Shadows Of The Vow

Chapter Eight The Vow: Where I belong

Antonioni's POV

I had gone to sleep by 2:15 am

The room was quiet, too quiet.

But inside me, something stirred.

I closed my eyes for just a moment, and I was pulled under.

Dragged back into that place.

The old dream.

The nightmare that always returned, like a ritual I never chose but could never escape.

I stood barefoot on cold marble floors, surrounded by black-robed figures in a torch-lit chamber.

A low chant filled the air, ancient, guttural, like the groaning of the earth.

In front of me, a stone altar soaked in dried blood, cracked and charred from time itself.

Then I saw him. My father.

Still alive in the dream. Still draped in the crimson robe of the Order. Still staring at me with those dead eyes I inherited.

He stepped forward, holding out a dagger.

“You are my blood,” He said. “You must vow what I vowed. Or lose everything.”

I tried to speak, but my mouth wouldn’t move.

Two masked men grabbed my arms. Forced me to kneel.

Nothing like being recognized as the Shadow King there.

I was rather limp and obedient.

Then the chant grew louder. The room was becoming darker too.

A voice, not mine, spoke from my throat.

"By the blood that flows from the womb of betrayal,

By the ashes of the women we buried unseen,

I vow to the Order of the Crimson Shadow,

To keep my heart from the touch of a woman.

To drink no affection, nor taste the wine of desire.

To build no home, plant no seed,

For love is weakness, and weakness, death.

As my father vowed, so I vow…”

A s***h across my palm. Blood dripped onto the altar.

Then fire erupted from the cracks in the ground, and the robes began to burn. The torches screamed. The altar bled.

I woke up choking, my chest soaked in sweat, my breath ragged.

The room was spinning.

My sheets of the bed where I laid were tangled, soaked. My skin felt like it was crawling. Like the vow had etched itself onto my soul again. A branding I could never wash off.

No matter how much power I had…

No matter how many people I controlled…

Love would always be the forbidden fruit.

I sat up on the edge of the bed, hands trembling, I checked the time.

The time was 4:30 am.

I couldn't sleep anymore. I just laid down in bed, thinking about the nightmare that haunted me for many years now.

“What is the meaning of this particular dream I always have?” I processed it.

There was Annabelle, beside me, snoring. She was deeply asleep.

Still in my thoughts, I had another thought that troubled me even more than the nightmare itself.

A question that peered into my mind.

“Yesterday at Dock Twelve, we arrived to meet the Vipers already there. There was no way they could know of our coming, but they even seemed like they were ready for our arrival.”

I sank deeper into the thought. “And even if they suspected we'd come looking for our goods, which is normal, who then told them the exact time we'd be there, yesterday?

Someone must have informed them about our coming. I'm convinced about that.”

Annabelle adjusted, briefly snapping me out of my thoughts.

I continued. “Must be the same person who had given him my weapon’s details, three months ago. There’s undoubtedly an insider in this dome and Park, working secretly for Lorenzo.”

I balled my right fist in anger. “I must find out who that snitch is! And I'll use him as an example to show others like him how I burn snitching ass rats in my Park.”

We needed to have a meeting right away, before something got out of hand.

I checked the time again.

It was 4:49 am.

I picked my phone, fiddled with it and found Bukky’s number.

“Hello B. Set up a meeting with everyone in the Park. I want to see every single soul, especially all our in-house security personnels and trainers. You can leave out those in the kitchens.”

“Yes, boss. I'll do just that and let you know when everyone is out.” Bukky responded.

“I need to see them in the next twenty minutes.” I said, checking my time once again. “We'll use the rooftop lounge.” I added.

“Okay. Copied, boss.” He had replied when the line dropped.

I was sitting upright on the bed at this time. I got up and headed to the closet to get myself prepared for the meeting.

After some minutes, Bukky had called.

Slipping a Glock into my waist, I headed out to the rooftop lounge.

****

On getting there, everyone was already standing and waiting. Multitudes of them. Men and women alike, from all corners of my Marina Park Estate, were there waiting for me. Faces looking quiet and tense at the same time.

Their voices in unison, thundered in the air once I entered and stood in front of them.

“Good morning, boss.”

“I will go straight to the point. One of you here is a betrayer, working with our enemies.”

Murmur filled the atmosphere for a moment.

“I promise you, we're already on it and we're heading somewhere. But I'm giving this person a chance now to confess and get saved from my wrath, if not…”

I clenched my fists and bowed my brows together.

“Y'all know me. I'm giving this person this last time to open up. We'll allocate ten minutes to that.”

