Chapter 32
More Than a Leader
The mansion has finally gone quiet after the chaos of the meeting.
Lucius stands close to Tessa in the dim hallway, his voice dropping low as he tells her she has no reason to worry about anything outside.
He makes it clear that if she stays inside the fortified walls—whether it is Alex’s penthouse, Victor’s stronghold, Teajun’s place, or his own estate—nobody can ever touch her.
His protection extends everywhere, a heavy blanket that keeps the world away.
Before Lucius reached out to take her hand, there is a time when everyone in the crew is struggling and hitting rock bottom.
He is not just a cold mafia leader to them; he acts like their older brother, pulling them up from the mud when everything is falling apart around them.
They owe him their lives, and he carries that weight on his shoulders every single day.
Then, the shadows lengthen as evening crawls over the grounds, bringing a chill with it.
Olivia calls Tessa and Emily away from the main halls, leading them down a quiet corridor into her personal collection room where the air smells of old paper and dust.
Olivia walks straight to the back, toward the highest corner on the right side of the room.
She lines up a wooden ladder against the wall, climbs up carefully, and pulls down a small, weathered wooden box.
She comes back down and opens it right in front of them to show them a pair of old earrings.
Olivia stares at the tarnished metal, her voice softening as she begins to speak about the days when Alex is just a student, long before this current chaos takes over their lives.
They meet at the university campus. He tries to approach her more than five times, but back then, her mind is entirely buried in her studies.
English literature is her absolute favourite, though she always has a soft spot for reading romance novels on the side when she wants to escape.
Alex does not stalk her, she explains gently, trying to clear any doubts.
He simply uses to come over and sit next to her on the green campus benches.
She uses to get annoyed and lose her temper with him, telling him to get lost, but looking back now, it feels completely harmless.
He has never tried to touch her inappropriately.
In fact, back then, he has never even touched her hand.
When he finally figures out how much she loves books, he starts buying them for her.
That is his first real gift to her. Then comes the earrings inside the box.
Olivia touches the old metal, recalling how it is a hundred-and-fifty-dollar pair of earrings, paid for with the money he earns working a gruelling part-time job through the night, just to give her something special on her first birthday with him.
The scene shifts back toward the open rooftop, where Alex cracks open a fresh bottle of strong alcohol.
Only the four of them sit scattered around the concrete edge—Alex, Victor, Lucius, and Teajun.
Teajun’s expression is tight with unsaid anxiety, while Lucius remains dead silent, his mind drifting completely back to his intimate moments with Tessa.
Lucius stares into his glass, his voice rough as he begins talking to Teajun about how completely fucked up love really is, thinking about everything that has happened between him and Tessa.
Lucius admits that before these bloody days, he has been intimate with countless women during undercover honey trap operations, using it as nothing more than a tactical weapon.
He uses to think he can handle any situation without breaking, but this thing with Tessa is entirely different.
Teajun lets out a mocking laugh, leaning back to brush off the heavy air as he claims he is practically a pure virgin compared to that kind of messy history.
"I cannot stop thinking about her," Lucius admits openly, his tone dropping low as he looks at the amber liquid.
"The way she looks at me… fucks me up. Now I understand why attachment is dangerous."
It strips away my armour, leaving me exposed to the wolves, he thinks, his chest tightening.
Teajun does not answer with words; instead, he pours himself a drink and throws back one glass of alcohol, then a second, and immediately follows it with a third, gulping the burning liquid down without a single pause.
He closes his eyes tightly, dragging a long, heavy breath into his lungs before slumping back like a broken man, his gaze drifting up toward the stars as tears pool and trace a hot path straight down his face toward his ears.
"Look at that, Lucius," Teajun mutters, his voice cracking as his eyes open to watch his brothers. "Look at these idiots. See what they are doing. Look how happy they are. Just because they have a girl in their lives... because their love actually succeeds. Hell, even yours does..."
Victor steps closer to Lucius, his brow furrowed as he watches the sudden breakdown, whispering to ask if someone has said something to trigger his trauma again.
Alex walks over to where Teajun is slouched and gives him a rough shake by the shoulder, asking if he is even listening, but Teajun remains dead silent with a blank face.
Alex shakes him again, harder this time, telling him to snap out of it because he is supposed to be the strongest one among the brothers.
Teajun’s jaw trembles as he finally forces the words out, his voice shaking under the weight of a horrific memory that happens twelve long years ago. Twelve years of carrying a ghost in my chest, he thinks, the pain cutting deeper than any physical blade.
A faint, bitter smile touches Teajun's lips through his drunken haze as he looks back up at them.
