Chapter 4: A new life!

Sal stood alone in his burning apartment building, surrounded by the smouldering bodies of fat Tony and his gang that had been reduced to nothing other than scorch marks on the wooden floor.

Sal's anger was still burning in his mind, not having snapped out of it yet as he had become hypnotized by the flames that surrounded him.

"What have I done..." Sal said, looking down at his hands that were still engulfed by the flames, flicking harmlessly against his skin.

Sal closed his eyes, doing his best to calm himself and regain his composure as he had done in the hotel room, willing the flames to go out.

However, no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened, and the flames continued to burn, becoming worse as the whole room was now on fire.

"Promise me, Sal... Promise me you will never let your anger consume you again." His mother's words echoed in his head, remembering that day he had beaten five other children to a pulp after his anger had grown out of control.

Sal felt his body relax ever so slightly, taking a deep breath before he opened his eyes, watching as the fire in the room started to extinguish itself, eventually going out, sparing the whole building from burning down.

Sal exhaled all of the air in his lungs, falling back against the wall behind him, slumping down and resting his arms on his knees as he looked at his hands.

"What have I done..." He said knowing he had just killed all of those people.

Suddenly the door opened, taking Sal by surprise as he shot upright, standing to take a peek around the corner.

"Oh no... What if it's the police?" He thought, knowing there was no way no one had called 999 yet.

"The room is clear sir." A voice said, causing Sal to look around the corner towards the front door.

"No way..." Sal said as he watched Flavio walk into his apartment with a smile on his face.

"Hello sir, I hope we are not intruding." He said.

Sal was so shocked he didn't know what to say and simply watched as Flavio walked into the living room, taking a look at all of the damage.

"Oh my... Those thugs didn't stand a chance did they." He said with a small chuckle, before pulling out his pack of cigarettes.

"What are you doing here?" Sal said, not sure what was going on.

"I thought I told you, you are the boss now kid. Wherever you go, we won't be far behind." Flavio said, lighting his fag before taking a large puff.

"Right..." Sal said, not having the mental energy to argue.

Flavio could see that this was weighing heavy on his conscious, taking another puff of his cigarette before turning to face him.

"Do you feel bad for what you did?" He asked, watching the expression change on Sal's face.

"What kind of question is that!" Sal shouted.

"I killed them! I killed all of them! Of course, I feel bad about it!" He yelled, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

"Hmm..." Flavio said, placing his fag in his mouth and reaching into his large grey trench coat pocket, pulling out an envelope and throwing it onto the half-burnt table.

"Read that, and tell me your answer again," Flavio said, turning around to try and find a seat.

"Here sir, allow me." One of the men said as he laid down a piece of plastic on the burnt sofa for him to sit on.

"What the hell is that?" Sal said looking at the paper and then back to Flavio, who crossed his legs, making himself comfortable.

"Just read it." He said with a smile on his face, knowing it would help him feel a little less guilty.

Sal looked at the envelope taking a second before he gave in and picked it up, pulling the paperwork out to see.

"What is this..." He said, seeing the pictures of fat Tony and his crew.

Sal carried on reading, seeing a detailed list of fat Tony's operation and everything he was involved in, including murder, kidnapping, rape, drugs, and more.

The list went on, showing the same information on all of his crew, even Jonny, who had only been the same age as himself, however, he had still been involved in kidnapping, drugs and even murder... Something Sal had no idea about.

"This can't be true..." He said, placing the paper onto the table.

"The people you killed Sal, were nothing but low-level thugs, scum as you will. The type of scum who thrive off of the suffering and weakness of others." Flavio said as he put his fag out on the armrest of the sofa he was sitting on.

"Tell me now how you feel about ridding the world of this scum... How you have saved countless lives from ever having to be hurt or intimidated by them." Flavio said, making it sound as if it was alright.

"That doesn't change the fact that I killed them!" Sal said, still not being able to come to terms with it.

"Do you know where they were heading after here Sal?" Flavio said as he stood to his feet.

"Their next stop was an old lady who lives on the ground floor, intent on stealing from her because she couldn't pay them the money she owed." He said raising his voice a little.

"After that they would pay another visit to the local shop, demanding protection money for protection they couldn't provide, willing to destroy the place until they got their money. Even using the man's children to get what they want... As I said the list goes on..." Flavio then said, clearly having said enough.

"I... I don't know what to do." Sal said, feeling his guilty conscious slipping away, after finding out that he had stopped them from hurting others, yet feeling the guilt of killing them clash with what was right and wrong.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked, looking into Flavio's eyes.

"Well, that is simple..." Flavio said as he clicked his fingers.

Suddenly the men in suits walked into the living room, holding a black bag in the shape of a body, and placing it on the floor.

