LUCA

I think I'm coming down with a cold.

When I woke this morning, my throat hurt and that's usually the first sign that I'm about to come down with something. It's shitty and I don't want to deal with it, but it's business as usual.

I still have to go to Cain's and deal with his attempts at finding Diablo.

Luckily, thus far, he hasn't discovered my betrayal. I happen to think that perhaps he's too busy in trying to seek out his enemy and it's clouding his ability to do other things as successfully as usual. It works in my favour, but I don't like how unstable he is. It makes me nervous.

He's also still doing what he can to figure out who was behind the Marco hit. I'm not sure how he hasn't pinned it on Marchetti yet—I mean, who else would it be?—but again, he's focusing in the wrong areas and it's causing him to be messy and confused.

But I put all of those thoughts to the back of my mind, feeling thankful that if there's one good thing to come out of his chaos, it's that he's focusing less on Raven and I.

I meet Adiv in Cain's driveway, offering him a hug when I see him. I happen to think we're doing a lot better since we discussed a lot of the whole thing between Raven and I. It's not the same as it was, but it's definitely better and I'm happy about that.

But the second I meet Adiv's eyes, I can tell that something's off. He's unable to contain his happiness, seeming giddy and impatient.

"Dove's pregnant," Adiv informs me in a low voice, absolutely beaming.

"Seriously?" I can't hide my surprise. When he nods his head, I pull him in for a hug, "Congrats, bro."

He's wearing a massive smile, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "I still can't believe it. I've always dreamed of being a father and now I'm gonna' be one. And with my dream girl, to boot."

My heart clenches in my chest, feeling consumed with happiness for him. Despite all that we've been through in the last few months, I can't even begin to describe how much this news brings me happiness. He loves Dove so immensely and he'll be the greatest dad, I know it.

"I'll figure out a way to get her and I out of this mess. I won't risk raising a child anywhere near Cain Brooks. I won't allow anything to happen to her or our child."

He seems so optimistic about their future and it reminds me of how positive he always is. He's been a bit down lately—perhaps because of our distance—but this incredible news has perked him right back up.

"I'll do everything I can to help you," I promise him. "You know that."

As we walk up to the front of the mansion, he nods his head. We know we're unable to continue this conversation, but there's something he needs to know. Something I haven't had a chance to tell him yet.

The second he grabs the knob on the front door, a rumble of thunder echoes in the distance, causing a murder of eight crows to explode from the trees that line the driveway. They furiously flap their wings as they call out and it actually causes a shiver to race down my spine.

Adiv ignores it, opening the front door and walking inside, but I grab his arm to stop him once he's a single step past the threshold.

"Listen, about Dove—" I begin to try to tell him about what Diablo told me about Cain looking into marrying her off in a low whisper, but I'm interrupted by the sound of expensive dress shoes tapping against the marble flooring. I snap my mouth shut, not wanting anyone to hear us discussing the Don's daughter.

"Luca, Adiv," Cain greets as he approaches. "Follow me to my office."

We do as he asks, walking together towards the large doors. The last second before I step inside, I see a painting hanging to the left of the office. Storm clouds surround a tall tower, lightning cascading on either side of the building.

"Any news?" Adiv questions as the two of us take a seat, each in a chair on the opposing side of Cain's desk.

He sits in his own, rolling it forward to rest under the desk as he places his elbows atop the wooden surface, tenting his hands at his chin. "It seems we have a problem."

Another problem? Don't we always have a problem? Every day there's a new issue. Today is just another Thursday.

"Oh?" I mutter out. "Did Don Diablo come out of hiding?"

Cain's eyes flicker from me to Adiv and back and I sense something's off. It suddenly feels tense and my ex-cop senses go on high alert.

Did he find out I went to Costa Rica and met with Diablo?

"Come closer," he urges, "I have something to show you. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it."

Adiv and I stand, closing the two-step distance between Cain's desk and our chairs.

Cain reaches into his top drawer and pulls something out of it. With a carefulness that scares me, he gently places a positive pregnancy test down atop his desk.

It appears as if someone attempted to destroy it. To hide the evidence from him.

Adiv goes ghost white, but he attempts to hide it. As someone who knows him well, he isn't successful.

"It appears as though my Dove has fallen pregnant." Cain's tone is anything but happy. In fact, I can hear the threat in it, even though he hasn't actually made one.

He's already in a sensitive place because of the loss of Leo. There's absolutely no way he would've taken this well on the best of days, but these definitely are some of his worst days.

With that in mind, I instinctively take a step closer to Adiv.

Neither of us speak. I'm far too worried I'll slip and reveal something I shouldn't. I reckon Adiv is stunned into silence because he hasn't been able to tear his eyes away from the broken pregnancy test.

