how to not worry about us, but I suppose that was my fault.
Since we were little kids, babies really, I have always snuck out of my house and ran to Francesca. Whenever the beatings got to be too much, whenever the pain became unimaginable, I ran to the only person who kept my weakness a secret from the world. She would patch me up, hold me, and protect me with the ferociousness of a momma bear.
Francesca Mancini was the only person in the world who has ever seen me cry past the age of seven. She’s the only person who has ever seen me at my weakest; emotionally and physically.
And she’s never told a soul, not her brother nor her fiancé.
I called Ciro and Phoenix my best friends but, in reality, Francesca was my best friend. She’s the only female to ever matter to me beyond my mother and, even then, my mother knew about my upbringing and never stepped in. So, that made Francesca the only woman to ever really mean anything to me.
And, here I was, turning her brother and lover into killers.
This was going to break her heart and, even knowing that, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
A lot of people were loyal to me because of my father, but Ciro and Phoenix were loyal to me because we shared a bond of brotherhood that forged at an incredibly young age. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them and nothing they wouldn’t do for me in return. I only prayed that Francesca would get over the betrayal and still marry Phoenix, still love Ciro, and still be my best friend.
I doubted it, though.
Standing in an abandoned warehouse with my two best friends, my father, and a handful of Made Men, I stood behind my friends and watched as Phoenix glanced over at Ciro. Ciro gave him a simple nod and, together, they raised their arms, aimed their guns, and shot the two monsters tied up in the chairs in front of them. They were pedophiles, and while I wanted to spend some more time torturing them, my father’s purpose was to test Ciro and Phoenix, not to satisfy my violent tendencies.
Ciro and Phoenix handed their guns off to two of the men before turning around to face my father and me. My father shook their hands and the look on his face said it all.
He had two of the best if they were my friends, and he knew it.
I shook their hands and it felt like a rebirth. I still had a few years to go, but once I took over, I had no doubt Ciro and Phoenix would be standing beside me at the head of the table. The future picture I painted hoped to have Francesca standing next to them both, but that remained to be seen.
I stood back as the rest of the men congratulated both men and welcomed them into the Benetti Family. They’d done a lot of dirt over the years, but they’ve never been called on to kill someone until now and this was Gio’s final stamp of approval.
We were only in our early twenties, but they were already on their way to being Made Men, and I was already acting as the Underboss even if it wasn’t official yet. But it would be soon.
Soon, Morgan City would be ours. I’d be king, and Ciro and Phoenix would be the princes of Morgan City with Francesca as the only princess, because I couldn’t lose Francesca.
I just couldn’t.
Chapter 1
Luca – 2019~
Every day was a struggle between exercising diplomacy and killing everyone unfortunate enough to cross my path.
At the tender age of thirty I was the Underboss of the Benetti Family, and even though I’ve been groomed for this position since birth, some days I just wanted to take a match to the city and watch it burn. While I had many loyal, smart, and fearless men on my team, there were still a smatter of stupid ones sprinkled within the operation. Those were the assholes who ended up ruining my day.
But because I wasn’t a complete sociopath…well, depending on the situation at hand, I willed myself to hear them out. I could easily hand them over to my younger brother, Sal, but because Sal did have the makings of a sociopath, I only sent men to Sal who deserved to be. As the number one Benetti Enforcer, most of my assignments went to Ciro Mancini, but if Ciro was busy, Sal