Chapter 10 - THE BOSS KNOWS

Lucien walked through the vaulted underground corridor, the scent of iron and gunpowder thick in the air. The doors to the chamber were already open. His father was waiting.

"You've embarrassed me, boy."

The voice was sharp, guttural. It came from a throne-like chair of blackened steel, where Dominic Marcellus, the man who ruled the underworld from behind whispers and contracts, sat with hands steepled under his chin.

Lucien didn't flinch.

"Didn't know embarrassment was an emotion you still owned."

Dominic slammed his fist against the armrest, the sound echoing like a gunshot.

"Don't test me, Lucien. You were given an order: eliminate the Montclair's. Every last one. Yet somehow a girl is still breathing?"

Lucien's jaw clenched.

"She wasn't part of the list."

"She was in the goddamn house, wasn't she?"

Dominic rose, towering and furious.

"You were told to erase the Montclair line. Not spare some blonde scrap of a girl who might one day come crawling back with a gun and a vendetta."

Lucien stared at the floor for a beat.

"She was a kid." He told him.

"So? You were thirteen when I first let you kill," Dominic snapped.

"That didn't stop you. That didn't make you soft."

Lucien's voice dipped cold.

"I'm not soft."

Dominic stepped closer, voice now low and lethal.

"Then prove it. Tie up your loose end. Find the girl and kill her before her name gets whispered in the wrong circles. Do it before someone else does and starts asking why the infamous Lucien left her alive."

Dominic threw a file at him. Photographs of Eleanor, from party surveillance, grainy but clear.

"She's not a ghost anymore. She's been seen. She could talk, that puts the gang in danger."

Lucien looked down at the photo, his face unreadable.

"How long do I have?" Lucien asked flatly, lighting a cigar with slow precision, as if the question didn't concern him.

"You have until the end of the week."

Lucien nodded

He turned on his heel to leave.

"Lucien."He paused in the doorway.

"This time, don't let your conscience get in the way. Or next time… I'll be cleaning up your mess with a bullet to your head."

Lucien didn't look back.

"Noted."

Heading for the gang chambers, Lucien angrily kicked open the rusted metal door.

"Which one of you fucks ran your mouth?"

Heads snapped up. A poker game scattered. A half smoked joint dropped to the floor.

Axel, sitting on the arm of the couch, raised a brow.

"Damn, good evening to you too, sunshine."

Lucien stalked into the room, his eyes like frost sharpened into steel.

"I'm not playing. One of you told my father about her."

The room went dead silent.

"Montclair girl?" asked Rat, voice low.

Lucien's jaw ticked.

"He knows she's alive. How?"Rat asked.

"You're the only one who left her breathing, Lucien," said Smoke, tossing a knife up and catching it.

"Maybe you're the one who slipped."

Lucien crossed the room in two strides and slammed Smoke against the concrete wall.

"Don't test me, Smoke. You think I'd sell myself out to him? One of you let it slip. You think he doesn't have eyes in every room, ears in every fucking hallway?"

Smoke smirked through clenched teeth.

"You're acting like this girl matters. She was barely a heartbeat. You're losing it."

Lucien shoved off him with disgust.

Axel stood now, brushing his jacket.

"Alright, let's cool it. None of us told Dominic shit. But he's not blind. Maybe someone outside this room saw her or maybe she's been making noise."

Lucien paced, hand raking through his dark hair.

Wyatt lit a cigarette.

"You want us to track her? Finish what wasn't done?"

Lucien didn't answer. He stared at the cracked window for a moment, the city lights pulsing like a dying heartbeat.

"No."

His voice was low but firm.

"I'll handle her."

Smoke scoffed.

"So she does matter."

Rat's eyes narrowed, a silent warning to keep his mouth shut.

Lucien's eyes snapped to him, deadly calm.

"She's a liability. Nothing more."

But no one missed the way his hand curled into a fist when he said it.No one missed how he didn't deny it fast enough.

Axel threw him a look.

"What's the move, then?"

Lucien turned for the door.

"I'll do what I should've done 2 years ago."

A pause.

"But if I find out one of you opened your mouth, I won't ask twice next time. I'll just start carving."

And then he was gone.

"You snitched to the boss, didn't you, Smoke?" Axel demanded, eyes narrowed.

"The hell I didn't!" Smoke snapped. "Why the fuck does everyone think it was me?"

He threw a glare across the room. "Rat was the one sulking that night when we left the job unfinished. If anyone should be under the spotlight, it's him,not me."

Rat leaned forward slowly, eyes cold and voice low.

"Say that again, Smoke," he growled.

"I fucking dare you." The room went still. Even Axel paused.

"You think I'd run to the boss? Over a girl?" Rat scoffed, rising to his feet. "You know me better than that or maybe you don't."

He took a step closer, face inches from Smoke's.

"I clean up messes. I don't make them."

Smoke didn't back down.

"You were the only one bitching about it that night," he snapped.

"'Should've slit her throat,' remember saying that?"

Rat's jaw clenched.

"Watch your mouth." Rat warned.

"Or what? You'll rat to the boss again?" Smoke said with a mocking smirk.

"Fits your damn name, doesn't it?" Smoke hit a nerve this time.

Rat lunged.Chairs scraped. Fists nearly flew until the rusted door creaked open.

A lanky teen with Montreau ink on his neck stepped in, eyes flicking to Axel.

"Boss wants you. Now."

Silence fell like a guillotine.

Axel exchanged glances with Wyatt who was casually sitting there the whole time, quiet.

"Y'all better chill the fuck out before I get back. Or I'll handle both of you myself."

And with that, he was gone.