MERRY CHRISTMAS— to everyone who celebrates it and if you don't, I still wish you an amazing day! I love you all, and this is my present to you guys: a continuous amount of chapters coming your way!
Love you all individually.
- Tessa
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5 HOURS EARLIER
Nathan Reyes
I gripped my phone tightly in my hand, holding it up to my ear until I heard the beep that signalled the voicemail was done. Without a second thought I chucked the phone across the room, ultimately making it shatter into pieces when it made contact with the wall.
"Do I want to know?" Darren asks as he walked into his office, stopping to look down at the broken phone beside his feet.
"Let me leave." I demanded, disregarding his question without a second thought.
"Am I holding a gun to you head? Forcing you to stay? The doors right there." He replies coolly, walking past me and to his desk.
"You know what I mean." I growled.
"Yeah, and I also know the second you walk out that door alone, angry and vulnerable, a bullet would go straight through your head." He didn't bother looking at me as he searched through files on the shelves behind his desk.
"How do you know that Victor has more people on the outside? Other than Colt, who's currently back home tormenting my friends." I pointed out another reason as to why I should be with them.
"Remember Keller?" He asks while once again, not bothering to look at me; clearly uninterested. Before I could respond he continued. "He just got out four days ago, but not before I had these pictures sent to me." He quickly opened his desk drawer and set out pictures on his desk for me to take.
"Keller with Victor." I analyzed the pictures of Keller with Victor in the prison courtyard. "They were in the same prison; the prison Victor specifically requested." I put two and two together.
"I had someone dig deeper into their... friendship." He struggled to find the word that would explain their connections to each other. "Turns out before either of them were caught for their crimes and thrown into prison, they worked together. When Victor was working for me, I found records of Keller visiting the club quite often. That and the video proof I have of them tag teaming in murdering my employees." He said so calmly that no one would've ever thought he was affected by this.
"Wait what?" I questioned, like any normal human would.
"Moral of the story, Keller's out and I'm sure they're still partners in crime, hence the last two pictures." He pointed out and I flipped through them to find one picture of Keller outside of our high school, and one of him following my car.
"He's onto us." I concluded, realizing that Darren's right. "Even in prison he's one step ahead, that bastard." I dropped the pictures onto his desk.
"Not exactly..." Darren started off of by saying but then trailed off until he pulled out the file I'm assuming he was searching for this entire conversation. He flipped through it until he landed on something that peaked his interest. "Keller is an efficient man, two days after he got out, he changed his name. Legitimately made a new identity for himself, which was wise on his part but after having Lincoln track his every move since he got out..." he slid the file to me and I scanned the paper until I landed on a name.
"Richard Kells? Real creative." I scoffed at the new name.
"Yeah well, a Richard Kells just recently paid a shit load of money to be on the private list for tonight's opening. Meaning...?" He left an empty space for me to continue his sentence.
"He's going to be here, knowing I'm here and you're back. And he isn't going to come alone." I finished, sighing as I ran my hand threw my vexatious hair that fell in front of my face.
"Who's one step ahead now?" Darren joked while sliding on his jacket. Before continuing on getting ready to leave he turned to me, looking at me seriously. "I'm sure she'd rather you be alive than to be with her and in danger. You being near them if bad for both of you, remember what I told you." He said sternly.
"By giving attention to them, it makes them a target." I recalled his words that he so persistently kept telling me.
"Exactly, and I'm afraid that's just the life we live now. Where targets are on our backs everywhere we go, and on those we love." He made a fair point but that didn't mean I liked it.
"Yeah, well I didn't want this life." I rebutted.
"Neither did she." He pointed out wisely, making my stomach hurl in guilt. "Although she's still very much so in the dark, she's not new here at all, is she?" He taunted me.
"I'm not dragging her into this." I denied his theory of having her know the truth, but this is the one time that the truth isn't going to do any good.
"What's my only rule?" He started getting angry with my disobedience.
"Tell the truth." I bit back any remarks I wanted to make. "But tell me this, what do you prefer more? Honesty or loyalty?" I bounced back my own motto of life. "You live by honesty but I live by loyalty. I've been loyal to you even when you were gone, so pardon me for not being honest this one time." I huffed.
"This isn't about you and me, it's about you knowing a secret that could possibly shatter her world." He dig deeper into my guilt. "Or maybe not, maybe if you would just tell her, she would be grateful for someone finally telling her something." He continued and I glared at him.
"So you want her to be brought into this mess and potentially have her life threatened?" I questioned, not knowing why he'd want her to know.
