1 Is this a trap?!

CHAPTER 1

In an empty room with almost no furniture except a clean white bed, chair and a small table , sat an old man who looked scrawny and weak. He had sunken eyes, unkempt hair and beard. He quietly took a few selected pills from the table and swallowed them directly as if it was a regular task. He looked at the clock in the room that showed 6:27 pm turned towards the window.

He felt at peace as he looked at the sky that was painted reddish orange. A few minutes passed as he looked outside and turned to look at the door as he heard the doorknob click.

A boy entered the room as he smiled at his grandfather. He had dark black hair that touched his eyebrows. His hair was messy but it strangely complimented his already good looks as they covered almost half of his dark brown eyes, the only shortcoming being the dark circles under his eyes and his height of about 5 feet 8 inches but he believed he would grow at least another inch before he stopped growing altogether.

The boy closed the door, walked towards the bed, sat down on the chair beside it and started unboxing the food that he had packed for his grandfather. "How was your day at school, Lucio?". Lucio paused as he heard the grainy voice of his grandfather and said "It went alright…." He gave his grandfather a plate, placed some food on it and he started narrating things that happened that day.

It was unsurprisingly a normal day for Lucio as he told his grandfather how he went to the game rooms with his three close friends. This was a daily routine for both of them as the old man attentively listened to his 17 year old grandson's daily life experiences.

This was the man's happiest phase of the day as he got to spend time with his grandchild. An hours later, it was Lucio's turn to listen to the amazing stories of his grandfather who used to live an adventurous life.

The stories were hard to believe as they involved Drugs, life in jail, the growth and fall of a cartel group. But Lucio still smiled as he listened to the frail old man sitting on the bed in front of him.

Lucio opened the window as it felt stuffy inside and left the room with the empty box and the grandfather sighed as he muttered, "It is a pity that I'll be leaving you this soon Lucio."

He turned to look at the photo frame on the table which showed Lucio when he was 6 and his parents. He looked at his son and daughter-in-law with mixed feelings and slid the photo out of the photo frame. There was a cut out newspaper article stuck to the inner wall of the photo frame. The bold headlines read 'CARTEL BOSS DIES IN A GRUESOME ACCIDENT'

The man looked at the newspaper article with regret "This wasn't supposed to happen." As the old man slowly felt tired, he lay down and fell asleep soon after.

Lucio casually walked back home. Entering his messy room that was filled with a lot of broken electronic parts and a lot of small wires, he directly went to his table where he usually used to do his homework and other projects.

Taking out a box of cards from the drawer, he searched for a single card. It showed a woman with a cloth climbing her body like a snake. "The world…. The card that signifies the end ." he whispered as he turned the card around. It was different from the other cards as it was covered in blood.

His mother had mysteriously disappeared a month after his father's death. Lucio did his investigation but never found out what happened or where she went. He went to the small kitchen and turned on the flame. Opening the fridge and taking out the box of pancake batter that he had made in the morning, he started working on his dinner.

After having his meal, he looked at the time before putting his hand under the mattress and pulling out a small box. Inside the box was a small leather covered book imprinted with the words " Tiano Family " , Lucio's surname. He quietly turned the pages and inside it were information on all the important and loyal members of the former Cartel group.

The history of this group was unclear and he didn't dare ask his grandfather after talking to one of the members of the former group. He had gained crucial information from the former member as it involved his own grandfather who was acting sick.

His grandfather has killed his own son and Lucio did not know why as he did not understand the logic behind it. Lucio had been trying to get into contact with the people mentioned in the book but he was unsuccessful until he coincidentally met Amagawa Senzo.

Senzo was a 27 year old Japanese male who had joined the Cartel when he was quite young and was now a huge millionaire himself. He had left behind his shady past and has been investing in the tech industries.

He had given Lucio a lot of information and knowledge about his past and his trade which Lucio was very interested in. There was a huge gathering of the previously united Tiano Family tomorrow night at about 8 pm.

Lucio was excited but controlled his emotions as he remembered his final and the hardest task he had ever given himself tonight. He needed answers and he knew that his grandfather had them.

He walked to the mirror and looked at himself. A boy with better than average features stared back at him with his dark brown eyes. He practiced smiling for a few minutes as if trying to make it look as genuine as possible.

Then he slowly walked up to his cupboard and took out a normal looking cheap overcoat , black pants and a pair of boots. All of them looked old and worn out. He quickly wore them and pulled a pair of rubber gloves over hands.

He took out an empty syringe from the overcoat and checked it. He took a deep breath as he checked himself in the mirror one last time. "After 11 years ….. I guess this is going to be my first every murder in this life…"

The night was dark as Lucio left his house and walked towards the subway station. Once he reached his destination, he stood leaning against a beam. Time passed slowly as he waited.

Almost an hour later a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties passed in front of him and he smoothly walked behind her, maintaining a safe distance between them. Once inside the compartment, he stood right beside her.

The train moved and a few seconds later the syringe in his pocket "conveniently" slipped down right in front of her. She kindly picked it up and handed it to him.

Lucio pocketed it as he thanked her with a smile and waited for his stop to arrive. It didn't take long for both of their stops to arrive and both of them walked away in different directions.

Lucio walked for about 12 kilometres and found himself back in front of the building where his grandfather stayed. He climbed the stairs to the second floor and took out a key that he had forged a few months ago.

He opened the door to the room directly beside his grandfather's room and went inside not caring about the creaking door. He went straight to the window, looked out and when he saw that no one was in the road, he climbed out as he held on to the pipe beside the window for support and jumped towards his grandpa's window which was opened by him earlier before leaving the place.

He looked towards the bed only to find his grandfather sitting on the bed or at least the shell of his grandfather. With his eyeballs gouged out, tongue thrown down on the floor. There were no signs of struggle.

Fear gripped Lucio's heart as he jumped back out to the room beside him only to see the lights on and a woman sitting on the sofa with a light smile on her face. This unexpected outcome had petrified him to the extent that all he could do was stare at the woman in surprise and horror. He had met the woman in the train and this room was also her property.

His plan was to make her the scapegoat of his act tonight but an unexpected event had occurred and he had never planned for such an outcome. Both of them looked at each other for a few seconds and the woman motioned him to sit down. Her actions were like a command that he could not disobey as he promptly went ahead and sat down right across her.

'Guess I'm gonna die...'