Chapter 23: Chapter 23

THE PAST CONTINUES......

Lexis places the gun on the little boy's head smiling at him and then, he pulls the trigger.

Benedict screams out running towards them in panic. "Noo."

Lexis stands up holding the gun in his hand as he looks at the little boy who looks up at him puzzled.

"I still haven't fallen asleep." The little boy says to him innocently.

Benedict pauses in his track when he hears his son's voice. Lexis didn't shoot him?

Lexis smiles at the boy, "There's no bullet in it."

"The bullet makes it work, right?"

"Yes. It makes this thing..." Lexis says pointing at the gun. "Works."

The little boy nods, "Then why don't you put some inside?"

Lexis grins and squirts before him again. "How old are you?"

"Six years old!" He says loudly beaming from ear to ear.

Lexis nods, "Six, hmm. Then that's great. " He pats the boy's head. "You should know, little brat, this.." He says referring to the gun. "-Is called a gun and it doesn't take people to nice places."

The little boy looks at him and nods. "I know it's called a gun."

"Oh? Of course you should know it's name. You're six and a Capo's son too." Lexis chuckles.

"Where does it take people to then? The little boy asks.

"To lonely places, sad places." He shrugs.

The little boy's face falls, "I didn't know that."

Lexis grins and stands before turning to Benedict who is on his kneels with red eyes.

"What are you waiting for? I thought you said you'll resign?"

Benedict nods quickly before standing up. "I will. I will do that now."

In no time, Benedict has written and signed the resignation letter. He also recite the resignation oath and quickly runs over to his son.

His son stares at him wondering why his father looks so worried and scared.

"My boy, are you okay?" Benedict asks as he pulls him into his arms.

Lexis walks over back to his seat and sits down while Benedict continues to check on his son.

Lexis turns to Tunde. "Would you like to see your own package Tunde?"

Tunde tenses in fear as he hears Lexis say that. He suddenly stands up placing his hands on the table breathing hard. "I...I will resign too. Please, no need."

Lexis grins and shakes his head. "You old people just like it the hard way, huh?" Lexis says before standing up again and going behind the consigliere.

He brings out his phone and place it on the table on front of the consigliere.

"What's this all about Lexis?" The consigliere frowns as he stares at the phone which displays a paused video.

Lexis plays the video on his phone before resting his hand on the table. The consigliere stares at the video playing in the phone still confused on what Lexis is doing. But then, few minutes into the video, his eyes widen in shock and he turns to Lexis.

Lexis smiles, "Who is in that video consigliere?"

The consigliere's body starts to tremble and tension rises in him. He abruptly stands up. "Let's talk about this elsewhere."

Lexis tilts his head, "Why? You don't want anyone to find out?"

The consigliere moves his eyes around the room before it focuses back on Lexis. "I can explain..."

Lexis scoffs, "Oh come on consigliere, tell that to a child."

The consigliere gives the capos a fake smile beforebmoving close to Lexis grabbing his wrist. "We can settle this Alexander, hmm?"

Lexis tsk at him, "Why looking scared all of a sudden consigliere?" He takes the phone from the table and dips it into his pocket before turning to Tunde.

"Is your resignation letter ready?"

Tunde nods even when he's still typing on the laptop.

"Alexander.." The consigliere whispers. "Please let's talk privately."

Lexis arches his brows, "So you're saying you will step down then?"

The consigliere bit his lips as his mind travel back to the video. It was a video of him messing with the boss's supplies. He is caught in the video with his men killing the people in charge of the drugs his boss has placed him in charge of and then, changing the original supplies to fake ones.

"How am l sure you won't push the matter forward?"

Lexis leans close to his ear and whispers, "You know very well what will happen to you if this video gets to my father. I mean..." He pauses and smiles to his ear before adding on. "I would want to show this to him but I figure out this is better. I get to tell you what to do and you have no choice but to obey me." He shrugs before moving away.

The consigliere stares at him still not believing anything he said. "I will resign but you will have to give me every copy of the video that you have."

Lexis sighs and shakes his head, "I don't go back on my words consigliere. Relax, if I wanted to do more with the video, I would have shown it to the boss instead."

The consigliere heaves a sigh and nods.

"We will both have fun consigliere." Lexis says smiling at him before standing up.

"You all should make sure you settle your businesses and get the f**k out of this place. I will be bringing in new people to replace you as soon as possible.." He moves his eyes looking at each of them. "I might even use your kids, that could be better." He shrugs before walking out of the room.

