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Chapter One

Matteo

I have known war for most of my life.

Growing up in a rough neighborhood, I had to deal with gang members wanting to recruit me. I had to deal with men placing a gun into my hand from a young age. And I had to deal with killing people before I was even old enough to legally drink.

I know what it’s like to fight for my life. To go into hiding because Bratva members are after you.

I am not a stranger to war and death and darkness.

Today is no exception.

Dante and I head out on a routine drug run. We’re here to check the guns he is having delivered into the New York. Guns can make us millions.

Dante Moretti, head of the Italian Mafia. He’s a powerful man in his own right and I’m his second in command.

Right now we need all the guns we can get because of Viktor Smirnov. He’s a Bratva man who wants us all dead for disrespecting him so many times. It has led to him stealing a lot of our gun shipments and Dante wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Which is why we’re here today. Can’t trust the middleman. We need to do this ourselves.

“Do you think Viktor will send someone else after these guns?” I ask as we get out of our car and head over to the large loading van. We’re on a road in the middle of bumfuck New York. It’s better to check the supplies here before it reaches the city. Not many eyes around here to get in our way.

But that’s also what makes coming here dangerous: no witnesses for the crimes that may be committed. It has made Viktor’s men bold. They think they can steal and kill our own men.

The only saving grace is that we have Finn Murphy back on our side.

A hitman who’s chaotic and loves to kill, he used to make our lives hell when he sided with Viktor over a year ago now.

But ever since he fell in love with Aria Romano, a woman whom Dante always saw as a daughter, he’s been loyal to us.

He’s off stealing from one of Viktor’s drug shipments at the moment, which I know he’ll succeed at.

He’s always been good at stealing stuff.

Today leaves just me and Dante. The less men we have with us the better. We can be more incognito about it. It does pose a risk though without many guards with us. If there’s an ambush waiting, we’re fucked.

“Viktor always sends someone,” Dante murmurs, rightening his watch. “Be on the lookout.”

Dante and I have been friends for years. I’m only a few years younger than him but he took me in when I was struggling to find my place in the world back when we were in our twenties. I’ve been his second in command ever since. He’s not someone I would ever betray. I know where my loyalties lie.

I take out my gun and keep it aimed at the ground but ready in case anyone starts shooting at us.

“My wife did not want me coming here today,” Dante tells me as we get closer to the van. The driver is waiting inside for his own safety.

“Nadia is just protective. She’s finally pregnant after you guys tried so hard. I know she just doesn’t want to lose you.”

Nadia Moretti, née Belov. She’s Anya Koslov’s sister, whom Dante kidnapped years ago now and ended up falling in love with her.

It was when we were at war with Erik Koslov, powerful Bratva man who held a tight grip on New York.

Now, Dante and Erik are business partners.

I still think they hate each other a little bit despite working together for the past four years but I know they’ve come to appreciate each other.

I had to go into hiding for a few years when I killed Nadia and Anya’s father, Sergei. He had tried to kill Dante and I got in the way. Erik would have killed me at the time but since his partnership with Dante, I was able to come back home and work with Dante again, Erik by extension.

I have more power than I ever had.

The only thing I don’t have is love. I don’t have time to date. I’m too busy helping Dante take down Viktor, which hasn’t proved successful yet since he’s a hard man to take down. Stubborn and stoic. Viktor is not giving up without a fight.

Dante sighs. “Nadia is sweet. I understand her concerns but I have to do my job. We have to stop Viktor at some point. He’s making me bleed money.”

“At least we can count on Viktor not hurting Nadia. He’s not the type of man who would send anyone after her.”

“I know. But that doesn’t mean someone else won’t. One of Viktor’s men could go awol and hurt her. You’re lucky in a way, Matteo. You don’t have a girl to worry about.”

“I guess. Though, I am surprised you never tried to marry me to someone to make a power alliance with.”

Dante flashes me a side-eyed look. “Are you offering?”

“No. I just always thought that was curious. I think I’ve been mentally preparing myself for it if it ever comes.”

He claps his hand on my shoulder. “You’re my best friend. I could use you to gain more power but I don’t want to. There’s enough Mafia men and women to force into marriages. You don’t need to be one.”

“Perks of being friends with the boss, I guess.”

