Chapter 4 - Louisiana

Venice's Point of View

“Words spread fast,” Bella welcomed as soon as she walked back in the cabin.

Amari and Enzo are both sleeping on their seats, while Sin and I are both dwelling ourselves silently on the bar counter, sipping from our own drinks.

Bella dropped a laptop in front of us, showing a familiar face and place from a broadcast. News of Francisco Talianzo’s death spread over the country, and even some of the outside news outlets featured him as well.

“His life meant so much in the business field that a lot of known tycoons attended his funeral,” she filled the quiet air with her voice, as she switched the screen from the televised news to a live footage of that man’s wake.

I looked at the footage intently, seeing faces I once talked with before. Those familiar figures that appear to be concerned are actually the ones who have already betrayed one another every now and then.

How hypocritical is that? Being in the same room with the same people you wanted to kill, and pretend you are friends?

I fell into silence as I heard the news, not because I am guilty of what happened but because I am more than happy to end his damn life.

They could even say that I am the one who is bringing the bad karma along the way.

I could call it like that, or maybe it is just the real sense of justice? But the only difference is that I sort into violence to treat violence.

We have learned the hard way.

“He shouldn’t have touched something he was not fully aware of,” Sin muttered from the other end of the bar counter, as he devoured every remaining last drop of his Puni whiskey from the bottle with just one drink.

He stood up from the bar and tapped me once on my shoulder. He motioned his head on the other side, wanting me to go with him.

I just left Bella a short glance after I took my White Russian, and smiled before going out of that area to the next cabin where no one is staying.

There were no words coming out from Sin ever since we walked out of the bar area until we sat down in the empty seats.

His eyes are evidently tired, but his usual strong and intimidating posture immediately faded when there were only two of us left.

For a while, he is spacing out. The next seconds, anger and sadness both manifested in his eyes.

“Alyana was one of the first friends I had back in the organization,” he started as he stared at the window, watching the clouds from the plane’s seat. “She opened charities and repaid the organization in the kindest way possible. Even if we are so far from being good and kind.”

Together with him, I stared out of the window, trying to get the remorse out of my system and free myself from this shame I just had because of that mission, for some reason.

“She might have left the Underground, but she continued doing much for it. Alyana already gave more than her debts.”

A different kind of ache can be heard from his voice. Like a regret.

Because there is a kind of debt that is hard to pay with any material things in the world: a debt of gratitude.

Another moment was filled with more minutes of deafening silence.

Deep inside, I know that Sinistre wanted to take out Francisco Talianzo, himself. He wanted to pull the trigger on his own and bury a bullet deep down that man’s skull.

But I had to meddle with that, or else there would be no more body to recover and to mourn with if I had let him take over.

I was so close to bringing that justice to the organization, to him, and to Alyana herself.

Only if someone did not steal it from my grasp.

“She’ll rest in peace now, Sin. We’ve won,” my last sentence came out almost like a whisper.

I looked out of the window once again when he directly met my eyes like a confronting force waiting for me to speak up.

But my silence came off like a torture for him.

“What’s wrong, hija?” his voice immediately went from grieving to caring. “You’ve been occupied since we left.”

“You know what happened,” I said certainly. “You know exactly why I had to chase that man, but I lost him.”

“He was a man of enemies,” Sin referred to Talianzo. “We might have paved the way for someone who needed that revenge more than us, more than me.”

As much as I don’t want to talk about my case, he opened it in a way that I cannot escape.

“Or it could be someone trying to sabotage us,” I reasoned out with conviction. “Someone shot my rope from the building and set off a grenade right in front of my face. It was the same person I was chasing, Sin. That is not a fucking coincidence.”

I stood up from the cabin annoyed after remembering it again and again.

I know what Sinistre was doing. He is still treating me like a child he used to teach, but I am not like that anymore. Consoling me in that way while knowing the obvious truth is a different kind of insult.

It was not a simple revenge on our target. It would not go that far if Francisco was the one he was aiming for.

That man specifically sabotaged my assignment because I was the target.

I was so sure of that.

But the question remains: who is he, and why would he even do that?

“Convo didn’t go well?” Amari said when I reached the sleeping cabin, where she and Enzo were left earlier.

The smell of a nutty, caramel-like, hint of vanilla entered my nose as soon as I saw her awake, focused on her screen. On the other side is Bella, who’s now sleeping beside Enzo.

I could use a coffee to calm myself down, but I am badly in need of sleep.

“Wake me up when we’re about to take off,” I answered, disregarding her first question. I sat back on my seat and closed my eyes.

Minutes after, I felt Sin’s presence entering our cabin.

Him and Amari talked a bit, but I just let myself doze off the entire flight.

I have something more to think of and do, rather than torturing myself by staying awake.

—

“Take that damn package out of here!” I shouted to Sinistre when he attempted to get out of the van.

I signaled Amari to take Sin back, as they drove away from us—sealing the deliveries from Recimera.

“I’ll cover you,” Bella said from the earpiece, running to a higher position while dodging a lot of bullets coming at her.

“Shoot that rifle first. I’ll take it from there,” I answered before positioning myself behind a large metal container, avoiding their attacks.

“Copy that.”

As I saw our van moving away with a tail, I immediately ran after it and pointed my gun at the back of the chaser.

A loud screech temporarily paused the trigger of the guns after I shot those tires, until a deafening explosion forced us to take cover from the impact. But I only took a few seconds of rest to settle my ears, before starting to return the bullets back to where they were coming from.

“Stay close, Snapdragon.”

“After you, Crown.”

I ran to the other side to secure our ride away from the scene. Just as I was about to mount on it, a hard punch welcomed the side of my face, pulling me off from that escape.

Before he could even throw another blow, I kicked him in his beloved treasure before throwing him a series of punches in his face.

I took my dagger off my boots, but his reflexes are much quicker than I thought. He recovered from what I did right away, and twisted me around—trying to pull my weapon from me.

I winced from the pain but I could not let it be the reason for my loss. With all my strength, I tried to get away from his hold despite his tightening clutch on my wrist, as if wanting to devour my skin and reach my bones with his hand!

But before he could even steal my dagger from me, I dropped it on my back as my other hand caught it right away.

He let go of me when he saw what I was about to do and turned around to give me a kick, but I saw right through his moves and quickly lowered myself to dodge it. Taking the advantage of my height, I dropped myself on the ground, giving back the hard kick he was about to give.

When he was not looking, I was about to give him another one but his hands caught my foot and tried to take me off my balance. Just as I was about to fall, he pulled me back to my feet and grabbed my waist, pulling me closer to him, as he fastly stole my dagger from my hands effortlessly.

“Welcome to Louisiana…” his familiar voice registered in my ears, while he’s letting out a sarcastic chuckle.

I could feel his hands tightening on my waist and before I could even react, he pushed me as hard as he could on the bike. I managed to pull his hand back, but he strongly took himself out from me when he saw Bella above the container, and was about to shoot.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” I said to her before mounting on the bike and started the engine right away. This time, it was her who jumped and I was the one who caught her.

“Who the fuck was that?” she said as we drove away while shooting those men going after us.

I focused myself on the road while avoiding the bullets coming at us, wanting to stop our escape from Recimera. But growing up mastering this road, they could not easily take me down with those attacks.

I know my trails. I surely know my way out.

“I don’t know what kind of courage he has, but how dare he touch this fortress,” I retorted while keeping the wheels hot out.

“Was he the same man from Italy?” a hint of assurance came from Bella’s voice.

“Alstro, call the headquarters. I want every eye and gun pointed to that black rose tattoo fucktard.”