Leander stepped forward not minding the clutters around.
"Tell me who paid you?" Leander pointed his gun at the woman sitting on the floor, covered in her blood. One more bullet in her and she will die.
Her hands holding the gun trembled and she pulled the trigger at Leander.
*Click* *Click*
She pulled the trigger for naught. With disappointment, she dropped the gun in her hand. Her shaking hand rested on the floor. Leander expected panic on her face as she slowly raised her head to look at him.
"There are no bullets left in your gun. But I have plenty left. Tell me…" Leander paused as he met her eyes.
The woman should at least have an ounce of fear on her face. But she was staring right at him, and in her eyes, he saw the same expression.
Courage. But like a flower surrounded by thorns, the courage was supported by hatred.
He knew he cannot get anything out of her if he threatens. He let out a sigh and kneeled in front of her.
His face softened, along with his voice. "That other woman, Viviana… we got her. She is alive, barely. Even if you are dead, we will extract what we want from her. She's in my hands, and she wants to… She wants to live. Was she the one who gave you lot the idea of killing yourselves after what you did? Well, she does not want to die. But you, dear, you…"
Leander paused seeing that woman laugh. She laughed holding the wound on her abdomen. Blood trickled down in between her fingers.
"Viv's alive?" she laughed leaning on the wall. "Oh…was right… Oh, tell her… I love her!"
Leander's eyebrows flinched as he saw the relief in the dying woman's face. She truly loves her and trusts her.
"Tell you what?" the woman looked at him with a smile ruling her face. It was as if she was not bothered about the pain she has. She didn't mind that she was going to die. She just was happy to hear that woman lives.
"She won't die until she meets her fate…" she searched for something under the dresser.
"Her fate?" Leander scoffed. This must be one crazy woman. "What is it? To end my family?"
The woman shook her head. Leander heard the sound of a blade dragging on the floor. That woman had picked up a blade from under the dresser. But he didn't bother. He has a gun.
He was intrigued to know what this delusional woman would say next. He's heard people blabbering whatever when they face death. But this one takes the cake.
Even still, he couldn't help but lean closer to her mouth to hear what she has to say.
"She is fated to meet her…ugh!"
The woman raised her hand wielding the blade at him.
*Bang*
He shot her face. Just like that!
It was a reflex after being in this business for almost two decades. His father gave him a loaded gun when he was thirteen. He took his first shot at the man who used him as a shield to kill his father a couple of months later.
From then on, this has become his life. He is a natural at killing those who are a threat to his family and him.
He cannot stop. It has become ingrained in his being by now—to fight, to kill. That's all he knows. He could not stop it even if he tries to.
Except when…He did have the gun in his hand when she plunged the knife into his shoulder…
"Shit!"
He cussed and stood up wiping the splattered blood on his face.
"Shit!"
He was so mad.
Steve thought the stickiness of blood on his face made his boss uneasy and offered him a wipe. He hated the smell of blood. Leander got it and wiped his face.
Leander was still angry. Angry at that dead woman. Even he couldn't figure out if he was angry at her for not giving him any details regarding the attack on his brother or…
Is it because she died before she told him whom that woman should meet? Her fate… Who could that be?
'Meeting her'
Her? Could her fate be a woman?
"Is this the last one?"
Leander asked Steve and put his gun back in the holster. There was perspiration on his forehead.
Two days have passed after the Evander incident. His wound is not healing and is only getting worse. But he still is running around trying to get the ones who hurt his brother.
They found four people connected to it apart from Viviana Mattias—the woman currently in Leander's villa.
Leander is joining his men in the hunt for those who aided Viviana, as per his grandfather's wishes. Three of them were dead when they found them. They had killed themselves.
The woman they came looking for today, the one who was in the editorial of the news broadcast, opened fire on them and killed two of their men before she was put down.
Those people, all young, with their whole lives ahead of them, put their lives on the line to do what...?
Put a scratch on the Kastello armor?
They made an investigation on Evander public. They get investigated from time to time. Nothing comes out of it. What would this do?
And hurting Evander? Do they know how advanced medicine is? Evander still can sire children. His testes are intact!
What did they even achieve other than killing themselves?
Leander did not know whether he should laugh or cry about their stupidity.
"Yes, Capo…" Steve said kicking away the lamp that rolled under his feet.
"When was the last time our enemies were this determinant, Steve?" Leander asked, staring at the dead woman.
"I don't remember," Steve said truthfully. "But they were mercenaries and paid hitmen. No job is worth their lives. But these people…"
"They made taking revenge their life, haven't they? Thinking of themselves as mighty heroes or whatever… They form their suicide squad…dying without knowing that they never succeeded…" Leander scoffed.
Even then, he could not help but admire them a little. He never faced worthy foes. They all cowered when he found them and begged for their lives when he pointed his gun at them.
"Their bodies…" Steve asked Leander who was walking toward the car.
"Leave them be… Let their relatives claim them and bury them."
"Umm… " Steve was stunned to see the softer side of Leander.
Softer side? Did he really have it?
But these days, Leander is leaving room for doubt. When he didn't kill Viviana even after she hurt him. And he even went as far as to save her from drowning. He is spending thousands on medicines to cure her, and she is still sleeping on his bed.
Steve thought that he had changed or grown softer on women. But his captain proved himself just now by shooting their enemy without any hesitation.
It appears that only that woman is special.
But why?
"They all have no one, Capo… I don't think anyone will claim their body. And…"
"No one?" Leander raised his brows.
"The Don asked those bodies to be brought to the Rose Gardens," Steve said.
Leander paused for a moment. He wanted to ask why they want dead bodies in the main mansion. But then it hit him.
It must be Evander who asked for it and their grandfather must have granted his wish. But what will Evander do with corpses? That guy is showing everyone how much of a psychopath he is the past couple of days.
"I found the connection they all had, boss," Steve explained as they walked back to their car.
"The Heberden blowout… Do you remember it?"