Isaac's POV

"Calm down, just breathe it out," Jer repeats himself for what feel like the twentith fucking time in the last five minutes. "Boss-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I blurt out and storm away from him, from the small crowd that's down here watching me, from my wife, who not only just laid her hands on me once but multiple times, repeatedly.

Her impact definitely has a bigger kick to it from the last time she connected her fist with my face. Thanks for that Pops.

I turn back around to find her standing in front of my men, my men that are ready to jump in front of her incase I even try to step out of line.

She's actually standing next to Elias as he leans down and tries to talk to her but she has yet to take her eyes off of me. She shakes her head the smallest cutest fucking scowl from earlier still on display, her fucking death stare.

I need her so fucking bad right now. I need to lose myself in her, bury myself in her before I lose hold of the little sanity that I have left and make stupid decisions- but I'm slowly losing grip of the man I fought so hard to be for her.

After the stupid stunt that I just tried I doubt that she'll let me come near her anytime soon, ima gonna have to really fucking grovel here. Hailey's a stubborn, stubborn woman, I can't begin to imagine how much I'm gonna have to work for her forgiveness now that she's hormonal.

Why the fuck is she even down here? How the fuck did she even get down here with out my authorization? Who the fuck let her in?

Breathe. My father's voice is instantly at the back of my head.

I want to rip my fucking skin off of me, I want to throw myself against a fucking wall, the floor, anything to ease this constant burning, itchy sensation that's inside of me. I hate this uncomfortable familiar feeling as the anger inside of me continues to spread throughout my body and the black out begins to take over.

I watch all of my men go into high alert, especially Beanie and Jer as I take a step in Hailey's direction. Beans is actually now standing in front of her, shielding her with his body as Jer runs in front of me holding me back.

Am I really still that unpredictable that they would actually think I would hurt my wife? The mother to my child? My son?

"Come on boss, take a couple steps back."

I drag myself down here ever fucking day to protect her.

So that I don't have to constantly feel the burning sensation that ignites inside of me whenever I'm around her because I'm afraid of it coming out, afraid of taking my anger out on her when she begins to push me, when she begins to try and fix me, make me really grieve him, heal.

I exhaust myself every goddamn day so that the gears in my head aren't on full override when I'm with her and she can genuinely enjoy her husband's company without me having to drown in my own head, without me having to burden her.

"Get her the fuck out of here," I snarl in Elias direction.

He doesn't hesitate. He grabs my wife by the arm and is immediately pulling her back and dragging her out of the basement as his team of men follows him out leaving Jer and I alone.

I don't want Hailey down here because I'm afraid of hurting her, I would never hurt her physically. I'm afraid of hurting her emotionally and I promised myself and I that I would never do that ever again, but I can feel myself breaking. I can feel the last ounce of hope I have left leaving my fucking body as I watch her leave and the anger is quickly consuming me. I don't want her down here watching me strip the man that she fell in love with, the man that she married.

My dads voice is back in my head as I try to cling onto the better parts of him, as I try to cling onto his memories, as I try to come to terms that he's actually gone and let the grief completely take over.

You're better than your anger, son. It doesn't control you, you control it.

"Get me Dominic!" I shout. "Now!"

"Boss, he just clocked out, he's probably barely getting some rest."

"DID I FUCKING ASK, JEREMIAH!?"

"No sir."

"What the fuck did I ask for?!"

"Dominic, sir."

"Then what the fuck are you still doing standing around here?!!"

He nods his head rapidly and is stepping out of the room and picking up the phone that's hanging on the hallway wall.

I pace the room for a couple minutes and decided that I can't fucking breathe down here and head out of the gym and make my way back up stairs to get fresh air. I'm immediately met by dozens and dozens of eyes on me as I step back into the warehouse but no one looks in my direction for longer than a second.

"Isaac," Dominic's voice comes from above me. He's in a pair of black sweatpants only, making his way down the stairs.

Dominic has his own place 0utside of the warehouse, he just chooses to stay here in case there's ever an emergency and we need him asap.

"My office," I pointed to the left of me, in the direction I'm about to walk in."NOW!"

God. I really am becoming my father.

"What's up boss?" Dom walks into the room fifteen seconds after I do.

