Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss

Mike, with the orders now from James, did it and called up both Ramirez and Hector, and well, they began what would be the family's biggest cleansing… one that Lucian warned about, the mass graves.

It wasn't planned, or more like it was, at least in Hector's hand from the beginning. He knew pretty much, as the family grew, as they hired more and more people, he knew very well that one day they would need to make a decision about letting some people go… and well, shooting some people, mowing them down.

And it's not just about the family itself, but those who are in some way, shape, or form connected to it. All the dealers and the people with information, everyone that has been touched by the family, even with a word… yeah, they all possess the same thing, the same dangerous trait. Even when they are with the government… people can still betray, still side with other mafias, cartels, or whoever the fuck they want to side with, whoever the fuck they want to sell the information to.

It's truly a big danger. All of the warehouses, the locations, all of it is exposed in some way, and if it gets a coordinated attack, then they are fucked. If the location gets leaked about the new production lines… then another chaos, a chaos that would engulf the whole family.

But now, with the orders from James, it all changes, especially because it is Hector and Ramirez who now have all the power to do whatever they want.

Though there was a little bit of a problem… the problem was that they got attacked, which caused a bit of chaos, as everybody was ready, everybody was on standby… and well, Finn was in critical care, which caused even more trouble.

But the plan was simple, kill whoever betrays, whoever has even the bad look on their face.

"So what do we do?" Ramirez asked, because nobody understood what exactly James' order meant, though he was rather calm about this whole situation.

"Kill all of them!" Sophia… yeah, Sophia, who was the first one showing up at the family house, looking like a wild bull. "We need to kill all the fucking dealers on the street, all of it that I have in this." She slapped her hand on the dossiers.

"First, we need to think, Sophia." Hector too was way too calm about all of this. He was sitting idly, tapping his finger on the table and just thinking through all of the ways they can act.

"What do you mean?!" Sophia raised her voice once again, even kicked the chair back. "You almost got assassinated, while Finn is in the hospital… what if it would be James?! He would have been killed!" She shouted, but still, nothing. Hector and Ramirez too were silent, thinking.

They didn't even flinch about Sophia, and she just got more and more angry about it.

"Hector!" She slapped the table now, hard, so hard that some of the glass and decor fell off… and she got his attention as he looked up at her. "James could have died… and you two just fucking sitting here! Would you do the same if he would get shot, would have got tortured… what would you say to his mot—"

"Shut up." It wasn't Hector… no, it was Ramirez. Ramirez who said it, Ramirez who put the gun with a clink on the table. "Who the fuck do you think you are to even think about James' death?" Yeah, Ramirez… he was confident… confident in his own way, something Sophia didn't experience a long time ago… to feel… fear from a fucking who just a pawn.

But she had reason to feel the fear.

Ramirez wasn't terrifying in a way that a lot of people are in the underworld, not the gangster, the mafia… but the way of a soldier, someone who saw much worse in his life than everybody else.

It is hard to describe it, how a soldier like him looks, the aura, the atmosphere he pushes to others with those eyes, with his whole presence. One look and you know you are in danger… that type of a man he is.

"Because that would have happened ti—"

"It's a sin… a sin to even think about it. It's a sin to imagine James dying that way… because he wouldn't." Ramirez stared deep into her eyes.

"What?!" She lost it… completely lost it. "He's a human!" She shouted, because it was truly a fucking shit show… and she noticed it way earlier in the Circle days… that people tend to think about James like a fucking alien, somebody who is not a human, but a fucking has superpowers… like he can't fucking die. "He can—"

"Sophia." Ramirez interrupted her again. "Did you see Joseph after he got beaten almost to death by the feds? Did you see his face, his eyes? Did you see his body? Did you feel what surrounded him at that moment?" He locked eyes with her again, and Sopiha felt he can't escape it, she can't move nor she can say anything back "Did you see him shot up, bleeding out with that smirk on his face? Did you see the amount of blood he lost, the bullet shells, the sheer will it took to try to kill him? Did you see his face when Rafel died? When Hans died? When Marcello died? Did you see all of it?"

Sophia couldn't respond, she felt something… but she couldn't describe what it was.

"You think that broke him? You think it broke him when he tried to kill himself?"

Sophia's hands clenched as she heard it… heard it the first time. "He… he tried to… he tried to kill himself…?

"With the same gun that was cleaned every single time, never once jammed… "Hector's voice cut in. "... but at that moment, it did. That gun should have worked, because it never jammed not even once, but then… at that moment… it did, and he lived. He survived a bullet that shouldn't have missed, a gun that shouldn't have failed. Do you understand what that means?"

Ramirez leaned closer. "It means he wasn't supposed to die. Not then. Not ever. And Sophia… that's the difference between James and anyone else." Ramirez pointed at her. "That's why imagining him dead… it's a sin."

Her mind was racing… fear, anger, disbelief, all tangled inside her. The man she loves, the one she respects and thinks is the hardest-working man in the world, capable of anything… has tried to kill himself.

"Do you understand now, Sophia? That man… James… he isn't like you, like me, like anyone you've ever seen." Ramirez said as he grabbed the gun and put it back at his waist."

"But… he's human… he can die. We can't think that he is something more than that." She said, her voice trembling.

Yes, he can and he's been through it all. Beaten, shot, tortured… he's felt every kind of death brush against him and still, he's here. You think you understand fear? You think you understand pain? You haven't seen what James has seen and yet, he keeps moving forward. That's why imagining him dead… it's disrespectful. To think it could happen… it's a sin."

"Yeah, this is who he is," Hector continued. "He doesn't need your fear. He doesn't need your panic. He needs people who can think, plan, and survive… and that's what we are doing now, Sophia. So please stay silent, or I'll put you on the list too."

"List…?" She asked back, still her voice low and slightly trembling.

Hector smiled a wide smile… one that looked genuine. "The death list."