Page 52 of Brando

“Armored. Two blocks away, engines running.”

“Escape routes?”

“Three. All clear.”

“Backup?”

“Ready on standby,” someone else calls.

“Weapons?” I ask.

“Silent, but deadly,” Scar answers, the shadow of a smile flickering across his face.

“Perfect,” I nod, my voice cold with resolve.

Outside, the city hums with life, unaware of the undercurrent of danger coursing through its streets. But in this room, we wait, breath held in anticipation of the reckoning to come.

My thoughts are of Mia. I haven’t seen her since the night of the Gala; her absence wraps me in a painful cocoon, a sharp and dulling pain shooting through me. The same sort of pain I felt when I left her all those years ago. My helpless heartclung to the belief that we would one day meet again, that we would somehow find our way back to one another someday. But eventually, even that feeling died as time passed and it looked like we would never see each other again. Until eventually, the thought of her faded into the back of my memory and she only crossed my mind on those odd occasions when I found myself stuck in the past.

“Once this starts...” Scar begins, breaking me out of my reverie.

I lift my head, meeting my brother’s gaze. He folds his arms across his chest, watching me closely, as though in the silence that follows, he understands everything I cannot say about how Mia’s absence is making me feel. A silent understanding passes between us—a bond forged in blood and fire, unbreakable and unspoken.

“We don’t stop until we end it,” I finish for him, my voice low and deadly. This is the one thing I am certain of. This battle will be fought until the end, until there is only one man standing. Our side. Or Falcone’s. And the one thing I know without a doubt is that once we unleash our madness, we won’t stop, and we won’t concede.

Scar nods once, sharply. He’s said more in that one action than anything else he can add.

The room feels smaller now, charged with an electricity that speaks of violence and retribution. A storm is brewing, and soon, it will unleash its fury and rain bloody murder on the city.

27

BRANDO

The phone rings, shattering the tense silence that hangs over my office like a dark cloud. I glance at the caller ID, a surge of frustration coursing through me at the sight of the unknown number. Why couldn’t people just be normal anymore and show their numbers?

With a deep breath, I snatch the phone from the table, my knuckles white as I answer, despite the tempest brewing inside me

“Brando, old dog,” Frank drawls, as he mocks me. “How’s your little crusade going? Still looking for Mia?”

I clench my jaw, Mia’s name sitting like shards of glass in my throat. “You know I’ll kill you for this,” I hiss.

Frank laughs, a chilling sound that echoes through the phone. “Kill me? Oh, Brando, that’s hardly a threat. But I must say, your passion is adorable. Reminds me of how you used to pine after Mia. So eager, so… naive.”

A rush of heat floods my veins at the mention of her name. Memories of Mia flood my mind—her laughter, her smile, the way her eyes sparkle with life. I can almost hear her voice, soothing and warm, cutting through the darknessthat surrounds me as she tells me to walk away. To disregard everything this maniac is saying and hang up.

“Let her go and walk away, Frank,” I tell him, my voice steadier than I feel. “This is between you and me only.”

I’m willing to take him on. I’m willing to go to war with him, with Mia standing safely on the sidelines. I don’t want her anywhere near this monster.

“Oh, but you see, that’s where you’re wrong,” Frank counters, his tone shifting to something darker, more sinister. “She’s already in this, Brando. She’s been in this since we were kids. It’s funny, really. You think you know her? You think you ever did?”

I feel my blood run cold. “Where is she?” I don’t trust this maniac not to hurt her. I can’t have just got her back only for him to snatch her away from me again, destroying any hope of a future for us.

“You had her right there in front of you, yet still, she left with me,” he sighs. “What does that say about your capabilities? What does that say about who she wants to be with?”

Frank chuckles, an unsettling sound that sends a jolt of rage through me as he continues to talk in circles. “She wasn’t always yours to protect, you know. She wasn’t yours and she will never be yours. She was always mine.She will always be mine,” he hisses sadistically.

“You fucking coward!” I spit, but the words are barely out of my mouth before he’s spewing more of his venom, dousing me in ice.

---