Chapter 124 Strange Conversation
Dante's POV
I could see the fear in his eyes, I could see the pain in his expression.
But none of that made sense to me, none of that made any sense to me at the moment.
I pressed my foot into him harder, cocking the gun slightly.
“I don't know where she is, I swear,” he said hurriedly with his hand swaying frantically in the air.
“Where is she?!” I barked, pressing my foot into his chest harder.
“She ran away!” He yelled, trying to break free.
I paused for a second, realizing there could be some truth in his words. That must be why they looked to have been chasing something earlier.
I firmed up my grip on my gun, still pointing it straight at his head.
“You took her, now return her before I waste you,” I snarled.
“I swear, I respect you, Don. Luca made me do it, I was just following orders, nothing personal,” he begged as his whole body shook violently.
His words sparked off something different in me, a rage that stung deeper than my knuckles from the earlier fight.
Luca, that son of a bitch. It's always Luca, pulling strings from his hiding spot like the coward he was.
This worm at my feet was just another pawn, and nothing more.
I gave him one more hard look as he pleaded.
Pawns could still talk.
I turned back as everywhere had gone too silent, and sure enough, Nico was standing a few steps behind me with his gun still drawn but hadn't said a word since, just watching with that cold stare of his.
Either way, he knew better than to interrupt when I was like this.
"Luca, huh?!" I growled, easing my foot off his chest just enough for him to gasp in a breath.
“You think blaming him saves you? Everyone's 'just following orders' till they're staring down death,” I muttered in a low voice.
He whimpered again but I didn't let him.
“If you want a chance to crawl out of here alive, give me something useful. Something about Luca that'll make this worth my time,” I added carefully.
The guy's eyes moved wildly left to right as his body trembled like an ill. Beads of sweat poured down his face, mixing with the dirt and blood from where I'd slammed him into the ground.
"I-I don't know much, Don. Luca keeps things tight. He... he doesn't trust anyone fully,” he gasped.
I stepped back, lowering the gun slightly as if considering letting him go.
He scrambled to sit up, trying to take the opportunity to leave, but as he pushed himself up on his elbows, I swung the gun back up, aiming squarely at his forehead.
“Wrong answer. Time's up,” I declared.
"Wait! Wait, okay, I have something!" he screamed, throwing his hands around in the air.
“Keep talking,” I muttered.
"Luca’s got a mole in your operation, someone close to you. That's how he knew exactly when to hit the safe house and how to time the grab for your girl,” I explained breathlessly.
A mole? That's new.
“I overheard him bragging about it on the phone the other day, said the info came straight from inside. Please, Don, that's all I got. Swear to God!" He begged on.
“Mmm,” I hummed as his words hit squarely in the middle.
It made loads of sense, I mean, the precision of the attack, the way they'd slipped through our defenses, it was all too easy.
I glanced at Nico, who gave a subtle nod as his expression hardened.
We'd deal with that later. For now, this rat had bought himself a few more minutes of life.
Or maybe not. I lowered my gun slowly, but not before kicking him hard in the ribs.
"Get out of my sight. If I see you again, no amount of begging will save you,” I barked.
He didn't need me saying it twice, he staggered to his feet and bolted into the woods, vanishing into the darkness.
Nico stepped forward carefully. "You believe him?" He asked.
"Enough to check," I muttered, wiping blood from my knuckles. "Let's keep moving. Serena's still out here somewhere."
Serena's POV
Silence. That's what greeted my question.
He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and an amused spark in his eyes.
"Marcus," he finally said in a low voice though. "Name's Marcus, I've been with Dante for years, his personal... troubleshooter, you could say,” he added with a smile.
Something about that last part didn't sit all too well. Marcus though, that suited him well enough.
So I nodded, trying to play it cool, but my insides burned out of curiosity.
Here I was, underground in some secret hideout, with a guy who'd just pulled me out of what could have been way worse.
Questions piled up in my mind, and before I could stop myself, they started spilling out.
"Troubleshooter? That sounds... intense. How did you end up working for Dante? I mean, you seem like you know him pretty well,” I started.
He chuckled softly, running a hand through his hair. "Dante and I go way back. We met in the old days, before he became the Don everyone fears,” he began.
“Really?” I couldn't help but cut in.
“Yeah, I was just a kid scraping by on the streets, picking fights I shouldn't have,” he replied. “Till he came, I don't know, maybe he saw potential, but he pulled me out of the gutter and trained me up,” he added with a shrug.
“Woah,” I muttered.
Yeah, and now, I'm the guy he calls when things get messy. You call it a personal assassin, if you want the fancy title, of course,” he said carefreely.
My eyes widened a bit at that, an assassin, that's what he was?
It sent a chill down my spine, but not in a completely bad way.
That explained the calm way he took down those goons without breaking a sweat.
"Wow. So, you're like his right-hand man? What's he like before… you know, all these?" I asked, waving a hand at the weapons lining the walls.
Marcus shrugged as a small smile tugged at his lips. "Dante's tough, but fair, and loyal to a fault. He's got a code, he protects his own, no matter the cost,” he started.
“We've been through hell together, more times than I can count. Saved each other's asses plenty of times,” he added.
I leaned forward, fascinated by everything. "What about your family? Do you have anyone outside of all this?" I pushed.
His expression shifted slightly, then he went still completely as we heard a few steps passing by not too far from us.
He listened even as the steps faded down, then shrugged.
Must be some animal.
"Family's complicated,” he finally replied. “I lost most of mine young. Dante's the closest thing I've got now,” he added and I watched as his eyes dropped low.
But before I could say anything, he straightened sharply.
“What about you? How'd a girl like you end up in the middle of Dante's world?" He asked and I could tell he just needed to fill the space.
I nodded, fiddling with the empty water bottle in my hands.
"It's a long story. Started with some bad choices, ended up... here. But Dante, he's been good to me, more than I expected,” I admitted.
He nodded and we fell into a slightly comfortable silence.
We remained like that for a couple of minutes before a haunting question pulled through my mind.