Fight #2

XAVIER POV

I looked to the rest of the family. They were just as bewildered as I was.

"I don't know what has happened here but we can -"My father was interrupted.

"No! You double crossed us. I thought we were friends," Pedro yelled at my father.

"No one ever yells or interrupts my father," I say.

I push Pedro to the wall with a hand over his throat. I didn't push hard enough to kill him but he might pass out soon.

I noticed there was no fear in his eyes, he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at Valeria. I couldn't turn around but I was angry. Valeria was telling him not to fight back!

I suddenly felt someone kick me in the legs. I was occupied with Pedro and didn't notice, I feel to the ground. I looked up to see Valeria with handcuffs in her hands. Before I had time to attack her, one of her men held me down. When they saw I wasn't cooperating, they put something in my mouth.

Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in a room. It had a dark setting. The lights were dimmed and the was red paint splattered on the wall. Probably to look like blood.

"Oh, he's up," someone said.

"Of course he is," I heard a girl say.

I heard heals walk towards me. I looked up to see Valeria. The rest of my family was in the room with me but they were sitting in chairs willingly next to me.

"So in this mafia, we test if one means their word. Your dad proposed no violence so we could figure this out. To test the reaction, my dad interrupted your dad. If you think about the events leading up to this, my dad has every right to be upset so he should not have been attacked. That is what a good understanding person does! Your father understood and he did not attack, you on the other hand..." Valeria started.

"You set me up! You bitch!" I spat at her.

"You will listen," my dad yelled.

Why was he on their side?

"When you were sleeping, we discussed the events of this morning. We searched your pockets and car and found a note that was left by a Russian who you killed in your car. We then discussed what the Russians motive was. Finally, we learned that they wanted us to turn our backs together on each other hopefully ending both mafias. I think the saying was, 'Kill two birds with one stone," Valeria continues.

"So let me go!" I snapped.

"See, your family obviously doesn't know you. Just like we had a right to be upset, so did you. So normally I would have let you go. But then, you attacked my father. Threatening to kill my father. So, I couldn't just let you go. Your family made a deal with me, one would say a body for a body. I made another deal as well since a body for a body wasn't enough. If you cooperated and didn't spit or snap at me, you could go freely. Instead, you are going to clean this fucking house all my yourself!" Valeria said calmly.

My dad was trying to warn me.

"And seeing that we were supposed to train today, and that the day is still young, we will be having training. To my dismay, you were insisted on being there. So, you will be staying the night for your punishment along with the rest of your family who decided they wouldn't leave unless you did."

2 - 0 Valeria

I hadn't gotten my revenge yet, and Valeria seemed to be bursting for reasons to kidnap me. This was not going as planned as it should be.

"Unfortunately for me, your family and other people have advocated for you so we came to a compromise that if this ever happened again, you wouldn't be as lucky," Valeria finally finished.

Everyone was silent. My family's heads were down. I didn't know how to reply, I couldn't yell or snap. That would result in worse. I already had disappointed them once and I wasn't going to do it again.

Valeria moved to untie me. Once I was untied, my family and I were instructed to go outside to see the rest of my men training.

I was proud, my men handled themselves well with their equipment.

"Xavier, this is Juan. He does the training and I oversee it occasionally," Valeria spoke harshly to me introducing Juan.

"Look who woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" I teased.

"I hate the left side, but your dad sleeps on the right so I have no choice," She replies coldly.

It was a thought-out comeback but not her best.

I roll my eyes and she snarls.

"Listen up everyone, we are matching everyone for training in hand-to-hand combat," Juan finally spoke.

My men stood in a line on the grass, waiting to be called. They set up each of them with an Italian. We both had different ways of fighting, so it would be interesting to watch.

As the rest of the area registered with me, I noticed that there were many mats spread around ready for two people to fight. After everyone was paired up, they started putting them in groups of 4. So, two sets of matches were put in a group so they could learn from each other. It was strictly hand-to-hand, so they all had to put their weapons down. My men looked to me to see if it was okay. Valeria's men were stripping of their weapons so why couldn't my men? I nodded as confirmation they could put their guns down.

