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"A-Antonio...Antonio Valentino. He's the one who has been using my men. He's the one who welcomed me at the airport," Jiyong suddenly tells us, making me gasp from the sudden revelation.
Mat quickly paused too, shocked on what he just heard as well.
Romeo on the other hand stared at Jiyong like he just said it all in Korean when it was obvious that he clearly understood what Jiyong just said.
"No, that can't be," Romeo simply says, then he laughs and points at Jiyong and continues, "You're lying to me."
"I am not lying. The man who took me here was called Antonio. He had black hair, brown skin, about your height, and had a V tattoo on his middle finger. He was even-"
"That's enough!" Romeo suddenly shouted.
Then Romeo quickly looks back at me and says, "Tell me he's lying. Tell me your brother is lying to me."
I stared at Romeo, unsure what to tell him after finding out about the truth myself. I didn't know what to say, but I knew exactly how Romeo feels.
This was what I felt when I "found out" my brother was the bad guy. But I knew Romeo felt something more after finding out the truth about his beloved uncle.
He trusted his uncle more than he trusted anyone. He was his family, and not just in the mafia, but by blood.
Antonio betraying him never even passed through his mind. Heck, I didn't think about him betraying Romeo either.
"My uncle...he can't do that right? Your brother is just lying to me, right?" Romeo asked me, now gripping on my shoulders, "Tell me he's lying...tell me!"
"Val calm down! You're hurting Julien!" Mat now shouted back at him. He was about to grab Romeo, but Romeo quickly pushed Mat away, making him stumble backwards.
"Let go of my brother!" Jiyong now shouted, and finally, Romeo lets go of me.
"As sad as it may seem I am not lying to you. This man is the reason why all of us are blinded. He's the reason why until now we don't know who to even fight."
"He is my uncle," Romeo quickly tells him.
"So what?" Jiyong coldly tells him, and I could see Romeo clenching his fist tighter because of it.
"Because he's your uncle you'd just let everything go?" Jiyong asked him, and Romeo couldn't even answer, which somehow made me a little worried.
"You became a godfather for Julien, but when you found out that your uncle is actually the one behind this, you just...stop? Is that what you'd do? You just act like you knew nothing and just run away because the bad guy is your fucking uncle?" Jiyong asked again, but still, Romeo couldn't answer.
I could see his eyes turning red as he forced himself not to cry. He looks down on the ground as Jiyong continued to reprimand him; "He's your uncle, I get it. You trusted him, and you thought he was loyal to you. But now is the time to think about what he did to you, measure the bad with the good, find out if this man that you call your uncle is worthy of your forgiveness and mercy, or is he better off dead?"
I looked at Romeo and saw tears now falling down on the floor.
Mat looked like he wanted to comfort his old friend, but he stopped and just decided not to say or do anything.
Romeo clenched his fist as he finally answered, "He killed Johnson," he paused and looked at Jiyong before continuing, "He killed so many of my people while acting like he was concerned. He even hurt Julien."
Jiyong paused and didn't say anything for a while, it was obvious he was shocked that Antonio was actually able to do all that, especially to Romeo who was his own nephew.
"So he did all that and you're still having conflicts?" Jiyong now asks.
Romeo continued to stare at him, but then, his eyes became darker and darker, like he was ready to kill someone.
I watched Romeo transform right in front of my eyes. And like the time when he made his first kill, I was terrified of him.
At that moment I knew...that his monster has once again consumed him.
And there was no stopping him anymore.
"He is not worthy of my forgiveness...nor is he worthy of my mercy," Romeo finally says.
He looks back at me and suddenly held my hand, "When we thought your brother was the one who was behind all this, you did not hesitate and took my side. But now that things have turned out like this, I think it's only fair if I do the same."
"Romeo..."
"I will avenge you my love," Romeo sweetly tells me, then he looks at Mat and Jiyong and continues, "I will avenge my people...and I will avenge Johnson. He is my uncle, but now he is my enemy, and enemies are worthy of death."
