CHAPTER 303 Luca’s gaze was cold and his fingers held tight around the gun with his knuckles white. He didn't look away from the remaining men, as the rage was still burning in him. "You're not going anywhere," he said in an icy and vicious voice. The kidnappers froze with terror in their eyes. They recognized him. They knew who he was. He wasn’t new to their world. His name, Ercole, was feared everywhere. A man of power, ruthlessness, and precision. He always finished what he started. Luca, known as Ercole, became feared for a single, brutal event that made his name known across the criminal world. Years ago, he was just another rising figure in the underworld, but he wanted more. The most powerful drug cartel in the city, led by Ruiz, had been untouchable, or so everyone thought. Ruiz had made a mistake,he had underestimated Luca. Luca saw Ruiz’s enemies growing restless and used it to his advantage and quietly turning Ruiz’s men against him. One night, Luca set his pla

CHAPTER 305 Luca quickly called James. "Where are you?" "We're the hospital boss," James answered. Luca hung up and threw his phone in the passenger seat. He started the car and sped off with his hands gripping the wheels tight. He pushed the car hard, not caring about the speed, all he needed was just to get there and see his wife. He screeched into the hospital parking lot. His heart raced as he stared at the hospital entrance, waiting for any sign of life, but nothing happened. Meanwhile, Larosa parked her bike beside him and got off. She saw the tightness in his jaw and how his hands gripped the wheel like he was holding onto control. Luca didn't look at Larosa right away. His eyes were still locked on the hospital doors and his mind raced with thoughts he couldn’t control. "Boss," Larosa’s voice cut through the silence, "You need to calm down. They’ll take care of her." “She’s pregnant, Larosa,” he said emotionally. “I can’t lose her. I can’t lose my baby.” His breath caugh

CHAPTER 309 Luca stepped into the hospital room with a heavy heart as he approached his wife, who was lying in the bed. Her eyes was filled with pain and sorrow. The faint hum of the machines was the only sound that filled the room. His wife, Sara, looked up at him with tear-streaked cheeks as the memories of everything she had gone through weighed down on her. Luca stood there for a moment and his eyes searched for hers. His heart broke for the woman he loved, his darling wife, the one who had been through so much. His fists clenched at his sides as he fight the urge to break something or to do something, but he knew there was nothing he could do to undo the damage that had been done. The loss of their child was something neither of them could ever truly recover from. Slowly, he crossed the room and approached her bedside. When he reached her side, he hesitated for just a second before sitting down beside her. He took her hand gently in his. His touch was tender, and his thumb brus

CHAPTER 309 As the final echoes of Luca's declaration rang through the chamber, a heavy silence fell. A silence of awe, reverence, and the eerie quiet before a storm and of loyalty. Then, like a thunderclap, the room erupted. A thunderous chant shook the walls. “All hail Lord Ercole!” “The Blood King!” “He who conquered fire and steel!” “The Knife of the Shadows!” “The Man with No Fear!” The elders raised their staffs and cloaked arms in unison and pounded them to the marble floor rhythmically. Boom. Boom. Boom. Each strike was a mark of loyalty. One by one, the Dons of each major Mafia family stepped forward and bowed deeply, some on one knee, others lowered their heads to the very floor and placed their hands over their hearts. Don Matteo of the Sicilian Brotherhood, “The crown has returned to blood. We kneel to your flame, Lord Ercole. May your enemies never know peace, for you are war itself." Don Izan of the Eastern Fang, "The blade that took my rival

CHAPTER 311 But they were all agreed on one thing, Ercole wasn’t just a man, he was an entity, a force that bent the world to his will. The ballroom was buzzing with high-society tension, the kind of careful excitement that could only exist in a place where everyone was powerful, and yet everyone was still afraid of one man. Lord Ercole. It had been over an hour since word got out that he was expected to appear personally. No one had ever seen him, not truly. There were rumors, photoshopped pictures, blurry silhouettes caught from a yacht or a private jet, but nothing confirmed. A god in the world of men. And in his mystery, he became legend. So when a man at the bar loudly claimed, "I’ve met him," heads turned. He was mid-forties, a bloated ego barely contained in a slim, cut navy suit. The kind of man who needed to be seen, even when the spotlight wasn’t his. He took a slow sip of his drink and leaned back on the bar like he was royalty, eyes sweeping across the gathering crowd.