The men started dispersing. I only noticed now; how far the system was. We were asked to bring most of our men but that would have been unpredictable, so I brought men from every level to fight including some that had lost a leg or an arm. Juan set them up with a Italian that had also lost a body part. It was very fair, but how could they lose or win?

Valeria started walking around to fights, yelling in a language that was not Italian to her men about fighting. I could understand a little of Italian and other languages, but I had never heard of this one. Her men replied back in the same language. Valeria also started instructing my men how to deflect. I couldn't ask Valeria what I was supposed to do, I would have to ask Jaun.

"Juan, what am I supposed to do?" I asked kindly. He didn't deserve my hatred, part of the Italian mafia or not.

"The men have already done their warmups, so this is just the start of the whole training. You may do whatever you want. As the training instructions from White, were that you may spar with everyone or discuss with us any problems or add-ins that you may have," Juan said.

"Who the fuck is White and how does she have a say in all of this?" I ask sternly.

"She said you wouldn't figure it out. Some of us call Valeria, White because of how innocent she is," He sarcastically replies.

The Italians and their ridiculous nicknames.

"What about Red?" I ask. Her code name was Red and she didn't care if people knew that. It is not like she wore a mask while fighting.

"White suits her better."

I scoff. They were so wrong.

"Hey Red!" I call to Valeria.

"Call me queen, superior, or Valeria! Not Red!" Valeria said. She moved so quickly like she was a vampire. She was instantly in front of me, waiting for my next move.

"Boss, do you want me to handle the disrespect?" One of her guards ask her. At least he looked like a guard.

"Shouldn't you be training right now?" I ask

"Oh my god! You're here and didn't tell me you were coming!" She exclaims. She turns to a man walking toward her.

"I wanted to surprise you," the man smiles.

I stand there dumbfounded. Who was this dude?

"Aren't you going to give me a hug?" He asks her.

"Not my strong suit. But thanks for the offer," She replies humorously.

She wasn't exactly happy. She wasn't capable of that, but she seemed relieved and had some level of joy.

"What is he doing here?" He points to me.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She questions.

Before I can blink my eyes, she has him in handcuffs and is on top of him. She was one of the best actors I have seen. They looked like friends when he had first arrived.

"Alonzo!" Valeria calls into a circular object that was part of her shirt.

Alonzo was there in a second.

"Take this dick to the dungeon, I have to deal with another one," She says while looking at me.

I looked to her. questioningly.

"This man thought that it was okay to be one of my best friends, travel to Russia without my knowledge and spread some important information," She answers.

Best friend? Mole?

"Right on, boss," He listens and takes the body and leaves.

As she turns to me, I realize that Juan has just been standing there the whole time. The amount of trust Italians have in each other is crazy. Have they not heard of betrayal. Juan should challenge her for her position with how much shit he knows.

"Juan, what does this man want?" She demands from Juan.

It seemed that there was no way that I was going to find out about the "other dick".

"Don't know, Boss."

She looks at me.

"How may I help you?" She asks while calming down.

"Bed," I smirk.

She turns to walk away.

"I need a sparring partner. This is training, right?" I call after her.

"Ask Juan," She calls back, while walking away.

"I want to fight you or are you too scared?" I smirk. She couldn't turn down a challenge.

"Is that a challenge?" She turns around.

"Sure is," I respond.

"Fine. Juan, go look at everyone and see how they are for the next training event," She orders him.

"Where shall we go for this fight?" I ask.

"The first rule of challenging: Be prepared to fight where you challenged."

"I have no problem with that," I tell her.

"Oh, I know. You seem to have no problem with killing innocent people either," she says to me. She was trying to get into my head from past events.

"And you have no problem with shutting the people out that care about you," I finish for her.

"What is this? A therapy session?" I hear Alonzo say.

We both say at the same time, "Shut up."

He wasn't my best friend, but he was up there. Though he always gave me a hard time.