Lexis walks into his room and sits on the edge of his bed. He runs his hand across his face and sighs. His eyes move around his room until it falls on a small picture frame on the table and he reaches for it. He stares at the picture and trails his fingers on it. Unshed tears clouds up in his eyes as he stare at the picture of him and his mom smiling so brightly like nothing else matters. His heart clenches as he stares sadly at him. All he could do is stare at her picture in the frame.

Back then, Lexis's father had married Williamis mother, Patricia, at first but later, he had an affair with Lexis's mom, Serena, getting her pregnant and that's how he married her. Patricia, hated the fact that her husband's attention was divided. She never accepted Serena and she made life difficult for her evern while she was pregnant with Lexis. After Serena gave birth to him, Patricia tried every possible ways to send them away.

She would always pick up fights with her and beat little Lexis up for no reasons and she even warned William not to play with him or consider him a brother.

William never liked Lexis anyway as he only saw him as a competitor even when he's 7 years older than him. He would always pick up fights with him and tried to put him on bad sides with their father. Despite all that, Lexis's mother, Serena, never for once hated them. She taught Lexis to be respectful to Patricia and also to respect William as his elder brother.

Their father, Richard, spent most times with Lexis's mother and it makes Patricia more jealous and her hatred towards Serena and her son increased. She hated Serena to an extent that she planned on how to get rid of her for good. And so one time, she saw a good opportunity to carry out her plan and that's when Serena got romantically involved with Richard's younger brother,Jeremy.

She caught them on camera and showed it to Richard. Richard got so angry that he killed Jeremy, his brother, and he locked Serena up and would beat her up every day. One time, Lexis saw when his father was beating up him mom like she was an object. He was hitting so hard that it seemed as if she was going to die. He was only little then and couldn't stop his father but cry his eyes out and plea with him to stop hurting his mother.

It got to a point, Serena couldn't take it anymore and she tried to escape with Lexis. Everything was going perfectly well and they would escaped without getting caught if not for Patricia who had seen them. Despite Serena's plea for Patricia to let her escape silently, Patricia didn't listen to her. She alerted the guards who took Serena and Lexis back to the house.

Trying to ease her pain, Serena ended up getting addicted to benzodiazepines. She became depressed and suffered from delirium. She would sometimes forget everyone including Lexis and times when she remembers anything, all she could say is 'Alexander' whenever she sees him. She tends to be illusional most times too. Being so young, Lexis didn't know what to do or how to help his mother. She became useless in the house and was always in her room while everyone forgot about her.

At the age of 7, Lexis killed his mother or so he thought. The consigliere was the one who pulled the trigger and not him, but because the gun was in his hand, he blamed himself. After his mother's death, Lexis never remained the same again. He got visited with nightmares of the day of his mother's death every night and he would wake up shouting and destroying everything he sees. Richard took him to children's mental hospital for therapy.

After two years at the mental hospital, Lexis was brought back home and he returned to being the cheerful sweet kid everyone knew but none of it lasted, because four years later, Lexis turned into a kid everyone feared.

Tears stream down his eyes as he stares at him mother's picture. "I don't know if I can bear it any longer mom.." He says amidst tears as he continues to trail his finger on the frame. "-It irks me so much to see his face. That man who's my father, I just want to...to kill him for what he did to you..." He sniffles biting his lower lip. "-But deathbis too kind for someone like him." He places the picture at his side and stands up. "I will make him pay mom, he would go through every pain you want through." He wipes off his tears before taking up his phone from the table.

He dials on it and places it on his ear. "Hello father... I want to appoint Martins and Salman's sons as the new capos. And I would also like Tunde's daughter too."

Richard chuckles, "I can't believe you made them resign." He stops chuckling before adding on. "Go ahead...but thought you didn't want anything to do with Martins and Tunde's kids.

Lexis smirks, "Their kids will do me a great job."

"Whatever you feel is best, go ahead then."

"Thank you father" Lexis smiles before hanging up. As he places his phone on the table, William barges into the broom.

Lexis stares at him with a frown. "Why barge into my room like that?"

William clenches his fist before walking pass him into the room. He places his hands on his waist before turning to Lexis. "Why did you make it seem like you're helping me!"

William yells at him with a mixed feeling of anger and frustration.

Lexis dips his hands into his pockets and tilts his head at him. "What are you talking about?"

