All Night

The woman

Toni

“I've met her one year ago.” he explains and he’s smiling with the thought of her. I’ve never seen him smile like this. God damn, we lost him.

Where is the reckless fucker that destroyed every little gang and mafia so he would be the biggest one? Where's the man that everyone is afraid of? Where’s the man who picked me up from the street? I don't know if he's sick but this is not good. We all know what love can do to people…

She must be a really special woman, if she got this man weak because we never got even close to that. Nothing could bring him down or destroy him. Except a woman. That's unbelievable.

And I don't know if I really want to know the answers to my questions because I have this weird feeling in my stomach.

“Does she know...” I don't even need to finish my sentence. He already answers. “No she doesn't. She loves me, not knowing how much money or power I actually have. She loves me independently of that.” he says, sitting back down. I sit back down as well. All these things are so hard to believe…

“She thinks I'm a normal man, who has a lot of money and plays golf on weekends.” he continues. I run my hand through my hair. “Won't she get mad when she finds out about this all?” I hope I’m not going too far or hurt him in any way. Now I know that it’s easy, since I got to see how soft he actually is. I'm a little disappointed.

“Do you think she can resist me?” he asks with a smirk. I shake my head and laugh. “Of course not.” I say and look down.

This is so weird. He always warned me about love and that I should be careful because women would be evil and ruin you. He was right.

“She said yes and I can't wait anymore. I don't want to waste too much time.” he says. I take a deep breath and lean back. Somehow I feel like here's no air in this room.

“Honestly, I don't know what to say. I don't have the right to interfere in your stuff and I won't but what does this all mean for us?” I’m a little worried.

He takes a deep breath as well. “That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.” he says and I bite my lower lip until it hurts.

“I will hold myself back from this business. This is our empire. Our organization and I won't end it...”

I look at the ground again. When he's talking like this, I feel some kind of sadness and sickness growing on me and I can’t make it leave.

“That's why I need someone to keep it going and replace me.” he says and I look up at him. My eyes widen. I can feel something coming that makes my heart race.

“Toni... I want you to do that.” he says and my head starts spinning. I almost faint. Did I hear that right?

My hands start shaking. Does he even know what it means to replace him? Does he even know what it means to be him and do all the things that he does?

He needs to understand that I can’t do that. I do whatever he says and that’s already hard enough. Let alone leading everyone and everything. Demanding is the opposite of obeying.

“I-... I can't do that! I'm too young and inexperienced, I can't keep this going as good as you, I-…” I stutter and he cuts me off.

“Son, you know me. I'm not stupid. If I wouldn't trust you and know what you are capable of, I wouldn't have said that. It’s not like I didn’t think this through. If I wouldn't know how loyal and strong you are I wouldn’t have opened this topic. You're a born leader.” he says and I feel like I can’t breathe.

“Eight years ago I took you with me because I knew what you were going to be. I needed someone who would take over.” he says and my heart does a flip.

This all is happening so fast, I need someone to slow this all down before I miss something. He's telling me that he's getting married and can't keep doing this anymore, so he'll leave to live anormal life with his new wife, that's pretty peaceful and odd and because he can't shut this s**t down, he wants me to take over his place and although I know that I can do it, I'm still afraid of it? What is going on?

“I never gave you a high position but you've always been patient and loyal. I didn't even tell you my name and you've done everything that I wanted from you, without hesitating or resisting...” he says and my sadness gets worse. I feel like throwing up. It’s been a while since the last time I felt something like this.

“Because I owe you my life.” I say but he laughs. “Son, you are so strong, you would've made it without me.” he says and I can't help but smile. “I'm really confused right now.” I admit. He smiles.

“There's no need to be confused. This all will be yours one day. You can have all my money, you can have everything. These people will listen to you instead of me soon.” he is proud and he liked to show it. I have to admit that I’m proud too and I get goosebumps with the thoughts of owning everything he has. It’s now like I’ve wanted it. I never wanted anything from him. I was only thankful for the things he has done for me and now I'm getting such a position. It’s incredible.

“We'll talk about the details later. I don't want to confuse you too much. You know what to do for now.” he smiles and I smile back.

I stand up and thank him. Not for the conversation. For everything. When I walk towards the door, he says “Son… Take care of her. I know your heart is not completely made out of stone. I know you know what to do. Don't be so harsh.” I swallow and nod.

That's actually a little complicated and difficult. It’s not that easy. How am I supposed to take his position and be soft and all?

He's the coldest, most reckless and mean man I know. That's the only way to keep this all alive. How can he expect me to not be that way?

I exit his office. He said I know what to do but I have no idea.

He knows how mean and heartless I am… But he believes that I do have a normal heart and that I can be nice. That I can take care of her and be kind. He knows me so well…

Lucille

During the ride I notice how subdued he still is. I look out of the window, when it starts to rain. How silent he is makes me uncomfortable. The only thing between us is the rain. I wish it really would be the only thing between us. I wish we could talk about the things in our minds, what's bothering us and what we're thinking about at the moment like normal people. I don't know if that's possible with this dickhead.

He's so stubborn and prideful sometimes, I rather not talk to him because his ego is too big and sometimes I really wish I could tell him more because I feel really lonely and he's the only one I'm spending most of my time with.

I could talk to the girls but it's not the same and things between us aren't like that yet.