"She's been involved in this since she was a kid, she just doesn't know it yet." He set his hands onto his desk, sighing as he looked around the room then back to me. "Sorry not sorry, but this is about way more than your little beef with James or Victor or Colt. You're all collateral damage, unfortunately. Victor stole from me, lied to me, made bids on my name, framed me and gave out the Code's information to the very person that wants to ruin my life. So yeah, this goes deeper than some high school drama." He concluded, making his way out of the door.
"The murders, you forgot to add that to the list of things he's done." I stopped him from leaving because quite honestly, I wasn't done with this conversation. "I don't understand why he would do any of those things though, what motive did he have?" I pondered, genuinely not understanding why Victor of all people would risk his life for something so stupid. "Why would he turn on you? The person who's given him everything?"
"Because," Darren paused, turning back to me. "He thinks I killed his father."
"Did you?" I ask, completely taken back by the harsh accusation.
"No, I didn't." He answered and I knew he was telling the truth but he was also hiding something.
"But you know who did." His silence confirmed my theory.
"Dearest brother, always making messes for me to clean up." Darren chuckles, but it was filled with annoyance.
"Enzo? And, the family feud never ends." I teased causing Darren to shoot a death stare at me but I was immune to his cold eyes by now.
"Yeah, my idiotic, repulsive and careless brother is meddling in business he shouldn't be in. And he's also on tonight's list." He nodded at the list of guests that was still on his desk.
"You've got to be kidding me." I looked down at my phone after getting a text from Carter. "Guess who else is coming." I looked at Darren who immediately knew what I was talking about.
"Ms. Amnesia?" He questioned, now in a humorous mood.
"Shut up." I rolled my eyes.
"Keep your distance, Nathan. I'm not trying to tear you away from your friends but unless you want them in harms way—"
"I know." I cut off Darren.
"Well, tonight's gonna be wild." Jax popped into our conversation, making Darren and I turn towards the door where he stood with Will, Lincoln and Griffin.
"What happened here?" Griffin asked as he stared down at my now broken phone.
"Nathan had a tantrum because he couldn't see his little girlfriend." Darren answered and now it was my turn to try and kill him with my glare.
"She's not my girlfriend." I grumbled.
"Ah, so she's available?" Lincoln asked but before he could even have any other thoughts, I threw the blade I had on my forearm just beside his head. "I thought you never miss?" He teased cockily as he pulled the blade out of the wall.
"I wasn't aiming at your head." I deflated his ego.
"So let me get this straight. Our favourite betrayer, Victor, is not only trying to kill Nathan for being the reason he got caught but now Darren too because you decided to cover for your stupid brother? And, he has Keller, Colt and Ramirez on his side. Top three hit men. Besides us." Griffin summed up our situation.
"Colt? Top hitmen? Didn't Thalia punch him in the face like yesterday?" Lincoln laughed.
"Okay, maybe not Colt, specifically. But you do remember who Colt works for right?" Griffin have a pointed look towards Lincoln who looked confused until he came to the realization that the Code's very own enemy is finally catching up to us.
"Well that's great, everything's falling apart and you've been back a week." Lincoln started pacing, and although the team looked slightly concerned, Darren remained calm and collected as he leaned against the wall with his hands in his front pockets.
"What's falling apart? Because in my mind, everything's where I want them to be. Everyone I need is going to be in that exact same place tonight, if anything everyone just made it easier for me. Colt, Keller, Victor and Enzo will no doubt cause some trouble tonight, but what's a party without a few uninvited guests?" Darren jokes. "Keep your guard up boys, we can't afford to miss anything." He poured a drink for himself then nodded at us before leaving the room.
"What are you thinking?" Griffin asks me, somewhat trying to read my mind and although he's annoyingly good at reading people, he never could do it with me.
"They're going to be here tonight." Was all I needed to say for them to understand how I was feeling.
"She was bound to find out someway, better you tell her before she actually remembers and then holds it against you." Lincoln told me, patting my shoulder before following Darren's footsteps out of the room.
"How am I supposed to tell her? What the fuck am I supposed to say?" I felt the urge to scream out in frustration but I held my composure.
"Just tell her the truth, no matter what the reaction is." Jax tried helping.
"And what if I lose her? Lose the only person who cares about me the way she does." I doubted myself.
"If she cares for you as much as you say she does, she won't go anywhere, even if she wanted to." Griffin finalized the conversation.
