Chapter 3
THREE
MACHINE
I stared into the mirror, examining the scars that littered my torso and arms. Although they were covered with ink, I could still see them for what they were. Some would call them “battle wounds” or “scars.” To me, they were a reminder of what I had lost seven years ago.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. The nagging sound of something beeping in the distance immediately irritated me. I groaned as the light of the sterile hospital room came into view.
My head felt like someone was stabbing it with a dull knife. “I was beginning to think you were going to take up all the beauty sleep from the rest of us, fratello.”
The sound of my childhood best friend’s voice let me know I was alive and back stateside from Afghanistan. I was back, but they weren’t. I blinked my eyes a few more times to adjust to the bright lights above me.
Meeting my best friend’s eyes, piercing me with so much emotion, I almost had to look away.
“How bad is it?” I asked, knowing I didn’t have to explain further.
Kade leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Well, the doctors say it's a miracle that you survived after having that much metal sent into your body.”
I looked down at my bandaged arms and tried to remember what had happened before I blacked out.
“Only took three tours for my mortality to be tested,” I joked dryly.
Kade let out a humorless laugh. “We’ll get you fixed up, buddy. Don’t worry.”
If only I believed him. Nothing would change the loss and guilt that threatened to consume me.
“The others?” I croaked out.
Kade looked down at the floor and clenched his jaw, then looked back up at me and shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. They didn’t make it.”
Memories of my squadmate’s strawberry-blonde hair, freckles dusting her cheeks, and panicked green eyes flooded my mind. The beeping got more intense as more memories of what happened before I got here overwhelmed me.
Three nurses rushed into my room and played with the machines connected to me.
A wave of grief plowed through me. I heard the sounds of muffled voices as I felt myself go numb.
I vaguely remember hearing Kade yelling at the doctor to do something before I felt my brain get fuzzy and everything went black.
A bark from my service dog, Lucy, was enough to get me out of the trance.
It wasn’t unusual for me to look at the scars and remember…
remember everything that had happened. Lucy was trained to pick up on my tendencies and knew how to keep me from spiraling.
I looked at her cute, round Rottweiler face in the mirror.
She huffed, trying to get my attention. I knew what she wanted.
It was breakfast time, and I had taken way too long getting to the kitchen.
I hung up the towel wrapped around my waist and put on the gym shorts I had left on the bathroom's marble counter. Lucy’s nails clicked on the concrete flooring of the penthouse as we walked toward the kitchen.
After feeding my girl, I looked around the vast space of the apartment and couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath.
Being the second in command to the Don of the Mafia came with shit hours and dirty jobs, but it paid well.
I had come a long way from the impoverished lifestyle I was used to as a young boy.
My mind wandered back to the tiny motel suite that my mother rented so I could go to the prep school.
Kade and I had become friends in third grade after my mother had worked her ass off to send me to private school.
She had refused to let our impoverished lifestyle impact my education.
He had seen a group of boys approaching me on the playground, making fun of my hand-me-down uniform.
When Kade had seen that the bullying was escalating, he intervened and kicked their asses.
When we learned that we were both obsessed with Batman and loved sports cars, friendship came naturally.
My mother knew about Kade’s family, and she made me promise that I would join the military to get proper training before I joined the Mafia.
I think part of her always knew that she would die at the hands of a man in the underworld, and she wanted me to have a fighting chance.
When she was killed in a drive-by shooting when I was fourteen, Kade’s father took me in as his own and taught me the skills I would need to excel in the military.
During my time with the Marines I became one of the country's most decorated Veterans, and started getting called The Machine.
My phone chimed, signaling a text coming through. I smiled as I saw it had come from our childhood friend, Lennie. Today’s GIF was of a corgi wiggling its ass. The girl had some weird obsession with corgis, and every day she sent us a GIF or meme of a corgi.
Lennie and I had bonded as the only two students at the prep school without a trust fund. One day, I got my ass handed to me while Kade was in class, and Lennie came to my aid. After that, Kade swore he would do everything in his power to protect Lennie.
Suddenly, a slew of CODE RED texts came through on the screen—there was a data breach at Romano Security Systems. Moving as quickly as I could, I got ready and rushed to RSS to see what was going on.
As soon as I walked into the building, I knew that whatever we were dealing with wasn’t good. Employees talked over each other, fumbled with phones, and typed vigorously on their computers.
My job at RSS was complicated. I wasn’t a CEO or a vice president; however, everyone knew I was Kade’s right hand, which afforded me some jurisdiction. I knew Kade was in business meetings this morning and most likely wasn’t looking at his phone.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Kade, once again asking where the fuck he was. I’d left him four voicemails and three texts so far. When he didn’t respond to my texts, I called again. Finally, he picked up.
“Dude, where are you?!” I hissed through the phone.
“I was in a meeting, I couldn’t look at my phone,” he barked back.
“Well, you need to get to RSS quickly. We have a security situation. The Hive is—”
“I’ll be there in two minutes! Make sure no one leaves the building!”
“Yes, compagno.”
The call disconnected and I took a breath before posting myself at the entrance. Well, this was going to be fun.