Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss

Mike at first thought he was hallucinating, that his brain was just tricking him. He had hoped so much, prayed so desperately, that someone would come and save them. And now... there he stood. The man himself. The family himself.

James Bellini.

He couldn't believe his eyes as he lowered his gun, his gaze widened in shock as he looked at James, who was just standing there, leaning on his cane, staring down at them like death itself had arrived in silence.

"You guys alive? What a relief." He said, taking another step forward. The thud of his cane hitting the asphalt echoed like a warning, and his eyes landed on Fanni, who was staring back at him with a face full of fear and hopelessness.

She knew who he was. Not just a man… but a demon people only whispered about online. The one they said ruled the country. The one who killed everyone in his way.

And now, she was exactly in his way.

Her hands trembled as she finally realized the money they went after... it wasn't just anyone's money. It was his. The man no one dared to go against.

From the very beginning, they had no chance of survival. No chance at a normal life ever again.

"B-Boss…?" Arine asked, looking up at him with the same expression as the others, disbelief. Pure disbelief.

"You must be Arine." James said, turning his head slightly toward the truck. "Can you walk?" He asked with a faint smile, glancing back at him.

Arine just shook his head, still unsure if this was reality or if they had already died.

"I can." Mike said as he stood up, barely reaching James's eyes.

"Then come with me, Mike." James said, turning to walk toward the truck, the tap of his cane keeping rhythm.

Mike hesitated, glancing down at the others, then turned his head toward the officer and got even more confused. The armored truck was still there, but none of the officers were. They were all gathered at the end of the road with Hector, Ferucci, and dozens of bodyguards.

"Are you coming?" James asked, turning back to him.

Mike froze for a moment, locking eyes with James. There was something terrifying in that look. Serious… so serious it felt like James could kill someone at any moment. But his voice… it didn't carry the same fury.

Mike nodded, limping as he followed after James. As they walked toward the truck, a thousand questions began to rise in his head.

How did he get here so fast?

Why didn't the police shoot? Why did they back off?

And so many other questions… but before Mike could even try to answer them, hell, before he could even make sense of anything, they were already at the truck where the driver was stumbling out.

James stopped right in front of him, and Mike saw how tightly he was gripping the handle of his cane, so tight his hand started to shake. But he said nothing. Mike couldn't even bring himself to breathe too loud in James's presence.

"Y-You must be the Bellini I hear a lot—"

His leg buckled as James calmly pulled out his gun and shot him in the knee. It happened so fast, Mike didn't even have time to react. He just stood there, watching the man collapse to the ground, screaming in pain.

"Help me." James said simply.

Not a request. A command.

Mike instantly grabbed James's right arm and helped him crouch down to the driver's level, who was still wailing in agony.

"Sssss… calm down." James whispered, putting a finger to the man's lips.

"Please don't—"

"No, no." James now covered his mouth with his palm. "When I ask, you answer. Okay?" He said coldly, then pulled away his hand.

"Please, I just—"

Another shot, this time into the other leg. The scream that came out wasn't just pain, it was primal.

"This man here can save you." James said, his voice as calm as ever, nodding toward Mike. "He's a medic, but I know some things too. They do it like this, right, Mike?" He asked, pressing two fingers directly into the bleeding wound.

The scream that followed was so loud it made their ears ring.

"Now tell me… who was it?" James asked.

"It-It was Richie! From the bank... Richie Augustin!" The driver said between screams. "He—"

But it wasn't the answer James wanted. His fingers sank even deeper into the wound.

"He already died…" He said as he pulled his finger from his wound. "I want to know why the fuck this thing is empty."

Mike's eyes widened even more as he looked at James. Empty? There was no way. He saw them loading in the boxes.

"I wouldn't give a fuck it was just a couple million, you know…" James said as he stood up with Mike's help. "But the information you got came from someone close to me. So who was it? Who turned off the radios?"

That was the moment Mike realized his worst fear was real. Someone really had sabotaged them. That's why they couldn't reach backup.

"It was a woman!" The driver screamed. "A woman told us to switch the boxes, said we'd get money for it!"

"A woman?" James tilted his head slightly.

"Y-Yeah, a wo—"

A bullet straight through the head. His body dropped limp, eyes rolling back as blood pooled beneath him. For a couple of seconds James just stared down at him then turned to Mike.

"Get the key from him." Hesaid, pointing his gun toward the key hanging from the driver's neck.

Mike hesitated for a bit but grabbed it with shaking hands from the driver's neck. James then just walked toward the truck back and waited for Mike to open it and when he did it the guards inside with a smile on their face wanted to hop out and take a fresh breath but it didn't happen as James emptied the whole magazine into them the moment he saw them.

Mike just stood there, stunned. What the fuck is happening? None of this made sense. But he didn't have time to ask.

"Get one of the boxes out." James said.

He moved without thinking, pulling the dead bodies aside and getting one of the boxes out, putting it before James, but he felt it, it was so light.

"The director code is 6573842." James said as Mike slotted the key in and typed the code into the lock.

A loud thud echoed as it clicked open. Mike lifted the lid and froze.

It was empty. Not a single banknote.

They had fought for nothing. Their men had died for nothing.

"That's impossible…" Mike muttered. "I saw them loading it in." His voice trailed as he looked up at James, whose eyes were locked on the empty box.

"It's in another truck which they found abandoned a few minutes ago." James said as he turned around and started walking back to Fanni.

As he stood in front of her, Fanni looked up and what she saw was the barrel of a gun aimed directly at her forehead.

"P-Please—"

James pulled the trigger.

"Click. Click. Click." He said as the magazine was empty. "Who the fuck are you, lady?" He asked, as he reloaded the pistol. Now with a bullet chambered, he aimed the gun back at her head.

Her breathing was heavy, panicked, and even the threat from the empty gun had worked better than any weapon. "I-I'm Fanni Ottovi." She stuttered. "I was part of the group… with two of my friends, and the Nerozzi gang. I didn't mean to… I didn't want this. Please… I just—"

"Just?" James pressed the barrel against her forehead.

Tears started to pour from her eyes as she stared into his eyes. But then, a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I just… lost."

"Lost?" James leaned back slightly, lowering the gun. Her expression was just like Marcello's back then. That same look. She even resembled him a little.

"Yeah, I'm—"

"I don't give a fuck." He cut her off and pulled the trigger.

Fanni's body slowly leaned to the left as blood gushed from the side of her head.

And just like that, Fanni's dream died with her. The last person who still carried a memory of Tiana was gone while her blood silently pooled beneath her. Maybe if she had never met her, life would have turned out differently. A better life. A happy one, with a family, with children.

A life she could have had… if she hadn't taken Tiana's death to heart. If she had just looked past the harsh truth of the country she lived in.

But none of it mattered anymore.

"How many people need to die? How many do I need to kill?" He asked as he stared down on her body like if he was waiting for an answer.

"We need to go, James." Hector's voice came from the side. "Get up, guys." He said as he glanced at the others still on the ground, but they were stunned from what they saw, the boss single handedly stopping their death, but bringing more with him.

James holstered his gun back and turned toward Hector. "How many?"

"76." Hector said.

"What…?" Mike's words came out on their own.

"We got attacked by the Sinatra Cartel while this shit happened… what a coincidence" James said then turned to Hector. "And we also have a rat..." For a couple of seconds he closed his eyes and asked a simple question.

"Where is Bella?"