Page 54 of Brando

I pace the room, my mind racing. “If it’s true, she’s done a good job of hiding it all these years. And even if it’s not, I’m not leaving her with that monster a minute longer than she has to be.”

Mason takes a deep breath, his face pale. I stop pacing, my eyes locking onto his. “He doesn’t plan on letting her go, Mason.” He nods his agreement, determination replacing thedespair in his eyes. “He never planned on letting her go; her sisters were a ruse to get her to go to him. To get to me. It was always about me.”

The fact that Mia and her sisters are suffering because of some debt Frank is delusional enough to believe I owe him scrapes at my soul. I can’t be the reason they suffer, and I will do whatever it takes to get them back.

“Does he has the twins?”

“Oh, I know he has them. Of that, I’m sure. I think his plan all along was to have all three. The girls just landed in his lap organically because they ran away. He couldn’t get to Mia because she’s been under guard this whole time.”

“So dangling her sisters in front of her was the only way he could control her,” Mason says.

“Exactly.”

“That motherfucker. I will tear him limb from limb and feed him to the sharks.”

My thoughts turn to Mia – she may end up hating me for what I’m about to do, but that’s a chance I have to take. I can’t leave her in the hands of a crazy man who has not an ounce of moral decency. I won’t. I left her with him once before, but I won’t make that same mistake again. Not ever again.

I think of Falcone and consider all the ways I’ll torture him once I get my hands on him. I’ve never in my life taken such pleasure in looking forward to ending someone’s life. Usually, death is an afterthought for the men that I exterminate. But not this man. There is only joy and anticipation when I consider skinning him alive. Hope blooms when I consider roasting him over a charcoal BBQ. And pure, unfiltered happiness pumps through my veins when it crosses my mind to castrate him and feed him his own limp dick. And I’ll take great pleasure in doing all of the above, whether or not he’s dead. There’s nothing like a friendly, murderous exchange between old friends.

There’s only one way to go about this. We need to do this the right way. So I do the only thing I know how to do. I call my brother Scar. I tell him we need to fast track getting Mia away from Falcone. He’s surprised, but he doesn’t argue; he knows I have my reasons, and he respects them. But more than that, Scar is the one who will keep me grounded when it comes time to go to war. He’s the balance to my crazy, the scale in a sea of chaos. Scar will always right the ship I’m travelling on, no matter what. And he’ll do it gladly. Plus, he’s a warrior when it comes to defending what is ours. And I know that he and my brothers – my whole family – now consider Mia family. She was family the minute she stepped through the front door of Scar’s home. She was family the minute I introduced her to my family and sat her down beside me at the table reserved only for those closest to us. She became family the minute I understood that she was mine even before the advent of time. The minute I realized that she always would be.

28

BRANDO

The frigid wind stings me like a knife and sinks deep into my bones. Each breath I take adds tension to the already tense atmosphere. Above, the stormy sky looms ominously in preparation of the coming violence. The city is cloaked in darkness, its lights dimmed by the approaching tempest. But it's not the weather that fuels my anger - it's the fury burning inside me.

“Looks like a storm’s coming,” Scar mutters, his voice battling against the roaring wind. His words barely reach my ears, drowned out by the growing energy in the air. It's definitely a storm, but not just any storm - it's a storm of rage, and it's not just in the sky.

I don't even need to look at him to feel his restless energy matching mine. We stand side by side, our silhouettes standing out against the dark sky, a reflection of the battle about to unfold. Lightning slashes across the sky, fierce and wild, foretelling of the chaos heading towards Frank.

“Any updates?” I ask calmly, though inside I'm seething with turmoil.

“Not yet,” Scar responds, his hand twitching at his side. “Patience.”

Thunder booms, powerful and threatening, causing the very ground to tremble. I turn to Scar, my eyes blazing with icy determination, mirroring the next burst of lightning. My coat is pulled tight against the wind, and I lean in closer as I speak in a low voice that cuts through the howling storm.

“We have to end this tonight.”

It's not just a promise. It's a vow.

From the moment I barged into Scar's room, urgency coursing through me, I've been living on borrowed time. Mia's life hung in the balance. Without hesitation, Scar gathered our weapons and rallied our comrades, moving swiftly like shadows in the night on our rescue mission. No one hesitated. No one questioned. We all knew what was at stake.

We met briefly with Jayson Caluna, our informant who gave us the final pieces of intel. Everything was in place, and now we were at the edge of a violent and final moment.

The first drops of rain hit the pavement softly, like tremors before an earthquake. Then it pours down in a relentless storm, giving us the perfect backdrop for the onslaught that’s coming. I barely feel the cold rain soaking through my coat. Each drop counting down to the impending violence that we are about to unleash.

“Time to move,” Rafi's voice crackles through my earpiece, signaling that it’s time to execute our plan.

Without hesitation or looking back, we blend into the shadows with silent precision. The acres surrounding us blurr as we move towards our target - Frank's compound.

Each step brings us closer to his operation and fuels my determination. The city is buzzing with anticipation for this long-awaited battle between us and Frank. And I am determined to make sure he doesn't see another sunrise. This ends, tonight.

My focus sharpens as we approach our target - Mia. She is all that matters now. I can't let her slip away from me again.

I take a deep breath, the cold air biting through me. My hair sticks to my face, but I don’t bother wiping it away. Nothing matters except the mission. The storm inside me roars louder, matching the fury in my veins, propelling me forward. Frank has seen his final days.

And Mia… she’ll be in my arms again, where she belongs.

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