Anthony reentered his limo, and they began chasing the taxi hotly.
Meanwhile, the masked driver kept speeding, he was literally flying on the road, making Sergio's head swing around in the car till it finally hit the window.
That spot began bleeding, and he faced the driver with heavy breaths.
"Who're you?" He panted, but instead of answering, he made a turnaround and trespassed into the other side of the road, making Sergio's head hit the window again.
"F**k!!" He groaned as his blood wet his face again.
The driver ventured into a street shop, knocking away all the wares of the shop owners just to make way for himself.
He was able to maneuver, and he entered another street.
The tyres screeched yet again when he made a dangerous u-turn, and for the third time, Sergio's head hit on the window.
He only groaned quietly this time since questions don't seem to work on the driver.
He looked at him, and his eyes caught hazel eyes which were left uncovered by the mask.
That's the only thing visible on his face, then the veiny hand he's driving with.
He has had more than twenty drivers, but none is surely as skilled as the masked guy driving him right now.
It'd surely take centuries before any normal human can drive roughly with just an hand without missing anything out.
A poisonous smile formed on his lips as he continued staring at the masked face, did he finally find the protector he needed?
The car finally halted in the silent part of the street, and that brought him back to the present.
Seems Anthony and his girls lost them already cos there's no sign of any coming car.
"Who're you?" Sergio asked calmly, and he faced him slowly before removing his mask, only to reveal a f**king handsome face, Franklin's!
Sergio's eyes widened, and he eventually smiled.
"You're a baddie"
Franklin's face held no emotion as he got down from the taxi to check it out.
The body is wrecked already as a result of the hot race, and he became even more sad.
"If you're worried about the taxi, I can pay for it" Sergio said, coming out too.
Franklin didn't look at him before going back into the taxi to get the red teddy he got for Serafina.
He was actually on his way back from the store when he saw the scene.
"I don't need your money" he told Sergio and got back in.
"Why did you save me?" Sergio asked.
Franklin took a while before talking.
"I dunno, maybe I couldn't watch someone die in front of me again" he said bluntly without looking at him.
He finally drove off, and Sergio smiled again.
"You've got nowhere to run to, you're mine from now on" he muttered.
He touched his bloody head and grinned loudly.
"Anthony, you bit more than you can chew this time, and your blood will face the consequences" he muttered wickedly.
A black car came speeding immediately, Barnabas is the driver.
He's in his early forties with full grey hair, obviously dyed.
"Took you long enough, I could have died!" Sergio shouted.
"I'm a mere advisor, not one of your bodyguards, so don't pour the anger on the wrong person, you should strengthen your castle more instead of this" Barnabas replied, and Sergio got in the car.
"I lost twenty-two guards! Twenty two you heard me! Anthony messed so hard and I'mma pay back in folds!" Sergio shouted, wiping his bloody face with an hanky.
"How'd you escape?" Barnabas asked as he drove.
"Just drive" Sergio ordered.
"You could have called Doctor Luciano to come for your teeth implant in the castle instead of trying to go meet him in the hospital, Anthony is f**king tricky and his girls are everywhere, you should have known better, Sergio" Barnabas said.
"One more word from you, and your tongue is gone. You only speak when I ask!" Sergio snapped, and Barnabas sighed, resting back on his seat as he focused on the road.
They arrived at the castle shortly, and Sergio left the car immediately.
"Inform my sons and the top bodyguards to meet in Eden in thirty minutes" He ordered and left for his palace.
He stormed in and went straight to a wall hanger in the living room where various weapons were hung.
He picked a combat knife and removed it from it's sheath.
The blade glimmered, and he smiled darkly when the beams reflected on the wall.
"Told you not to tempt me Anthony, but now that you did, you leave me with no choice" he muttered and placed his left palm on the wall.
The spot beamed red immediately, bringing out the shape of his palm, and that same minute, a spot opened on the ground, leading to his underground cell vaults.
He was still smiling as he walked there with the knife, and immediately his foot touched the spot, it began going down like an elevator till he went out of sight, and the spot closed up.
*****
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, EDEN**
Eden is the name given to the hall where Sergio meets with anyone when the need arises, it's in the middle of the castle.
Sofia and Ghost walked in together, and when they met Aurora on seat already, Sofia smirked.
She knows better than to talk again, so she kept her thoughts in as she walked to the round table and sat with Ghost.
"Hey Aurora" Ghost winked, trying to start a conversation.
Aurora gave him an hateful look as expected, and when he made to talk again, she smiled, and he went silent.
Aurora never smiles, but whenever she does, it's a dangerous warning.
"Why bother talk to her, not like she's a queen or something" Sofia said beside him, and Armani came in that moment with a lollipop trapped between his lips as usual.