"Hmm... maybe because if you love someone enough... losing them kills you before death even comes," he murmurs softly.
He slowly raises a shaking finger, pointing it directly across the rooftop at the man standing near Lucius.
"Look at this guy... Victor," Teajun hisses his voice dropping to a raw whisper.
"He brings me here. He saves my life and drags me out of there. But on that day... I cannot save the one I love. This fucking man drags me here."
The accusation hits Victor like a physical blow, and the sudden, heavy guilt is plain to see, written completely across Victor's face as he stares back in absolute silence. He is right, I saved his skin but I destroyed his soul, Victor thinks, the truth bitter in his mouth.
Victor breaks the heavy silence on the rooftop with a dry, humourless laugh.
He looks over at the broken man and shakes his head softly.
"Hmm... it is my fault," Victor murmurs, his voice laced with a familiar tiredness.
"I know. I hear the exact same thing every single year right before the winter sets in. No problem. It keeps happening."
Without another word, he turns his back on the cold night air and heads straight downstairs.
When Victor walks inside, the heavy atmosphere lifts slightly.
He walks into the dining area and finds Emily, Olivia, and Tessa working together, putting the final touches on a massive dinner.
A genuine trace of happiness crosses his face when he notices they have prepared his absolute favourite dishes.
He pulls out his phone and dials Lucius immediately.
"Brother, the food is ready," Victor says into the receiver.
"Do me a favour. You and Alex grab Teajun and haul him down here. I am getting a room ready for him."
Victor has already sent all the penthouse's maids away on temporary leave, knowing that anyone coming in from the outside could easily be a spy for their enemies.
Hearing the call, Emily looks up and chimes in, confirming that the room is completely set up and they just need to bring Teajun down to sleep it off.
Upstairs, Lucius and Alex manage to shoulder the dead weight of a completely drunk Teajun, dragging him down the corridors and putting him safely to bed. Once the task is finished, Lucius walks right back into the brightly lit dining room where everyone is waiting.
Without a single word of warning, he pulls Tessa against his chest and kisses her deeply on the lips right in front of the entire group, his possessive hold leaving no room for argument. "Sit down and eat," Lucius commands softly as he pulls away.
He slides into the chair directly beside Tessa, while Alex sits across from them next to his wife, Olivia.
Victor takes his place right beside Emily, the heavy mahogany table finally filling up with the entire inner circle.
The rest of the night feels different, almost peaceful.
Sitting together and eating feels like being with a real family, something none of them has experienced in a long time.
For people in their line of work, moments like this just do not happen.
None of them has parents to go back to anymore.
Some of their families have completely cut ties and stopped speaking to them the exact day they entered the mafia world, while others have sadly passed away years ago.
Under the dim lights of the penthouse, they simply eat their dinner, holding onto the only family they have left.
Later that night, the penthouse falls completely still as everyone heads off to sleep, leaving the sprawling corridors empty and dark.
In the quiet of their room, Lucius pulls his shirt over his head, tosses it carelessly onto one side of the bed, and sits down on the edge of the mattress.
The cool night air hits his bare shoulders while he picks up his tablet, turning his full attention to the fresh data his hackers have just sent through.
He is carefully scanning the glowing details on the screen when the door handle clicks open. Tessa steps inside, her movements soft and nearly silent as she crosses the floor and sits down right next to him.
"Is there a problem?" she asks softly, her eyes tracking the lines of text on the tab in his lap.
"Nope," Lucius replies. He keeps his voice low, matching her tone so he does not disrupt the thick quietness of the room. "Just checking how much work actually gets done while we are out."
Tessa shifts closer, leaning her weight slightly against his side as she looks up at his profile. "I cannot seem to forget what happens yesterday," she admits, her voice dropping to a gentle whisper that hangs in the dark between them.
Lucius does not say anything right away, but the confession makes his chest tighten as his mind instantly tracks back to the intense moments they have shared.
Our intimacy happens exactly when it needs to, he thinks, recalling the raw surrender in her eyes.
He knows he has taken his time with her; he has not crossed the line into mindless cruelty or treated her like an animal when they are together, despite the violence that usually rules his life.
Without breaking the silence, he wraps a heavy arm around her shoulders, pulling her firmly against his bare chest and letting her lean into his warmth as the quiet night finally takes over the rest of the world.
Lucius remains silent, but his mind instantly tracks back to the moments they have shared.
Our intimacy happens exactly when it needs to.
He knows he has taken his time with her; he has not crossed the line or treated her like an animal when they are together.
He simply wraps an arm around her, letting her lean into his chest as the night finally takes over. ~