Blood on the Throne

Empires don't fall in silence—they crumble in screams.

Adrian...

Betrayal has a sound.

It's not the roar of gunfire or the sharp crack of a breaking bone. It's quiet—subtle, like the whisper of a knife being unsheathed. It's the silence that lingers before the first shot is fired.

And I had been deaf to it.

It started with a call.

Lorenzo's voice had been steady, familiar. "We've got a problem, boss."

I had been at the club, overseeing shipments, when I took the call. "Go on."

"The deal with the Ukrainians—it's not clean. They're holding back. They want to renegotiate."

I had barely blinked at the information. "So, we handle it."

"That's the thing," Lorenzo had said, voice casual, almost too casual. "They want to meet you. Tonight. Warehouse on 42nd."

I should have known then.

Lorenzo had never sounded nervous before—not in all the years we had bled together. But something had been off. I had brushed it aside, believing that if anything was wrong, I'd see it coming.

I had been wrong. My only mistake was to leave Dante behind and come here alone.

When I arrived, the warehouse was dark, too dark, the usual scattered workers nowhere to be seen. I had stepped inside, hand instinctively brushing against my weapon. A single hanging light flickered in the center of the vast empty space, casting long shadows.

And then I saw him.

Lorenzo stood near the center, alone, his face unreadable.

"You took your time," he said, a faint smirk playing at his lips.

I scanned the area. My gut tightened. "Where are the Ukrainians?"

Lorenzo exhaled, shaking his head. "There never were any."

The words barely had time to register before I heard it—the click of safeties being released, the shuffling of boots in the darkness.

I turned just as masked figures emerged from the shadows, guns aimed, their stance lethal.

Lorenzo tilted his head. "You should've stayed dead, Russo."

The realization hit like a gunshot.

I had walked straight into a trap.

I kept my hands relaxed at my sides, ignoring the restraints biting into my wrists. My body ached from the fight it had taken to get this far, but I had fought worse odds before.

"You sold me out," I murmured, shaking my head. "I let you into my circle. You were family." I didn't wanna show it but Lorenzo's betrayal cut deeper than it should. It's hurting way more than should or maybe he is one of the very few people who you actually trusted. I never said that out loud but Lorenzo and Dante were like my brothers.

Lorenzo smirked. "Family? Family doesn't leave men rotting in the gutter while they build their empire. I deserved more."

My jaw tightened. "So you sided with the other side? What is that you didn't get.?"

He shrugged. "Power. They promised power. And unlike you, they actually keep their word."

I laughed, dark and humorless. "They'll discard you the moment you're no longer useful. They won't give you any power. The second I'm dead so are you Lorenzo. "

His smirk faltered for just a second. But before he could respond, the butt of a rifle slammed into the back of my head, sending stars bursting behind my eyes.

The last thing I heard before darkness swallowed me was Celeste's voice, screaming my name.

Pain brought me back.

A dim, flickering light overhead buzzed softly, barely illuminating the room. My wrists were bound above my head, chains digging into my skin. My body ached, blood seeping from cuts along my ribs, bruises forming where fists had landed with precision.

Lorenzo stood in the doorway, arms crossed. "You always thought you were untouchable, didn't you?"

I lifted my head, a slow smirk curling on my bloodied lips. "And yet, here I am, still breathing."

He exhaled sharply. "Not for long."

I tilted my head. "Then what are you waiting for? Kill me this is the only chance you get. Because if I walk out alive then it means you are the one who is dead."

His fingers twitched at his side, but he didn't answer. He wasn't the one in control.

That meant I still had time.

Celeste...

I woke to the sting of cold metal biting into my wrists, the room spinning as I struggled to focus. The walls were dark, concrete, the air thick with the scent of sweat and blood—my blood.

Adrian's blood.

I could still hear his voice before we had been separated, laced with the kind of defiance that made men legends. And now he was somewhere in this hellhole, alone.

A figure loomed before me. A faceless guard. Another pawn in the game I was about to destroy.

"You think this is going to break me?" I rasped, tasting copper in my mouth.

The guard's fist swung, but I had expected it. At the last second, I twisted, using the chair I was bound to as leverage, driving my boot into his knee. He stumbled, cursing.

I had seconds.

Ignoring the screaming protest of my muscles, I snapped my head forward, slamming it against his nose. Blood sprayed. He reeled back, and I lunged, kicking him hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground.

I yanked at my restraints, reaching for the small blade I had hidden in the lining of my boot. Seconds later, I was free.

I didn't run.

I had one goal—find Adrian.

The halls were a maze, but I moved like a shadow, silent and lethal. Every guard I encountered fell before they could raise the alarm. My body was screaming for rest, but I forced myself forward, fueled by rage and something deeper.

Something that tasted a lot like desperation.

I found him in a room barely big enough to hold him.

Adrian hung from chains, his body bruised and bloodied, but his eyes—they burned when they met mine.

"Took you long enough," he rasped, a small smirk curving his swollen lip.

I exhaled sharply, moving quickly to free him. "Shut up."

The second his wrists were loose, he staggered, and I caught him, his weight pressing into me.

For a moment, we just stood there, breathing each other in, bruised, battered, but still standing.

Then his lips brushed against my ear, and his voice, hoarse but steady, sent a shiver down my spine.

"Time to burn this place to the ground."

I smiled, blood staining my teeth.

"Gladly."