There was absolute silence in the lounge, like a graveyard. Ten minutes had passed and nobody spoke up.

“Good. I promise that person, I'll stop at nothing. He or she will beg for death, but won't see it immediately.” I had said, discarding them as soon as I dropped my speech.

As they dispersed to their different houses, my three right-hand men gathered around me, closing me in.

“Good day, guys.” I greeted them and they replied

“Like you knew it, boss. I was thinking about that throughout the night. I couldn't wait for the day to break to tell you.” Diego said, closing in on me.

“We need to find out who that is. Immediately we got to the basement yesterday, I felt the presence. Like we were being monitored.

I called señor Cruz immediately, and he promised to send his men to raid the whole area. Yet, no one was discovered”

They all squirmed furiously.

“Milo, you're the best person to tackle this. Match every footprint, voice, and face that came out when the final preparation at the basement was on-going.” I exhaled.

“You can work with Señor Cruz and his team to achieve this,” I added.

“Sure boss, I'll do that right away and we'll get back to you.” He responded and we all parted ways.

I headed back to the room. I needed to check on Annabelle.

Surprisingly, I got to the room and couldn't find her in there.

Where could this b***h be?

I had bought her a new phone, together with the clothes, but had forgotten to give it to her.

Like a snap, I rewound the CCTV in my room and found out she had received a cup of coffee from one of the kitchen workers, drank it a little and had worn a white robe and had left the room. “Where was she going?”

It was already twenty minutes and she was yet to be back.

I picked up my phone and asked the head of the in-house guards to organize a search for her.

I had stood there for ten minutes more and there was no positive feedback coming. Just negative feedback about no one knowing her whereabouts.

I lost patience.

I needed to alert the main securities. The girl could be on her way, escaping from the Park.

I needed to find her.

I called the head of the main control security panel in the Park and he swung into action. Sirens alerting everywhere.

I sat down on the bed and waited for any feedback concerning her whereabouts.

This time, I was boiling with anger.

That girl thinks she can add to the list of my many worries!? I need to show her who I am then.

I stood up again. Sitting was becoming uncomfortable.

Just then, one of the security guards pulled her in.

“Boss, I caught her running in the hallway,” He had reported.

She seemed in pain already but I cared less about that.

“Good, let go of her,” I ordered, fuming with anger.

I gave her a one-time but merciless slap on her right cheek.

She fell down, groaning in pain.

“So you think you're smart right? Because you didn't see the guard in front of the room, you decided to escape.” I roared at her.

“I wasn't escaping!” She cried out, still on the floor and holding her right cheek with both hand

“So what were you doing, and where were you!?” I roared again. “I stood here waiting for you for over thirty minutes, but you didn’t show up!”

I was bitter at her, even though, surprisingly, punishing her made me feel… somehow.

“I was in the kitchen… ” She responded, almost breathlessly, tears running down her cheeks.

Her eyes and face were red too.

I looked at her, raging with fury. She lied.

She wasn't in the kitchen. A guard was sent to also check the kitchen area and he didn't report to have found her there.

I need to start putting this girl in her rightful place before she makes things tougher or more complicated for me.

I grabbed her by the neck and dragged her up, as if my plan was to strangle her.

She gasped at my sudden grab and choked at my hands, tight on her neck. Still sobbing hard.

“Bloody liar! A guard was sent to check the kitchen too! What do you take me for?!” I barked. “Listen! One more bad report from you and you're dead…”

My voice was interrupted by Anna's voice.

“She was with me in the kitchen, boss.”

On hearing that, I slowly released her throat, unsure of what to say or do. Anna hadn't spoken up earlier, and I was too stressed out by her disappearance.

I stepped back, looking at her.

She held her throat, still sobbing.

I motioned both the guard and Anna to leave.

I went to my closet and came back with the phone I had forgotten to give her earlier.

I flung it at her and she caught it with her hands.

“You don't leave this room if I haven't authorized you to. I got you that so that you'll always let me know anytime you need something that might make you leave the room.” I said to her, my voice already calm.

She looked down at the handset I had tossed to her, her face still squeezed from the torture.

In that instant, my phone rang.

It was Diego.

“Boss. This is just a reminder. We leave for Italy in twenty minutes.”

“f**k! I hate Naples.” I exclaimed, rushing out of the room.

Twenty minutes later, we got our arms, wore some bullet-proofs, got our choppers ready, and left for Italy. We were going for our shipment that we believed Lorenzo had confiscated in Naples.