"Put it in motion," I say as I walk around the desk. "Get it fucking going, I want Roxwell TODAY."

"Today?" He frowns, looking a little more alert, more awake than he did when he was coming down the stairs. "It's nearly noon boss, it's a little short notice to get all the men together, half of them are on route already. I can set it up for tomorrow afternoon."

"Did I ask you for tomorrow afternoon, Azzaro?"

"No sir."

"No," I smack my hand on top of the desk. "As a matter of fact I didn't even fucking ask, I demanded. I want it fucking done today, Dominic, TODAY. As soon as possible! Get me my team ready and out of this fucking warehouse and onto his property!"

He inhales a deep breath, "yes sir, I'll try my best to rally everyone up."

I open the Mac book that's sitting on top of my desk, "don't fucking try, Dominic, do. Let me know if it's too much to handle, if you would prefer to sleep-"

"I got it," he hisses in between clenched teeth. "I'll send you your update as soon as I get it together."

"Get Ric back on base. I want him at my wife's disposal should she need to go somewhere."

Dominic nods his, "anything else sir?"

I look up from the files I had opened on my laptop screen and look in Dom direction, "you can go."

He leaves without saying another word and I begin to dive back into the files that are back on my screen. I need to distract myself, I need to stay occupied, I need my mind to stay busy so I don't spiral before Dom returns.

I click on the file that I have been lingering in for the past couple days, her file, Carmen's file. I've been wanting to bring her up with Hailey, I just never know how to go about it, I don't know if her ex best friend is still a sore subject or if she genuinely just doesn't care.

My fathers been keeping very close tabs on her and I got a notification update on her file a few weeks ago that intrigued me, well it was on Ric, which then led to Carmen. Apparently he's keeping his own tabs on Rodriguez.

From the last time that Dion's given me an updated on Ric's relationship with Carmen, she had dumped him and he didn't take it too lightly.

Angela's probably the only one that's keeping up with him, keeping her tabs on Ric. She gets him to talk to her when he refuses to talk to Dion and I, not that I've made much of an effort to rekindle our friendship.

I want to help him out of the runt that he's put himself in, I want to give him back the love of his life if it means getting my friend back, but according to the files I received Carmen's moving on.

She's dating, not only is she just dating though, she's dating her ex roommate Silas fucking Cavemen. Not that she's made it public but my guys are good at digging up dirt.

I have a feeling deep down in my gut that Ric knows Carmen is dating, but I don't think he knows exactly who it is. And the asshole in me wants give him Silas name so that Ric can get it out of his system, then again I don't want to feed into his anger, I don't wanna ruin whatever little of him can be saved.

I also don't need my wife to have another reason to hate me right now. Olivia and her cousin mean something to Hailey because she lived with these people for a few months. If she finds out that Silas turned up in a ditch dead somewhere and I was the reason behind it she'd probably never forgive me.

A soft knock on my open door is instantly pulling me out of my head and I'm looking over at the time on the screen to see that I've lost track of time again. I was stuck in deep thought for nearly half an hour.

Get a hold of yourself Matteo.

I look up to find a man who I don't recognize standing in my doorway, dressed in all black, just like everyone else in this building. He's probably gotta be at least in his early/ mid thirties. He's tan like most of the men here and at least 6 '4, his head is practically hitting the door frame as he walks in.

"Which one are you?"

He frowns and tilts his head to the side confused, "I'm sorry?"

"Your name- I'm trying to learn all of your guys' names here."

"Sacramento, sir."

"Like the city?" I asked.

He lets out a breathy laugh and smiles as he places his hand behind him, "like the city," he confirms.

"Let me guess, you're from the capital?"

He continues to smile, "yes sir.. your father baptized me with that name."

I feel the smallest tug on the side of my lips, of course he gave him a Nickname from the fucking city he's from.

Real original Carmelo.

There's almost a sour taste in my mouth as I try to push the thought of my father to the back of my head.

"What's your real name?"

"Domingo," he answers almost immediately, his name deeply laced in his Italian accent.

I honestly can't help the snort that comes out and he almost looks taken back, a small frown back on his face. "As in Sunday? The day? You do realize that's Sunday in Spanish."

His frown switches over to a grin, "yes sir, as in the weekend day."

