Chapter 12: The Ghost with a Gun
606 Words
> “You.”
Lucien froze.
He thought he’d misheard. Or maybe Zarek was still lost in his own past. But the look in his eyes said otherwise.
Zarek wasn’t afraid for himself.
He was afraid for Lucien.
> “Why me?” Lucien whispered.
Zarek exhaled smoke, slow and bitter. “Because you matter. And the second someone matters in this world, they become a weapon to someone else.”
Lucien swallowed. “Tell me who Ciro is.”
Zarek stared at the burning cigarette between his fingers like he wished it were a bullet. “Ciro Dantes. Ex-Velenza enforcer. Grew up in the organization. Ruthless. Brilliant. Deadly.”
Lucien sat beside him, the room dimly lit by the streetlamp outside. “So what happened?”
Zarek turned toward him, shadows painting the lines of his jaw.
> “He loved me.”
Lucien blinked. “Wait—”
> “Not the way you think. It wasn’t romance. It wasn’t even lust. It was obsession. Control. I was his weapon, his brother, his possession. Until I became stronger than him.”
Zarek stood and paced, his voice hardening with every word.
> “I was next in line. He didn’t like that. He put a bullet in my chest and vanished.”
Lucien’s breath caught. “The scar…”
Zarek nodded.
Lucien got up and walked toward him, fingers gently brushing the space over his heart.
> “He did this to you.”
Zarek nodded again, this time more quietly. “And now he’s come back. For the one thing I won’t let him take.”
> “Me.”
Zarek didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
---
Elsewhere — A Dark Room, Flickering Light
Ciro stood in front of a wall covered in photographs. Some old. Some new. All of Zarek.
In the middle of them—one photo burned around the edges—was Lucien’s face. A recent shot. Smiling.
> “So soft,” Ciro murmured. “So breakable.”
Behind him, a man in a blood-stained suit shifted. “Orders?”
Ciro smiled slowly. “We don’t kill him. Not yet.”
He turned, his voice honeyed poison.
> “We make Zarek watch first.”
---
Velenza Mansion — Midnight
Lucien couldn’t sleep.
He lay in bed, Zarek beside him, but the silence between them had sharpened into something unbearable.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Lucien asked.
Zarek opened his eyes. “Because you’re the only good thing in my life. And I didn’t want to drag you into the dark.”
Lucien turned toward him. “Too late.”
Zarek smiled sadly. “Yeah. I know.”
Lucien slid closer, their bodies almost touching. He rested his hand on Zarek’s chest, right over the scar. “Then let me stay. In the dark. With you.”
> “I don’t want to lose you.”
> “Then don’t.”
Zarek leaned in. He kissed him softly. Not like fire this time—but like a prayer.
---
Morning — Blood in the Roses
Lucien stepped into the courtyard alone, needing air, needing space. The black rose bush had bloomed again, wild and sharp.
But something was wrong.
A single flower had been plucked and left at the foot of the stone fountain. Its petals were stained red.
Blood.
Lucien took a step back. And that’s when he saw it—words etched into the stone beneath.
> “I see you, pretty thing.”
His scream brought half the estate running.
But by then, Ciro was already gone.
And war had officially begun.
- Writer