• • •
"Why wasn't I told we were pre-partying?" Ajax asks as he walks in on Lincoln and I having a drink before the night goes to shit. "And you, young man, are underage." Ajax tried taking my drink but didn't have any luck as I kept a firm grip.
"I'm eighteen, idiot." I replied moodily.
"What crawled up your ass and died?" He moved away from me and grabbed his own drink. "You need to lighten up, lil' bro. Everything's gonna be fine, just have some faith." He grinned and took a seat next to Lincoln who seemed to fighting his own thoughts as well.
Completely ignoring Ajax, I turned my attention on Lincoln. "You're thinking about the missing link too, aren't you?" I observed him.
"It just doesn't make sense. Yeah, Victor has enough reasons to carry out his revenge towards you and Darren, but what reason does Keller have? Besides having close ties with Victor, he wouldn't just put his life, his brand, his everything on the line for Victor... would he? The Mob hasn't gotten involved with us since years ago, what reason do they have to target us again? Especially with Darren being gone for a while now." Lincoln analyzes the case, not being able to connect the link.
He's right. Besides Keller's close ties with Victor, what other reason does he have to plan attacks against us? What reason does The Mob have?
"Victor can't mean that much to them." I scoffed.
"He doesn't, but I know someone who does." Darren appeared at the door, still in his jacket with his car keys in his hand.
"Where have you been? There's two hours until the opening and we don't have a plan." Griffin came down the staircase that led to the screen room upstairs.
"I was busy looking for that "missing link" you two keep talking about. The key to winning is always staying one step ahead. While I was gone for the last year, The Mob had their chance to grow in strength and intelligence, they've finally grown some brains. They're doing things much more strategically now, and way more secretly, hence all these fucking distractions. That's all they are. Colt? A distraction for your friends, to keep you separated, until they want you together. Keller? He's merely a spy, someone to report back about our whereabouts. Victor? Well he's essential because he's going to be their in. The second Victor gets out and they aid him in his stupid little revenge plan, we'll be considered vulnerable and it'll be the perfect chance to attack." He finishes.
"The leader of The Mob, Julian Rocco A.K.A Russia's top killer, has had it out for us since time. His last plan failed and there's no doubt in anyone's mind that he's been plotting ever since to kill Darren, and us." Ajax informed me since I've been gone for a while too so I'm not up to date on The Code's current motives.
"What does any of this have to do with my friends and I, then? I wasn't apart of this when you had problems with Rocco, so why are we being targeted? Victor I get but like you said, apparently this is about way more than us." I ask Darren who seemed to be getting impatient.
"You have everything to do with this, more particularly, Thalia does." I froze in my spot, not knowing what he meant by that.
"I need to show you something." Darren threw me my jacket and left the room without another word.
The drive to where ever he was taking me was filled with silence, mainly because I was too in my head to care about conversation. Ever since this mess started, I've felt this overwhelming amount of guilt and I know it's only going to get worse.
"A hospital?" I gave Darren a dry but curious look as we got out of the car.
"Not just any hospital." He nodded towards the sign in front of the front doors. East Hospital, D. Romano.
"Of course you own a hospital," I rolled my eyes as I followed him into the building. We passed by nurses who gave Darren a nod of respect... I guess you could call it.
Room A1, was the room we stopped in front of. I sent him a questioning gaze until he opened the door and let me walk in first.
"Is that..." I felt everything in me freeze as I looked at the unconscious body with wide eyes.
"Aiden Castillo." Darren came and stood beside me as we both looked at the man who could possibly be the key to every problem we have. "Also known as, Thalia Lively Castillo's brother."
"It was you," I said in a mere whisper. "You transferred him to this hospital, you changed her name, you also were the one who had her move with Heidi, weren't you?" I accused him but I knew the answers.
"I needed him in the best hands, and how could I watch over him if he was miles away? After I visited the hospital and was notified of her lacking memory, I changed her legal name, which by the way saved her life. I couldn't have her walking around with the title Castillo, she would've been hunted down before she could even open her eyes. Killed two birds with one stone really, having them both moved here, gave her a clean slate, allowed her to live a life where she wasn't constantly looking over her shoulder." I was listening to him but I was too caught up in my mind to really take any of this in.
"All I knew was that he ran The Code with you, and I knew that she was his sister the second she told me his name and how her family died. And, I knew that he was the reason The Mob wants to kill us." I told him.
