Chapter Fifteen – King of Ruin
The bullets stopped.
The blood dried.
But I still couldn't breathe.
It had been ten days since Adriano died.
His body was burned, quietly. No parade. No gravestone. Just smoke and silence.
Giovanni was buried beside our father—like the loyal dog he was.
I didn't attend either.
The Romano empire was mine now.
The crews waited for orders.
The streets whispered my name like a warning.
And I sat in that office every night, staring at the city below like I was waiting for God to smite me.
He didn't.
But I think I heard him laughing.
Mercy came in around midnight.
No words, just two tumblers and a bottle of scotch that looked older than both of us.
She poured.
We drank.
"You ever think about leaving?" she asked.
"Every damn day."
"Then why don't you?"
I stared at my reflection in the dark window.
"Because someone worse will take my place."
She didn't argue.
Didn't need to.
She knew what it cost to be the last wolf standing.
She took out a folded photograph. Lila. Her daughter. Big brown eyes. A smile that didn't know what the world could do to a soul.
"I'm taking her and going off-grid. Quiet. No trails."
I nodded.
"You earned that."
She hesitated at the door.
"What about you?"
I smiled—just a ghost of it.
"I'll hold the kingdom till it kills me."
She left without another word.
And just like that, I was alone again.
That night, I got a call.
Unknown number. Voice distorted.
"The East is watching, Romano."
Click.
Peace is a lie.
The throne is never empty.
And shadows always return.
Let them come.
I was born in the fire.
End of Book One.