I shake my head and sit back in my chair crossing my arms on top of my chest, "yeah you're better off being a capital than a day, Sacramento."

He chuckles softly.

"Which lineup you in?"

The man smirks. He doesn't smile, he doesn't grin, he smirks as he answers. "AT2, SO1, CD3, sir." - Alpha Team Two, Special Ops One. Cleaning Disposal Three.

Speechless. Speechless is what the fuck I am right now. Impressed is a major understatement for how I feel right now. Sitting here in front of this man is blowing my fucking mind and I'm trying really hard here to stay as nonchalant as I can be.

It's rare to see these men walking around, and I've met a handful of the Spec Ops men from when they invaded Memo's place and rescued Hailey, but I have yet to meet one of the fucking cleaners.

I really need to get my head out of my fucking ass and start reading all the files on these men, my men.

"Which one you stuck on boss?"

"CD," I answer truthfully.

His smirk turns into a small smile, "I take it I'm your first?"

I nod, "you are."

"We'll it's a pleasure to officially meet you boss, I'm here for your disposal, literally," he grins.

As much as I wanna laugh at his fucking joke, I can't. I can't be my father's immature goofy ass son. I have to be Isaac Matteo, mafia leader.

"You're on Dom's team," I point out. Alpha Team Two.

"I am."

"How long you been with him?"

"Don or your father sir?"

"Both," I clarify.

"I've been with the family for about eight years now, three with Don."

"Do you have a family?"

He shakes his head no, "do any of us really do?"

"Fair enough," I smile; smart man. "On a serious note though, do you really have absolutely no one, Sacramento? I'm genuinely curious."

"No sir."

"Are you lying to me?"

I look away from him and pull my 'work' phone out of my desk, unlocking the screen. I sigh mentally as I'm being greeted by a stupid boring moon wallpaper, rather than a cheesy photo of my pregnant wife holding up a bucket of popcorn; popcorn has been a major craving during her pregnancy.

God I'm such a fucking idiot.

I should've met up with Hailey at the clinic like Dion suggested I do, but I was in no fucking mood to take my anger out on her and decided that I would come defuse real quick. I got so lost in my head that time literally slipped by and was immediately annoyed with myself when I saw Hailey standing in front of me and I noticed the time, anger was back just as quick as it had left.

I look up again when I don't get a response. Sacramento stays standing there, completely quiet. I pick up the phone in my hand and point at it. "You know- my father has a file on every single person in this organization, Domingo?" I pronounce his name in the same Italian accent he did a bit ago. "I can easily pull yours up in the next thirty seconds and find out whether you're lying to me or not."

He inhales a deep breath and stands up straight, "Moni, Monica," he says. "She's my five year old niece. I currently have temporary custody of her because my brother and his wife passed away in a car accident nine months ago."

"She live with you?" He shakes his head."Who does she live with?"

"Mr. Matteo, I don't see how this is relev-"

"Who does she live with?!" I repeat my question, a little more aggressively.

"A woman named Kiara," he answers. "Her live in nanny. The woman your father picked out personally."

"My father?"

Sacramento nods.

"How often you see her?"

"Virtually, almost damn near everyday. Physically, not as much as I would like, but it comes with the job."

"When's the last time you saw her?"

"Three months ago," his voice softened.

"Why's that?" He stays quiet looking off to the ground. "WHY IS THAT, SACRAMENTO?"

"Because I need clearance from the boss to leave the state, sir. From you."

"Go to her," I wave a hand in his direction, dismissing him.

"But today-"

I raise my voice, talking over him, "you're dismissed from today's operation."

"Sir, you do realize that I am the captain of your special Ops team that you're taking with you today, correct?"

"I'm aware.. You do also realize that I am the head of this organization, the owner, leader, in fact, correct?"

He sighs heavily, "yes sir."

"And if I say you're dismissed from today what do you think that means, Sacramento?"

Another deep sigh as he shakes his head, "that I'm dismissed from today."

"Meaning?"

He looks away continuing to shake his head, "that I'm not allowed to join today."

"I will not risk that little girl growing up without the last family member she has in her life, Sacramento. I will not be the reason why she may never get another facetime call from her uncle."

