LUNA IS MISSING

"Please Don Rossi, I promise it won't happen again. My men and I won't reach out to any other gang for the job. We will renew our contract with you, even double the price and rates of our demand!! I swear! Please just let us go! Please!"

A foreign counterpart pleads, his voice laced with fear and desperation, hoping to escape the fate of his colleague who hanged beheaded beside him, blood pooling around him like water from a fountain.

Don Rossi sat legs crossed in his slaughter house, cigar smoke swirling around him with huge puffs blowing out from his mouth, enveloping the room in a suffocating haze, and choking his hostage who's been tied to his feet and hanged like a cow sent to the butcher. He pulls off his glasses showing off his piercing grey eyes that seem to penetrate one's soul, his demeanor calm yet imposing.

"Mr. Wilson," he began, his voice wielding authority, "You foreigners think that just coz we do lots of businesses with you, we depend solely on you. No." he continues articulately, "you're all just mere pieces on the board, and I decide whether you're wanted on it or you should be discarded". 

He takes another drag from his cigar, then continues without so much as looking at his hostage, "Do you know what I do to fools like you, Mr. Wilson?"

The hostage shakes his head in horror, stammering, "I- I'm sor–"

Don Rossi interrupts, silencing him, "Ssshh, quiet now Mr. Wilson." He turns to look his hostage in the eye, "Well lucky for you, you're about to find out."

He stands up and walks out, leaving his hostage to the mercy of his guards. As he walked away, he calls out, "Get a valuable cut of his vital organs and leave what's left at his doorstep for his wife!" Ignoring the cries and pleas of his hostage behind him, he walks out of the room.

Stepping into his office, Don Rossi immediately unleashed his fury on his desk, viciously sweeping aside everything on it. He could not bear to take any more humiliation following his defeat in the duel with Don Carlo. It had been weeks, yet his authority remained diminished. Different investors and clients had withdrawn ties with his Mafia, demand for his services from ammunitions to drugs had all dropped, and everything was happening so fast. The once-thriving empire he worked so hard to build teetered on the brink of collapse, all under the looming shadow of Don Carlo De Luca – his greatest rival. A man and a name he was born and raised to hate.

Don Rossi Russo, the formidable leader of the Russo mafia family, shrouded in mystery and menace, had always commanded respect and dread in equal measure throughout Sicily's underworld, except in the presence of one man – Don Carlo. Theirs was an ancient feud, passed down through generations, which they continued for a while.

The origins of their mutual hatred can be traced to series of conflicts and power struggles between their respective families, the De Luca and Russo crime syndicates. As two of the most prominent and powerful Mafia clans in Sicily, the De Luca and Russo families had vied for dominance over lucrative criminal enterprises, territorial control and influence within the underworld hierarchy. But nothing fueled their rivalry for each other like the struggle for control over the Enna territory. Don Russo and Don Carlo inherited their respective positions with a shared ambition – to eventually seize control of the Enna Territory.

But being a man driven by unbridled ambition and a willingness to make ruthless sacrifices to gain full grip of the criminal underworld, Don Rossi took a duel to Don Carlo. Carlo's only condition to accept the duel was if Rossi lost, he would take his niece, Luna, alongside the Enna territory. Don Rossi had always prioritized power and control above all else, even at the expense of those closest to him. His loyalty lied not with individual family members, but rather with the preservation and expansion of his Mafia family's influence and dominance in Sicily. So, when he was asked to deliver his niece as a condition for the duel to take effect, he didn't think twice to seal the deal. Plus, he was certain he would win.

Known to always carry out calculative decisions, Rossi had made proper inquiries of Carlo's potential champion for the duel before he approached him on it, and from his sources Marco was nowhere compared to Lorenzo's strength. Lorenzo, who was recognized as the best in the game, had been his henchman over the years and had never lost a fight. From a reputation that preceded him as a skilled and loyal enforcer, Rossi recruited Lorenzo into his inner circle, where he quickly rose through the ranks to become one of Don Rossi's most trusted henchmen. Since then Lorenzo triumphed in countless conflicts and emerge unscathed. He had so much faith in Lorenzo's strength and his unwavering loyalty, that he was willing to risk it all. Don Rossi's certainty in Lorenzo's prowess had blinded him to the stark reality of his loss.

Despite his ferocity, Don Rossi is a man of principle, one who adhered strictly to different Sicilian traditions, especially the omertà. He believed it was dishonorable to harm his Sicilian subordinates. This principle alone spared Lorenzo from a gruesome fate. If not for this code, Lorenzo would have paid dearly for the disgrace that had tarnished Don Rossi's once unassailable empire.

However, when it came to his niece, Luna, Don Rossi felt no obligation to uphold any tradition that would favor her. If it were up to him, he would present her as a permanent offering to Don Carlo in exchange for reversing the outcome of this duel.

Though, Don Rossi had his family abroad, two things were more vital to him – his Mafia's expansion and his sister. Once, Rossi loved his sister, Carmela, so much that they were inseparable, but he wanted more. Much more, that his sister began to hate him for it. But everything changed, when Carmela returned from a six-month vacation, heavily pregnant.

Don Rossi tried to get Carmela to disclose the name of the child's father, but she blatantly refused, saying she was too ashamed to mention his name, and only came to Sicily so her child could have a place she could at least call home. Rossi hated her for it – for leaving him to love someone else, for hiding the identity of the child's father, for given birth to her, for running away and leaving her bastard child with him – he hated her for all of it. And now all that aggression and hate had been shifted to Luna, a child he doesn't want to have anything to do with, and couldn't wait for a month to finally give her off.

To Don Rossi, Luna's presence served as a constant reminder of Carmela's perceived abandonment and the clandestine affairs they had that almost tarnished his reputation. In his eyes, Luna was not just a niece; she embodied the culmination of his deepest regrets, forbidden memories and a representation of everything he wished to bury.

"Excuse me, Don Rossi."

Interrupting his thoughts, one of his guards walks in, drawing his attention. Don Rossi turns to him without saying a word.

"We have a problem," the guard continued hesitantly, grappling with how to deliver the news without further aggravating his boss's already frayed nerves. "Luna is missing."