Chapter 6 Disrespect To My Name

• Lorenzo and his PA walked into the casino. It was eerily quiet and empty for a casino that was always crowded at night. No one was in the casino save for the day workers who were cleaning and setting the ground for the evening business. He marched straight to his office without sparing any of the workers a glance, despite their greetings. After some minutes of settling down, three men walked into the office with Lawrence behind them.
• He hates coming to the casino when he should rather be at the Russo Company, running his legal business, but he is left with no choice but to host the meeting here today. He needs to send a warning as soon as possible to the rest of the mafia clans who are undermining his ability. He was in an extremely irritable state as he couldn't wait to meet with Aurora.
• “Good day, Lorenzo,” a middle-aged man greeted him as he walked into his office.
• Giving no reply to the middle-aged man, he flipped the documents in his hand absentmindedly.
• “It is Mr. Russo to you,” he said firmly with his head raised after some minutes of being quiet.
• “I apologise for that, Mr. Russo,” Kelvin replied smugly.
• “What do you have for me, Kelvin?”
• “The Chicago cartel has decided to remove you as the leader and appoint Luca as our leader,” Kelvin replied boldly, going straight to the topic at hand without mincing his words.
• “And they sent you here as their spokesperson?”
• “Yes, Lorenzo. We have had enough of your rule, and we want Luca as our appointed head.”
• “Again, it is Mr. Russo to you,” he said with a stern voice but his face was still devoid of any emotion. He watched as Kelvin nodded his head in approval but showed no reaction to correcting himself.
• Amused, he ignored his arrogance and continued “I see. Let me ask you two questions.”
• “Go on!” Kelvin smirked.
• “Have I failed to triple the revenue of the cartels?”
• “It is not about the revenue that is making us remove you as the head."
• “What could it be, then?” he asked, dropping the document in his and leaning into his chair to face Kevin. His face was still devoid of any emotion, totally blank.
• “As a mafia, we take no mercy on anyone, regardless of their gender. But you have changed the ways of the mafia. They no longer fear us, as we have been banned by you from touching them. How then can we exercise our control and rule over them?”
• “Is that the only reason?” Lorenzo asked calmly. Taking his calm voice as a sign that Lorenzo was now cornered and rendered powerless, Kelvin slouched on his seat with a confident aura around him.
• “Is that not more than enough?” he asked harshly.
• “How can we walk in the street if there is no regard for us? We are the Chicagoan Cartel; we fear no one, we obey no one, and certainly do not need an outsider to rule us!” he shouted with his voice increasing in each of his declarations. He banged his hand on the table, ruled by a surge of anger at the end of his words.
• After a minute of regaining his composure, he adjusted himself in his seat when he noticed that his anger did not even move Lorenzo as Lorenzo still wore an emotionless face.
• Kevin, still riding on the sudden outburst and Lorenzo's emotionless face, uttered, “Well, we no longer want you as our head. You have always acted arrogantly anyway.”
• “I see. Well, in that case, I need to hand it over to Luca, right? Is anyone here with you?”
• “I can see your brain is still intact as you know the right thing to do. Luca is not here though, but I came with others aside from the three of us here now.”
• “Where is the document I have to sign for the transfer of power?”
• “We didn’t know you would be compromising this easily. Let me make a call for the documents to be brought in.” Kevin said with a triumphant smile plastered on his lips.
• Kelvin excused himself as he walked to a corner of the office to make a call for the documents to be sent. Just as he finished making the call and sat down, Lorenzo stood up at his full length, walked over to where Kelvin sat and bent as if he wanted to sit down beside him. He pointed a gun at his head and instructed him to move. Kelvin stood shaking on his feet and walked as Lorenzo directed him out of his office to an underground path in the casino.
• “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Lorenzo. I am not alone; if you make any mistake, my men will set in immediately.
