◆ Some Competition ◆

◆ MILES ◆

"Is the show over?"

"Of course not."

"Why not?" I watched Ricchar sit by the paved stairs facing the old, wide garden.  The place came with the six-foot high labyrinth and three-storey mansion Ricchar inherited from his deceased father, Valerius Falco.

"Barely the finale." Ricchar scoffed and dropped his phone onto the grass-covered ground, seeming pissed after he faked being the psycho's friend.  The nutjob just left the estate with my father and their entourage.

I glanced around the tall bushes and noticed there were more lamps around the stairs. "Cloe put up all these lights?"

"You know she hates being in the dark." Ricchar gazed at the quiet and dim maze. "Every sense of the word."

"When's she coming back?" I sat next to my cousin, who more or less had been an older brother to me all my life.

We might have grown apart when I moved to Brescia and Ricchar delved deeper into the family business, but Ricchar was the closest thing I had to a sibling.  Ricchar was also an only child.

"Told her to stay with her parents," he droned on. "For the time being."

"Ah."

"I'll visit her next week." He stretched his back, unwrinkling his undershirt. "If your Pappa and Leandro won't screw up my schedule. Big if."

"Yeah. The due date's near." I put an arm over Ricchar's shoulder. "Congrats, by the way. Didn't expect that thing still worked. Thought you ran out of bullets or something."

Ricchar chuckled and shrugged my arm away. "Says the guy who's never touched his girlfriend of two years."

Well, exaggerated but mostly accurate.  It was a mutual choice that Kel and I waited this long.  She knew I preferred the mindless one-night stands.  I couldn't even remember if I had asked her out on a real date.

Mykaela would be anyone's ideal girlfriend, but lusting over my former roomie only gave me disappointment and sexual frustrations all the time.  It complicated our friendship, too, needless to say.

Sometimes I imagined her living with me again, but her future and happiness mattered much more.  I was far from ideal.  She deserved someone way better...someone who had their life together and wasn't afraid of having to put in the work to keep up a healthy relationship.  I was neither.

"Told you she wouldn't just date someone like Lorenzio," Ricchar mumbled while we sat by the stairs.

"Seriously? You're reminding me of that stupid bet?"

Ricchar always teased me over my piss-poor track record of long-term relationships.  Ricchar bet on Kel being extra friendly to Lorenzio only because the guy helped her pay off student loans, her late father's hospital bills, et cetera.  With no interest, as far as I knew.

Apparently, Enzo had some semblance of a conscience. The opposite of his brother.  If Enzo had been truthful with her and us, then he hadn't planned on emotionally blackmailing her.  Maybe he only had good intentions.

Maybe he only offered to pay off her loans because she saved his life.  Favor for a favor.  Although, it wasn't hard to imagine Leandro blackmailing Mykaela into working for the Tomassinis...cutting open their mules, stitching them back up, and all that drug trafficking shit.

"Were you hiding from her again?" Ricchar glanced at the partly hidden, bushy spot I had been sitting on just minutes ago.

"Just decompressing." I cleared my throat and stared at the huge maze I used to play in back when we were just clueless kids.  "Scares her when I'm about to deck someone. And whenever she sees me with a gun."

"Ya think?" Ricchar scoffed.  "Did you tell her Leandro was here?"

"Alessio probably told her.  You think you could force her to press charges?"

"Why would she listen to me? You do it." Ricchar scratched his stubbled chin. "Just try harder."

"It's gonna trigger more anxiety. Possibly another depression. She just wants to graduate."  I sighed at the thought.

Of course I wanted Mykaela to file legal action for what Leandro did to her, but I should also put into consideration her choice to push it all aside, just to preserve her mental  health.

Leandro should be rotting in prison but I also wanted the best for her. Help her reach her career goals and all.  I had to respect her choice, even though I thought it was cowardly and abominably unjust to sweep it all under the rug.

"Why is she here?" Ricchar dropped the playful tone and eyed me.  The look on his face bordered on curiosity and annoyance.  "I thought we talked about this."

"Thought so, too."  I sighed. "Told her not to book a flight. But you know how she is."  Granted, I missed her, but I didn't ask Mykaela to travel all the way here just to see how I was doing.  I even tried to discourage her by saying I'd be busy all week.

But of course she still took the trip.  Kel wanted to make sure I made the right choice by postponing going to rehab.  She knew my family had the money and the connections to get me sorted out quick, but she wanted to check up on me personally.  Sometimes I couldn't comprehend why she cared about me that much.

"Digging yourself a bigger hole." Ricchar tutted and glanced at the trees around us.  We both fell silent for a moment.  "Cut her off. She needs the normalcy."

"You think I didn't? You know I fuckin' tried, Charr." I gripped my phone.  "Been doin' it all year." I sighed to myself.

Did I really try, though?  At times I still blamed myself for not trying my best to make her life go back to normal.  Sometimes I thought I'd been just as selfish as my father, dragging everyone else with him through the mud.