I could see Jiyong smirking. Obviously glad that he could now also take revenge on the person who tortured him for days.
"Now that is a godfather," Jiyong says, also glad his words made Romeo quickly open his eyes on the reality of the situation.
"What are we going to do then? Antonio's already gone," Mat reminds us.
Romeo takes a deep breath and seriously looks at Mat, "Call everyone. Tell them we have an emergency meeting."
"Yes Don Romeo," Mat says as he was about to leave the room. But Romeo grabs his arm and adds, "And get my gun. It's time we stain more blood on the floors of this useless household."
*****
"He was right in front of me. I was right in front of Johnson's killer and I didn't even fucking do anything," Romeo says as he wears his three silver rings. (Godfather, Households, Valentino symbols).
We were inside our room while Jiyong was transferred to the guest room to rest. Five of Romeo's trusted men guarding him in case of emergencies.
When my brother regained consciousness, we found out that the traitor has been Antonio all this time. And Romeo obviously did not take it lightly.
"We didn't know," I answered Romeo as I was sitting on the bed while looking at his face through the mirror.
"That's the problem...I don't fucking know anything!" Romeo angrily shouted, now turning around to face me, "I didn't know why my mother killed my father. I didn't know President King was somehow connected to all this. I didn't know your brother was fucking chained up in MY basement, and I didn't fucking know my own uncle had been trying to kill me!" Romeo shouted again.
I took a deep breath and walked towards him. I gently touched his cheeks and said, "None of that was your fault."
"But I'm the godfather of this household, am I not?" Romeo asked me, and I regretted not answering him right away because he quickly turns away from me and angrily stares at himself in the mirror.
"We've been looking for the traitor everywhere when in reality he was just right in front of us. He's been laughing at us this whole time. He's been misleading us and we stupidly walked through the traps that he perfectly aligned for us," Romeo tells me.
I was about to say something but then he asks, "I don't know who to even be angry with. Should I be angry with him, or should I be angry with myself?"
"Is that even a question?" I asked him, but Romeo doesn't say anything.
I sighed and turned him around so he could face me. I deeply looked at his eyes and brushed his hair back with my fingers, "You do what you have to do. Antonio wanted you to become the godfather, and I know there is a reason behind it. You make him regret it. You show him that you are not the weak and frightened man who he thought you were. The Elders did the same to me, they thought they could manipulate me, but they were wrong. Make sure that your strength is the last thing that he will see," I continued. Romeo slowly nods his head and takes a deep breath. Then he leans forward and gently kisses my lips, "Okay."
"Don Romeo, everyone is now waiting for you at the meeting room," Mat suddenly says from outside our room.
"Let's go," Romeo says as he opens the door to see Mat holding a copper colored revolver with engravings on it. It even had pearl grips. It was obviously vintage, and darn expensive too.
Romeo's eyes widened as he saw the gun, "Is that-"
Mat cuts him off and says, "We searched through Antonio's room and saw this inside a wooden case. I believe this belonged to the past godfathers."
Romeo nods his head and takes the gun from Mat's hand. He inspects the gun and counts the bullets.
"Six", he simply tells us.
"So, are you ready?" Mat asks.
Romeo takes one bullet from the revolver, spins the cylinder and closes it, "I'm ready. But are they?"
*****
"Don Romeo," everyone greeted as they placed their hands on their chests to show respect that I now know is just an act by some of these men.
Romeo ignores them and goes to his seat while Mat and I stood on both of his sides.
"Sit," he tells everyone, making his board members sit on their chair while soldiers surrounded them.
The moment they sat down, everyone sitting on the table started talking at the same time while the rest of Romeo's men just silently stood on the sides, listening to the old men do their "job."
They asked about my brother, about the attack, about Antonio being missing, and a lot more things that obviously doesn't concern Romeo anymore.
