His Secret Sin

“That I do.”

“How would that work? It’s not like they’d give him a position amongst their ranks, and surely, he knows that. It’s the Russians. They would put one of their own above him in any position of power.”

“Unless during the process of a takeover, we killed plenty of his enemy so he only has to deal with a couple. He gets rid of them, takes The Boss’s place, he has his own kingdom all of a sudden. It’s Angelo. It doesn’t have to make sense.”

“I’m a simple man at heart. I love my computers and being the boss in my world, but this goes far above anything I’ve ever thought about. You men with wanting to rule the world.”

“I don’t want to rule the world. I’d rather be the one in charge than leave things to Angelo. He’s a bastard and a first-class fucking prick. He’d tear this city apart before he ever rebuilt it.”

“Still, he went to a lot of hard work to get this. It’s got to mean something.”

“Yeah, it means he wants power. He wants it all. That’s never a good quality in a leader.” He pulled up a few blocks from Belle’s apartment. “We’re going to have to walk from here.”

“Cool, we get to exercise.”

“You need to leave the computer. You’ll stand out, and I don’t know if Angelo’s keeping an eye on the street.”

“Let’s go then.”

He’d parked the car and quickly approached the car with his men, giving them the details of where to go and to stay out of sight.

Walking side by side with Richard, they headed down the street toward the building.

“Do you want to go through the front door?”

“No. We’re going up the fire escape.”

“Are you fucking shitting me?”

“No. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I would have worn my bad suit.”

He rolled his eyes, not in the mood to deal with his not-friend.

“When all of this is over,” Richard said as Diego began to climb the fire escape at the side of the building, “we should grab a beer.”

“When all this is over, I’m taking Belle away for a couple of weeks.”

“You want company?”

“Nope.”

“You know I’ll be your best man, right?”

Diego paused, glancing down at Richard. “No, you won’t.”

“I’ve been watching you, Diego. You’ve got no friends of your own. I’m your best choice.”

“You do know we’re not friends.”

“And you do know we are. You’re just fighting against it, but that’s okay with me. You keep on fighting, and I’m going to keep on winning.”

He got to the floor where Belle’s apartment was. Stepping around the building, he was careful as he looked into the main window. The curtains were drawn, and with the sun casting shadows, he was able to walk past, going to the bedroom window. Much to his surprise, the curtain was open, and the window partially lifted.

Being careful and quiet, Diego lifted up the window. The bedroom door was closed, and he thanked Belle for not having too much furniture.

Climbing into the window, he helped Richard and lowered it down again.

Belle had nice, thick carpets, and he stood at the door, placing his ear against the wood. In the other room he heard muffled conversation, but he could only make out one person.

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

Gripping the door handle, he twisted it. The metal seemed to creak as he did so, and click loudly as he opened the door.

There were no gunshots, and he gritted his teeth, taking his time.

Come on. Come on.

With the door released, he stepped out of her room. Grabbing his gun from the inside of his jacket, he grabbed the silencer and slid it into place on the gun. In an ideal world, he would want to take Angelo back home to his family. This wasn’t an ideal world. This was his fucking world, and he didn’t always get what he wanted.

Just as he rounded the corner, wood exploded to his left. Richard went down on the floor and Diego rolled, firing his weapon in the right direction.

More gunshots hit around him but didn’t actually get him.

“You’re still a shit fucking shot,” Diego said.

He moved out of the way as Angelo shot at him.

Richard got up, rushing out from his cover, firing his gun, but Angelo shot him. The hit landed in Richard’s thigh.

Getting to his feet, Diego held the gun trained on Angelo’s head.

In one of Angelo’s hands was a gun, in the other a cell phone.

“You shoot me, your girl is going to die,” Angelo said.

“Put the gun down.”

“Fuck you. You think I was born yesterday? I know what a good shot you are. I know you could kill me right there. I’m not lowering my weapon. Drop yours if you love your woman.”

“Not going to happen.”

“You don’t love Belle? Please, I’ve seen the pictures. You’re so fucking in love with her it makes me sick. I don’t know how they could put a weak asshole in my place.”