Chapter:The Call to reclaim
POV: Russo
The room goes quiet the moment I stand.
Not suddenly—nothing about me is sudden. It happens gradually, like a wave pulling back before it crashes. Voices lower, chairs still, eyes shift.
Power doesn’t need noise.
It just… settles.
I adjust the cuff of my sleeve, slow and precise, letting my gaze move across the men seated around the table. None of them hold eye contact for long. They never do.
“Is that all?” I ask.
My voice is calm. Always calm.
A man at the far end clears his throat. “Yes, sir. The shipment has been secured. There were… minor delays, but—”
“Delays,” I repeat.
I don’t raise my voice. I don’t need to.
The word hangs in the air, stretching just enough to make him regret saying it.
“Handled, sir,” he adds quickly.
I hold his gaze for a second longer than necessary.
“Make sure it stays that way.”
A chorus of agreement follows. Too fast. Too eager.
I don’t respond. I don’t have to.
I reach for my coat, draping it over my arm in one smooth motion. The meeting is over—not because anyone said it, but because I’m leaving.
That’s how this works.
Outside, the night greets me with a quiet chill.
The city is alive—lights, noise, movement—but I’ve never really been part of it. I exist above it. Around it. Not in it.
“Sir—” my driver starts.
“I’ll drive.”
He hesitates for half a second before stepping back.
Good.
I slide into the car, shutting the door behind me. The silence is immediate. Clean.
For a moment, I don’t start the engine.
I just sit there.
Hands resting on the wheel. Eyes unfocused.
This—this silence—is the only thing that belongs entirely to me.
Then—
My phone rings.
The sound cuts through everything, sharp and unwelcome.
I glance at the screen.
Unknown.
My jaw tightens slightly.
Very few people have this number. Fewer still would dare to call me like this.
I let it ring once.
Twice.
It doesn’t stop.
Something—instinct, maybe—makes me answer.
“Speak.”
There’s a pause on the other end.
Then—
“…Russo.”
Everything inside me stills.
I don’t move. Not outwardly.
But I know that voice.
I’d recognize it anywhere.
Years could pass. Decades. It wouldn’t matter.
“You shouldn’t have this number,” I say.
My voice doesn’t change.
“I had it… kept.”
Of course you did.
I lean back slightly, my gaze drifting to the windshield even though I’m not really seeing anything.
“What do you want?”
No greetings.
No pretenses.
Another pause.
He’s choosing his words carefully.
That alone tells me everything I need to know.
“…I need you to come back.”
A short breath leaves me. Not quite a laugh.
“Do you?”
There’s no anger in my tone. That would require feeling something I buried a long time ago.
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t necessary.”
Necessary.
That word again.
It always comes back to necessity with him. With them.
I tap my fingers once against the steering wheel.
“You made it clear,” I say slowly, “that I was no longer part of that world.”
There’s a flicker in my mind—
A door closing.
A decision made without me.
“I made a mistake.”
That… almost makes me pause.
Almost.
“That’s new,” I say.
Silence stretches between us.
Heavy. Familiar.
“They’ve ruined it.”
My eyes sharpen slightly.
“…What?”
“The organization,” he continues. “The structure. The discipline. Everything I built—”
He exhales.
“They’ve turned it into something weak. Greedy. Uncontrolled.”
I say nothing.
But I listen.
“They’ve made bad deals. Trusted the wrong people. It’s only a matter of time before it collapses.”
A beat.
“I can’t fix it anymore.”
That’s the first honest thing he’s said.
I glance down at my hand on the wheel. Steady. Always steady.
“…So you remembered me,” I say quietly.
He doesn’t deny it.
“You were always meant for it.”
A faint smile touches my lips. Not warm. Not kind.
“That’s not what everyone else thought.”
“No,” he admits. “It wasn’t.”
Another pause.
“But they were wrong.”
The words linger.
I close my eyes for a brief second, exhaling slowly.
Loyalty.
Resentment.
Something unfinished.
When I open them again, it’s gone.
“What exactly are you asking?” I say.
No emotion. Just business.
“Come back. Take control. Fix what’s broken.”
A beat.
“Take over.”
Silence fills the car.
But this time, it’s different.
Heavier.
Charged.
I lean forward slightly, my fingers tightening around the steering wheel as something settles deep inside me.
After all these years…
Now.
Now he needs me.
I let the silence stretch just long enough to remind him—
Nothing about this is owed.
“…I’ll think about it,” I say.
A lie.
We both know it.
Because the moment he said take over—
The decision was already made.
I end the call without another word.
For a second, I just sit there.
Then I start the engine.
The car hums to life beneath me.
My reflection stares back faintly from the windshield—calm, controlled, unchanged.
But inside—
Something has shifted.
“Take over,” I murmur.
This time, there’s something else in my voice.
Not hesitation.
Not doubt.
Hunger.
I pull out into the night, the city lights blurring past me.
Somewhere behind me is the life I built.
Ahead—
A broken empire waiting to be claimed.
And this time…
I’m not going back as the boy they cast aside.
I’m going back to take everything.