"Mr. Matteo, I've had plenty of training, I can assure you that I will return back home from our operation. Moni's states away, a few hours will do us no harm, please let me guide you, let me bring you back to his queen alive, back to your wife in one piece. I can't leave knowing that I left my boss in jeopardy because I wasn't around to make a call when something went wrong. Nothing ever goes according to plan. I can't expect the unexpected when I'm not there to protect you and this family. There's a reason why your dad gave me all those titles, please don't dismiss me."

I lean to the side to find Dominic has returned, fully dressed and is leaning on the doorframe with a smug smile on his face, a bullet proof vest in his left hand, "go suit up, Sacramento, we leave in T-minus twenty."

Sacramento nods, "yes sir," and is looking back over in my direction. "I just want what's best for you boss, for this family. I get paid the amount of money I get because I am the best at what I do, I'm useless sitting on a couch somewhere watching an animation show."

I nod, "I believe you. Pack your shit when everythings done and dealt with and go spend time with that little girl, don't let her grow up not knowing who her uncle is."

Sacramento nods his head one last time before he's excusing himself and is leaving my office, leaving Dom and I alone.

"You ready?" He asked.

I hit him back with my own question, "in general or mentally?"

"Both," he smiles.

I nod, "I changed my mind." Dominic's eyebrows furrow. "Roxwell," I say. "He doesn't come out of that estate alive."

"You sure?"

"Si. I can't afford Hailey crossing his path here."

He nods, "we can do that. Are you gonna stop by and see her real quick before we take off?"

I shake my head, "she doesn't wanna see me right now."

"She may not see you again if this fails, Isaac. Don't be the same prideful stubborn idiot you used to be. Go to her."

"I'll Facetime her."

"Isaac-"

"If I don't make it back alive then oh fucking well, Dominic! That's my fucking probelm, my guilty concious, get the fuck off my back, I said no. I'm not gonna waste another fucking minute to get this mother fucker, I'm not gonna wait for the fucking adrenaline to go down and change my mind. I'm not gonna go see my wifes face knowing that I'm about to murder the one person she believed could change!"

He inhales a deep breath and nods his head silently. He pushes himself off of the door frame and is tossing the vest on the couch that's pushed up against the wall, "put it on, I'll wait for you in the truck."

I don't answer him and he's leaving a second later, leaving me alone in the office. I grab my personal phone out of my pants and go into my favorites. I have three and only three contacts in here and only two of the work as of two months ago. I click on Hailey's contact info and tap on the facetime button.

The video call rings, and rings, and rings, until it's no longer available because she didn't answer so I try a second time and nothing. I click on her number and the phone immediately begins to ring as I glue the phone to my right ear and sit back in my chair.

I anxiously begin to shake my leg up and down when my call hits her voicemail. Cazzo.

I don't leave her a voicemail, I hang up and immediately dial my moms number.

I'm instantly relieved when she answers on the third ring, "hello?" her voice has that same raspy tired tone that she's had since Pops died.

"Mom."

"What?" She answers short and flatly.

"What are you doing? How you feeling today?"

"What do you think I'm doing, Isaac," she sassed. I inhale a deep breath trying not to lose my patiences with her, she's in a mood, she's having a bad day. She stopped having sad days a few weeks ago and started having these types of days and I honestly can't decide which are worst right about now.

"Can you please go check on, Hailey, ma, I'm trying to get ahold of her and she's not answering."

"I'm sure she's fine, Isaac."

Normally I'd have a little more patience for my mother because I sympathize with her, but given what happened this afternoon and under the circumstances I don't have any patience to baby my mother right now, the shitty mood is back and I'm quickly losing my temper.

"Can you get your ass out of bed for five fucking minutes mom and go check on my fucking wife please. God forbid you look after anyone but yourself right now."

"Fuck you," she immediately hisses. "I'm not the one who leaves here home twenty four seven, Isaac! At least when your dad was alive he never let me feel lonely. She's living her biggest fear right now, she's dealing with this pregnancy all alone because my son wants to act like a little selfish shit and not give two fucks about anyone other than himself and his daddy issues."

"Selfish!?" I retorted and pulled the phone away from my face, squeezing my hand around the phone. I bring it back to my ear, "you don't want to fucking talk to me about being selfish, Adriana." I've never once referred to my mom by her first name, she's also never pissed me off like she just has.

