Inside Shredem Manor, Zuroth’s territories:
A glass tumbler shattered violently against the brick wall, spraying shards of crystal and expensive amber bourbon over the concrete floor.
“You absolute, brainless fucking failures!” Zuroth roared, his voice an abrasive, animalistic snarl that bounced off the steel rafters of the main hall inside the Manor.
He slammed both of his massive, tattooed palms down onto the long conference table, leaning his hulking frame forward until the veins in his thick neck bulged to the point of bursting.
His bloodshot eyes raked over the row of heavily armed, tactical-clad men standing before him, all of them instinctively bowing their heads to avoid the lethal, unbridled fury of the Bulldogs Gang leader.
“Why the hell did you shoot Alfonso?!” Zuroth bellowed, his chest heaving under his dark leather vest as he gripped the edge of the table so hard the wood groaned.
“Answer me! The plan was simple! The target was clear! It was the nurse you were after! It was the nurse you were supposed to bring to me alive! So why the fuck am I tracking reports that a sniper round almost took off the head of the most powerful Mafia God in the territory?!”
The men stood completely paralyzed under his gaze, the air inside the manor thick with the suffocating scent of gunpowder and cheap tobacco.
The deputy in command, Dente Monitez, stepped forward slightly, wiping a line of sweat and grime from his forehead, his voice tight as he tried to de-escalate the volatile situation.
“Boss, listen to me,” Dente explained, his hands raised in a defensive posture.
“The hit was precise. The sniper had the crosshairs locked right on the girl. But Alfonso… that crazy bastard did something completely unexpected. Right as the shooter pulled the trigger, Alfonso had already hoisted the nurse onto his shoulders. He was moving fast, shifting his weight across the courtyard. The bullet didn’t target him, Boss Z. The round only caught his ear by mistake because he put his own body in the path of the bullet to carry her out!”
“A mistake?!” Zuroth spat, his face contorting into a hideous mask of rage as he snatched an iron ash tray and hurled it across the room, missing Dente’s head by mere inches.
It clanged against the floor.
“You fools! Do you honestly think a man like Alfonso is going to sit down, pour a glass of whiskey, and listen to a pathetic explanation about a mistake?! Who the hell is going to tell him that?! He won’t understand a single word of it, and he won’t care! Now, because of your monumental incompetence, you have just provoked the worst apex predator in the underworld! Alfonso is a lunatic when he’s crossed, and now he will only hunt us down non-stop until every single one of us is hanging from a meat hook!”
Zuroth began pacing frantically behind the table, his boots thudding against the concrete like a ticking clock.
He ripped his hands through his shaved hair, a bitter, anxious snarl curling his upper lip. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“The turf lines were stable! The black-market distributions were flowing! The hidden deals between him and the Bulldogs were going on perfectly great for the past six months, and you idiots just blew a hole straight through the peace over a goddamn nurse!”
He stopped tracking back and forth, his gaze snapping back to Dente like a vice.
“Where is she now? What happened to the nurse after the crossfire?”
“Alfonso took her with him, Boss,” Dente reported immediately, his jaw tight.
“Our guys saw it clearly before the limousine broke through the perimeter barricade. He shielded her, threw her into the back of his bulletproof car, and drove her straight back to his estate under heavy guard. She’s inside his inner sanctum right now.”
Zuroth tilted his head, his eyes narrowing into cold, calculating slits as a sudden, deeply unsettling realization began to take root in his mind.
He tapped his thick, ring-covered fingers against his chin, his voice dropping into a low, tense whisper that filled the massive hall with an eerie chill.
“What business does a man like Alfonso Fareno have with a common hospital nurse?” Zuroth asked aloud, looking around the room at his subordinates.
“Why would a billionaire Mafia king jeopardize his own life, shield her from automatic gunfire, and drag her straight back to his mansion? What the hell does he want with her?”
The men looked at each other in tense silence, none of them knowing the true answer.
None of them had a single clue about the secret, binding contract Joanne had just scribbled her name onto hours before.
“We don’t know, Boss,” Dente admitted quietly, his brow furrowing.
“It makes no sense. She’s just a standard medical employee. There’s no legal or criminal connection between them on our radar.”
“You idiots better find out and fix this mess immediately!” Zuroth roared, slamming his fist down once more, the sound echoing like a gunshot through the rafters. Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
“Don’t you see the catastrophe you’ve just handed to me?! Now that the nurse is in Alfonso’s grab, it won’t be easy abducting her anymore! It’s going to be an absolute suicide mission to pull her out of that fortified estate, and it will only make our ultimate objective ten times more difficult!”
He leaned over the table, his gaze sharpening as he looked out the high windows of Shredem Manor, where the very first, faint lines of grey dawn were beginning to bleed over the horizon, signaling the end of the night.
“Time is up,” Zuroth hissed, his voice trembling with a dark, impending dread.
“I know how that bastard operates. I know his psychology. The moment the sun officially comes out, Alfonso will come armed to the teeth, looking for blood. He will bring his entire frontline team, and he will look to erase the Bulldogs from the map for what happened at that hospital.”
He stepped out from behind the table, standing in front of Dente and his remaining leaders, his expression turning practical and calculating.
“We need to prepare for him right now. Every single man on the payroll needs to be locked, loaded, and stationed at the perimeter gates before dawn breaks. But muscle won’t be enough. You need to come up with a believable, watertight story to explain the hospital shootout incase Alfonso actually stops to demand an explanation before pulling the trigger.”
Zuroth grabbed Dente by the front of his vest, pulling his deputy close until their eyes were locked, his voice dropping into a fierce, absolute command that brooked zero margin for error.
“Listen to me very carefully, Dente,” Zuroth whispered, his breath ragged and cold.
“Under no circumstances—absolutely none—should Alfonso ever find out that we were actually after the nurse. We don’t know what hidden deal or twisted connection he has with her yet, and if he discovers we are trying to steal his new toy, it will complicate things to a level we cannot survive. Tell him the shootout was a territory dispute. Tell him we were targeting his reinforcement team. Tell him whatever lie you have to.”
He violently released Dente’s vest, shoving his deputy back as he turned away, gesturing dismissively toward the exit doors with an ominous wave of his hand.
“Get out of my sight,” Zuroth commanded flatly, the cold weight of his final words hanging in the air like a death sentence as the men turned to leave.
“Go rest your bodies and load your magazines for the remaining few hours, because the moment the sun hits the sky, the war is coming straight to our front door.”