• He didn’t get to finish his words as he was hit by an object in his head. He clutched his head as blood streamed down his face. His eyes widen in terror as he enters the underground room. The bodies of his men lay lifeless on the floor. Kelvin was about to threaten him with the two other men who were with him, but he was rendered speechless as he saw them pushed into the room as well. Lawrence brought Kelvin to his knees aggressively as Lorenzo took a seat facing him.
• “Think of your action, Lorenzo. You wouldn’t want the wrath of the Chicagoan’s cartel.” He pleaded with a trembling voice.
• He is certainly not ready to die and had acted arrogantly just now because he thought Lorenzo wouldn’t be bold enough to harm him but he was wrong as he knelt facing Lorenzo.
• He could see the fury in his ocean blue eyes which had turned a hue darker with fury. He trembled greatly and realised he had spoken out of spite and arrogance forgetting for a minute, why Lorenzo was the one leading the Chicagoan’s cartel while in Italy. He had forgotten about his ruthlessness and capability.
• “Luca will come after you with everything and tear you apart if you do this.” He spoke up, trying to bargain his way out of the impending death hovering over his head.
• “I wanted to send you back as the messenger to deliver my message, but your disrespect will not be tolerated.”
• “I am sorry, Lorenzo, please…" His unspoken words were replaced with screams. He gripped his right leg as a bullet just pierced into it. He was still registering what just happened when another bullet went through his other leg. He slumped on the floor and started rolling in pain.
• As if in tune with Lorenzo, Lawrence signalled that the other men were brought to their knees as well, and in a swift motion, in a more synchronising manner, their lifeless bodies dropped to the floor. There’s a type of uniformity among Lorenzo's men; they need no words from him before executing their job. Kelvin sobbed instantly as he saw the bodies of the top officials that had come with him lying in their pool of blood. He knew right there and then that this moment would be his last breath in life.
• “When next you come to earth, you’ll watch your mouth.” With that said, Lorenzo fired the gun straight into his forehead. An agonising scream escaped from his lungs but just as quickly as it left his mouth, the silence that precedes it was immediately too. Lorenzo had other ways to torture him, but he wanted to get this done quickly and not waste his time.
• He watched as his men took a knife each and wrote his family's signature “L” on their foreheads. Thereafter, they took pictures of dead bodies with the letter boldly in view and handed the phone to Lorenzo. Without delaying for a minute, he forwarded the pictures to the Chicagoans’ clan head with a clear message.
• “Next time there's disrespect to my name, I will wipe you all out. Their body will be sent to you.”
• He handed the phone back to Lawrence and instructed his men to package the body to be sent to Chicago before he left the building with Lawrence.
• Lorenzo sat coldly in his car on his way to the Russo family residence to finish his business with Aurora when his phone beeped with a message from the doctor in charge of his mom. His heart raced with a surge of fear coursing through him. Without a moment's hesitation, he ordered Lawrence to drive to the hospital, urgency lacing his voice as he sat upright in his seat. His face, which is typically aloof and unreadable, cracked with a glimpse of raw emotion - fear. But just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, replaced with his cold demeanour. As they journeyed to the hospital, what kept playing in his mind was not to be too late to get to her.
• ***
• Aurora breathed a sigh of relief as she saw who was at the door. She wasn’t exactly calm but the relief that came from knowing it was not the demon at the door calmed her a bit.
• Mrs. Conti stepped inside her room, carrying a tray of food. Her eyes widened as the stern woman who had welcomed her earlier brought her food.
• "You need to eat," She said, placing the tray on the table in the room.
• "Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
• Mrs. Conti lingered for a moment, her stern gaze softening. "Mr. Russo just called and he said to tell you that you should make yourself available by the time he gets here.” She announced. Aurora lost her bearing for a few seconds at her sudden news. Noticing her imbalance, Mrs. Conti smiled faintly.
• “I know this is difficult and a lot to take in but you will be fine,” she added with a soft smile on her lips as a way of reassuring the little woman.
• Aurora shivered from the information but forced herself to nod, trying to take comfort in her words. After she left, she picked up the food, forcing herself to eat despite her lack of appetite.
• "What will he do to me?"