"I've been nothing but fucking selfless the past few weeks, I've been nothing but fucking patient with you woman. I'm not the only one fucking breaking promises here, where's Jessica?" She stays quiet. "Lemme answer for you in case you can't remember mom, lord only knows how many antidepressants you're popping in your bedroom. She's with Fernando. Jessie's getting passed around this fucking family because it has no mentally stable adults to look after her because apparently all they know how to do is shut everyone out. Now ask me where Nathaniel's at mom."

Silence.

"MOM!" I shout into the phone.

"You made you're fucking point, Antonio."

I chuckle deeply and continue to lash out, not able to control the anger. "No I fucking haven't. I got Nate coming in and out a fucking rehab because the idiot can't stay sober long enough to give his sister more than a couple of hours of himself freely without having with draws. Apparently everyones allowed to have bad days in this fucking family, except for me. I'm so selfish, ask me how many days I took to myself to really grieve Pops death, mom, please ask me."

"Isaac-"

"One day, mom, one," my voice cracks. "God forbid you even think about your son and how he's holding up, how he's been, how he's managing an entire empire while trying to plan his father's revenge and look after his mother and pregnant wife. I am not allowed to have bad days, I'm not allowed to break, I can't lock myself up in my room and just shut down, I have to keep myself together because If I don't then everything and everyone goes to shit and I'm failing at keeping his families alive.

"Honey-"

"Go check on my fucking wife," my voice threathens to crack one last time before Im hanging up on my mother.

I stick my phone back into my pants trying desperately to calm myself down but I simply can't, my heart feels like it's about to rip out of my chest, I need to fucking hit someone right now, I need to destroy something, kill someone before I lose my own fucking head.

Leaning over the desk I throw everything that's on top of it on the ground, at the wall, the window. I reach for anything that's small enough and flyable and chuck it across the room until the office is a complete mess and my phone is pinging in my pocket.

I stand up straight attempting to control my heavy breathing and pull my phone back out to see that I have a message from my mother. I unlock my screen and see that she's sent a picture. It's Hailey. She's asleep in bed cuddling a little chicken nugget plushy that I got her a few weeks ago.

My heart in my chest immediately begins to settle down as the room and everything else stops spinning and I can breathe a little better. She's just sleeping. She's not ignoring me.

There's a message attached to my mothers picture. "See sleeping." She says. "I love you be safe."

I heart reacted to the picture and her message and quickly replied before taking off. "Thank you."

My phone pings one more time as she replies within the next couple seconds but I'm leaving my mothers message thread and going into my wife's.

I tap on the blue voice memo icon and start recording, "I'm probably the last person you wanna hear from right now, but I can't go do what I have to do right now without saying what I'm about to say.."

I inhale a deep breath, "I'm sorry, princess. You're right. I've been acting like an asshole. I've been isolating myself, I've been avoiding you- because I wasn't ready to let you in. Letting you in makes everything so much more real. Letting you in, letting you pick me off of the ground means that he's really gone, he's dead and I'm really in charge. And right now I'm living in this fucking fantasy where he's just not here, I'm only temporary until he comes back, when I know he's not," my voice breaks and my eyes immediately begin to burn.

"Letting you in means I'm allowing you to help me heal, properly grieve, you'll help me get rid of the guilt, the anger, and this anger- It's the last thing that I have from him as stupid as it sounds," I laugh softly. "I love you so fucking much, Hail, and I'm so fucking sorry for what the fuck I did today, but I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna put an end to everything right now and if God lets me come back home to you I promise that you'll have me completely, no more running away, no more avoiding, I'm fixing me and my family. I love you, I'm gonna go get back what belongs to us, to our son."

***

I want to take my gun from the seat next to me and blow my fucking brains out right about now.

I'm sitting in the back seat of one of our many SUVs with Beanie and Dominic riding up front, driving to Cris Roxwell's house in complete silence. Dominic's sitting in the passenger seat, fidgeting with his rifle, cocking it and uncocking it as Beanie's Uzi's sits on his lap.

Sacramento and his team are divided evenly in between the trucks. There's one in front of us, one that's already parked down the block, updating Sacramento and Dominic on every movement that happens at Cris's house, and two more trucks behind us.