"Someone I trusted manipulated his way between my daughter's legs and stole her innocence."

Stole her innocence? Jesus Christ, she's a grown woman. Why do some people have this weird obsession with virginity? It seems archaic and frankly, misogynistic. Who the fuck cares whether she's a virgin or not? Who the fuck cares when she lost her virginity? As long as all was consensual—which, it was—who the fuck cares?

Cain lifts his gaze and looks between the two of us, "Luca, Adiv—" he lingers, but not on me, "—would you have any idea who this could be?"

Both of us stay quiet, but it's only for half a minute at most.

"It's not that complicated. It's a simple yes or no."

I open my mouth to protest, thinking we can fake our way out of this, but then Adiv does about the most moronic thing he could ever do—he steps forward, straightens his spine, and utters, "It was me. I can explain. Dove and I are in a relationship, Don Cain."

His laugh bellows around us. "A relationship? " His voice drips with venom and I notice the way his irises darken.

"Yes," Adiv confirms. "I'm in love with your daughter."

Cain averts his eyes, straightening out a pen that rests crookedly on the one side of the desk. "Adiv, did Dove tell you what happened to the first man I caught lusting after her?"

I notice Adiv swallow with difficulty. "He was beaten up and taught not to go anywhere near Dove."

"He got what was coming to him," Cain snaps and his sudden shift to anger knocks into me with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. "She tried to hide him from me and it wasn't successful. I always find out everything." His words are like bullets—the shrapnel of which embeds itself into my flesh because it feels as though it's directed at me too.

Does he know about Raven and I? Is he about to out us too?

There's a knock on the door and though we pause the conversation, the tension is suffocating. I don't dare twist my neck as Cain signals for whomever it is to step inside.

But when I hear heels against the marble flooring, uneasiness washes over me.

"Dove, Raven—" he greets as he stands from his desk and proceeds to hold up the pregnancy test.

I hear Raven gasp. Dove either hadn't told her or she's faking it.

"Welcome to the conversation, ladies. I hope both of you learn something from what you're about to witness." His words land like a tidal wave, almost knocking Adiv over. This isn't going to be good, I already knew that, but those words are the nail in the coffin.

"Dad—" Dove speaks up, but it's of no use.

"Quiet, Dove."

"Dove, please let me handle this," Adiv begs.

Cain narrows his eyes in Adiv's direction. "There once was a man who worked for me. All he did was look in Dove's direction. Look, Adiv. He took one glance at her, lingered too long on her body and he lost his job and his eyes that day."

He walks around the desk to stop in front of Adiv, but Adiv takes a step back, forcing me further from the two of them.

"What would you say is equivalent for you, considering you defiled my daughter?" I see the expression he's concealing and it's obvious to me that Cain's a roaring tsunami intent on laying as much devastation as possible in his wake.

Adiv sinks to his knees, takes a glance back at Dove and with a quivering voice, tells Cain, "I'm begging, please. I won't allow anything to ever happen to her."

To see Cain's reaction to Adiv's literal begging is harsh. There's something entirely dehumanizing about the way that Cain couldn't give two fucks about the fact that Adiv is begging him. He's desperate, has lost all hope—yet Cain is staring at him as if he feels nothing towards Adiv's actions.

With Adiv kneeling before him, he asks to be a part of Dove's life. "I fucked up Don Cain. I know that, but I can promise you that I love Dove. I can take care of her. Please."

"Stand up," Cain demands, standing behind Adiv.

At this point, my heart is beating so fast in my chest that it's pounding against my ribcage, making it difficult to breathe.

"Dad—" Dove tries to defend her man again, but Cain glares at her.

"Shut up, Dove! Stay out of this! This is your fuckin' mess and now I need to deal with it."

Though I refuse to turn and glance at Raven and Dove from where they stand behind me, I know that they're being held there. If they weren't, Dove would surely be running to her father in an attempt to fix the situation.

With Adiv standing now, he's facing me—his back to Cain's chest—and I can see the terror in his expression. It causes panic to lock my heart in a vice grip. I take a step forward, my breathing quickening. I want to help him, to diffuse the situation, but Adiv gives me a look, shaking his head ever so slightly.

He's inaudibly yelling at me that this is his problem and that I'd better not move an inch. His gaze momentarily flickers to Dove and then back to me and I try to ignore what he's telling me.

No.

Suddenly, with the flick of a wrist, Cain yanks a knife from somewhere and plunges it into the side of Adiv's neck. Immediately, Dove screams out Adiv's name and I run towards the two men, but someone grabs me and holds me back.

Adiv struggles against Cain, trying to fight him off, but it's of no use. Cain is far stronger and he only stabs the blade further into Adiv's neck. I watch helplessly as blood seeps from the wound, running down his clothing and to the floor.

