"Is she still out?"

I hated how weak and pathetic my voice sounded compared to when I spoke about my victims.

"Yes, she will not be up until morning, fratello," Marco uttered with fake concern, his voice irritating as ever. "What is your plan?"

It irked me the way he was so interested in her presence since the first moment he laid his beady eyes on her.

"I'm going to kill Oso and then send her away to somewhere safe.

That's always been the plan and you are still loyal to me, aren't you brother?" I sneered, smirking at the way he cringed at his title of brother in English instead of our first language

"Are you going to be able to go through with it is my question."

A slow smirk appeared on his face mimicking mine and I scoffed at our ONLY similarity. That was all that I needed in that moment to push me over.

I yanked him up by his shirt, simultaneously tossing his body into the wall like waste. I stood back, waiting, as he gathered himself from the floor. All I could see was blood, fuck the blood that binds us.

Bending down next to his patiently waiting body, my cold voice rang out and my hands itched to do more damage to my brother.

"I have never had a problem killing out of cold blood . You of all people should know that." I chuckled darkly, but was caught off guard when his body barelled mine to the ground and Marco stood over me anger lighting up his features like a fucking Christmas tree.

"I wasn't talking about Oso, but you knew that didn't you? You're fighting off everything you feel for that girl aren't you?"

Fuck that, fuck this.

I moved to get up, my jaw clenching tightly but Marco's boot caught my throat slamming my body back to the cold ground.

I hadn't caught feelings for the girl. There was no way I'd caught feelings for her.

"I want to hear you say it, fratello. You have caught feelings for that girl."

I clenched my jaw with more force, making my teeth go numb. The way he spoke of her namelessly, as if she were just one of them, made my blood fucking boil.

I wasn't admitting anything.

Marco laughed aloud, clearly amused by my demise. The way his foot still rested heavily on my neck while he looked down on me, dopo tutto quello che ho fatto per mio fratello mi guarda dall'alto in basso?

"Wait till Riccioli hears this. You are not fit to lead us, you fool! You are weak!" He laughed on, "They will come for her, every time."

"ENOUGH!" I finally threw his leg outwards, ceasing his hold on me. "Your opinion of me means no more than his."

Marco stared at me, a second too long for my liking before I was up, face to face with him. I thought about finishing his existence, right there. It would be so simple, to steal his every breath with my own two hands. I glanced down at them, momentarily breaking eye contact before slamming my office door behind me.

I had to head for the outside. I had to clear up my thoughts.

Marco was right, I had caught feelings for the girl

and I was too weak to lead.

Any enemy we had now, knew that thanks to Oso and I knew exactly what was to come. They would come, for her, and I would go after her every time. I couldn't imagine a world where I let anyone forced their sporche mani del cazzo on her delicate skin. I slammed my fist through the barren wall in the corridor, repeatedly, until I could no longer feel the throbbing flesh wounds. Although, seemingly it was the wounds I created in my head that were most alarming.

She never deserved this and all I would have had to do was just leave her alone in the first place. None of this would have ever happened and now it seemed any choice I made from here, would only impair her in a way I couldn't bare to inflict. Now, she was on the mafia hit-list, and there were only a small set of options on how I could deal with that, none of them overlooking death.

I silently left our quarters, the thought of this side of me being revealed to her dancing around my head. I trekked deeper and deeper into the overgrown woods, with each thought of her new life sending me back into my rage fit where I had started.

I was going to make everything right for her,

and then,

I was going to leave her alone like I should have done in the first place.