When we arrive at the club and get off the car, I hold my hands over my head because I don't want my hair to get wet.

The club is filled again but red hood told me I would have a night off, so I'm planning to go up to my room and read a book or watch a movie, with hot chocolate or something else that’s warm. He got me some amazing movies that I'm already really curious about.

Unfortunately these plans get canceled, when we see the security guards, who are always standing outside, dealing with some guys.

They seem like they're trying to get in and the securities are trying to stop them. They also seem pretty drunk. It’s not the first time that I’m witnessing something like this here. I’ve already seen a lot of stuff.

We walk towards them. Red hood asks them what's going on. My hair is getting wetter with every second. I hate it.

“These guys are trying to get in but don't have an ID and are drunk enough to mess with us…” he explains. I look up at red hood. He furrows his eyebrows and clenches his jaw. That means trouble.

“We're Just trying have fun. We got it, you have big balls but just let us in. We won't cause any problems.” one of the four guys says like he’s talking to a child... That’s not a good sign.

I can barely imagine how angry red hood is getting right now. He's getting aggressive very fast and I doubt that I want to see him aggressive again. He clenches his fists and I can feel the air tensing.

Then the same guy who talked, tries to push red hood but he grabs his wrist so tightly that I can see his veins and says “If you touch me I'll cut your hand off.” with such a deep voice that I’m a little shocked. His voice sounds different when he’s angry at other people and not at me.

“Now disappear before I let you suck your own dick.” he says, letting his hand go roughly. I look away. These kind of conversations still make me feel uncomfortable. Especially as a girl between so many guys. I just couldn’t get used to red hood talking that way. Maybe I should go inside and wait there for him.

I look up at the guys and notice how one of them is looking at me. Looking? He's about to eat me. I get a little scared. Especially when I see the empty bottle in his hand.

His hair is blond, he’s tall but not as tall as red hood, he has blue eyes and thin lips.

While things between red hood and one of them escalates, I concentrate on the one who's staring at me. I feel like he's going to attack me. The way he stares at me tells me that. I know he will. I start to walk towards red hood. Very very slowly, with small steps, hoping he won't notice it.

My heart starts beating faster. He looks so thirsty and his eyes are deep. He looks like a freak. I swallow. Why am I so far away from red hood and why do I think he would protect me and help me in such a situation? He has to. Because of Pablo. I know he would. Wouldn't he?

“Maybe we don't even need to get in. We can play with the b***h they have out here.” he says and grabs my wrist out of nowhere. I scream when he pulls me towards himself, grabbing me from behind. I hold my breath and clench my whole body. He grinds his nose on my neck and his hands go up to my boobs. I panic and scream.

Red hood hears my high voice and I feel my throat burning. I try to free myself but there's no need to because I see his eyes getting bigger. I haven’t seen him look like this yet… He looks like he’s out of his mind but it takes him only a second to grab the bottle out of his hand and break it on his head.

He lets me go and falls and I take the opportunity to take enough steps back so he can't touch me anymore. I watch how everything escalates.

Red hood gets on top of him and starts to punch him and he doesn’t stop. He punches him, as if he’s trying to break his hand on his face. I’m terrified by what I’m witnessing because it looks like he is trying to kill him. I want him to stop. I try to scream but my body won’t cooperate...

Red hood grabs his hair and hits his knee against his face. So hard that I could swear I heard his nose break. The other three guys already started to fight with the securities.

I have no idea what to do. If I try to help him, he'll yell at me and tell me to stay away but I won't feel well if I just keep standing here and walking in is not an option because I can’t pass the fighting men in front of the door.

Another one tries to jump on him put he kicks him away. He's really angry right now. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him this angry before. There’s this look on his face that’s so strange and scary…

“The only hoe I can see here is you.” I hear him say. Then he kicks the guy so hard in his balls that I'm sure his d**k is in his stomach now. I’m terrified but also impressed. Yet, don't like seeing red hood fighting. It scares me because I know he could hurt me like that, if I cross his lines and that makes me want to stay away from him. He shows what he’s capable of. I only want him to stop.

The guy he just kicked away comes back with a knife. I can feel how my palms start sweating. My mouth goes dry.

He walks towards him and my heart stops. My hair and my clothes are totally wet but I don't care about that all I care about is red hood staying safe.

He turns around and says “Lucille, move your ass upstairs!” he’s almost yelling.

Why am I not moving? I should do what he says but I can’t move... “Now, Lucille! Now!” he screams with a deeper voice, even angrier now. I don’t want him to attack me as well so I start to run, knowing exactly what's going to happen now.

It scares me to know that.

I run up the stairs and when I enter my room, I rush straight towards the window and look outside, to see what's going on but my window is too far away from the entrance.

I know how aggressive he can be and that he gets blind when he gets angry. That's not good.. I feel like it's my fault. I feel so bad but although I don't want anything to get worse, I still hope he'll kick their asses and give em what they deserve. It’s awful of me to admit that I already felt some kind of relief when he ruined the guys face, who touched me.

I don't even know, if I should be happy because he did protect me or if I should feel bad because I was the reason for this whole escalation.

We can't hide the fact that he got angry because that guy touched me, right? No matter how much he'll try to deny it, I saw how he looked in that moment. I wish I would know what's going on in his head. I'm sure he didn't do it, only because he had to.

I need to talk to him, as soon as he comes back. If he does...