Chapter 96 Chills Everywhere
Dante's POV
I had seen a whole lot of gruesome sights in my life, but not many match up to what I had watched for the past ten minutes or so.
And it looked to be getting even worse.
“Go to hell,” the elder replied valiantly, refusing to show any fear.
“After your, my elder,” Luca replied and poured the content of the container over the head of the elder.
He remained still, not shaking. Then Luca took a lighter from one of his men in the background.
And just before Luca dropped the lighter on him, the elder raised his head to the ceiling like he was praying.
Then he yelled out, “Dante! If you're watching this, kill this motherfucker!”
And with that, Luca dropped lighter on him and set everything around him with him in flames.
He jumped back as the fire started wildly but all I could do was put my head in my hand.
Why? Luca for fuck's sake, why?
“Why!” I yelled out in anger, rising to my feet.
I was about to toss the phone away when I heard my name from his vile mouth.
“Dante, Mr. Russo, I know you'd be watching this at some point in time, did you enjoy the show?” He asked and laughed menacingly.
“How do you feel though? You've singlehandedly ended the life of one of the most respected elders by your carelessness and silly love play,” he began.
“First of all, you burn down my men with my goods, and now? You forced the hands of one of the most disciplined men to commit treason against his family, all in a bid to save a common criminal called Serena,” he continued and I could feel my rage topping up.
“Who knows what's next? Maybe the president! All I do know is that whoever affiliates themselves with Mr. Russo, and his bitch, Serena, would have themselves to blame when I hunt them down and tear them limb by limb,” Luca drawled out.
He then turned the camera to face the elder, or whatever was left of him. “Soon, he'll be unrecognizable, burnt to nothing but ash. This and many more would happen to anyone who decides to either help Serena, or work with Dante,” he spat out.
“Be warned, Serena is mine, and there's nobody on earth that can stop me from having my bound of flesh or fleshes as this case may be.”
Then the camera zoomed out a bit.
“And finally, I'm glad to announce to you all that a valiant and patriotic member of the Moretti family has already been crowned head,” Luca started before pulling out the ring from his pocket.
“And his name? He is no other than Luca, his excellency, Luca Moretti, the youngest family head of our generation,” he announced and claps tore through the room as Luca placed the ring on his finger.
I frowned at the last sentence, he probably had been eyeing that title for a while now.
He smiled and turned his hand around dramatically, flashing the ring at the camera.
“You know what this means, Dante. I'm not coming at you as just Luca Moretti, I'm coming at you as the head of the Moretti family, I hope you are prepared.”
“Hand over what belongs to me, or face my full wrath.”
The video ended immediately and I stared at the blank screen for a long time.
Luca, what have you done?
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my thoughts.
This wasn't just a statement, it was a movement. Luca just established himself as a force to be reckoned with.
I couldn't help but wonder how he had gotten to know of our meeting with the elder yesterday, and how he knew the deal hadn't been signed already.
He must have men inside, people feeding him with information of our every move.
That was the only reasonable explanation for how he knew everything as always.
I took a deep breath and got up, shoving my phone into my pocket and storming out of the room.
I had already dressed up to go over to see him, but I very well was aware that stepping a foot there would be begging for death.
I had to know how many people already knew of this and how far Luca had gone in spreading this shame.
I entered the elevator and brought out my phone to dial Nico, I hesitated till it stopped at the ground floor, only to step out and find Nico there.
“Don, you've seen what's flying around?” Nico asked as I stepped out.
Guess he already knew. Shit.
“Yeah, how far has it gone?” I asked.
“It's trending on nearly all social media platforms with millions of comments. My guess, very far,” Luca replied.
“Shit, Luca has really done this one,” I remarked.
“What now?” Nico asked.
“Now? We guard ourselves and prepare for revenge.”
Serena's POV
I woke up feeling heavy today, like I shouldn't go anywhere.
I barely got myself out of bed and just about managed to get myself into the bathroom.
I took a quick shower as I remembered where we'd be going today.
I got dressed and prepared myself to make the worst decision of my life.
I stepped out and was surprised to find everywhere oddly quiet and strange.
I made my way to the ground floor but no one was there.
I stared out through the window and spotted Dante standing with Nico. His body movement signaled something was wrong, but I couldn't tell what.
I looked around, wondering where everyone had gone and why everywhere was so quiet.
Then Valentina stepped out from one of the hallways, she looked distraught.
I immediately stepped over to her, stopping her in her tracks.
Her face didn't light up as it normally did whenever she saw me and that scared me.
“What's going on, Val? Everyone's acting strange today,” I asked as she stopped.
“You haven't heard?” She replied instead.
“Heard what?” I asked, slowly stepping back.
Her lips formed a thin smile before responding. “Elder Moretti was murdered last night,” she said, taking the wind out of my chest.
I coughed, immediately struck by her revelation.
“Murdered? By who?” I asked, and instinctively knew the answer.
“Who else? The man of the hour, Luca,” she responded.
“Shit,” I cursed.
“Everywhere’s tensed up, this isn't the right time for anything,” she said then lowered her voice dramatically to a whisper.
"In fact, if I were you, I would begin to make my own plans,” then she paused and stared out at Dante and Nico. “Those two look to have something up their sleeves.”