Dominic brings his hand up to his right ear, touching the ear piece that's in his ear, the same similar device that's in Beanie's ear and mine.

Sacremento's voice is soon filling my eardrums, "getting off route in T-minus two."

"Copy," Dominic answers. "May God have mercy on their souls."

I look through the rearview mirror and spot a small smile on Beanie's face, he's living for this, Dom and him both are, everyone is, and I want to enjoy this as much as everyone is about to but I can't, I can't shake this rage off.

Sacramento's truck continues to drive straight once we hit the stop sign rather than turning on Roxwell's street like we're about to turn. We can't pull up to his house with six trucks back to back without alerting him and he's instantly calling the other families for help before I get my hands on him.

My truck will be the only one to pull into his property first before Sacramento and his guys are rushing in and destroying the place.

I feel myself instantly go tense as his house comes into view and we're pulling into the small driveway that's leading up to his gate. I reach for my gun beside me and smile to myself as the adrenaline begins to kick in, I've been dreaming of killing this mother fucker ever since I can remember and the day is finally here, it almost begins to feel like Christmas day as the rage begins to take over and I'm getting excited.

We drive up to the check in post and Beanie's rolling his window down to check in and Dom's officially putting our plan in play. He picks up the automatic rifle in his lap and is sending a dozen rounds of bullets into both of the men that are working in the small booth. The once white post is now covered in red.

Luca, who was instructed to drive up behind us, climbs out of the passenger seat and is tapping his hand on the back of my truck as he runs over to the gate and is opening the doors allowing us to drive into Rockwell's premises.

I don't need to look behind me to know that the truck Luca was in has parked to the side of the house now rather than following us all the way in. Luca and the other four men in that truck are instructed to guard the gate and make sure that Cris doesn't call for any more backup that he already has here.

If our calculations are correct, Cris only has a handful of his men on the property because he hates bringing his work home. The last time that I was here, with my father, Roxwell had about only eight guards hanging around the property so I'm praying to baby Jesus that the numbers haven't changed.

I brought about a dozen trained men with me, not including the five at the gate, giving us the upper hand but anything can go wrong at any given moment like Sacrament said and I really don't feel like burying any of my guys.

I hear screeching of tires as two SUVs speed up and pass us, driving up in front now, Sacramento and his guys.

There's a guy hanging out of one of the truck's windows, his rifle already in his hand, shooting up the place, dropping the two guards that were standing at the front door.

That was fucking easy.

We pull up behind both trucks and watch the men that's dressed from head to toe in tech gear climb out of the truck and immediately get into flight mode. Rifles in their hands, they begin to walk towards the entrance of the house, checking if the two men are alive as another truck behind us pulls up.

Bursting into the house the alarm to Roxwell's estate immediately begins to ring meaning we need to move faster than we thought.

Dom and Beanie hop out of the front of their truck, their automatic guns in their hands as I climb out and walk behind them with my Beretta in my hand. As much as I want to kill Cris I want to do it just yet, I want him to suffer, I want him to slowly bleed out as he watches me destroy everything he's ever worked for.

I pay close attention to the sounds behind me, hearing multiple car doors open and close, multiple guns getting loaded as we continue our way up the steps and storm right through the front door.

Multiple rounds begin to go off inside of the house from both sides. Dominic immediately takes a step back gluing his back to the wall as he sticks a hand out in front of him, in front of me as is pulling me out of the way as the men behind me move in, their weapons in front of them getting ready to shoot at any given second.

"You have a baby that's expecting you to come back home, we enter last into every room!" He shouts, grabbing a handful of my shirt. His angry expression becomes furious as he looks down, "where the fuck is it?" he pats his hand on my chest, referring to the bulletproof vest.

"I can't move freely in it."

Dominic actually looks like he's about to lose his shit, like he's ready to hit me right about now. He grabs another handful of my shirt and is pulling me into him. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?! You also can't move freely if you're fucking dead, Isaac!"

I look down at his hand and place my free one on top of his wrist, slowly removing his hold from my shirt, "then make sure that I stay alive, Dominic."

He inhales a deep breath and is setting his gun down and is taking off his vest a second later, shoving it in my direction, "put it on," he snarls.

