CHAPTER 46

XAVIER'S POV

Meeting Nicole had always been something I had imagined before. Her being thrilled about seeing me and we make up after shedding a few tears. Or it's me meeting her out of nowhere and recognizing each other after staring for a few seconds.

In all of those insights, I always had the courage, I needed to meet her again. But, as I stood in front of her apartment, my heart couldn't beat any faster. I could hear my blood pounding in my ears as I fisted my palms, to get a grip on myself.

I had to do this. I couldn't let any more of my life go on without her as a part of it. I wanted this void out. And I didn't care whether this void left because she returned or because she left forever.

I had to free myself from these chains.

I turned to Ophelia and saw that she was already looking at me. She smiled encouragingly, motioning me to knock.

I lifted my fisted palm and tapped at the door. We waited for a few seconds but there was no response. I tried knocking again and the door opened. I expected to see a woman that looked like my sister, with her black hair and brown eyes. She had a sculpted face from the beginning.

But, the person that answered the door didn't look like her at all. No, it wasn't her.

A man with tattoos covering his arms leaned against the doorway. He was almost as tall as me. A few centimeters taller, maybe. He looked at me and then his eyes shifted to Lia.

His eyes; a well of jet black ink, held a gaze more fearsome than a tiger. A thin paper cigarette hung from his bottom lip, a small trail of smoke escaping from the corner of his mouth danced its way to the ceiling above us. In one hand a gun lay loosely, his finger was gently pressed against the trigger sending an emotional bullet through my mind.

Ophelia gasped as she saw that man. Her mouth hunger over as she pointed at that man.

"Y-You! I-I saw you today. Y-You're the guy in her picture!"

His eyebrow raised in amusement at her reaction. What did she mean by that? The guy in the picture? Did she mean Nicole's partner?

"W-Who are you?"

My emotions always came in a wave. But right now, they were a damn tsunami. I, somehow, managed to keep a calm voice and spoke.

I waited for him to utter his identity, but he didn't. He just gave us a smirk.

"Want to come in?"

He had a slight Italian accent to his words but his English was clear. He probably moved to America for a long time which caused his accent to fade away.

He lifted his gun a little, giving us a full view. It was more of a pistol, though. His carelessly held the pistol with his pinky hanging around the trigger. It almost looked like he was holding a key.

But it wasn't. I knew it, too damn well.

And, so did Ophelia.

He was basically threatening us to come in and we had no choice but to actually obey. My mind was filled with questions I wanted to ask Ophelia. How and when did she see this guy?

Ophelia held my hand and entered Nicole's apartment. I wasn't even sure if this was actually her apartment. It wasn't homey at all. With plain white walls and a couch in the hall, there was nothing else.

It was almost like a brand-new house. There was a table in the corner near the kitchen. The tattoo guy stood next to the couch and waited for us to sit down. I looked at Ophelia and silently motioned her to follow my lead. We sat down quietly as the atmosphere in the room changed. It had been stressful till now, but, currently fear had filled the room like air.

Ophelia's eyes kept flickering from the man to his gun and then to me. I could see the questions in her eyes too.

"Excuse me, but could you please tell us who you are?"

This time, Ophelia asked the same question I'd asked. The guy smirked at her and then looked at me.

"So, this chick speaks. Got an impatient one here, Xavier."

My hand fisted again. But this time, it was out of anger. I hated when men referred to girls as bitches or chicks. They didn't have any right to and it was straight-out disrespectful.

Ophelia shot me a look that warned me. It was clear that Nicole wasn't here and this man might be our only link to Nicole. If I did anything stupid, we were gonna die.

And that was for sure.

"Anyway, nice to meet both of you. I'm Luco. Luco Esposito. The leader of the 'Uccidi o muori' gang."

The Uccidi o muori gang!? The FBI had been looking for this gang for years. It was first known in the '90s after the mass murder of a family due to their debt. At that time, the leader was Enzo Esposito.

