29 The Betrayal

Inside David's new apartment in Brooklyn, an alarm clock rang, disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of his bedroom. He groaned as he pulled the blanket off of his groggy body and reached out to silence the alarm.

He exhaled a deep breath and stretched his limbs. The rays of the early morning sun shone through the window and illuminated his physique. David was no longer the frail kid that he had once been. Over the last two years, his body had been boosted to a high degree.

Muscles could be seen all over his body, his height had increased to six feet tall, and not just that, his very being emanated a vibrant energy and was full of life. He sat up on the bed and willed the system panel to appear in front of him.

[Name: David Watson]

[Age: 18]

[Affinity: XXXX XXXX]

[Strength: 2.0]

[Agility: 2.0]

[Vitality: 2.0]

[All system functions are locked]

Seeing his stats maxed out, he couldn't help but smile. His agility had long since reached the mortal peak, only today had his strength and vitality stats reached the max as well.

When he looked at the system's timer, a wave of excitement washed over him and he began to grin from ear to ear.

[System initializing in 14:55:12]

"Finally!" David clenched his fists in exhilaration. After waiting for two years, the countdown would finally end tonight. When he looked back to how his life had almost been like a movie in the last two years, and how much he had achieved, he couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

Naturally, part of the reason for his achievements was the system, and he was indeed very grateful for it. But if it weren't for his hard work and commitment, he wouldn't have attained all that he had. After all, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

As he looked around at his fancy apartment and how much of an upgrade it was compared to the one he had lived in with his father, he sighed. Suddenly, he looked back at his system panel and realized something.

"The last of my stats maxed out the same day as the timer is gonna end," He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. But he didn't dwell much on it, since he was too filled with anticipation as he waited for the countdown to end. He got up from his bed and headed to the bathroom with an elated smile plastered across his face, ready to start his day.

...

David delegated all the work he had for the day to his boys. He didn't feel like working that day—after all his whole attention was on the system's timer. He was literally counting down the seconds.

He was currently sitting in the Mulligan, and the people working under him thought that something was wrong with him because all they saw him do was stare at empty space and smile like a fool from time to time.

Right at that moment, Nico entered the bar and looked around. Everyone inside respectfully got to their feet and greeted him, except David. Nico looked at him and his eyes lit up. "Bricklayer, there you are!"

David snapped out of his daze and looked at Nico in surprise. "Boss, what're you doing here?"

Nico came down and sat right across from him and solemnly spoke in a low voice, "Tonight, we're finally gonna attack those Buccanti bastards."

"Finally! I've been waiting for months," David replied, excited. He suddenly saw the timer and asked, "Can you give me the exact details?"

Nico nodded. "At midnight, you and I'll be hitting one of the Buccanti warehouses at the dock by the Hudson River. It's where they keep their drug shipments and it'll be sure to sting them."

David didn't reply, but instead looked at the timer and silently calculated if he would have enough time to make it back home before the countdown ended. He thought to himself, 'If everything's over with quick enough, I'll have about ten minutes or so to get home.'

He didn't want to be outside when the timer ended. After all, he didn't know just what would happen. Thus, he didn't want to take any risks.

Nico had already noticed when he'd come to the bar that David was preoccupied with something. And now, he again seemed to be in a daze, so he called out to him, "David!"

"Yes, boss." David snapped back to his senses. "Don't worry, I'll be ready."

Nico looked at him deeply and cautioned. "Get your head in the game, there'll definitely be people at the warehouse, and things'll get bloody."

David faintly smiled. "Don't worry, boss. I'll slaughter them all."

Nico grinned. "Attaboy, go get ready and meet me here at 11."

David nodded and got up from his seat. He left for his apartment, where he was keeping all the guns and ammo he had bought from Bobby months before.

...

That night, David, his crew, and Nico gathered and, in the dark of the night, silently approached the warehouse owned by the Buccantis. Nico signaled everyone to stop a few dozen meters away from the building, then gestured for one of the men to go check inside.

Seeing the man leave and go inside the warehouse alone, David was puzzled. He looked at Nico and asked, "Why'd you send him alone?"

Nico replied in a low voice, "Before I made capo, that was the guy who did all my recon work. And he's pretty damn good at it."

David nodded and waited for the person to return. He didn't find anything strange about it. A little less than a minute later, the man returned and relayed what he had seen. "There are fifteen men inside."

A few of the people on David's side gasped in nervousness. After all, they were outnumbered three-to-one. David looked at the man and solemnly asked, "Are you sure?"

The man confidently nodded. "Affirmative."

"Very well." David looked at Nico and said, "Boss, I'll go in first and try to silently take down as many as possible. When I give the signal, you lead the rest and attack, okay?"

Nico felt a little hesitant. "Can you do it by yourself?"

Sensing the concern in his voice, David smiled. He patted Nico's shoulder and replied, "Boss, I got this."

Nico thought for a while, then finally nodded.

David led everyone to enter the warehouse. Right as he entered, there was a wall in front of the main door, which he instantly took cover behind. With his enhanced senses, he heard the people in the warehouse talking in hushed tones.

His eyes suddenly narrowed as he thought, 'Why are they talking in low voices?' He then looked back toward the entrance of the warehouse and his eyes widened.

There, he saw two figures standing and looking at him. Roberto was looking at him with a deadpan expression, while Nico was looking at him with a sinister grin and aiming his gun at him.

David couldn't believe what he was seeing. In his state of shock, he had completely frozen. He looked at the two people that he had thought of as his family, and only a single word escaped his lips. "Why?"

Nico looked him dead in the eye and sneered, "I'd say I'm sorry, kid, but I'm really not. You offended someone you really shouldn't have—" he pulled the trigger and finished, "—me."

BANG!

The bullet went straight through David's thigh, but he didn't flinch a single bit, still in a state of utter shock as he was.

But Nico's shot was the signal for the Buccantis to take action. Thus, as soon as he pulled the trigger, the very next moment, the Buccanti crew that had been lying in ambush on the other side of the wall aimed their guns at the wall and all shot at the same time.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

[Countdown: 00:24:21]