blood runs black

I

'i don't have friends; i got family'

- dominic toretto 

Enzo

"You've been meddling with things you shouldn't even know about." 

Enzo didn't even know his name. Just some random guy he caught sneaking around the backroom of his club. And here he was, tied down to a chair in the backroom, looking up at Enzo in complete, utter, terror.

It was almost hard to believe this man was somewhat of a spy.

"I'll ask you this once." Enzo said slowly, circling around the man. "Who do you work for?"

"What?"

"Who do you work for?" Enzo said again, cocking a gun and pressing it to the back of the man's head. The man couldn't see the gun, but he heard it, and he most definitely felt it. Although Enzo had no intention to actually kill. "I'd answer honestly if I was you."

"I don't work for anyone, I swear." The man spoke quickly, voice trembling.

"Oh really?" Enzo walked back around, standing in front of the man. "So why are you here?"

"Look, I'm just- I'm just way too fucking drunk, okay?" 

"So you thought it'd be a good idea to sneak into the backroom of a club owned by the mafia?" Enzo raised a brow, still holding the gun steady in his hands, pointed towards the man's face. "Drunk or not, that's fucking stupid."

"Look-"

Enzo pressed the gun against the man's forehead. "Who sent you?"

"No one, please-"

"There's a cute little tattoo on your neck." Enzo said mockingly. "Looks pretty familiar to me. So I'll ask again, who sent you? Who do you work for?"

The man looked up at Enzo in fear, and also shame. Maybe he really was too drunk to think rationally. But he was a liar. He wasn't just someone who drunkenly wandered somewhere he shouldn't have. "Castillo."

"Really?" Enzo laughed. "Oh, that old man sent someone as pathetic as you to try and snoop around? Doesn't he have anyone with more skill?"

"I'm-" The man looked down at his lap, looking ashamed. "He didn't send me. I'm.. I'm new to all of this. I just.. wanted to impress him. Wanted the Capo to respect me, and y'know, make me a higher-up or something. So I could have some status."

"Admirable, but you're terrible at your job." Enzo said plainly. "You wanna be respected?"

"I do."

"Leave the Mexicans." 

If there was one thing in the world that Enzo Moretti cherished, it was family. His family meant everything to him. And he only ever realised how important his family was to him, when he was eighteen years old, when his mom was killed in a gang shooting.

After that, he learned to cherish what he had whilst he had it. Because it was so easy to kill people, take their lives and not take a single second out of his day to think about how those deaths affected others. And then he lost his mom, because someone was reckless with their bullets, and he realised that death was damaging.

He stopped killing so casually and recklessly after that. 

Since then, Enzo had treasured his family. He treasured Valentina, his little sister. Even if there was only a year between them, Enzo would always see Valentina as his baby sister, someone who he'd kill for in a heartbeat if it meant it'd keep her safe. But he wouldn't have to, because his sister was entirely capable of doing so herself.

It came with being the daughter of the Italian Mafia.

But while Valentina was the daughter of the Italian Mafia, she didn't feel as devoted to the mafia as Enzo did. Enzo was a natural leader, and came across all his duties with ease. He found running illegal operations easy, and taking people out easy, and international relations easy. He found all of it easy.

Valentina never really did. She was born into the lifestyle, but she didn't truly want it. And Salvatore Moretti was completely okay with that. He didn't care. Valentina could live whatever life she wanted, date whoever she wanted, and go wherever she wanted. She had protection, and knew how to protect herself. That was okay.

Besides, Enzo was there. Enzo was ready to take over when Salvatore stepped down. He had the skills, the mindset, and the experience. He was the perfect heir. Although he ended up softening up just a little bit, and decided to think twice before killing people, he was still the perfect heir.

It had been ten years since Bianca Moretti died. Enzo still thought about her death all the time. He still thought about how she deserved a better life, to see her kids fully grow up. And since then, he'd still been more careful with his kills. Most people would call it a weakness, in his line of work at least, but he saw it as a strength.

He originally let his mom's death tear him apart, making him turn to drugs and alcohol to cope. He went through a few long years of darkness, of grief that tore him apart. He fell into alcohol and drugs heavily, needing them to cope, because he couldn't stand how painful the grief was. He needed a distraction.

He then realised he wasn't the only one grieving. He realised that there were other people in need of support too. He realised his little sister needed someone to help her, someone to come to her graduation, to stand by her when their dad couldn't. 

So, instead of letting the grief take over him and his life completely, he changed.

For his mom, and for Valentina, he became better.

For himself, he became the best.

i originally reused ares and his whole family tree but greta (who isn't even fucking writing this with me) was being bummy about it so i am NOT reusing ares cirillo

i wrote FIFTEEN chapters before i gave in to her peer pressure and changed it so if ares cirillo, leonardo, lana or rhea have been mentioned please let me live i replaced everything w the new characters at 1am

also this is not at all in any way related to blood runs red