"What the hell... Is that a body!" Sal said, shocked at what was going on.

"You only have one choice now sir..." Flavio said as he placed another cigarette into his mouth.

"You can either let the police and fire crew arrive to find what has happened here, leaving you as the only suspect in the death of these fine gentlemen." He said lighting his fag.

"Or... You can fake your death here and come with us to start your new life as the boss of the Mogavero family!" Flavio said giving him the choice.

Sal hesitated, knowing which was the clear choice, really his only choice if he didn't want to spend his life in prison.

"I guess I have no choice..." He said, causing Flavio to suddenly clap his hands together.

"It's done then!" He said, seeming overly happy about this whole thing.

"Just one thing... How the hell are you going to fake my death?" Sal asked, not sure what he meant by that.

"That my young lord is why he is here," Flavio said, pointing to the dead body in the black bag.

"Your arm if you would please sir?" One of the men asked as he approached Sal.

Sal looked at him confused but allowed him to take his arm nevertheless, watching as he took out a long tube with a needle attached to the end of it.

"W-wait! What the hell is this!" Sal shouted in alarm as he saw the tube was connected to the dead body's arm.

"That's simple sir." The man said, letting Sal take his arm back so he could explain.

"We take your blood and place it into this body, which has been drained of blood. That way when they find your body and do a DNA test using the blood left inside of it, they will get a match with your medical records and confirm you dead." He said making it sound simple.

"Oh..." Sal said, allowing him to take his arm again, dabbing it with a small cotton bud before he placed the needle into a vein in his arm.

"It will only take a moment sir, please try to relax." The man said, giving him a smile.

Sal did his best to do so, watching as his blood started to move through the tube into the other dead body.

"Try not to think about it too much sir, simply think about it as a new start in life, as if you are casting this old one away and starting anew," Flavio said, finishing his second cigarette.

Sal nodded slowly, having come to terms with this whole thing. However, he still had questions.

"But how are you going to fake my death?" He asked, still wanting to know the answer to how they would do it.

Flavio smiled, getting a small nod from the man who was switching his blood.

"That's simple sir." He said, clicking his fingers again, giving the signal for the others to go to work.

"Wait, what are they doing?" Sal asked in surprise as they started pouring petrol onto the floor and up the walls.

"Well, we have to make it look realistic," Flavio said as he looked at his watch.

"Sir, the fire crew is only two minutes out." Another of the men said, giving him an update.

"Perfect," Flavio said, watching as the man dealing with Sal and the bloodwork gave him the thumbs up as he took the needle out of Sal's arm.

"Time to head out then, sir," Flavio said as he struck a match, smiling at Sal who watched him throw it onto the gas, causing it to ignite and burn with a fury as the whole room set ablaze.

"Now, let's be on our way," Flavio said as he walked towards the front door, taking Sal's arm so he would follow, only looking back one last time as his so-called home became consumed by fire.

Sal found himself sitting in the back of another top-of-the-line blacked-out range rover, watching as the firefighters and police arrived doing their best to tackle the fire. Blue lights were flashing everywhere as the police, ambulance and firefighters all rushed around doing their jobs and dealing with the mess that he had somehow created for them, causing Sal to feel bad again.

"Not to worry sir, we gave them plenty of notice about this whole thing, they will have it all under control soon. Plus we had already evacuated the whole building before they arrive. After all, I didn't think you would be best pleased if others had been hurt due to our doing." Flavio said, sitting next to Sal in the back of the range rover.

Sal was surprised by this, giving Flavio a faint smile knowing that no one else had been hurt.

"So what now?" Sal asked, knowing that from here on out he would be believed to be dead.

"The hour is late, so for now we will return to the hotel for the night and shall talk more in the morning," Flavio said, getting a nod from Sal, who turned to look out of the window one last time as they started to drive away, watching his old life fade into the background.

The rest of the night was a blur to Sal as they arrived back at the hotel, taking the back entrance so they could enter the building unseen, proceeding to travel to the top floor towards the penthouse. It was something that Sal was sure he would never get used to as it all seemed just way too posh compared to the life he had lived so far.

Once inside the penthouse, Sal was escorted to his own room, which was huge compared to his tiny bedroom back in his flat. He was also given a menu and told if he wanted anything at all to simply ask the guards stationed outside of his room to fetch it for him.

Sal nodded again as Flavio bid him good night, exiting the room and shutting the doors behind him, leaving Sal to himself. Sal turned around and walked over to the bed, sitting on it as he reflected on how everything had turned out so far, deciding to lie back on the bed not realizing how comfortable it was.

Before he knew it, Sal found himself drifting off into the void of sleep, not being able to fight his exhaustion any longer as his eyes finally gave way and closed, falling into a deep sleep that lasted through the whole night.