I can hear Dove repeatedly yelling out for Adiv—over and over and over—but it comes out muffled to my ears, as if my head has been submerged beneath the surface of the ocean. Her voice sounds as though it's travelling through water to reach my ears.

Even still, I can hear the anguish in her voice at being forced to observe as the man she loves—the man who has fathered the child growing inside her—is slowly dying and there's nothing any of us can do about it.

There's air somewhere in the room but I can't seem to find it. I swear I speak something, call out for my brother, but I'm not even sure. I fight against whomever is holding me back, but it's useless. Especially when a second body stands behind me to secure me where I stand because I nearly broke free of the one man.

I look to Adiv's eyes to try and signal that I'm sorry, that I love him, that I'm trying to save him, but his gaze is an ocean away. He's already dying. His eyes keep momentarily trembling back to life—like an old film projector malfunctioning, flickering on and off in a pitch-black theatre.

Adiv fights, twisting and thrashing in an attempt to save himself, but it doesn't work. It's another soulless thing to observe as he does what he can, but none of us are able to help him. To save him.

I feel the ground shift beneath my feet. As if an earthquake has occurred directly in front of me, caving the ground that resides between Adiv and I. Creating a massive chasm that's waiting for me to trip and fall. I stare at Adiv where he's now fallen to the ground, unable to speak, unable to think.

The sight of him laying there gives me the sensation of taking a lighter to a piece of wood. It burns away at every other feeling, leaving all that remains to be hardened.

I sink to my knees, an ache forming in my chest. I want to scream, to burst into tears, to grab the knife from Adiv's neck and plunge it into Cain's chest, but all I can manage to do is stare at Adiv's lifeless body in silence.

I finally lift my gaze to meet Cain's eyes as he removes the knife from Adiv's neck and wipes the blade clean on a handkerchief he's collected. "Bury the body," he demands, his cold stare punching through my chest to paralyze my heart. "You can put him in the hole they've dug for the new pond that's going in."

He laughs darkly, the type of laugh that these walls won't ever forget. That I won't ever forget. And then he's smiling, but it isn't a genuine smile. Not in the slightest. It's more like the triumphant smile of a predator the moment after he's lunged forward and sunk his teeth into his prey for the kill.

I'm an exposed nerve in his presence, shocked still from the heartbreak and terror he's incited. There are so many things I want to do to him right now, but there's something in the back of my mind stopping me.

It's probably for the best. There are far too many people here right now. I'd never make it out alive. Nor would the girls still standing behind me.

"Take Dove and Raven to their rooms." Cain's voice is authoritative. "Don't let them out of your sight until Luca's done."

I can hear Dove struggle against whoever is holding her back, followed by Raven's voice as she says with a stern voice, "Fuck you, Uncle Cain."

Her response has me raising my head and snapping me out of my shock momentarily. If he lunges at her for that comment—

The air is tense around us and I prepare myself to defend Raven if it comes to blows.

I'm relieved when Cain yells again, "Get them out of here!" and the men finally take it seriously, yanking the women out of the room. Cain's angry as he twists his head towards me, glaring at me on my knees as if my reaction to Adiv's death disgusts him. "Bury him," he snarls.

I want to say no, to take him in my arms and carry him somewhere else to give him the proper burial he deserves, but I know Cain won't let me. He'll kill me if I do.

He moves to sit behind his desk, ordering a goon to pour him a drink as he sits and observes.

I close the distance between Adiv and I, feeling my throat swelling with pain as I bite back tears. The sight of him there takes hold of my throat and chokes the living daylights out of me. My vision blurs as tears well up in them, but I shake out of it, not wanting anyone to reprimand me.

Once I'm beside him, the scent of his blood crawls through my nostrils and I try my best to ignore it. Standing to my feet, I reach down and do what I can to gather him in my arms, but I'm weak and broken and I struggle.

I glance at the other men in the room, silently asking for help, but Cain shakes his head, denying it. "Don't help him."

I turn back towards Adiv to hide the scowl on my face. His behaviour tonight has sealed it for me—I'll fucking kill him for this. To avenge Adiv, Dove, and Raven. Fuck this psychopathic bastard. He won't know any mercy from me when I finally end his life.

I hook my arms underneath Adiv's knees and at his back, finally managing to pick him up. Holding him so close to my chest causes guilt and heartbreak to consume me. I slowly carry him out of the room, avoiding his eyes—because I know if I glance at them, I'll pray for him to open them.

By the time I get outside, it's raining and thundering and it feels like the perfect sign. Even God is mad about a man as pure as Adiv dying.