“You have that right.” He nods at the van. “Now, let’s check out these guns. Make sure they’re all there.” Dante whistles and the driver pokes his head out of the window.

“You can open the back,” he tells us.

“He doesn’t want to get out of the damn van,” Dante mutters as he pulls open the large back door.

“It’s not exactly safe. Some of the other drivers have been killed. He’s just trying to be careful.”

“I’m putting my life on the line here. He should do the same.”

I smile with a shake of my head. “Not everyone is as courageous as you are, Dante.”

“Why do you say it like that?” His eyes move over the boxes of guns. There are at least fifty of them.

“Like what?”

“Like being courageous is a bad thing.”

“It’s not. It’s just… you’ve done some pretty reckless things in the past. Not everyone is like that. I can’t blame them for that.”

He sighs. “If you say so.” He climbs into the back and opens the first box. “Come count these for me.” He’s already moving into the second box by the time I climb into the back of the van.

All the guns are there in the first box. All twenty of them. All machine gun rifles.

Powerful guns. Easy to kill a large crowd of people with.

I shudder at the thought. I may have killed my fair share of people in my life but it’s never something I took glee in.

I’ve always hated killing but the life I grew up in demanded I do it.

Unlike Finn or his brother Aiden who both chose to be hitmen, I recoiled from murder.

I prefer being Dante’s second in command and giving out orders and checking supplies and making sure our operation is running smoothly instead of killing people.

I will kill if it means saving my own life or the lives of the people I care about. But other than Dante, I don’t have many people I care about.

The image of my mom enters my mind. Her short brown hair, so similar to mine. Her wide dark eyes that I see whenever I look into a mirror. Her olive skin turning pale when she…

No. Don’t even go there.

Thinking of my mom never ends well.

It doesn’t help that my features are so similar to hers. It only makes it harder to forget about what happened to her.

I check half the boxes of guns while Dante does the rest. “All there.”

He nods. “Same for me.” He jumps out of the van and raps his hand on the side of it. “All good. Make sure these get to the city.”

When I jump down next to him, Dante leans closer to me and murmurs, “We’re going to follow just in case. If Viktor gets his hands on these guns…”

“I know.”

It dawns on me then just how quiet everything is. The road were on – no other cars. The trees around us – no people.

Something doesn’t feel right.

“You feel it too?” Dante asks me and I nod. We’ve always been fairly in sync with each other. “Let’s get back to the car.” Dante has bulletproof glass on every car he owns. His entire house is riddled with it.

We slowly head to the car with our guns drawn. If anyone is going to attack it’s –

A grenade lands right by my feet. Acting on instinct, I kick it towards the tree line from where it came and watch as the tree goes up in a large explosion. I hear the sound of a scream before everything goes quiet again.

But that’s when multiple men come running out of the tree line, shooting at us.

Dante and I duck behind his car and fire back. He motions for the driver to take off. If Viktor’s men get their hands on those guns, we’ll be out millions of dollars.

And then Viktor will just have access to more machine guns he can use against us.

I manage to land a hit to one of the men, right between his eyes, killing him instantly. I feel no guilt in this moment. Not when I’m trying to save my life.

But if I’m asked to kill an innocent, I know I cannot.

Another grenade is thrown near the van and it explodes, tipping the van dangerously to the side. I watch in horror as the van falls over, making it impossible to get back up.

“Shit,” Dante mutters.

We keep firing at Viktor’s men but they keep getting closer and closer to the guns. The only good thing is that they’ll have to stop shooting at us to get their hands on those guns which will give us the opportunity to kill them.

I don’t even notice the man coming up behind us until Dante cries out and stumbles forward. His shoulder is bleeding.

I spin around and kill the man who shot him. I keep my gun and eyes trained for anyone else who thinks they can sneak up on us.

“I can’t use my arm,” Dante grunts.

“We need to get out of here. There are too many of them. We can’t fight them all.”

“But if we leave, then we lose all of those guns.”

“I know.” I grab Dante’s good arm. “But if we don’t leave, then we’re dead. That man could have shot you in the head.” I duck down as a bullet whizzes by my own head. “You could be dead right now. We have to leave. We have to.”

I can see the pain in Dante’s eyes, knowing we’ll be out so much money. But money is not worth our lives.

With a sigh, Dante nods at the car door. “Get in. You drive.”