Chapter 85: Mivite
Carmen
For a long moment I didn’t speak.
I couldn’t. There were lots of things my father refused to say about his life, things he buried beneath silence and routine, but sometimes when he had drunk enough alcohol his lips would loosen and he would talk about his past in fragments that never quite fit together.
His enemies too, and how it wasn’t until he had killed them all that he finally had some semblance of peace. But even then, even as he said it, I could see the truth written in the lines of his face and the way his fingers always lingered too close to a weapon.
Staring at Nico now, I knew that kind of peace didn’t exist. My father knew it too. He had killed too many people to keep track of, and no matter how many bodies he left behind, there were always more who would come looking for revenge.
It was human nature.
I could count the number of people I had killed on one hand, each memory still sharp and unwelcome, and I fully intended to live a peaceful life. A life where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder or wake up expecting blood.
Which was never going to happen if I allowed a war to break out.
"We could kill Vito and Gotti only and put someone that we can control to inherit! It’s doable. Convincing Bianca to side with us won’t even be difficult," I said, the words coming out quickly, almost too quickly as I tried to grasp onto something that felt like a solution.
But I was barely done speaking when I watched a very displeased expression flash across Nico’s face.
His jaw tightened, firm and unyielding, as his gaze hardened when he leveled it on me, the sea breeze doing nothing to cool the sudden tension between us.
"...Killing the both of them together is already tricky by itself. What if the person we pick turns on us?" he asked, his voice steady but edged with impatience.
I sighed, running a hand briefly through my hair before answering.
"Then we simply control at most the business side of things. All the companies," I said, though even to my own ears it sounded like I was trying to simplify something that refused to be simple.
"We will need people we can trust. Moreover, I do not think Gotti would work for the enemy. He is much too angry with what was done to him!" I added, recalling the promise of revenge I had seen burning in his eyes.
Those burns were forever unless he got cosmetic surgery, and even then it would take time and never truly return him to what he once was. That kind of hatred didn’t fade—it sharpened.
"At most the three of us can take over Vito’s territory and share it into three," I continued, my grip tightening slightly on the railing as I spoke, desperately hoping that he would see reason in what I was trying to say.
Jumping into war should be the last plan if all else fails. It can’t be the first step before we even talk it out.
"You are so sure Gotti isn’t on the other side?" he asked, meeting my gaze directly.
I hated the slight hesitation that flickered in my eyes before I nodded my head. The truth was there was no way to be one hundred percent sure, and even one percent was enough to completely ruin us.
"You want to take that risk?" he asked again, stepping closer.
He didn’t stop until he had closed the distance between us completely, standing right in front of me, towering over me. The wind slid across our clothes and through our hair as we stood on the deck, the quiet sound of the sea stretching endlessly around us.
His gaze was more intense than ever before.
"What if they are innocent?" I asked, my voice quieter now, wondering if he simply couldn’t hear what I was trying to say or if he just didn’t care enough to listen.
"You’re going to start a war just to ensure you don’t get backstabbed?" I added, my heart thumping harder—much harder—in my chest as I held his gaze.
He leaned his head back slightly, letting out a dark chuckle that carried no trace of amusement.
Then he looked at me.
He really looked at me, slowly shaking his head.
"We almost got killed twice, and they are already planning to try again, if they haven’t already. We’re already at war!" he said, his voice cutting through the air with a sharp finality.
"The longer we continue to hesitate, the worse it will be for us while they get stronger. The bigger the gap, the harder it will be to fight back," he continued.
But I was already shaking my head, refusing to accept it.
"You have a much bigger reason why you want to start a war, don’t you? You know with how big this project is the government would be more invested. Insecurity is the last thing they’ll allow!" I said slowly, my eyes fixed on him, waiting—hoping—for him to deny it.
But he didn’t.
He simply returned my gaze with a steady look before suddenly shrugging his shoulders and turning away, his attention shifting back to the sea around us. The yacht had stopped moving at some point, left to drift quietly with the current.
"We are too weak! If we don’t act we could all lose our lives and our territory," he began, raising his head slightly as if searching the horizon for something only he could see.
But more than his words, it was his tone that unsettled me.
There was an almost vulnerable edge to it, something rare, something he didn’t show often.
He had turned his back to me, leaving me unable to see his face.
"The Lowel family came knocking and I said no. Do you think they would back down?" he asked. "They are one of the top business families in the entire country and top ten in the world. There would be others. There’s bound to be others who are much bigger, with more connections."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"What do you think they would do if we stand in their way?"
A slight look of confusion crossed my face, frustration rising with it as I slid both hands down my face, shaking my head.
"...All because of fucking oil?" I asked, finding it hard to believe that they would go that far. There were other places they could look, other opportunities that didn’t involve turning everything into chaos.
"It’s not just oil," Nico said with a resigned sigh as he turned to face me again.
"...But also Mivite crystals. They found some at the bottom of the sea," he added.
That was enough to make me gasp.
My heart began to pound harder, fear settling deep in my chest as I stared at him, searching for any sign that he was exaggerating.
But there was none.
Only that unwavering look that told me he meant every single word he had just spoken.
At that moment, slowly, I understood what he meant.
’Mivite? They would bury us to get it!’