He sat quietly beside Aurora, and Aurora gave him a hard glare immediately.
He stood and sat far away from her to avoid chaos.
Rocco came in next, then Romeo.
They sat on the round table too, Sergio came in, reeking of blood.
This time it's not the blood from his wounded head, it's surely the blood of another person.
Immediately he got to the center of the round table, he stopped and rested his bloody palms on it.
"How many guards are left guarding the castle right now?" He asked.
"102" Rocco replied.
"We need recruitment as soon as possible, and about Anthony, he payed for the guards he killed already" Sergio replied, and Romeo raised his brows.
"How?"
"That's not important right now, I made a plan" Sergio finally sat.
"What's it about? Boss" Sofia asked.
"Going around with too many guards might be meaningless, what happened today might happen again so I've decided to create a R5 with the top guards. They'd do my guarding apart from going on missions, and of course, your pays will be raised" Sergio replied.
"R5?" Ghost asked.
"Ruthless 5" Aurora replied smartly, and Sergio smiled.
"But we the top guards are 4" Armani said, and Sergio sat back.
"An addition is coming in today, definitely" he said confidently, and a guard brought Mia in.
Her neck is all red from the choking she got from Sofia's belt, and immediately Romeo saw it, he spranged up.
"The f**k is up with your neck?" He asked, but she ignored him and walked to the open space on the table where a pen and blank paper is waiting.
"You draw while I describe" Sergio ordered.
"Yes father" she replied obediently and sat, waiting for the description.
She's a perfect drawer, part of the basics of being a plastic surgeon.
Sergio was about to start describing when Romeo left his seat and went to her
He grabbed the pencil from her and broke it into two, then he tore the paper too and pulled her up from her seat.
"How did this happen to your neck?" He asked calmly.
"I dunno" she replied.
"Romeo, disturbing the peace of Eden is forbidden!" Sergio barked.
"And I'm demanding to know the identity of the shitty person who did this to your f**king neck!" Romeo shouted angrily, and Mia flinched as she pointed slowly at Sofia.
Romeo smirked as he walked the her Immediately.
He pulled her up from her seat and slapped her soundly, shocking everyone.
Armani smiled, and Ghost stared at Romeo with pure hatred in his eyes. Aurora kept her poker face on.
"Romeo!" Sergio warned, but he slapped her again immediately, and Sofia fell on the ground.
"Ahh!!"
Romeo kicked her on the face, and her face flew to the table leg, hitting it hard.
"Argg!" She groaned, bleeding from the mouth.
"There won't be another warning" Sergio said coolly, but he wasn't listening.
He got his gun and aimed straight at Sofia's head, planning to kill her on the spot, but Rocco was faster.
He shot Romeo on the arm, and his blood sprinkled out as he grabbed the arm with his second hand.
"Shit!" He groaned, resting on the table.
"You have no right to disturb the peace of Eden, it's forbidden to interrupt anything here and you know it!" Rocco shouted.
"Romeo!" Mia's eyes widened, and when she made to go to him...
"Go back to your spot" Sergio ordered, and she ran back there fearfully.
Romeo let go of his bleeding arm immediately, grabbing his gun again. He gave Rocco a hit too, on the same arm he shot him on.
"F**k!" Rocco gasped, holding the arm as he staggered back.
He aimed back at Romeo again, and Romeo aimed for him too, so their guns faced each other while their arms bled.
They've almost pulled the trigger when Sergio pulled his gun too, aiming for Mia.
Mia began shivering immediately, and she almost peed herself as the cold metal kept facing her.
Romeo's eyes widened madly, and Rocco smiled.
"You know what to do" Sergio said, and Romeo quickly lowered his gun.
Rocco did too, and they both sat at once.
Though they're bleeding, but they dare not leave till the end of the meeting.
Another pencil and paper was provided for Mia, and Sergio started the description.
She drew as he described, and there was silence till the drawing became ready, Franklin's face.
Her eyes widened when she finished up, and she couldn't help but admire the handsome face before Sergio took the drawing from her.
"Accurate" he said, passing it to Rocco.
"Find out everything about him including his present location in an hour" he ordered.
Rocco left Eden immediately, and after a nod of approval from Sergio, the rest left except Romeo who came closer to him instead.
"Why the f**k are you treating Mia like an outsider? She's your princess Sergio! Shouldn't she live the fragile life of an egg? You're biting more than you can chew" he said boldly, and Sergio laughed huskily.
"Can't believe that's coming from my son, keep growing the wings, I'll cut them off when it's time" he said and walked out on him, still laughing devilishly till he was out.
Romeo looked at his bleeding arm and smirked before walking out too, his blood trailing on the ground at each step.