But I did warn her. A lot of times.  I'd warned her before that we had to stop seeing each other, that she had to stop talking to Lorenzio, and now Ilya.  The man could track her whereabouts, if he hadn't already.  Niccolo said Ilya had been looking for Mykaela for a while now but didn't know her name had been changed from "Sofija Mihajlović" to Mykaela Nielsen.

Ilya wanted to meet and get to know his only daughter for a good reason...something Nicco and I had to prove without any doubts soon.  But Mykaela didn't need to know everything.  For now.  She didn't need more unwanted anxiety.

"Since you got no plans to settle down or get serious with her, just cut her loose.  Cut her loose now." Ricchar shrugged.

"Sure. Piece of cake." I wanted to roll my eyes.  As if pushing Mykaela out of my life was that easy.  That simple.  As if I hadn't tried pretty much everything already.  Screw it.  It didn't work before and I really doubted pushing her away again would do us any good.  It would only make her hate me.

"Back to the bigger issue. We're pushing through?" Ricchar combed his pale fingers through his dark, curly hair. "Regardless of what just happened back there in my damned dining room."

"Like it changed anything." I scoffed.

"No, but, I told you the consequences. Zio will figure it out and...he might do something. To you. Or Kel. Or me, and Cloe.  I can't do that to her." Ricchar shook his head weakly.  "We're finally having a baby, Maxim."

"The fact that you're sure he's capable of anything should answer your question."

"Bambino..." Ricchar sighed. "He's still your Pappa."

[Little boy...]

"Charr, you know I've been warning him. He knows Mamma can't even get a decent night's sleep. I've given him every reason to stop. Every single reason."

"And? What did he say?"

"He said we're just overreacting. Selfish asshole.  She started hyperventilating and shoving him, but he still left with that psycho. Just doesn't give a fuck."  I scowled. "Don't get me started on those Tomassini scums."

"Leandro told me why he hurt Lorenzio."

"Oh, sure. 'Cause he's the type to reason rationally."

"He caught Enzo snooping on his itinerary, and their transactions with the Albanians.  Also heard Rafa, Enzo's best friend, kidnapped Leandro's new girl.  Then Enzo left town instead of staying with the don.  Old man had another stroke."

"Too bad, but this shit needs to stop now, Charr." I forced a chuckle. "I don't even have to tell Nicco to get more evidence for the cops. He's been doin' it on his own."

"You trust him that much, huh?"

"No.  But those psychos need to go. World's just better off without 'em."

"Worst case: Leandro spends a couple weeks in jail, bribes another judge,  kills your Pappa or pulls some strings to put us all in prison." Ricchar stared at me, as if he was waiting for an affirmative response. "You think your Mamma is ready for all that?"

"For her sake. Yeah. She will be." I gazed at the large trees surrounding us.  I had made up my mind.  What happened tonight drove the screws into the coffin.

Our plan wasn't anything crazy:

1) Sabotage my father and Leandro's incoming contraband shipments.

2) Get the higher authorities involved (not just the local cops since we didn't know the corrupt pigs on Leandro's payroll).

3) Rescue as many smuggled hostages as possible.

Poor things.  Nicco and Enzo already gave us enough proof that there were kids in those containers.  Human trafficking was becoming as rampant as the drug trade.  Humans were definitely starting to devolve...consuming, depleting, treating each other like animals.  Just wreaking mayhem all over this world.

We had to try at least.  Try to put a stop to every evil that threatened the humanity left within us.  Starting with our family.  Our plans needed to happen without the help of local bureaus.  None of them could be trusted these days.  The Tomassinis were too well-connected.  They knew who and how to bribe just about everyone.

Pappa also found out Enzo gave significant intel to Niccolo, hence the scene earlier in the basement.  Niccolo was lucky Mykaela and I were there as witnesses.  Or else my livid father might have just offed him right then and there, on principle.

"Thank God." Faint footsteps behind us got replaced by a female voice, breathless and delicate.  "Charr, your house is just insane but I gotta go. Thank you. Really."

"Anytime." Ricchar got up to kiss our house guest goodbye.  "I thought your flight's tomorrow?  Anyway,  Alessio and the guards will drive you to the airport."

I didn't have to turn around; Mykaela already hugged me from behind.  An undeniable wave of comfort and pleasant surprise took over my thoughts.

"Nicco won't come with us so just check on him every now and then. Please?" Mykaela rested her chin on my shoulder while she hugged me tight. "Enzo's showing signs of concussion and rib fractures. Gotta take him to the ER," she murmured to my ear.  "Call you later?"

I dismissed the urge to swear, not surprised at all by her decision.  The nearest proper hospital was almost two hours away. Of course she had to personally take Lorenzio to the ER, be his nurse and doctor at the same time.  Typical Kel.  "Already told Alei what to do. Call me."

"Thank you." She hugged Ricchar and then stood in front of me.  Concern softened her gaze.  "Don't go anywhere. Get some sleep." She kissed my cheek.

Just a little peck on the side of my lips.   I tried not to react and held back a sigh.

It was enough to leave Ricchar grinning ear-to-ear when Mykaela practically ran off to be with her bloody, needy patient.  "Game's getting weak, bambino. Step it up."

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