*LUCIANO*

For every second I pondered on it, I felt more confused than the last. The truth is, I barely know what to believe.

As I paced around in Janie's room, thinking about the letter I had received. The thought of Sebastiano being alive was something I couldn't understand.

"It can't be him," I mumbled to myself, trying hard to disregard the fact in front of me; his letter. His death was something I could vividly remember, and it had no survival plot, no means of escaping death.

I remember never wanting his death to occur, never wanting to path ways with him being family, but his jealousy was something I couldn't comprehend. He changed overnight, or maybe I didn't notice on time.

Sebastiano was a lying, sneaky, and cunning bastard who wanted to take over my empire, disguising himself as a trusted ally.

Three years ago, Seb, as I liked to call him, and I worked hand in hand. He was my cousin, and a trusted accomplice. Apart from Romano, I could count on him whenever I needed someone to run my secret errands, so he was more than just family.

One evening, I overheard him talking to someone, but his tone was so low that I could barely hear the entirety of their discussion. It was suspicious.

Although before now, I had secretly gotten a whiff of his betrayal, but I turned a blind eye to it, hoping he would settle for the best and changed his path...his plans.

I asked him who he was talking to, but he said one or two things to make me believe that it was an old friend, and his lie made a lot of sense.

Another fateful day rolled in, and I got a call from someone, a call that changed everything.

On that particular day, Seb was meant to deliver some goods to one of our warehouses, so he sent out five of my henchmen to escort the goods and deliver them safely. Everything was going well until he got a call from one of them. It hadn't taken that much time since they left, so I thought he could handle it, but he gave me the phone. Apparently, one of my henchmen called, informing us that they had been intercepted and were under attack.

"What's going on?" I asked the henchmen on the other end.

"We're under attack, Boss," his voice echoed from the phone, along with several gunshots in the background.

"Why didn't you take a different route then? Are you mad?" Seb yelled at him. The call was on speaker, so everyone got to hear the conversation, which made it possible for him to respond.

"I'm sorry, sir," he apologized.

"Don't move. We'll be right there. " Furious by everything, I gave the order without thinking straight. I should have been more conscious about everything, but I didn't notice on time.

"You don't have to go anywhere. I'll take some men with me and we'll intercept the attack. " Sebastiano's words were that of worry. I knew he was capable, but at that point, I feared his death. I was closer to him than I was to Romano. To me, family meant a lot, but he cared less about it.

"No," I said.

"I'll go with my men. You..." I said, pointing to Seb. "And Romano will stay put and manage this warehouse," I ordered, but he insisted.

"Let me prove my loyalty and stick with you. At least let me protect you," he said, his attitude unwavering.

"Alright then. Get the rest of the guys with you and meet me outside, take every load with you." finally I agreed, instructing that they took a lot of ammunition with them.

Now that I think of it, I should've realized he was up to something, seeing as he was acting too concerned about everything.

On our way there, something felt off, but even then I still didn't realize it. I had so much trust in Seb. All his decisions felt right. He asked that we took a different route, to observe the attack before getting everybody to our destination. This put the rest of my men's movement to a halt, as Seb drove me through the different route.

The car came to a sudden stop, and he asked me to come down. The entire environment was peaceful and calm, entirely different from an attack scene. It was a bush path that led close to a cliff. A cliff I was now close to. It was at this point that I realized I was fucked up. His henchmen, all five of them, surrounded me, none giving me a head start.

"It's funny how you thought I had your back," he said, walking out of the car.

"What is this Seb?" I asked.

"Seb, Seb, Seb," he kissed his teeth and inhaled for a while. "I hate that name. The way you say it, the ring it has to it."

"So, this was your plan?" I had asked calmly, trying to hide my shock.

"Well, yes, but you helped out. A round of applause to your emotional family shit side," he mocked then continued. "This is meant to be my empire, to rule, to run, and to CONTROL." His last word spoken with force.

"Remember the friend I called, yeah?" He asked, but I said nothing.

"It's alright, you don't need to respond to that. Well, um, that was a start up kill you plan in motion," he air quoted the part where he said 'start up kill you plan in motion'

"And there wasn't any attack. It was all my plan. No hard feelings, right? Dear cousin." His grin grew wider as he spoke.

"If you lots can kill him..." He spoke to my henchmen. "...You get to run away and keep his merchandise while living a life of financial fulfillment," he concluded, as one of them took baby steps forward to shoot me.

While he spoke of his treachery, I had already begun to plot my move for survival. My men weren't anywhere close because I had given them instructions not to show up until they got my signal, which Sebastiano was in control of. Although they had a strict rule that Romano had given, which stated that if I, at some point, had not given a signal after 20 minutes, they were to find me, at any cost.

Minutes had already passed, but I knew that if I had to wait for their arrival, my treacherous cousin would've already succeeded with his plans.

With a swift manoevre, I dragged one of my henchmen. The one who tried to shoot me while walking closer. Using him as a cover, I shot the rest of the henchmen down as they shot the one I held in an attempt to get to me. Unfortunately, my cover wasn't dead, but just bullet wounded. Before I could get a grip on myself, Seb's gun was already pointed at my head. My own cousin was ready to pull the trigger to kill me.

"Why are you doing this, Sebastiano?" I asked, with his gun still pointed towards my head.

"It's quite simple. You think too highly of yourself. You're a bastard who wants to keep using me as a pawn in your scheme. I don't want that anymore, cousin," he explained.

I noticed the last henchmen trying to pull his trigger and immediately maneuvered my way around Seb, pushing him to the ground before killing the henchman. Now we had time to face each other one on one, but before I could get a clear view of my cousin, he sent the first bullet through my right arm.

I cracked my gun, ready to send a bullet through him too, but he managed to land the second shot aimed directly at my chest, but I managed to dodge it just a bit as it landed on my left arm. Being extremely sure at this moment that my cousin was actually set to kill me, after he sent another bullet that got to my stomach, right after I found myself ducking, I charged towards him, landing one punch after another.

For a moment, he had the upper hand, mostly because he focused on all the spots that I had been shot, but soon after, I was the main man in the game. We got to the edge of the cliff as I pulled out the dagger from my back pocket, ready to put it in him, before he pushed me away and jumped off the cliff, into the turbulent ocean beneath.

How could he have survived such a high fall and strong wave from the ocean?

Just while I was reminiscing, I noticed a slow movement from the corner of my eyes.

"No, no, Luciano, no," Janie's voice resonated through the four walls of the room. I looked immediately and saw Janie's eyes open, facing the ceiling as she tried to place her hand on her head.

Immediately, I tossed my thoughts aside and rushed to her side.

"Janie?" I breathed in disbelief.