As the men continued to ask him questions, Romeo suddenly places the gun in front of him, finally making everyone shut up.
"I have 5 bullets, and there are ten of you here at the table. After everything that happened, I realized that most of you have been playing with me. And since you like playing games, this is how we'll do this meeting," Romeo says as he picks up the gun and slowly points it at everyone on the table, making them flinch.
"I ask you a question, and if I don't like your answer, I shoot someone at random. Do you understand?" Romeo asked, but obviously no one answered.
"I said...do you understand!" Romeo now shouted at them.
"Yes Don Romeo!" everyone forcefully answered in unison.
Romeo smirks and relaxes his back on the chair, then he starts, "Now, my first question. Who knew about Antonio's betrayal?"
Everyone was silent, making Romeo chuckle, "You're making it too easy. If no one talks I'd have to kill one of you. Did you not understand what I just said?"
"D-Don Romeo...we d-don't know what you're...t-talking about," someone bravely answered.
Romeo quickly looks at him, and you could feel the whole room tensing up.
Without saying anything, Romeo picks up the gun and shoots the man who dared open his mouth. But the man almost fainted when we heard a click instead.
He luckily landed on an empty cylinder.
"How lucky," Romeo says with a smirk.
Everyone sitting on the table was now sweating as they stared at Romeo.
"Julien's brother was never the bad guy. Antonio has been using his men and has been manipulating us so we would be stupid to realize that it was actually him. Jiyong said that there were more Valentino men with him, and I know that someone here knows who those people are. So who has known about his betrayal and did not even dare tell me about it?!" Romeo angrily asked them.
"Don Romeo, I swear, we didn't really know!" someone on the table told him.
Romeo ignores his answer and takes the gun, but sadly for him, the gun shoots him directly at the forehead, causing him to immediately fall from his seat.
Everyone gasped, and the room became ten times tenser.
"I will end up killing most of you here, and no one would still dare say a thing?! You'd rather protect Antonio than tell your own godfather the truth?" Romeo shouted again, not even fazed that he just killed someone a few seconds ago.
Everyone was quiet while most of them were trembling.
When no one said anything, Romeo points the gun at someone else this time. The old man flinched and closed his eyes as a sign of defeat. He knew that whether he answers truthfully, Romeo would still shoot him.
"Don Romeo! Please stop!" a soldier suddenly shouts from the side.
The man who Romeo was pointing at suddenly opened his eyes back to look at the owner of the voice.
"Please do not kill my father, I beg you! He was never a part of all this!" he pleaded, making me now understand the situation.
"Son! What are you doing?!" the man angrily shouts at him.
The soldier ignores his own father and slowly walks towards Romeo.
"Antonio..." he starts.
"No!" the father shouted as he now stood up from his seat to stop his son, but Mat quickly goes to him and grabbed both of his arms to stop him.
I stared at the soldier, then I suddenly recognized him. I quickly leaned towards Romeo's ear and whispered, "He's the man who found the key inside Antonio's room."
Romeo nods his head and slowly puts the gun down as he looks back at the soldier, "Go ahead, what is it?"
The soldier was shaking, afraid that if he tells Romeo the truth, Romeo might kill him, or the people inside this room would kill him instead.
"Go on boy or I'll kill you and your father," Romeo threatened, finally making the boy talk.
"The board members has been stealing money, and has been selling information to other mafia's from the Valentino's ever since Claudio was godfather. Antonio told them he'd protect them in exchange of protecting him. Which is why when things got complicated, the board members turned around and pretended like nothing was wrong. Some of us also knew about the treachery, but the board members threatened to kill us and our families if we even dare tell you anything," the soldier finally reveals, shocking me.
The room was already quiet, but somehow, after hearing what the soldier just said, the room became even quieter...if that was even possible.
Romeo doesn't say anything and just stares at the soldier.
On the other hand, the board members looked like they just wanted to disappear.
After a few agonizing seconds of silence, Romeo started laughing.
