Karma

Luciano failed to hold his body still, shaking from fear and the unknown as he watched his uncle walk away with Keirah in his arms, into his private elevator.

For the first time, it was so hard to bury his humanity.

Pain…

The pain he had never felt crossed him.

Karma was making him pay for always staying on the sideline when Don Mauro held innocent women captive. And did terrible things to them, and Luciano chose not to intervene.

Those women had someone like him, too. Someone who felt this much pain or more.

Cement and Concrete stood back, guarding him as they laughed in his face. They expected no retaliation from Luciano.

That told him everything he didn't want to know about himself. He was a loser, and his uncle knew it. He did not want to fight his uncle over a woman he had just met hours ago.

The woman chose his uncle over him.

He stayed.

Luciano couldn't manage everything running through his head and went directly to the bar, forsaking everything and ready to drown himself in drinks.

Taking his first shot glass, James took it out of his hand.

Luciano watched James with fury as James poured the shot glass into his mouth in one gulp.

James hissed before finishing Luciano off by pulling the bottle away from Luciano's hands into his.

“You have gone through a tough time. It's enough. Don't make it worse.”

“Stay away.”

“I saw you today, a person I have never seen, while you danced up there. It was everything.”

James smiled before continuing with an encouraging look.

“It was as if you had been there for each other all your life. I swear no one would believe that you are a person who has never danced with anyone other than your mother.”

“Fuck you, James.”

James took another shot and continued. “No disrespect…. I know how you never want to tarnish your mother's memories, but Luciano. Look at you.”

James pointed out the angry, shaking body of Luciano.

“It was just a dance.”

Luciano spoke stubbornly. Not ready to share the tremor running through his head.

“It was you. It was not just about the dance. With complete awareness and intention. You are not wasted…. You had the most beautiful chemistry up there. If I didn't know any better, I would say you finally found her.

“She is the one.”

No, Luciano pushed to believe he felt nothing.

If he acknowledged any feelings for her, then his uncle would have won. His uncle would have found a weakness to hit him even harder with.

He had passed the first test, and that was not running after her. He would not let James get to him.

“No, she is not. She was my bait from my uncle. Unfortunately, I lost, and she signed her death sentence.”

That woman. Irritated Luciano so much. James could tell how unstable Luciano was.

Luciano was a control freak, and he hated it when any person made him do what he didn't want to do.

What scared James the most was Luciano, not wanting to do anything at that point when he had lost control.

Luciano was not one to back away or give up. He still believed in the impossible. Like the impossibility of getting away from the Mafia world alive and breathing.

Luciano is the only Mafia member that James knew who believed he would walk away one day.

Which was impossible compared to the situation at hand.

Luciano walked up to James and pulled the bottle off the table into his mouth. Drinking nonstop.

Bottle after bottle.

Watching James with a side-eye. “Please don't patronize me. I need this right now. I can't take the pressure out of me. It is almost killing me to stand still. Keirah is very innocent and does not need to die for any of this. I wanted to save her.”

“Then why don't you go after her?”

“Easy question. With complicated answers.”

Keirah didn't look like she was interested in Luciano. Why would he go after her? If she did, he would never have let his uncle put a hand on her.

“Is it because not a single or committed woman you have met in your life had that power?”

James pointed at the door. “They all fell at your feet and this one didn't even bulge an eye as she walked out of here in your uncle's arms. She hurt your ego……. Poor you.”

Luciano felt hurt.

His feelings worried him.

This was a job.

He shouldn't have feelings.

His only mission was to save her from his uncle.

“We have so many more women we can save.”

“We have saved no one, Luciano. We have failed them all. Except for the ones you saved as a flirt.”

“I am not a flirt, and you know that. You make those women not tell the truth that I never had sex with any of them. And make them disappear.”

“You know I did it because your uncle had made it his mission to disgrace you as an incompetent male. And because we don't want them to end up in his whorehouses.”

“I am impressed by your care. The stories are always spot on. The lie. That I was choosy and that these women were not my type. James, you are something.” Luciano laughed, shaking his head.

James picked a bottle facing forward. “And that was the end of the rumor. It helped you.”

James took another shot with a serious look directed at Luciano in the eyes.

“Let's be frank. You have never really gone all the way. Haven't heard of a woman you took all the way? Aika once dared me on that, and she won!

“Are you scared that Keirah might get disappointed because you can't pull it off?”

Luciano was worried too. At twenty-two. He was still a virgin.

It was always easy for him to woo women, but whenever he got close to having sex with them, he got nauseated.

“Shut up. It's enough, OKAY?! Keep running your mouth and I will shoot you in the head. I won't miss pouring your brains out.” Luciano spoke with embarrassment.

“Ooh, so you are a master at shooting artificial bullets, but you can't shoot those real bullets?”

James spoke with a smirk, pointing out Luciano's already erect cock almost pushing through his pants painfully.

“Fuck you, James.” Luciano hid his cock and stood up as he held on to his bottle, walking away from the bar.

“This is absurd…. Have you fallen hard for her already?”

“I will never be in love with anyone. It's not for me. And someone like her should not be with someone like me.”

“Is it okay if she is with your uncle?! She is going to die…. Or she will be too broken to repair by the time he is done with her. Have you thought that far?”