Bound By Fate

People mistake control for calm when you rule a city’s underworld. If your voice doesn’t waver and your eyes don’t flinch, they think you’re unbreakable. Control, real control, isn’t calm. You’ve taught it to be a storm, to stay quiet until you need it to rage. For me, that storm has a name: Verona. The cartel that took my mother’s life, that left a hole in my chest so deep I don’t know if it will ever close. I’ve been waiting for this day for years, waiting to take everything from them, piece by bloody piece. The room stank of old smoke and desperation. The traitor sitting in front of me, Marcus, looked like a man who had realized too late that he had made a fatal error. He felt his wrists tied on the arms of the chair; the rope was dug into his skin. Sweat trickled from his temple down to his collar. His gaze was fixed somewhere over my shoulder; he wouldn’t look at me. Typical. When they know they’ve screwed you, they always avoid your eyes. I leaned forward and said, “Marcus.” I didn’t raise my voice above a whisper, but it sliced through the silence like a blade. I gave you a chance to explain yourself. You chose to lie. I’m giving you one last opportunity now. Where’s the shipment?” His shoulders curled inward; he flinched. “I told you, Mr. Crowe. I don’t know. The Veronas must’ve—” I smashed my fist on the table between us, a c***k through the air. “Don’t you dare say their name to me.” I kept my voice low, but it was venomous now. “Do you think I’m stupid? “Why would you sell out to them if you don’t know me?” An animal in a corner was how Marcus’s eyes darted around the room looking for an escape. There wasn’t one. My lieutenant Gareth stood by the door, arms crossed and a half smile playing on his lips. Gareth liked this part of the job too much, but he was loyal, and in this business, loyalty was more important than morality. Gareth stepped forward, saying, “Boss.” His voice was casual, the way he got when he was about to suggest something terrible. “Would you like me to loosen his tongue?” I’ve got ways.” I raised a hand to stop him. “Not yet.” My eyes locked onto Marcus’s. “You’ve got one chance. Or I’ll let Gareth here take over and tell me where the shipment is. You won’t like his methods.” Marcus’s chest heaved in quick, short bursts, and his breath hitched. “Please, I… I didn’t mean to… They offered me money. My kid’s sick; I needed…” I laughed sharply, the sound ringing in the small room. “Stop wasting my time with sob stories.” You think your kid is the only one sick in this city? The only one who needs money? You made a choice, Marcus. And now you’re going to live with it.” I thought, I’ll either live with it or die with it, but I didn’t say it out loud. No need to rush things. Gareth cracked his knuckles for effect and moved closer. Marcus’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, and his eyes widened. There was a knock at the door before Gareth could lay a hand on him. Rap, rap, rap—three sharp, measured raps. “What?” I annoyedly barked at the interruption. One of my men poked his head through the door, which opened just enough. “Boss, you should see something.” It’s urgent.” I looked at Marcus, then at Gareth. “Keep him breathing. I’ll be back.” Gareth’s grin widened. “Oh, I’ll keep him breathing. Barely.” The lighting was dim in the hallway outside, and the flickering bulbs only helped to strengthen the eerie feel hovering over the building. My man gave me a sealed envelope, his face tight. “Here, this just came in. I thought you’d want to see it right away.” Without a word, I took the envelope and ripped it open. Inside was a single piece of paper, the words scrawled in a messy, almost frantic hand: The Veronas killed her. The ledger has proof. The old ache of loss seemed to flare up in my chest, tightening. Is my mother’s face, her warm smile, the way she used to hum in the kitchen, the way her laughter filled the room, not good enough? The way her body had looked, cold and lifeless, after the Veronas had finished with her. I pushed the memory away, forcing it out of my head. The ledger. If this note was right, it wasn’t just a bunch of numbers and names. But it was a weapon; I could use it to destroy the Veronas from the inside out. “Who sent this?” My voice was sharper than I meant it to be, and I demanded. The man shook his head. “No return address. No one saw who dropped it off; it was left at the front door.” I crumpled the note in my fist and cursed under my breath. This wasn’t just a lead. Or it could be a trap. But it didn’t matter. I couldn’t ignore it, trap or not. I turned around to the room where Marcus was being held. Now Gareth was leaning over him, his voice low and menacing, and the gods knew he hated Gareth. Marcus was about two minutes away from a full breakdown. I called out, “Gareth,” and he straightened. “Get him out of here. He’s not worth the time.” Gareth frowned, obviously not pleased. “You sure? I was just getting started.” “I’m sure. Send him off somewhere the Veronas will find him.“ Let them deal with their little pet.” I didn’t care, but Marcus’s relief was palpable. He wasn’t my problem anymore. I had more important things to worry about. I stared at the note again in my office, my mind racing. If there was a ledger, if it really did have proof of what the Veronas had done to my mother, if it proved my mother had done all the things Sir Robert said, then it was the answer to everything. Whatever you wanted to call it, revenge, justice, or closure. I would do whatever it took to find it. I was snapped out of my thoughts by the desk phone buzzing. I grabbed it, my tone sharp. “What is it?” Gareth’s voice came through the line. “Boss.” “We know where that shipment is.” ‘It’s being moved tonight, down by the docks,’ one of our informants says. The gears in my head turned, and I leaned back in my chair. The shipment could wait. The Veronas couldn’t. “Send someone else,” I said. “I have something more important to deal with.” ‘Understood,’ Gareth said, after a pause. I stood and grabbed my coat as the line went dead. Outside the city was waiting, a maze of light and shadow. The answers I’d been chasing for years were somewhere in that maze, and it was in that maze that I knew I needed to find that ledger… I wasn’t calm. I was a storm. Tonight, the Veronas would taste it to its fury.