I looked at Mat but he only shrugged his shoulder, also confused on why Romeo suddenly started laughing like that.
But when Romeo stopped laughing, he slowly turned his head to look back at the men on the table.
"Is this true?" he simply asked, and knowing Romeo, he wasn't really expecting anyone to actually answer him.
"Of course not! That's preposterous!" someone dared say.
Romeo nods his head and looks back at the soldier, "Looks like we have a problem then. He said that your accusations are not true, so whom should I believe in?" he asked.
The soldier obviously didn't know how to answer, so instead, he pointed at Romeo's gun and bravely suggested, "Let fate decide...Don Romeo."
"What are you saying?!" the soldiers father angrily shouted at him.
Romeo on the other hand, looked impressed. He nods his head and smirks, then he takes his gun and says, "We have four bullets left, but to make things more interesting, I'll add another one, so it's a 90 percent chance of death."
Romeo takes a bullet from his pocket and places in inside the revolver. He spins the cylinder and closes it.
"Let's see if you're lying to me or not," Romeo says as he points the gun at the soldier.
"No! Do it to me instead! Please Don Romeo! Not my son!" the soldiers father begged, but Romeo ignored him and said instead, "Let's see what fate has to say."
The soldier was trembling, but he closes his eyes and waited for the loud bang.
But when Romeo pulled the trigger, we only heard a click sound.
It was an empty cylinder.
The soldier almost fainted as he opened his eyes.
I exhaled too, now realizing that I was actually holding my breath through the whole thing.
Romeo smiles, then without any hesitation, he shoots the man on the table that told Romeo that the soldier's accusations were false.
Romeo then shot the one beside him, and the one in front of him, and another one just sitting on Romeo's right side.
The quiet room was now filled with dead men and blood.
Five members of the board were dead while half of them trembled in fear, praying that Romeo would spare them.
"For years..." Romeo started as he slowly stood up from his seat.
"For years you have not only been betraying me, but my father as well. For years, you have been stealing from your own family. And for years, you have pretended that I am the one at fault for this family's demise," Romeo calmly tells them, but deep down I knew he was inches away from exploding.
The remaining men on the table stood up as well and quickly bowed in front of Romeo, "Please Don Romeo! Forgive us!" the men shouted in unison.
"Forgive you?!" Romeo now shouted instead.
"I have given so much for this family. I have given my whole life for this family but you continue to betray me like this. And now you are asking for forgiveness?!" Romeo angrily shouted at them.
"You are not worthy of death, nor are you worthy of life. Take the rest of these useless men to the dungeon and chain them up like what they did to Julien's brother," Romeo commanded. But then he pointed at the father of the soldier who told them the truth and said, "Except for Mathias."
(I hope you remembered Mathias in Chapter 8: Family Affairs haha)
So his name is Mathias. Looks like Romeo had already clashed with this man because Romeo won't casually just call him Mathias if they haven't.
"Yes Don Romeo!" the soldiers on the side shouted as they quickly grabbed the remaining men on the table.
"No! Don Romeo! Please!" they continued to shout, but Romeo completely ignored them.
"And for the rest of you, dispose of these dead bodies," Romeo says. But before anyone could even answer him, Romeo started going out of the room.
I quickly followed him, Mat and the man named Mathias following behind me.
"Antonio will kill you! Antonio will come back with more men and kill you!" someone now shouted, making Romeo stop walking.
"We'll see about that," Romeo simply says as the soldiers dragged the board members to the dungeon.
"Don Romeo!" someone suddenly called out. We looked at the owner of the voice and found out that it was actually the soldier who told Romeo the truth, AKA Mathias's son.
"Are you going to kill my father?" he innocently asked. While looking at him I could guess that he's at least 20-years-old or younger.
"Don't worry. I won't," Romeo answered, then he held the soldiers shoulder and continued, "That was a brave thing that you did. Do not worry, your bravery will be generously rewarded."