I put my gun away and yank it out of his hands and place it over my shirt, "happy!?"

He doesn't answer, he grimaces as Sacramento shouts from inside of the house, "clear!"

Pulling my gun back out of my pants I walk around Dominic, stepping foot into the house. There's multiple bleeding bodies on the floor as I walk deeper into the house and I'm happy to see that I don't recognize one fucking face, they're all his men, not mine.

My heart immediately begins to beat faster in my chest as I walk up to Roxwell's office and find him kneeling down in the middle of the room as one of Sacramento's guys holds his head back by his hair, another one pointing his rifle in his direction as I step into the room.

"Matteo?!" There's pure amusement in his face as I step over a dead body and head in his direction.

"Oh don't look so surprised, Roxwell, you know why I'm here."

Chills instantly run down my spine as Cris begins to grins mischievously, "took you long enough," he sneers.

To hell with the plan, with him.

My vision turns red and before you know it my feet are closing in on the little space in between us and I'm pistol whipping him in the face, causing Sacramento's guy to lose his grip on Cris as he falls over.

I feel the tension instantly rise as Roxwell quickly recovers from the hit and he's going in for my legs knocking me to the ground, my gun flying out of my hand.

"Hold it!" Dominic's voice booms in the room as the guys go into a slight panic. "Give him some room, let him get some hits in and defuse."

Thanks Dom.

I look beside me over to where my gun is at. Fuck. It's too far to try and reach for it. Instead I quickly roll over in the opposite direction and get out of Roxwell's way before he can get his hands on me as he charges towards me. I get up to my feet and kick Roxwell in the stomach as he attempts to get up, dropping him back down on all fours.

Reaching for the blade that I always keep on me, I pull it out and flip it in my hand, opening it.

Walking over to where Cris is at, I jam it into the side of his body as he tries to get up for the second time and he's inhaling a deep ragged breath as I yank it back out but surprisingly he keeps his balance and is getting back up onto his feet a second later and is sending a right hook into my face.

The hit actually immediately begins to burn and that's only because it's still sore, it's the same fucking side that my wife just brutaly attacked over an hour ago. It's taking me twice as long to shake the pain off, Cris definitely hits harder than my baby momma.

My ears quickly pick up on feet shuffling as my men attempt to intervene and come to their boss's rescue.

"Stop!" Beanie shouts bringing everyone to a stop, nodding his head in my direction. "He's yours, you got this."

"Get away from him," Dom commands.

Grabbing a better hold of the blade in my hand, pointing it in Roxwells direction as the guys who have huddled around him, slowly move back.

Cris stands up to his full height, heaving heavily as his hand clings onto his side, the blood quickly steeping through.

I toss the knife right beside me and it's thumping loudly on his hardwood floor, "I'm gonna kill you with my bare hands," I snarl.

Cris nostrils flare as he takes a step back, "hear me out," he says breathlessly. "Before you decide to kill me."

I shake my head and move forward, "oh that's already been decided," and send my fist flying into his face once I'm at hands reach. There's an instant pinch on my skin from where my ring is sitting but I ignore it, I purposely put it on today just for him.

Before he has any time to recover, I send my fist flying into his face two more times, causing him to fall over and I'm instantly dropping down on top of him and grabbing him from his shirt, wrenching him off of the ground, covering my hand in his blood.

"M-matteo," he coughs, spitting up blood.

I let go of his shirt and wrap my hands around his throat, squeezing it as tight as I can and his eyes are immediately going wide.

His hands instantly fly up to mine as he desperately tries to get them off of his throat, but he's too weak from the stab wound and I'm too enraged to let go.

I tighten my grip around him, "I vouched for you and this is how you fucking repay me, Cris?!" He begins to thrash his feet around as I close off his air way completely, he slowly starts to turn red. "I TRUSTED YOU!"

He looks up at me, his eyes starting to tear up and get red as he shakes his head and moves his lips but no sound comes out.

"Was this your plan the entire fucking time?!"

"I-isa-ac, p-please," he croaks.

I tighten my grip even more around his throat wanting to just snap his neck already and lean down, getting into his face, "tell your piece of shit cousin that I said hi."

