Love Me Red ✔️

Grounds To The New Life

3

"You know the rules, Greene. It's always been blood for blood. Yours took a life, he gotta give one,"

"But, capo, he is my only son,"

"And he committed treason, he killed a capo, a former made man, should have thought before,"

"He didn't do it deliberately. You have seen that footage. He did it in his self-defence,"

"Your explanation doesn't change a thing. Marcus is dead, your son is not so you don't have a say in this matter. Alessandro will decide what to do next. Either he'll torture or get him dead this minute," Maximo, the boss, vented out. Maverick witlessly turned to Alessandro; whose eyes were stoned at the table as if he was paralysed.

"Alex..." Maximo called him out, but didn't receive any response. "Alex," He raised his tone and the man rolled his gaze toward the boss. The silent grief in his eyes was a speaking volume of pain and agony. "We wait for your word," His golden heir was murdered three days ago and here he was being approached for a verdict.

Alex swallowed down the ache balling in his throat and intertwined his fingers, his expression morphed into stone. Everyone present in the conference room straightened their postures and prepared themselves for the command. Alex seemed pounding deep, a long minute later, he parted his lips. "I heard your daughter was born the day my son died," He whispered heedlessly.

There. Ground swept off Maverick's feet as he reflected on his words. Apprehension clawed up his chest. His hands beneath the table shivered with cold sweat but he managed to mask anxiety from his face.

Clearing his throat, he replied. "Yes,"

"Hm," Alex hummed stoically. He didn't bat a lash toward Maverick whereas the man was desperate to beg him. Trenton was witnessing it all with a trembling demeanour. He wasn't strong to hide his pain like these men. The tears in his eyes tumbled down as he registered what the consigliere was going to demand alongside his life.

"Give her to me," Alex stated and Trenton broke down.

"No, sir. No, please don't bring my sister into this. Torture me to death but don't bring her into my mess, I won't be able to die," Trenton stood up and pleaded wholeheartedly despite his father's glass-cutting glare. He couldn't afford this craven behaviour among these men.

Alex's eyes darted to the sobbing Trenton. His red-rimmed eyes furiously glaring at the boy. If only he wanted to give him an easy death, he would have shot him dead right against this table regardless of the ban on killing inside the estate. But he wanted to see him suffering, he wanted pain to rip him ten times greater than what his son had borne before giving his final breath.

"You brought her in this mess, now fucking handle it, you asshole," Alex slammed his fist on the table and burst out on the affrighted boy. Trenton flinched and only wept in silence. His eyes couldn't match the death glares he had been receiving. He felt utterly guilty for the shame he had brought upon his father's name.

"I have decided my verdict," The man announced abruptly, attracting all eyes to him. Alex's gaze was fixed on Trenton as he clenched his jaw. "I don't want this boy dead..." Those words came out in a struggle. Everyone passed him an appalled look, including Maximo. The word forgiveness had never been a part of the Mafia wordbook. The act of forgiveness itself was a crime in the syndicate.

""Alex, questo è inaccettabile," Maximo opposed. (Alex, this is unacceptable)

"I know what I'm doing, capo, I don't want him dead," Alex averted his gaze from Maximo to Trenton. Bitterness graced his features as he added. "I want him to suffer, every day," The malice and vengeance coating his words made Maverick and Trenton's hearts thump in agony. "I want him to see his sister paying for his sins,"