"You guys are so alike, it annoys me that you don't see it."

We ignore him.

The sound of our heavy breathing fills the quietness around us.

There was me, Xavier, the strongest and most ruthless person alive. I had determination it was clear in my eyes for everyone to see. Valeria would bend to my will. Valeria, or whatever else you can call her was going fucking down. Her black eyes, with a fire inside of them. Someone that has so much focus and intensity, that anyone normal would be afraid. But luckily, I am not fucking normal.

We circle each other, the tension palpable. The only sound is the faint echo of our ragged breaths.

"You can still walk away from this, Valeria," I tell her.

She smirks, "You always did have a way with words, Xavier. But I'm not backing down."

We suddenly lunge at each other. I guess we had the same thought.

Our movements are lightning-fast, each strike was done with precision and power. The sound of us classing created an orchestra of grunts and impacts and more ragged breathing.

I throw a roundhouse kick, which she almost got hit buy until she ducks under, countering with a rapid and hard jab that I block. As I am sure that people see, we are evenly matched, our skills a proof of the many years of training.

We engage in a close-quarters exchange, grappling and trying to gain the upper hand. I manage to land a solid knee jab to her abdomen. She doubles back in pain. It only takes her a few seconds to retaliate by twisting my arm and sweeping my legs through the air. We both yelp.

We both hit the ground, but quickly roll around and spring back to their feet.

Valeria delivers a spinning kick that I only can avoid by stepping back. I respond with a powerful spinning back kick, which Valeria deflects gracefully, sweeping her leg out to knock me off balance.

We pause for a moment, each assessing the other's condition. Sweat drips from our brows, and we both seem to sport a few cuts and bruises.

She was good but I would not give up. "You're good, Valeria. But I'm not done yet."

"Likewise. Let's finish this." She replies.

We resume our original positions. We continue the intense dance of combat, our movements grace and almost choreographed in our synchrony. Every punch, every kick, every block is a testament to our skill and motivation.

Finally, after a prolonged exchange, I managed to land a devastating uppercut that sends her staggering back. She shakes her head, clearing the cobwebs, and regains her stance but slowly falls down. She nods her head in defeat. If it was a life-or-death situation, she probably would have fought back.

I was triumphant! I felt the same feeling I had after every minute until I also lost my balance and sank to the grand. My legs were severely bruised just like hers. I guess we both maxed out.

Alonzo rushed to me to make sure I'm okay. I want to scream at him to go see if his sister is okay but I don't have the energy. He helps me stand up even if I don't need it. I let go of his shoulder that I was holding and start walking. Despite my legs hurting, I didn't have a limp so that was good.

I look to see Valeria doing the same thing. She gets up with no one to help her. I almost feel bad for her. Almost. She takes a few steps and I notice she has a small limp. She notices too and covers it up by walking as if she didn't have a limp. It must be painful because the first time she does it, she grimaces but that after a few steps she gets used to it. She looks at me and our eyes meet. I smile.

"Looks like I won," I tell her.

"Really, because I wasn't the one who needed help getting up," She remarks.

"And I wasn't the one who has a limp," I answer.

She looks away. I got her.

"Juan, lets start the second event," She says.

"I seriously think you should get that checked out," He replies.

"I'm fine " She yells.

I look around to see that everyone was looking at us during the fight. Shit. They saw us both look weak. I look back to Valeria and she looked like she was going to fall any moment until she did.

I made a move to help her but Juan got there first. This was turning out to be one of the weirdest practices we had ever seen.

"Shows over everyone! Training for the next few days will be canceled," Juan tells everyone. The men nod in understanding.

We just stand there as Juan drags Valeria to the infirmary. Suddenly, I realize that everyone is looking at me including the Italians. At first thought, it was because I had won and they were wondering how.

"Boss, your leg..." One of my men started.

I look down to see it bleeding red, and black and blue marks all over.

I noticed that my men weren't moving. Probably because I hadn't left yet. I make a move to leave or at least go back inside the house when I start to feel myself falling.

Everything went black.