REESE

chapter nine.

Reese POV:

I had a splitting headache.

It was 3am and I was just leaving Cryptic headquarters. I was pissed off and exhausted, all I wanted to do was jump into my bed and sleep for a month. I was in the middle of designing and engineering Cryptic's new supercar. I wanted it to be the most technologically advanced car on the market so a lot of work is going into making it, it was mentally and physically draining.

It really doesn't matter how smart you are, managing investments, engineering, designing and creating tech/weapons, co-running a mafia, being the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, and dealing with your former family potentially building an alliance with your current family, would take a toll on anybody.

Chaos was ensuing in my mind. I hadn't thought about my brothers in a long time, but now that our mafias were going to meet, it was almost impossible not to think about them. News of the impending arrival of my brothers should have made me feel something. Hurt, anger, sadness, misery, nostalgia, something, but I felt nothing. My walls were built high and wide. When concerning the Di Genovas I was simply indifferent. Their presence would not faze me this time around, they were going to be on my territory, playing by my rules. I was no longer an eight-year-old vying for their approval and acknowledgement. They could keep pulling that abandonment shit if they wanted to, I couldn't give less of a fuck.

I yawned as I drove through the dark streets. I was driving the Cryptic V, one of the most rare cars in the world. I created it to basically be a car fanatic's wet dream. It was worth around six million and it was an absolute beauty. When I released this car last year, attention on Cryptic Inc skyrocketed. Billionaires around the world put in requests for one but I turned every single one of them down. I made sure there were only five ever manufactured. I kept one and gave the other four to my dad and his three best friends as a symbol of friendship and trust. I watched as the Dons of the American, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian mafias almost passed out in excitement. It was extremely entertaining.

"Unregistered weapon detected. 500 meters ahead."

I frowned as the car's intelligence system spoke out.

"Any civilians nearby?" I asked out loud.

"There seems to be a child accompanied by an adult. Both males."

I slowed down the car as I approached a man carrying a small boy. He was walking towards a beat up car waiting for him about 100 meters away. As I got closer I could see the little boy struggling. My eyes widened as the man dropped the little boy onto the floor and harshly kicked him in the stomach before attempting to pick him up once again.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

I slammed on the breaks as rage bubbled inside of me. I got out of my car and slammed the door shut. The sound of my car door slamming and my heels clicking against the pavement caught the attention of the scrawny man in front of me. I watched as his eyes widened and he smirked. His gaze slithered over my body as he licked his lips, lust clear on his greasy face. I clenched my fists as I walked towards him, physically stopping myself from snapping his neck. When he finally stopped eye-raping my body and looked me directly in the eyes, the smirk instantly wiped off his face. I could only imagine the disgust and rage my eyes held, I was absolutely seething and he knew it. I stepped right in front of his face, and he took a step back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" My voice was cold and piercing, and my glare looked deadly. I watched as he flinched when he heard the coldness of my voice. He faltered with fear before smiling weakly. I guess he finally decided he wasn't scared of me because he grabbed the poor whimpering boy by the arm and yanked him to his side.