The roles have been reversed.

Chapter 3: "The End and Beginning in One Hand"

"I won't buy anyone here."

Her words came out like a quiet gunshot, immersed in a deadly calm.
Everyone froze, even the men around her. Her eyes were fixed on Leo, studying every detail of his exhausted, terrified face.

Leo's father dared to break the silence: "What do you mean? You won't buy him? How did you know he's my son? I didn't mention his familyname! He doesn’t even look like me, how—"

His words faded into nothing. The look Vileria shot at him was like a sharp blade-cold, silent, but heavy enough to crush him. Fear strangled the remaining words in his throat, leaving only the sound of his ragged breaths.

"How old is he" It wasn’t a question, it was a demand... Order.

"Seventeen"

the father answered in a barely audible voice.

"Get him out"

Valeria pulled out her gun, a silent but ominous gesture.

"Seventeen bullets."

She looked directly at Leo's father, who started to crumble under her gaze. His cries erupted in bursts, filled with panic. "Please! No!—"

The first shot rang out. Then the second. There was no echo, but the impact was unmistakable. The first arm, then the second. Blood poured like a river onto the dirty floor, filling the room with a metallic stench.

Leo, glued to the wall, watched his father writhing in pain, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

He wanted to scream, but the words were trapped in his throat, swallowed by his own torment.

Two more shots followed, each one tearing away more of his father’s soul. Blood mixed with the floor as Leo finally found his voice.

"Stop!"

Valeria turned to look at him, her gaze unchanged, carrying the same cold, lethal intensity.

"I said, take him out." The words were directed at her men, who hesitated in the face of the unexpected scene.

"Madam, he wouldn't let us approach,"

one of the men stammered, visibly nervous, trying to excuse their failure.

Her eyes never left Leo, as if she was waiting for him to make one final decision.

"Do you want me to stop"

Her tone wasn’t asking, it was preparing him for what would come next.

Leo shivered, his body betraying him. His nose bled, mixing with his tears as tension and fear overwhelmed him. The pain he had endured for years condensed into this dark moment. He wanted to move, to salvage what was left of his dignity, but he was imprisoned by his own terror.

Two more shots, this time to his father’s legs, were enough to extinguish any resistance. His father's screams died out, replaced by faint, feeble whimpers. Blood filled the room.

"Fortunate..." Vileria whispered, turning away and leaving the chaos behind. She walked toward the exit, but before stepping out, she gave Leo one last look heavy, as if sealing his fate:

"Come."

Leo stood there, his body betraying him as everything collapsed around him. His eyes locked onto his father’s broken form, drowning in a pool of blood.

The past crumbled like ancient ruins, and there was no escape. No choice, just one path leading into the waiting darkness. He would either die here or die there.

He stepped out of the house, his legs barely supporting him. The entire neighborhood was eerily silent, watching from behind locked doors, hiding from the fate that had just befallen him. Vileria sat in her black car, waiting, while the street buzzed with whispers of fear that would not end soon.

Leo took nothing with him, no memory of the past. He entered the car, sitting there, stripped of all hope. Valeria's men followed, closing the doors behind them, as if burying the whole neighborhood at the same moment Leo’s old life was laid to rest.