And he is Luco Esposito? Ophelia looked at me as we realized who this guy was. He was the son of one of the most feared gang leaders.

"Shocked? Yeah, I get that reaction most of the time. Anyway, you might be wondering why I am here. Instead of Nicole, your sister, right?"

He knew we were looking for Nicole? He set his pistol aside and sat on the table in front of us.

"How do you know my sister?"

He smirked at me and shook his head in amusement. Why did he find everything funny? Were we all jokes to this guy?

"Okay boy. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a young girl of the age of 16 was brought into this drug-dealing business by her father. She was always protected by him, though. But then she lost her old man and had no one. On top of that, she was caught in debt, because she thought it would be fun to use the Cocaine at her party instead of selling it to our clients."

NICOLE? Nicole was involved in selling drugs?

And dad brought her into it? Was dad a part of this gang?

"Now, comes the heir of the gang who she was indebted to. My dad told me to kill her. After all, she came from a poor family. There was no way she could pay back 200 million dollars. But I disagreed. I decided to make her pay it back. I got to know that she had run away from her home due to the thugs I used to send to scare her. Now, what does a rabbit do when she finds a harmless carrot? She eats it. I befriended her and got her a job at a cafe. But, your sister decided to fall in love with me. I mean, I wouldn't blame her, though."

This guy had some nerve. I wanted to destroy his face. The way he talked about my sister like she was this toy that amused him, made my blood boil. Anger was an emotion I hadn't felt in a while. A long one. But today, it was coming back.

"Fast forward to a few years, I have become the leader and Nicole has become putty in my hands, I realize that she was broke and was always going to be. Might as well just dump her. But what do I find out? She has a brother with a rich girlfriend. And not to forget a brother who killed his own father at the age of 12. I mean, how messed up could that be?"

One second, Ophelia was on the couch next to me and the other, her fist was against his nose and her knee to his crotch. His face contorted with pain as he almost fell back. I immediately got up.

"You bitch! Take that."

His hand was a few millimeters away from making contact with her face when my hand shot up. I held his hand back and pushed Ophelia back. I had watched my mum get hit by my dad a lot many times but I was scared to do anything.

But, I wasn't going to sit here and watch this bastard hurt my girl.

I was about to punch his stomach when he regained his balance and grabbed me by my neck. He turned to me so that I could face Ophelia and picked the pistol up. I tried fighting back but there was a dagger in his other hand. With his dagger pointed at my stomach, he smirked at Ophelia.

I was ashamed of looking at Ophelia. I knew I looked weak right now. I could easily take the pistol from his hand but even the sight of it made me want to puke. I could see the regret and fear in Ophelia's warm orbs.

"One silly move and you lose this little boyfriend of yours. Anyway, where was I? Yeah, so Xavier has found himself a rich girlfriend. So little Nicole wasn't so useless after all. And this brings us back to where we are. So, Xavierboy, let me give you the ultimatum of your life. A boring life at that. You join the gang and pay us the money by working for us or say goodbye to your sister and this girlfriend of yours."

Ophelia gasped as time stopped. Her eyes became glassy as tears welled up in her eyes. I looked at the table that stood near the kitchen and saw a photo frame. I squinted my eyes and saw a photo of Nicole and me in my mum's arms.

We looked so happy. We looked at peace. I knew I was going to pay for the sins of my sister and my father. But after all, if someone deserved to die, it was me. Luco was right. How fucked up could someone be to shoot their own father? My eyes glanced back at Ophelia and saw a tear roll down her cheek. I shook my head and told her not to cry.

Join the gang? If it was for Ophelia's life, then I would blindly do so.

"So Xavier, what would it be? You or them?"

I was sure of my answer. I didn't need to give it a second thought.

"I wou-"

A deafening crack of thunder filled the room as the trigger was pulled once.

"Agh. Ouch!"

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Please read the Creator's Thoughts.