Bab 18: NO GIFTS, ONLY BULLETS

VINCENZO'S POV

My head was tilted back against the leather headrest of the chair and I was staring at the man in front of me with a smile on his face.

"Surely you would want to explain why Jules died and you ransacked the shed and at the same time took over the house. Grace perhaps? Heard she's good at what she does" He said with a barely contained smirk.

My gaze flickered to the lady dressed skimpily walking inside the dark room, a tray of tea or whatever in her hands.

"Where's he?" I asked, ignoring his questions.

"He's taking a call, surely you can put up with your poor uncle in the meantime," The man said, his hungry eyes darting to the lady who was bending low to drop the tray to the table, her ass up in the air provocatively.

Something flashed in his eyes as he suddenly reached his hand out to grab her ass, she yelped but made no move to stop him but I could see the way she immediately became uncomfortable.

"Get out" I looked at her coldly and she whimpered looking back at my uncle also the son of a gun who was still holding her, his hands running the side of her hips.

The stare I gave him was enough and he left her, a huff leaving his lips in annoyance.

She immediately dashed out of the room and I was left Alone with him in the room again.

"You've changed" He reached forward, drinking the coffee in the cup while he stared at me.

"It's 11 in the morning, maybe take it down on the caffeine?" I suggested, my brow raised, my tone cold.

He shook his head. "I have a lot of work today. I need to keep my wits around. Where were we?"

"Still sitting in my father's office, I suppose," I said with a slight sneer which he caught.

His lips twitched and he dropped the cup back to the tray, his eyes narrowing at me. "You've changed. You even got your sense of humor as I can see. Needs a little more work but still there, I think" he smirked seeing the way my hands tightened against the handle of the chair.

"Well, I'm not complaining, am I?" I asked with a tilt of the head

He shook his head. "Of course not. You don't hang out with me anymore. You don't have time to hang out with me anymore" His smile was anything short of wicked and dangerous. He didn't look the part but this man was one of the most feared figures in the family aside from my father.

"I guess I wanted to stop hanging out with the old men in the house" I retorted, my tone calm and cold.

Okay, that was a jab and I knew I had gotten to him by the way his eyebrows twitched for a fraction of a second.

"Oㅡ"

At the same time, the door was pushed open noiselessly and someone sauntered in without a word.

The air was already tense but it seemed to worsen as I found myself face to face with the man who ran this hell hole.

My father himself.

He was well into his 50s, his raven black hair slicked back with some expensive hair gel, his cheekbones were just as sharp as I remembered and so was the look in his eyes. Sharp. Predatory. Just like the man was.

"Did I interrupt something?" He asked cooly, sitting down and looking down into the cup of coffee.

The man rarely raised his voice and anytime he did so, someone was bound to get hurt if not die.

"Of course not," My uncle said with a slight chuckle.

My father cut him off with a hard glance. "Well Antonio, have you gotten anything useful or are you here chatting about women again?"

Antonio pinched his nose bridge and focused those hawk eyes on me.

"You would be surprised that your son doesn't like women that much again as I thought", His tone was filled with mirth and I refused to show the way his words affected me.

"Maybe if you would shut up for a moment, you would know that pussy isn't everything. Aren't you even too old to get it up?", I directed my question to my uncle who clenched his fists.

My father was staring at me. I didn't need to look. I could feel it. It burnt through me trying to see where I had gone wrong.

I kept that expressionless look on my face and leaned forward to grab a cup of coffee too.

"Didn't you just make a comment on the caffeine?", Antonio raised a brow.

I sniffed the coffee and looked at him with dead eyes. "Doesn't smell like coffee" I said with a shrug.

My father who was silent all through the exchange spoke up.

"Well let's find out why" He kept his look on me and he clapped his hand and almost immediately the door was pushed open, a male guard entering the room.

My father whispered something to him, his gaze still on me.

A feeling of dread settled in my stomach.

"If this is about Jules and the family I claimed, I simply wanted to expand the family," I said while we waited for goodness knows what.

"Killing Jules for what exactly? It's something I was hoping you could explain" My father's cool voice rang out and I looked at him.

"The woman. He touched her. He shouldn't have tried it. She's mine to take, to own…" I paused seeing the sadistic glimmer in his eyes.

"To hurt too" My father let out a low chuff of laughter and looked at me pointedly. "Sounds much better, don't you think? So what measures have you put in place for her to be 'well taken care of', hm?" He asked.

His question simply meant, what had I done to her to make her beg, to make her regret crossing us, to regret being born?

My answer? None. Nothing.

I had even avoided her all through.

Almost immediately, the door was pushed open and someone was pushed in.

She fell to her knees immediately, her knees scraping against the floor.

My father smiled. Why had he brought the maid back?

"Well as a form of a welcome party… I think she'll suffice, won't she? There are no gifts" He paused and slid a gun across the table to me. "Only bullets"

He was testing me. Wanting to see if I would do it.

I smirked and picked the gun, watching how she shivered, tears streaming down her face as she muttered prayers to herself.

My phone dinged but my gaze was fixed on the lady on the floor in front of me.

I was sorry. Truly sorry. I couldn't do it, I couldn't kill her but I couldn't disobey him so I did the only thing I could.

I pulled the trigger.