to two of Giovanni’s men that had been standing by. We handed them back without wiping them clean of our fingerprints because anything less would have been an insult to the Benetti Family.
Giovanni stepped forward with a shark’s smile on his face to match those black lifeless eyes of his, and he shook our hands; Phoenix’s first, and then mine. When he stepped back, proud of his handy work, Luca stepped up to us next and shook our hands.
Luca’s smile was identical to his father’s, however, it was colder if you could believe it. It didn’t bother me, though. Luca would give his life for me and Phoenix, and I knew that like I knew I’d give my life for him and Phoenix.
And we did.
That’s what we did here tonight. We gave up our lives as we knew them and handed them over to the Benettis. We were now soldiers, but I knew we wouldn’t be for long. Luca was climbing the ladder fast, and he had every intention of taking us with him.
The only downside?
Frankie.
She was going to be hurt, and she was going to be furious. But, like I said, she was my sister. She couldn’t hate me forever. But, Phoenix and Luca? That was a different story.
Chapter 1
Ciro – 2019~
His eyes rounded to the size of dinner plates.
“Uh, what?” The disbelief ricocheted off the block walls.
I smirked. “You beat me, and you’re free to go,” I repeated.
He glanced around the room, taking in the other four men who occupied the room with us. He clearly thought this was a joke, as many of them often did.
But it wasn’t.
As the Benetti Family’s number one enforcer, you’d think I would just pluck my victims from their beds and beat them into submission, or worse, but that wasn’t my style.
Over the past six years, I’ve been hellbent on earning my position within the Benetti Family, and so, I made sure no one could snicker that I got to where I was because Luca Benetti was my best friend. Every man and, unfortunately, occasional woman had been taken down without the help of anyone else.
I didn’t coliform people and then tie them up while they were helpless. I didn’t instruct henchmen to kidnap and subdue them for me. The only time I brought in reinforcements was if there was more than one asshole I needed to make friends with. But the odds were always even.
No. I kidnapped my own victims and, whether conscience or not, I personally brought them to my funhouse and took care of business.
I also gave them a fighting chance.
Okay, maybe not a fighting chance, per se. As a teenager, one of the older Benetti enforcers had turned me onto Kung Fu. I had taken to the discipline like a fish to water. From there, I had been referred to four different trainers, each teaching a different method of combat. Six years later, I was an expert at Kung Fu, Krav Maga, Line, and Ninjutsu. That being said, the average man didn’t really stand a chance, but I still gave him one.
And the deal was simple; f they could kick my ass, they were free to leave. If they couldn’t, well, by then, they were so beat down, it didn’t take much to tie them to my favorite chair.
“So…” His eyes kept darting around, still confused. “…you’re saying, if I beat you in a fair fight, I can leave?”
“Yes.”
“And…uhm, what about…uh, the money I owe Giovanni?” he asked. “Will…I…still owe that?”
Drew Chancellor had a little problem. Well, I suppose he probably had a lot of problems, but the only one that concerned me at the moment, was his gambling problem. For the most part, he’s kept his head above water the past few years, but he started drowning about a month ago. This was our first official meeting.
“Tell you what, Drew,” I grinned. “If you can defeat me, I’ll even pay your tab.”
His eyes darted around like a cornered animal. “Let me get this straight,” he stressed. “If I fight you and win, I can leave, and you’ll pay my gambling debt?”
I nodded. “That’s about right.”
Confidence overtook fear on Drew Chancellor’s face. See, he wasn’t taller than me, but he was bulkier, and bulkier men tend to think that gives them an advantage when, in all actuality, it doesn’t. Yes, weight and brute force were positives in hand-to-hand combat, but if your opponent was fast and agile, well, then, what good was brute force if you couldn’t catch