With me were Bukky, Diego, Milo, Matteo and Señor Cruz, with his team.

The blades of the chopper sliced through the air as we soared toward Naples, cutting across clouds like a warning. I sat near the window, jaw clenched, trying to push down the fury bubbling in my chest.

Lorenzo had gone too far this time.

By the time we landed, dusk had crept in. The city lights blinked like a trap waiting to snap. But we weren’t here to play nice. We moved fast, no sightseeing, no delays. Diego had already gotten coordinates of Lorenzo’s estate, and Cruz had someone on the inside feeding him intel.

Getting into his villa was shockingly easy.

Too easy.

There were fewer guards than we expected, and some of them seemed nervous, like they knew something was coming but weren’t sure when. Lorenzo wasn’t home, and Catto, his chief security guard, acted surprised to see us, even dared to laugh.

“Señor Anthony,” He said coolly, brushing dust off his sleeve. “I see your paranoia has aged like bad wine.”

I didn’t say a word. I simply nodded to Milo.

Milo understood.

Within the hour, we had raided every warehouse Lorenzo owned across the coast. From the outskirts to the port district, our men swept through like wildfire. We broke locks, opened containers, turned everything upside down.

Nothing.

Not a single box.

Not a single crate with our mark.

Not one sign that León Fierro’s shipment had ever passed through Naples.

“Where the hell are the goods?” Bukky muttered beside me, kicking a box that only had used mechanical parts and dust.

I stayed silent, my thoughts racing. This wasn’t just a theft. This was a game. A diversion.

Diego came over, face tight. “We’ve checked the final two warehouses. Same thing. Empty. Or packed with irrelevant junk. Not even close to what we’re looking for.”

Cruz approached from the shadows, his voice low. “I’m beginning to think Lorenzo never had them in the first place.”

I turned sharply. “Then who does?”

Cruz stared at me for a second too long. “That… is what worries me.”

I didn’t like that answer. I didn’t like the fact that we’d flown halfway across Europe just to walk into ghost warehouses and hollow threats. I especially didn’t like the possibility that someone else had outplayed us.

“It’s not here,” I growled.

Throughout the oppression, We couldn’t see Lorenzo. Not in the villa. Not in any of the warehouses. Not in the city.

And the most disturbing part? There was no sign of a struggle. No forced exit. No blood. No panic. It was as if he’d seen us coming and walked away from the scene of a crime he didn’t commit.

We raided all five of his warehouses across Naples, north, south, near the port, and even the discreet one behind the marble yard. Not a single box, not a single mark from our shipment. Just dust, crates of wine, and legal imports that even Cruz’s Interpol contact couldn’t flag.

I stood in the final warehouse, the air thick with the scent of mildew and rust. Milo slammed a crowbar against an empty wooden crate in frustration.

“This is it?” Bukky muttered, walking around slowly. “All this noise. All these men. All these weapons. And nothing?”

Matteo turned to me. “Lorenzo’s gone. But… I don’t think he ran.”

I glanced at him. “Then what do you think?”

“I think he just removed himself from a fire he didn't ignite. It's not him.”

Diego’s brows furrowed. “Removed?”

“Think about it,” Matteo continued. “Lorenzo’s too old school. He’s flashy, but not suicidal. If he’d taken the goods, he would’ve kept them locked behind one of his mistresses’ closets and left us a calling card. This isn’t him.”

Bukky added, “And so if he didn’t steal it… then who else did? This is too clean, cold and calculated.”

Silence swept over us.

Cruz folded his arms, leaning against the van door. “So now we’re in another country, with no target, no proof, and no cargo.”

The taste of failure itched at the back of my throat.

I had been so sure. So convinced that Lorenzo was playing his old tricks. But the deeper we dug, the clearer it became:

Lorenzo Ricco was innocent.

Someone else that I can't even place my hands on did. It beats me that I don't have the slightest guess.

I stepped out of the warehouse, lit a cigarette, and stared at the stars above Naples.

If someone was playing games with me… they had just made the most dangerous move of their life.

“Get ready,” I said coldly. “We’re heading back. But before we return, I want every truck driver, every port boy, and every club rat in Naples to be questioned. If we don't succeed with finding the damn goods, then we're sure we're all gonna die in Fierro's hands!”

Matteo nodded. “We’ll find them.”

“We sure will.” Bukky said.

“No,” I said slowly. “We’ll find the bastard who did this. And when we do…”

My words trailed off. But they all knew what came next.

I don’t forgive betrayal.

And I don’t miss twice.