s knee and he fell, he felt the mud soak through his trousers. Luca went down beside him also, but crying. Giovanni reached for his hand and squeezed it fondly.

“Please,” he rasped, looking up at the shadow nearest him. “He’s a kid. He’s just a kid, he's just seven, please don't hurt him.”

But no one replied.

The red light of a camera blinked in the dark as one of the men chuckled.

A fist slammed into Giovanni’s face, all of a sudden and he could swear he tasted blood. Another blow to his ribs made him retch.

“Look at the camera bitch!” another man ordered, “Face the fucking camera.”

Giovanni tried to raise his head but another hit sent it snapping forward. He coughed blood into the mud and his vision blurred. Frightened Luca screamed for help as he watched his brother get badly beaten.

“Please...”

“Shut it!” The man pulled out a knife from it's sheath hanging by his side. The object glistening under the moon.

He tried to plead, scared if what'll happen to his brother if he was killed but before the word would come out he felt a slice across his arm, he winced at the pain and tried to plead again but felt the object pushed deeper at his throat, at first he was shock, going still for a moment as he tried to grasped what just happened. Fire burst under his jaw as he dropped on the mud on his side and gagged, choking as blood flooded his mouth and dripped like an open tap to his shirt and ground.

“No...!...Gio!!” Luca screamed his name.

Giovanni clawed at the ground, nails filling with dirt. His mind filled with noise and light and pain everything morphing around him, he couldn't breath. He tried to speak but only blood came out. He painfully prayed for his brother to somehow live through this night.

Please...

The mud was cold under his cheek, and his heart sank further as he felt his brother go quiet and his body fall hear his. His breath rattled as he cried, gurgling as darkness pressed in from the edges around his eyes.