As gently as I'm able to, I place him down beside the hole that's already been dug on the far side of the garden, where Cain plans to have a pond installed.

I sink to my knees beside him again, getting choked up. With a hand to his chest, I apologize profusely, my tears mixing with the rain that's become heavier.

I can't help but feel like a part of this is my fault. If I wouldn't have orchestrated Marco's death, Leo wouldn't be dead and Cain wouldn't be in such an unstable state. Maybe we could've talked him out of this ending and saved Adiv.

Dove will have to raise their child on her own. I will feel responsible for the child not having its father.

My lungs feel as though they're filled with rocks. I can't fucking breathe.

I want to pour myself into the cracks of Adiv's withering soul so he'll never be alone in death. I'm completely and utterly broken without my best mate—my brother—and I can't ignore these cracks. Not when my chest feels cavernous without him.

I grind the heels of my hands into my eyes, as if I can force the image of him dying out of my brain. I begin hyperventilating. Breathing so hard and so fast that my head spins as I grieve the loss of him.

I feel an unfamiliar wetness on my palms—one warm and slightly sticky—and when I glance down at them, I see that I've managed to get Adiv's blood all over them. The rain splashes against my skin, diffusing the redness.

But it doesn't entirely wash it away. It can't. It never will.

We went from celebrating about him being a father to him being dead in a matter of twenty minutes. Like flying on an airplane through a tropical storm, we had an exhilarating lift to the clouds that was suddenly followed by a stomach-churning drop.

I'm not fine. How could I be? Nothing's fucking fine. Nothing's been fucking fine since we started all this bullshit.

It should've been me. Adiv should be burying me. I'm the one with the atrocious list of sins. He's the good guy, I'm not.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, tears running down my cheeks, mixing with the torrential rain where they fall to his chest. "I'm so fuckin' sorry I couldn't save you. I love you, brother." I have to stop speaking for a minute because I'm crying so hard that I can't find air. I do what I can to wash the blood from his skin, to make him appear the angel and innocent he was in life, in death. "I promise I'll do what you asked—I'll keep Dove and your child safe. I'll do whatever it takes. I'll make sure Cain pays for the pain he's caused."

I stay as I am for a couple minutes with my eyes closed as I give him the most proper burial I can.

I think of the good times we had. Of the laughs, the smiles, the fun, the stupid shit we used to do. I think of the day we both finally became cops—how naively excited we were.

I think of his family and how this will hurt them. I think of Dove and how it'll shatter her heart. I think of his future child and the utter loss it is that they won't be able to know their own father.

Adiv would've been a wonderful father. He's caring and giving. He's the most selfless person I've ever known. He has the instincts that make up a good father figure. He deserved to have the opportunity to raise his child. He deserved everything good in life.

And now he's gone.

I promise to avenge his death. Cain will pay for what he's done to all of us.

I also promise to give him a proper burial one day. When I'm finally able to rest him in a place where he can find peace in death.

Thunder cracks overhead and it feels as though the rain only gets heavier.

I don't want to bury Adiv here, but I don't have a choice. It feels dehumanizing to treat the body of a man who brought so much light into so many lives like this. With how unstable Cain is, I fear the repercussions of not following his demands.

That being said, I pick him up like I did before. Only now, it feels like he weighs more because the rain has soaked his clothing. I nearly drop him, but I use all my strength as I get choked up again.

At this point, I couldn't differentiate between the tears streaming down my face and the rain if I tried. But I'm also not sure I want to.

As I struggle to carry Adiv's body to the hole, I slip in the mud and fall. The torrential rain has made the mud slick and sticky and I'm now covered in it, along with Adiv's blood. At one point, I lose traction and fall to my knees, causing Adiv's body to lunge from my arms and hit the wet soil with a slap.

"I'm so fuckin' sorry," I apologize, as if he can hear the words.

I crawl out of the hole, absolutely covered from head to toe in blood and mud, yanking a shovel that's been stabbed into the ground nearby. Likely left by one of the workers.

Before I continue, I stare at Adiv, my throat swelling painfully. "I love you, Adiv. I'll protect her and your baby. I'll give my life for them if it comes down to it. See you on the other side, brother."

With that, I break into the soil. I spend the next several hours between sobs, digging and digging and digging. Until there's enough space to carefully place his body. Until my arms burn with muscles that are surely pulled.

I must stare at him for hours before shoveling wet soil atop him. At least, that's what it feels like. I do what I can to memorize his face because it's the last time I'll see it again.

Cain must have his people checking on me because the second I have Adiv buried, he sends one of his goons to check and then tells me to head home.

The entire drive home, I'm cursing Cain Brooks' existence and swearing that he'll die by my hand. Either he dies or I do. There's no other way around it.