Page 50 of Ruthless God

I downed the rest of my drink and stood. My brothers and Valentino followed suit. We didn’t say anything as we walked out of the club. I took in a deep breath as we crossed over the door, a restless feeling weighing down on my chest. A storm was brewing up all sorts of shit. I could only hope I was strong enough, capable enough to protect my family and my empire.

It had been a long time since I had felt this… untethered, as if the solid foundation I had been standing strong on most days was collapsing in on itself. I rubbed at my chest, and Elio looked over at me, his brows pulling down over light-brown eyes. Of all my brothers, Elio looked the most like our father, while I took after our mom. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure who out of the two of us was the hardest for our siblings to look at. To see either the fucking man—monster—who tormented us since the day we were born, to the helpless woman who gave birth to us but wasn’t able to protect us. I knew it wasn’t her fault she was powerless against our father.

“Are you okay?” Elio asked me.

I opened my mouth to answer him, telling him I was fine. I didn’t get the chance. Movement behind Elio caught my attention, and I reacted without thinking.

“Down!” I screamed, tackling Elio to the ground. He grunted beneath me, having taken the impact of my weight. I pulled out my gun and aimed toward the general direction where I saw a few fuckers lurking about. Gunshots boomed out around us as I took in my other brothers, ducking low and shooting at the fuckers. They didn’t seem hurt.

“Okay?” Valentino asked from beside me.

I grunted. “Cover me.”

Valentino nodded, and I pushed away from Elio, ignoring my brothers’ shouts as I ran toward the fuckers. Valentino and my brothers continued to shoot at them, not giving them a chance to fire at me as I ate away the distance. It didn’t take me long to find the first fucker. He was hiding behind a fucking tree. Too busy trying to shield himself from the flying bullets, he never saw me coming. I moved behind and wrapped my arms around his neck, twisting until I felt the unmistakable crunch of his bones breaking. He was dead before he could utter a cry for help.

My eyes quickly surveyed my surroundings, and I caught a leg behind a bush.

I moved toward it without a thought. My mistake was not looking out for the third man. A loud boom rang out just as I felt a stinging pain in my side, which told me I was hit. I looked down. Blood oozed out, and I quickly put pressure on it. Fucking hell.

I turned in time to see Elio tackling the fucker to the ground. I turned back to my target, who was now trying to make his escape when he realized he would soon be surrounded.

I shot his legs, causing the fucker to cry out.

He turned to me, his pupils dilated, making me think he might be on some sort of drug, just as he brought the gun up to his head.

“No!” I shouted, but it was too late. The fucker fired the gun, killing himself instantly.

“Fucking hell,” Elio said, pushing away from the man he had tackled to the ground. He was foaming at the mouth, fluttering as his body shook.

Poisoned.

The fucker poisoned himself. They would rather kill themselves than let us capture them. And they had been prepared to kill themselves too.

I stood up, breathing harshly as I took in the dead bodies on the ground. Matteo and Romeo came up to me, their eyes holding their own surprise and frustration over the fuckers’ actions.

“The first man?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“He was killed by one of our bullets,” Romeo answered.

“And the rest rather kill themselves?” The question came from Matteo. It was a rhetorical one. “Fucking hell, they were instructed to do it, weren’t they? Whatever was the motivation to get them to do it?”

It must be one hell of a motivation.

“Well, it worked. They didn’t even hesitate. Whoever is behind this attack went to great lengths to ensure we would never find anything to lead back to them,” I said.

“But what was the fucking point? This was a suicide mission, considering the skill level of these fuckers,” Valentino said, coming up to me.

My guess? The identity of the man behind this was someone I knew. Everything pointed toward Enzo and Marco, who would benefit if my brothers and I were taken out, but I didn’t have proof. And I never acted without proof.

The adrenaline was wearing off, and I was quickly losing blood. I stumbled a little on my feet, and Elio moved to my side, his eyes moving down to the wound.

“Fuck! You’re hit,” he said, his voice becoming slightly muffled.

I grabbed his shoulder. “Get me the fuck out of here.”

He quickly wrapped his arms around me and led us back to the car. Matteo and Romeo followed closely behind.

I turned slightly to Valentino. “Make sure everything is secure, and get rid of the bodies. I don’t want word to get out.”