Chapter 1

• Ruiz Giovanni
• ~•~
• “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” My shrill voice echoed through the church. “It has been long since I had my last confession.”
• “What troubles you, my child?” The priest's voice echoed from the other side of the confession room.
• “I have killed a total of fifteen persons in the last twenty-four hours,” I said and closed my eyes tightly as the memories of the previous day replayed in my head.
• Father Francis let out a loud gasp and I put my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from laughing. “Did you at least do it for a good cause, Ruiz?”
• Of course, I wouldn’t go around killing people if it wasn’t necessary. They crossed my territory. They stole from me and I had to retaliate by wiping out half of their men.
• “Yes, they stole from me.” I raked a hand through my long black hair. “Forgive me, father.” I slumped my head back on the wooden chair.
• “Ruiz, my child, your sins are grave indeed.” Father Francis said, his voice laced with concern. “But the lord is always ready to forgive his children, you’re forgiven. Strive to do better because I fear for your soul.”
• I snorted, a wry smile spreading across my face. “My soul is long gone. But I will strive to do better.” The lie tasted bitter on my lips but I needed to tell Father Francis what he wanted to hear.
• I walked out of the confessional booth, holding back a grin as I made my way out of the church. One must’ve wondered why I always confessed my sins without any fear but I had Father Francis wrapped around my fingers.
• He wouldn’t dare say anything about me because he knew it would just put his life in danger. Aside from that, I trusted him.
• My mother forced me and my siblings to go to church regularly while growing up. So technically, Father Francis watched me grow up.
• I grew fond of him and he tried his best to stop me from joining gangs back when I was a teenager, but my mind was made up and all his pleas fell on deaf ears.
• Even if I considered his pleas at one point in my life, there was no redemption for me anymore, because I wasn’t going to stop until I found out who exactly killed my brother.
• As I settled in my car, I turned up the stereo and was about to start the ignition of the car when my phone started ringing.
• It was Lorenzo calling. Lorenzo was my best friend and my partner. “Speak, brother,” I asked as I put him on speaker while my eyes were fixed on the road.
• “I’ve gotten intel on the other gang who stole from us, I’ll send you the details now.” As soon as he ended the call, my phone pinged with a text.
• I shook my head as I read his text. The location wasn’t far from where I was. Lorenzo and some of our other men were going to meet me there.
• Two gangs came together to steal from me. Initially, we had found only one of them. The people who made me visit Father Francis earlier.
• “I guess I have to sin again.” Anger coursed through my veins as I matched the brakes of the car and turned around, driving at full speed to the Martinez resident.
• I respected Mr. Martinez and I never expected him and his members to steal my money and drugs. We were competitors, so we didn’t see eye to eye, but I still respected him and would never steal from him.
• Pulling up at the front gate, I opened the compartment of my car where I always kept my gun. I brought it out and made sure it was loaded before I stepped out of the car.
• Lorenzo asked me to wait for his arrival before making any move but I didn’t have much patience. I was fueled by anger, so I walked towards the gate and banged on it multiple times.
• One guard opened the gate to see who it was and before he could say anything, I shot him on the head. His body fell to the ground and I walked past him.
• As I entered inside, two other guards came firing shots at me, but I took them down with just two bullets. I had been to the Martinez residence a few times for business, so I knew my way around some parts of the house.
• I made my way to the front door but before I could twist the door handle, I heard Lorenzo’s voice behind me. “You couldn’t wait?” He asked and I turned. His eyes darted across the lifeless bodies on the ground.
• From his expression, I could tell he wasn’t surprised.
• The other men surrounded the compound while Lorenzo and I went into the house. The front door was easy to bypass. It was my line of work, so it didn’t give me much trouble.
• I could only hear voices coming from the TV in the living room. Lorenzo and I walked over to the living room and my surprise, I saw Martinez and his family seated with scared looks on their faces.
• It was him, his wife, and two of his teenage kids.
• “Ruiz, you don’t have to do this. We can talk about it.” Martinez pleaded when I pointed the gun at his wife who was also begging for her life.
• I let out a dry chuckle. He knew what he did and there was nothing to talk about. He crossed a line and he was going to pay the consequences.
• Without wasting time, I fired a shot at his wife and the blood spilled all over the cream-colored sofa. The rest of the family gasped in disbelief and I could see the fear in their eyes.
• “Ruiz, plea…. ”
• I didn’t let him complete his sentence before I fired a shot at him too, making his body fall to the ground. I turned over to the children. I didn’t want them to have a life without their parents, so I fired two shots at them too.
• “Let’s go.”
• Lorenzo and I were about to walk back to the front door when we heard a brief sound coming from the staircase. “Did you hear that too?” Lorenzo asked and I nodded.
• We both went upstairs and as we ascended the stairs, we heard footsteps running in the corridor. We looked at each other for a second before I increased my pace, running upstairs faster.
• “Stop or I’ll shoot you too!” I commanded, my gun trained on the fleeing figure. She froze and turned around slowly, it was dark but I could tell it was a female.
• As I moved closer to her, I discovered she was Martinez's oldest daughter. I had seen her once or twice on several occasions. She didn’t live in Spain and I had no idea she was in the country.
• “Please don’t kill me.” She pleaded in a slightly cracked voice. I pursed my lips, thinking hard about what to do with her.
• “Kill her, and let’s get out of here.” Lorenzo urged but I shook my head and lowered my gun. She was too beautiful to die just like that.