Cris tries to gasp for air one last time but fails to get any into his lungs, rasping something under his breath that immediately sends shivers up my back..

"H-h-he's a-ali-ve-e."

My heart fucking drops to my stomach. "Who?!" I exclaim.

He doesn't say anything, he taps his hand on top of mine but I don't let up, I don't let go.

Dominic quickly makes his way over to us along with a couple more of my men around him. He crouches down in front of me, "boss, let go," there's a sudden urgency in his voice.

"WHO!?" I shout, repeating myself, keeping the same pressure.

Roxwell looks up at Dominic, who's crouched down right next to his head, "C-c-" he begins to say and his eyes are slowly rolling to the back of his head as they start to shut.

"Isaac, come on, let him breathe."

I don't move.

I loosen my hands up a bit but not enough to let Cris catch his breath and I'm soon being knocked to the ground a second later as Dominic pushes me off of him.

I look up at him completely appalled, my ass still glued to the ground as Cris gasps for air and is rolling over on all fours coughing his life away as he desperately tries to get air into his lungs.

The other four men that are in the room with me, two of them being Beanie and Sacramento, all now have their guns back in their hands pointing them over at Dominic.

He bends down and is slowly placing his gun on the floor, putting his hands up about mid air and is then standing back up to his full height placing his hands behind his head, "I'm sorry, I had to."

I watch Beans lower his gun and reach for Don's arm. He pulls him back and is slamming his back towards a wall, keeping him pinned as the other two guys hold Dominic at gunpoint.

"He can't talk if he's dead," Dominic says, averting his attention from me to Cris. "Listen to what the fuck he's trying to say."

Turning my gaze away from the guys, I turn to find Cris still on all fours in front of me still struggling to catch his breath.

I get my ass off of the floor and take a couple steps forward until I'm standing next to Cristofer.

"Talk," I snarl.

He coughs a couple more times and is then turning to look to his left, up at me. "Fuck you," he spat.

Quickly losing my patience I kick him in the stomach causing him to fall back over on his back, wheezing for air all over again.

"Bring her in," I snap my fingers and Sacaramento is quickly lowering his gun and stepping out of the office.

He returns almost immediately, dragging a crying Isabelle into the room by her arm, "uncle Cris!" She cries, her eyes instantly go wide at the sight of her cousin on the floor.

Unfortunately for us, Isabelle was back in town visiting her cousin and as much as I hated Cris I couldn't let anything happen to the kid so I gave Domingo clear instructions to get her to safety the second we stepped into the house.

Hailey mentioned a while ago that she actually thinks it's cute that Isabelle calls Roxwell her uncle rather than her cousin.

Makes sense though she's a kid and he has been spending a lot of time with her now that her dad and brother are no longer in her life and her moms a lost cause.

"Belle!" Cris instantly attempts to get up to his feet but I'm quick to knock him back down on his knees and hold him at gunpoint.

"I suggest you start talking."

"Let her go," he growls in between clenched teeth. "Or I ain't saying shit."

I hold his stare for a few seconds and turn to look back at to Sacramento, inclining my head to the side, suggesting he let Isabelle go and he does.

She quickly rushes over to Cris and is flying into his arms once she reaches him and I'm putting my gun down.

Belle instantly begins to sob in her cousin's arm as he hugs her tightly, "you're okay, baby, you're okay," he coos rubbing his hand up and down her back. He pulls away from her and is placing his hands on her face inspecting every inch of her, "did they hurt you?"

She shakes her head frantically, bringing her small hand up to his face, "you're bleeding."

Roxwell lets out a small breathy laugh as he leans in to kiss Belle on the forehead, "it's nothing water can't wash off princess."

I clear my throat loudly, cutting the cousins' bonding moment and cross my arms along my chest, my gun still in my hand, my patience wearing thinner and thinner.

"You have about five seconds to repeat what the fuck you said before I rip her out of your arms and she loses the last male figure she has in her life, Roxwell."

Cris doesn't say anything. He shoots daggered glares in my direction as he kisses his cousin on the forehead one more time and is standing up to his full height, shielding Isabelle with his body, his arm clinging onto the side of his body.

"He's alive," he repeats his phrase from earlier, much more clearly this time. "Your dads alive, I have him."

***

😈 bye.