Chapter 2: Chaos Amongst Men

JULIAN’S POV

The club was jam packed with terrified screams and running people, causing absolute chaos. I ran towards the DJ booth and leaped over the half-wall to shut the music down. A strand of my dark hair fell in front of my face, and I brushed the annoying sh*t out of the way. I needed to get people out safely and shut it down so this stunt wouldn’t tarnish our name.

I grabbed a mic and flicked it on, drawing the attention to me. “I need everyone’s attention!” I watched everyone in the club freeze, some taking longer than others. I shifted my tone to a calmer one, “It’s alright, everything is under control. I need for you all to exit in an orderly fashion, so we don’t hurt one another.”

Everyone began to exit in an orderly fashion, filing out of my club and onto the street. I turned off the mic and tossed it down, hopping back over to knock one of my soldiers on the shoulder to make sure no one called the cops or paramedics on the way out.

“No witnesses, no cops, no paramedics that aren’t one of ours,” I spoke to the broad-shouldered man before shoving him away by his shoulder to do his job. The less witnesses the better and the less chaos the better. It was chaotic enough as it was.

I turned to the bodyguards at the front once everyone had filed out, “Lock the doors!”

With a loud bang, the double doors shut and locked. I rushed over to Daniel, assessing his body and watching his chest rise and fall in shallow breaths. I ripped at his shirt and looked at the entry wound, watching blood drip from the corner of his lips. The memory of when I was swore-in, at the age of fourteen with the Blood Oath that my forefathers had done before me was vibrant in my mind.

The burn from the flames of the photo of a saint in my hand on that night with my father seated at a table, a knife and Glock crossed over one another in front of him, to witness my rebirth still haunted my dreams at night. It was a rite of passage that was hard for all of us to forget, and the scar on my palm wasn’t enough to remind me.

‘Betray your brothers and you will die, and your soul will burn like the saint that is in your hands. Do you accept?’

It wasn’t too long after, that I had gone to one of the soldiers to get a tattoo. I had asked for a viper wrapped around a golden stopwatch with the timestamp on it for when I was swore into this f*cked-up life.

And the one person who mattered most to me was there beside me when I took that blasted oath, and it was Daniel. My father taught me many things, many dark things that most kids wouldn’t be subjected to, but it was important in my line of work. Growing up within one of the five mafia families teaches you a few things: when to talk, when you don’t, and who to kill. I don’t know how many times I’d used not only my father’s street smarts to survive but Daniel’s too.

“You’re not allowed to die before me, you b*stard.” I growled through my clenched teeth, adding pressure to the wound with my hands. “You’re like a father to me, I grew up with you. You always told me ride or die, b*stard, and it’s not your time to die.”

I was near shaking him, losing my control as the reality of losing my father figure washed over me. I couldn’t lose him. I had known him since I was a kid. Suddenly, I remembered one of our partners was a medic. I raised a bloodied hand and snapped my fingers for him before I hastily removed my shirt to add more pressure to Daniel’s wound.

“You can’t die on me, old man,” I whispered down at my underboss with tears brimming my eyes but none spilling over. God, it had been ages since I’d cried over someone. I didn’t know if I even could. I was pretty sure my heart was too cold to mourn someone, even Daniel.

Suddenly, I could hear her. Her breathing was frantic, and it somehow was louder than anything else around me. Her heartbeat was pounding in her chest, and any moment I was going to end up with a woman on my floor. I didn’t need that on top of everything else.

“There’s blood all over and he’s barely alive and—we should call an ambulance. He needs medical attention. There is—I didn’t sign up for this.” Her words were spilling out of her in waves, running together with pants between.

I peered up at her with my black hair falling in front of my sky-blue gaze and my hands still on a bloodied man’s chest.

“Someone,” she was near the brink of desperation. I could see it in her sweet eyes.

“Hey,” I made my voice low and soft, “Come here.”

Her eyes widened and I sighed, “I can’t move from my spot, but I need for you to come here for a moment, please.”

“O—okay,” her voice trembled, and she stumbled towards me, falling to her knees beside me. The scent of blood was thick around me, and I knew it wouldn’t help her, but I needed her to focus for a moment.

“Focus on me,” I locked my gaze with hers, taking in how her pupils were blown out in her panic. “Good,” I sweetly smiled for her. I needed her to calm down. “He’s going to be okay. He’s made it through much worse than this. We all have. I know you didn’t sign up for this, no one in here is supposed to go through this. I go through h*ll to make this a safe place.”

A sniffle broke through her quivering lips, as she trembled beside me. Her breathing was all over the place, and I needed it stable.

“Can you do me a favor?” I swallowed hard, trying to focus on not only her but the dying man beneath me.

She nodded, but her gaze wandered to the blood and Daniel.

“Hey,” I whistled, she gasped, and her gaze flashed back to mine, “Eyes on me, bella.”

Her eyes flickered back and forth between mine, and I assessed her br*asts rising and falling in quickened pants from my peripheral. She wasn’t calming down, and I was going to be in hot water if she passed out on my floor.

“Close your eyes and take a deep breath in,” I licked my lips and kept myself calm for her, mimicking it myself.

She closed her gorgeous eyes and took a deep breath in. She waited patiently for me to tell her to breathe out. I let her hold it, counting to ten slowly in my head.

“Let it out slow,” I instructed, watching her purse her lips to slowly let her held breath out. “Again,” I ordered in a low tone, letting the atmosphere shift around us and thicken.

I watched her take deep breaths in and out, while I kept pressure on Daniel’s wound. Godd*mn, this wasn’t how my night was supposed to go. I kept my focus on both, waiting for her shoulders to drop.

Once they did, I nodded towards one of my soldiers with a whistle, making her eyes shoot open. “Take the girl back to my office and get her some cold water. I want it cold enough to cause condensation on the outside of the glass.”

“Come on, Vivian.” One of my soldier’s grabbed her and took her back to my office. So, that was her name. Vivian. Viv. I tested her name in my head with a dangerous smirk. I could get used to saying that.

Her gaze continued to burn into me, as she was dragged off to my office. I’d go to her later. I had more questions to ask her, and the more I was around her, the more that accumulated.

“Hold on, Daniel,” I turned my attention back to Daniel before the doctor showed up.

“Step away, Boss, I got him.” The doctor calmly told me to move out of the way and I listened. I wasn’t going to argue with him when my underboss’s life was on the line.

I watched with my hands on my hips as the doctor began to try and save Daniel on the floor of my club. The thought of losing him kept looping in my head and I tried to fight it. He was going to make it, he had to.

“Got a lead,” another one of my guys whispered against my ear.

I nodded and whispered, “Bring him to me when you find him. Feel free to knock some sense into him if he doesn’t cooperate, but I don’t want blood on your hands, is that clear?”

He nodded, “Crystal.”