Chapter 99 Beginning of All Things

Chapter 99 Beginning of All Things
After three more boring days at the hospital, the doctors finally allowed Dante to leave and go back home with me. Despite his condition, which has improved, my father hasn't allowed him to go back to work because he's still in bad shape and needs more time to recover. At first, Dante refused the given week off, but my father insists that he get more rest. Because of my father's order, Dante has no other choice but to rest in his room while Carlo takes his place temporarily. Even though Carlo hasn't fully recovered like me, he still insisted on taking Dante's place in the meantime. My father has no choice but to agree with Carlo's proposal since he's the one he can trust to be close to me at the moment.

"Are you sure you're okay? You don't have to stay here. Go rest. I'll be fine," I say. I glance at his shoulder where the gunshot wound is, and Carlo shakes his head and frowns at me, ignoring my concern.

"And risking your safety again? Absolutely not. Besides, this is not a difficult job. All I need to do is watch out for threats outside your room. That's it. Lightwork," Carlo says, shrugging nonchalantly. Maybe it's because he has high pain tolerance, but he moves his shoulders as if he's not wounded. Well, I guess his condition is really better than mine because right now I'm still in pain even though my wound has almost closed fully.

"If you're too tired, stay in my room and sit on the couch. I don't mind it," I say.

"That won't be necessary. I'm good out here," Carlo says.

Well, if he insists. I can't force him to rest just as I always do with Dante. He's always been more stubborn than Dante anyway. For now, I'll stay in my room. I'll check on him later and ask again if he's tired.

"Alright then. I'll be in my room for now," I say.

"Let me know if you need anything," Carlo says.

"Okay."

Even though days have passed, whenever I enter my room, I'm always reminded of what happened in here. All the dark red blood, the piercing scent of metal, the fear of losing Dante... All those pictures stay in my mind, and whenever I close my eyes, the images only turn more vivid; More real. Despite reality telling me that everything is fine now, I can't help but wonder about the future and all the dangers we might face soon. We have no other choice but to fight back. We can't keep letting the Romanos step on us.

In my bed, I lie and stare at the ceiling, unsure about what to do at the moment. Dante is all I can think of now. I've become so attached to him that I feel like I'm dying when I'm not in the same room as him. His presence is the only thing that calms me down. After almost losing him, all I want to do is keep him close to me at all times, but unfortunately, I can't do that just yet. Even though my father already knows what's happening between Dante and me, I still need to act as if my relationship with Dante is still our secret. As much as I want to let my guard down, a tiny part of me is still hesitant about him. Maybe it's my father's words getting to me, but I'd better put some distance between us until my father finishes testing him and his loyalty to the family.

"Sandra."

As I expected, the voice belongs to my father. As he approaches me, I push myself up and sit on the bed with my back against the headrest. Now that my father sits next to me, I can't help but stare at his exhausted face. It seems the past few days have taken a toll on my father's well-being. He's out doing his job more often than before, probably trying to pull some strings to fight back against the Romanos. I hope everything goes well because if not, I'll take care of them myself and make them suffer for days until their bodies give up.

"Hey. What's going on?" I ask.

"Remember that you said Fabio and Alvaro are planning to rob us?" my father says.

I remember it very clearly. Until now, I'm still not sure whether Antonio is pretending to be on our side or if he's genuinely sincere in everything he says and does. For now, it's safer for us all to believe the former than the latter. After all that's been happening with the Romanos, it's better not to trust anyone, but still take all information we get seriously.

"Yes. When is the shipment scheduled?" I ask.

"Tomorrow. We'll make them think we're shipping the guns, but instead of guns, they'll find something else in the truck. I'll have some guys watch over the truck, and we'll see if Fabio and Alvaro will actually rob us or not," my father says.

"What's the replacement goods?" I ask.

"Just some fruits. They won't find anything valuable in the truck. I'll make sure of it," my dad says,

I smile at the thought of Fabio and Alvaro figuring out that there's nothing but fruits in the truck. I can't help but imagine their disappointment when they find grapes instead of revolvers. Serves them right. If they think we'll stay still and do nothing, they're so dead wrong. We won't stay without a fight. This time, we'll reclaim our throne and territory.

A thought then hits me. How did Fabio know about the shipment? Does it have anything to do with him? Did my father arrange the shipment with him? Or is there a mole that's giving him information about the shipment?

"That's a good plan. Does Fabio know about the shipment from you or from a mole?" I ask.

"We figured it out earlier, and it's one of the drivers. Before we confront him, we'll make him believe that he's still shipping the guns, and we'll see what Alvaro and Fabio would do. It's either them or us who get to the driver first. I don't mind if they'll do the dirty job for us," my father says with a shrug. Well, if Fabio and Alvaro kill the driver first before we could, then good for us. That means fewer jobs for us.

"Wow. I can't believe people betray us so easily like this. Aren't you afraid our family will implode with all these rats?" I ask.

Honestly, I've never cared about the family collapsing or not, but now, driven by my anger and revenge, all I want is for our enemies to burn to the ground with nothing left to their names. They think they can step on us and we won't fight back, but no, we're fighting back this time. I've had enough of their bullshit. I won't let them hurt my family anymore. They've done enough damage to us, so it's our time to retaliate and make them face something much worse than we've experienced.

"No. I won't let that happen. In fact, I have something planned for when Dante has recovered," my father says.

"What is it?" I ask.

"We'll execute all the traitors we've found. At this point, keeping them in the family to buy us time will only cause more harm than good, so it's better to cut them loose as soon as possible and keep our family small and tight-knit with people we truly trust. I don't care if we lose so much. I'll do whatever it takes to keep this family safe and strong," my father says.

This is it. This marks the beginning of all things. We might have to start our family over by getting rid of the traitors in our family. However, it's a much-needed action to keep our family clean from any inside threats. This will happen sooner or later anyway, so it's better to clean up now than wait until everything falls apart.

Romanos, we're coming for you. Prepare yourselves for the worst. We won't let you get out of this alive.