******
CALABRIA, COSTELLOS CASTLE**
Anthony pushed down the whole cellar when he got back to his palace, and immediately it crashed down, the alcohols in there broke loudly, and the liquids wet the ground in various colours, creating a flowing river in the room.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" He yelled, his dulcet voice echoing in the palace as he walked out of the room to the living room where he got a roll of weed to calm himself down.
He was smoking and reminiscing about the past, and as he did, he couldn't help but feel pains piercing through his heart.
Who says mafias don't feel pains? Pain is greater than any emotion for him, and his heart bleeds anytime he remembers that.
He has been after Sergio for 23 f**king years, but it's like he's chasing after the wind, Sergio seems undefeatable.
The most precious things he's living for is with Sergio, and struggling to get them back since those years have been hellish.
Conquering a beast is no joke, but the fact that Sergio is more than a beast is terrifying.
He sat back when a knock sounded on the door, and after giving his permission, one of his girls came in, actually the strongest whose name is Azura.
"You called for me, boss" she stood gallantly in front of him.
"Find out everything about the taxi driver who saved Sergio earlier" he ordered.
*****
PILGRIMS HOSPITAL, 1PM**
After coming back to give Serafina the stuffed teddy earlier, Franklin had to leave again to get his taxi fixed. He's a taxi driver actually.
The huge amount he fixed it with made him start regretting helping, but on the other hand, he's glad he helped, at least he saved a life even if it's at the expense of his money.
He came back to check on Serafina after two hours, and when he entered the ward, he was surprised to meet three people waiting already.
Aurora, Armani and Ghost.
Sofia didn't tag along since she's wounded.
"Who're y'all?" He asked, covering Serafina from them.
"Whoa, Mia's drawing is really precise, I'm impressed" Armani smiled.
"I just asked who the f**k are y'all!" Franklin shouted, and Ghost came closer with a scoff.
"You're too rude for a mere driver" he said arrogantly, and Franklin punched him on the face directly, catching him off guard.
"What the f**k!" He groaned and made to punch him back, but Aurora pushed him away from Franklin with her leg, and he staggered forward, almost colliding with the wall.
"We're here to take him to boss, not show off your skills" she rolled eyes at him, and Ghost folded his fists as he stared angrily at Franklin.
"Boss?" Franklin asked.
"You saved a man earlier, he's our boss and we're to bring you to him, he's waiting outside" Armani replied.
"Follow" Aurora said, leading the way out.
Ghost followed her, and Franklin looked at Armani who's still in.
"No harm intended" Armani smiled, removing his lollipop from his mouth before taking Franklin out.
Truly, Sergio's car is waiting in front of the hospital, he probably didn't notice it when he came in earlier.
Aurora opened the door for him, and he stepped in to find himself beside Sergio who's smoking pipe again.
"Franklin Bruno, age 26, parents dead, you work as a taxi driver and your junior sis is in this hospital. Serafina Bruno, she's suffering from cirrhosis and she's dumb, you're owing the hospital four months payment, and apart from that, you have debts of about five million euros. You're a good fighter cos your late parents ran a fighting school before their death, and you were the top student. You have an English name cos you were born in England before your parents moved here" Sergio said, and his eyes widened.
"Who the hell are you? How come you know my whole story?"
"That's not important right now, you'll find out soon anyways, but I'm ready to pay off all your debts and take care of your sick sis, I'll have guards watch over her 24/7" Sergio said, and Franklin looked at him thoroughly.
"What do you want from me?" He asked.
"Just quit being a driver and work for my organization, I need you" Sergio smiled, stroking his long hair which was tied in a bun.
He slapped his hand away immediately.
"I'm not interested" he said and made to leave the car...
"I'm not asking you to work for me freely, I'm paying you 20M" Sergio quickly said, and he quickly turned back.
"And i'm not talking about monthly salary, it's 20M per mission, so let's say you go on five missions for me in a week, calculate it" Sergio said, and Franklin looked him directly in the eye.
"What do I have to do?" He asked, and Sergio smiled.
Five minutes later, they're already driving to the castle.
Franklin drove with Sergio while the rest drove behind.
The deal is to follow him to the castle so he'd be introduced to how life over there will be like, and he agreed.
If not for anything, he needs the money for himself and Serafina.
Little did he know that he'd forever remember this day throughout his existence, the day his tribulations kicked off.
They drove into the castle after thirty minutes, and he was stunned by the magnificence immediately.
A castle like this exists in Italy? He has never heard of it.
Immediately he came out of the car with Sergio, Mia's window opened widely, and the sound from it made him look up
Mia looked out of her window, and her eyes widened when she saw the handsome man she drew earlier.
A gasp escaped her throat when their eyes met, and the breeze made her hair flow gorgeously.
Franklin's icy cold expression didn't change as he stared back at her, and right there and then, Mia concluded... That she found her soulmate.