William suddenly grabs him by the collar and glares at him. "The consigliere and the capos have resigned and father just called me..." He emphasizes the last word before licking his lips."-He just called me and told me, that I can now perform my duties as the consigliere..." He tightens his grip on Lexis's collar. "-And that I should thank you for making that happen?"

Lexis sighs before forcefully pulling Williams hands away from him. "Is this how to thank me then?"

William moves over to the door and hits the door with his fist yelling loudly. "Shut the f**k up!!"

Lexis just rolls his eyes and walks over to the window while William stares at his back as his eyes becomes red with unshed tears. "What more do you want Lexis?" He says in a low desperate voice. "-How much more are you going to make me feel worthless?"

Lexis turns around to him and giggles. "Worthless? It's funny hearing you admit that yourself.."

He sighs leaning against the wall beside the window. "It's not my fault father sees me more worthy than you. Why blame it on me?"

William scoffs and slowly walk towards him. "Don't pour out your loneliness and frustration on me Lexis..." He stands in front of him. "-I'm not the one who left you with no one."

Lexis' jaw clenches in anger and suddenly, he throws a punch at William sending him to the ground as he didn't expect it.

William stands up spitting out blood from his mouth. He sweeps his thumb across his lips and grins. "You see, that's your weakness. You haven't let go of your mother's miserable death and you just want to vent your guilt on people who did nothing wrong."

Lexis grips his college pulling his close as he glares at him. "I'm going to make sure, that your mother goes through the same loneliness as did my mom. And you..." He nods his head biting his bottom lips before he abruptly lets go of him. "-Will do nothing but watch."

"You can't do shit." William says before walking out of the room.

Lexis breathes hard as he punches the wall with his fist. He continues to punch the wall with his fist as if it's a punching bag. He punches it again and again and again until blood starts flowing down his arms but he still didn't stop. Just as he keeps on hitting the door, someone opens the door and walks inside.

"Lexis! Lexis!" She screams out with worry evident in her voice as she rushes to his side.

"Please stop, you're hurting yourself." She screams trying to stop him but he wouldn't listen. Then, she places her hands against the wall making Lexis punch her hand instead. She wince hard as he punches hernhard and that's only when he realizes her presence. He stops at once and looks to her.

"Erica? He calls staring at her.

She smiles at him before reaching out to take his hand. She place his hands in hers and stares at them. Her eyes becomes clouded as she sees his knuckles covered in blood.

"Does it hurt?" She asks as she trails her hands on his injured knuckles. He withdraws his hands from hers abruptly.

"Do you need anything?" He asks as he turns away from her.

She sighs and shakes her head. "I wanted to tell you that.I will lay my life for you, both as your capo and your friend."

Lexis sighs and sits on the bed.

"I'm not your friend Erica."

She nods moving closer to him. "It's fine, I can just be your friend then. Like before."

Lexis looks at her, "It's good you have gotten the information that I appointed you as one of the capos but if you keep talking about friendship, then I'm afraid..."

She cuts him off, "I understand. Let me help you with your hand."

He cuts her off, "Erica! It seems you will only begin to work as a capo when you learn how to separate your personal feelings from your job." He goes over to thebcupboard and pulls out a drawer. He takes out an ointment and plaster.

"Here, apply it on your knuckles." He says giving them to her.

She collects it from him and bows. "Thank you, underboss." She smiles sadly before walking out of the room.

Lexis sighs as she left and he lies on the bed with his back. Erica and George were both his childhood friends backbthen before he became a saddened kid. They were close friends and did lots of things together. Even when he distanced himself from everyone, they never feared nor gave up on him.

He knows very well that they can be trusted, so he made them the new capos. No matter how hard he tried to put on a strong facade in front of everyone, he would still end up breaking down whenever he's alone. He has done lots of bad things just to get his father to trust him and most times, he gets nightmares from the bad things he committed.

For years, he had been having nightmares of his mother's death scene. It is weighing him down a lot and he might end up breaking down so he got himself a therapist who could help him reduce it. It's been very helpful for him because the nightmares didn't come very often anymore. He takes the drugs that the therapist prescribed him and he tries his every best not to think about anything that would trigger his past.

Telling the consigliere and the capos to step down is a way of pulling away every support his father has. Little by little, he would take everything he cherishes. He would make sure that he gets to give him every taste of his own medicine and only then, will he die without regrets.

XOXO

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