"Thank you Don Romeo," the soldier answered with a serious expression, but it was obvious that he was glad about Romeo's decision. Glad that he and his father would be safe.
"Now go to the dungeon. Tell the men to torture the board members until they tell you the rest of the men who are siding with Antonio," Romeo commands him. The soldier puts his hand on his chest and quickly left the scene.
"What are you planning?" Mathias asked, making me realize that he was actually with us.
Romeo looks at him and saw him still being held by Mat, "Let go of him, he won't escape," Romeo says, quickly making Mat let go of him.
"The Valentino Family is in chaos. The board members are gone, and we don't even have an underboss anymore. If the other households find out they'll definitely-"
Romeo quickly cuts Mathias off and says, "Let them find out. Let them know that the Valentino Family is no more, and the godfather himself ended it."
"What?!" the three of us shouted in unison, shocked on what Romeo just revealed.
"This family has already fallen. Ending it is a form of mercy," Romeo simply says as he started walking away again.
The three of us looked at each other and quickly followed Romeo.
Matthias was right; the household was literally now in chaos. After the emergency meeting, everyone started running around the place. Gunshots could be heard everywhere, and the whole household now smelled like death.
It hasn't even really ended, but just looking at the place, you'd know that the Valentino Family was no longer a mafia that other household's would fear. It was as dead as Romeo's father.
"We need to find Antonio," Romeo tells us as we arrived at his office.
Romeo sat in front of his desk as the three of us stood in front of him.
"Romeo, shouldn't you rest, even for a little?" I asked, concerned that Romeo would be emotionally exhausted after finding out that his family has been betraying not only him, but his father as well.
"There is no time to rest. Antonio is out there, laughing at us and watching this god forsaken family crumble to the ground," he tells me. I took a deep breath and just nodded my head in defeat.
Even though I wanted him to rest, I knew that Romeo was right. After everything that we just found out, resting would be crucial.
"So what's the actual plan?" Mat asks.
"Like what I said, I have to end the Valentino Family. Uncle will not rest if I-"
This time, it was Mathias's turn to cut Romeo off, "The households that are under an oath with us is sided with Antonio."
"What?" Romeo quickly asked. Shocked on what Matthias just said.
"Ever since Claudio was the godfather, the board members and Antonio have been selling information to other mafias. They've been teaming up with each other so they could take over the family, but they couldn't do anything if the Valentino's doesn't have a godfather, which is why Antonio practically forced you to take the position," Mathias explained further.
"So once again I walked through one of his traps like an idiot," Romeo says, and then he aggressively scratched his head, like he was finally losing it.
"But why didn't Antonio just take the position? Romeo didn't want to be the godfather anyways," I told him.
Matthias took a deep breath and explained again, "Claudio was the godfather before, and when he died, his son was next in line because Antonio wasn't a full blood. Antonio could have easily killed Romeo, but if he kills him without Romeo claiming the godfather seat, the Valentino Family will automatically shut down. The only solution for that is to make Romeo the godfather, then kill him, so Antonio will be the next in line to take the position."
"So there's like a sequence. Claudio, Romeo, then Romeo's supposed offspring. But since Romeo doesn't have an offspring, the only living Valentino is Antonio, so Antonio becomes the godfather once Romeo dies," I say, finally understanding the reason why Antonio had to do all this just so he could get the position.
"Then we kill Antonio, simple as that," Romeo suggested.
"But then other households would try and defeat the family. Any household can take the Valentino Family if they can be able to kill the godfather of this house," Mathias explained again.
Romeo now looked angry as he said, "So you're saying that the only way to end this...is to kill me?"
"No," I quickly answered. The hair on my skin suddenly standing up just by the thought of it.
Mathias was about to answer him, but then he was cut off by a loud knock on the door.
"Don Romeo!" someone suddenly shouted from outside the room.
Romeo angrily grunted and shouted back, "What is it?!"
"A man named Matthew King is here...and apparently he's with your mother."
- END -