"Everyone has a job, a position they need to fulfil. You, the fighter, observer." He began telling the story of not only Aiden Castillo, but the infamous The Code story. "Lincoln, the tracker. Ajax, the eyes. Griffin, the weapon-er. Will, the financier. Aiden, the collector." He listed our roles, what we were known for. "Ever since I met this asshole," Darren chuckled softly. "He never failed to impress me. It started in the early days of The Code, right after my father died and I, as the eldest son, stepped in to carry the title of the Romano legacy." He rolled his eyes as he sat down in a seat beside Aiden's bed. I sat on the other side of Aiden's bed and listened to him, for once.
"The Castillo's, since I could remember, were close to us. Our fathers were best friends, brothers even. I met Aiden and Thalia after their mother finally decided to come live with their father in Italy. She was the funniest kid ever, in a mansion full of angry and dangerous men, she ran around making it her damn play house. Aiden was much like her in the sense that he was more on the positive side. No matter how many times I insulted him, forced him to stay out of my way, and gave him the toughest jobs, he never once stopped smiling and joking around. Before I knew it, he became my best friend. My brother. I guess we followed in our fathers footsteps."
"So her father...?" I didn't finish my question since he knew what I meant.
"He led The Code alongside my father, but when my dad died due to an attack caused by The Mob, her father stepped down from the title— I guess to protect his family. Aiden though, refused to back out, no matter how much his father tried forcing him to leave, he didn't. Together, we ran The Code." He answered.
"Why's he called the collector?" I couldn't grasp any of the information being thrown at me.
"He was insanely good at going undercover and collecting information. He was so smooth with it too, he could get anything you told him to. Which brings us to The Mob, and why our issue with them is to this day ongoing— other than them killing my father and I have yet to kill the son of bitch that did it."
"All these father killings," I mumbled, shaking my head.
"Aiden had a job one night, and it was probably the deadliest one he's ever dealt with. The Mob found our base, here in Canada. A few of their members disguised themselves as racers and signed up to my track, ironically enough, during the same time that Victor decided to rebel against me. They planned to kill me that night but I wasn't there, I sent Aiden instead to watch them— and take them out once given the chance. He was hesitant because that same night, little Thalia had her soccer tournament and he promised her he would be there. He was at the tracks before her game, and he watched them from afar, talking with Victor and James." He started the story, but I knew exactly the ending.
The story of the crash, but from a different perspective. The truth about that night.
"He found something out that night and from how he kept texting me that night, it seemed life threatening important. I tried to get there as soon as I could but I wasn't in the area. I found The Mob members dead under the bleachers, except for one that I assume got away. I don't know what happened to them, or what he found out that night because when I got there, Aiden was halfway dead."
"He never got to tell you." I concluded.
"Whatever he found out that night, The Mob knows it was him who discovered it. The one who got away must've found out he was one of us. Victor doesn't mean that much to them, it's Aiden they want." Darren found the missing link.
"But how do they knew he's alive... ish?" I stood up from my seat and began walking around the room. "They couldn't possibly have known he survived, James saw him look lifeless and he would've told him that he died. So, why would they be after a dead guy?" I thought to myself and from Darren's silence, he knew the answer to this question as well. "Unless..."
"They're after Thalia." Darren finished for me.
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{ not edited boyz }
PLOT TWIST!... sort of. I've seen a lot of Aiden theories but none of them TRULY hit the target, which I'm happy about because no one predicted this OR what's coming next. IM SO HYPED.
Okay let me do a recap for the confused folks!
The Code
An Italian Mafia operated by the Romano and Castillo family. Darren became the leader after his father was murderer by The Mob and Thalia's dad stepped down. Darren and Aiden operated it together until Aiden "died" and Darren mysteriously disappeared for an unknown reason that still hasn't been revealed. The members include Darren, Aiden, Will, Lincoln, Griffin, Ajax and Nathan.
The Mob
A mafia operated by Russian, Julian Rocco. They're enemy of The Code. They're working with Victor, James, Colt, Keller and Ramirez. They want Darren and Nathan dead— and are after Thalia.
I personally love how this became so much more than just a typical "high school beef" story. It's not about Nathan vs James, or Nathan vs Victor— but rather the fate of not only Thalia's life but how they all just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and are now in the middle of a mafia war. Amazing, right?
Also, NATHAM POV! What did ya think?
I love you all so much, happy holidays! ❤️
Before I go, I want to thank kolsmikaelson for these amazing character aesthetics! And silently__ for making a happier banner! I can't thank you two enough, I love you both so much.
^ Banner!
^ Aesthetics!
^ Nathan @ The Mob when they try taking Thalia but fail