"Oh, I think your question is wrong, great Don!
You shouldn't ask what I want, you should say, 'What will happen to us now, Maldo?"
Maldo had already decided the fate of Enzo and Don, but he wanted to play with their nerves a little.
At that moment, Enzo and Don exchanged glances, and Maldo interrupted them with a quick shot to Don's shoulder.
"You bastard," Don said in pain.
Maldo slowly left the chair and began to circle them, the gun twirling between his fingers as if it were a piece of black mosaic glistening in the dim light. Before he spoke, he placed the muzzle of the gun on Don's shoulder.
"Do you remember? Eight years ago, in this filthy place, I stole the soul of an innocent child who had never hurt anyone. I stole her soul brutally, and worse than that, I humiliated her with utter insolence...
Isn't that right, Don Dante?" Then he shot him in the other shoulder.
He quickly turned the gun toward Enzo and shot him in the stomach as well.
"Isn't that what you did? Didn't you kill Sally in cold blood and live your lives in misery, enjoying yourselves without a shred of remorse?
So I don't want to hear your complaints and your miserable voices. I will kill you and make this place a grave worthy of you.
Here, Enzo realized that Maldo would not go easy on them, that there was no escape from him, and that doom was waiting at the door.
So he decided to beg.
"Maldo, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill her, please forgive me."
Maldo's face turned into a shadow; his features distorted as if he had encountered a ghost more terrifying than imagination. Only moments after his apology, he was interrupted by a voice as cold as the edge of a knife.
"Sorry"? Do you think that word will absolve you now? Let me explain something... Apologies are for those who accidentally step on someone's foot, not for those who deliberately destroy a person's life. Go away with your remorse, there is no turning back."
On top of that, he reached out and grabbed Enzo's face, pressing hard on the burn mark. Enzo's screams rose in the courtyard, shrieks that pierced the air and ignited the don's panic.
"I burdened myself and stayed in this filthy place. Why do you think? So I could see you in this miserable state, so I could take my revenge on you to the fullest. How many people have suffered like me, how many people have lost their lives in pursuit of your filthy desires... So today, the era of the black beast will end, and I will begin my own era. "
He stepped into the middle of the square and raised his hands in a ritualistic gesture. Shadows spread around him, and Luca remained inside them, his red eyes glowing like two openings emitting sparks, and from every corner, flames began to flow throughout the square.
"And now, the end begins."
Don and Enzo tried together to beg for mercy. "Let us go... please! We'll do as you say!" they said in unison, trying to beg for their lives.
Maldo smiled a smile that knew no mercy. "You are asking for the impossible... like asking the sun to cool down. Don't even try."
The square quickly turned into an explosive hell. The flames spread rapidly, consuming everything in their path until they reached Enzo, who was trying to pull his feet out from under the rubble and smoke, screaming and begging, but the flames engulfed his body.
He raised his weapon and said,
"Go to hell."
The shot rang out. It pierced Enzo's head. He hung from the rope tied to him.
He then turned towards Don, whose turn had come.
At that moment, the scene suddenly trembled: a cold metal touched Don's head from behind. The sound of a gun being raised.
It was Daniel standing behind him, holding the gun to his head.
A sudden smile appeared on Don's face, as if he had found a thread to cling to in the middle of the storm, and he said
"Daniel... I knew you would save me... You really are the best."
Maldo showed no signs of surprise or confusion. He was very calm and smiling too.
Daniel laughed as he replied:
"Oh, am I the best, Don? Are you sure?" Then he added sarcastically: "What do you think, Maldo, who is the best?"
"Of course it's me, you silver fool," Maldo replied.
In the end, the whole scene was Daniel's plan, a charade to sow false hope. Daniel put away the gun, and a cunning smile spread across his face.
Daniel said coldly:
"I think this place is about to collapse, and it's getting hot... Shall we end this now?"
In that second, Don's gaze froze, and he didn't even blink from the shock.
"What do you mean... You're here to save me, aren't you?"
But the answer was clear just by looking into Daniel's eyes. He replied sarcastically.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to kill you too."
After that, Don couldn't speak. He felt as if he had swallowed a stone and it was stuck in his throat.
"Im... impossible!"
Without waiting, Daniel approached him and put the muzzle to his head.
"Hmm... It's not impossible... After all, I've hated you from the beginning."
The Don tried to curse, but Daniel ended it all with a single shot to his head.
"Ah, that's better..." Daniel sighed and stood up straight.
"Are you done with your nonsense? We have to leave before we burn too," said Maldo.
"Of course, let's leave now," said Daniel, clapping his hands enthusiastically.
Immediately, they ran outside, debris collapsing around them, almost crushing them. Smoke covered the place and the heat was burning everything.
Suddenly, Luca appeared, grabbing them by their clothes with all his strength. He said with a sarcastic smile:
"Let's go, you idiots!"
In the blink of an eye, they found themselves standing on a hill overlooking the burning headquarters, flames dancing in the darkness, thick smoke obscuring the sky like a dark curtain.
Luca dropped Daniel and Maldo to the ground as if he were throwing away trash bags, then put his hands on his hips boastfully.
"I saved you... Come on, thank me!"
But his smug look quickly turned to genuine surprise when he noticed Daniel staring intently at his knife. He turned to look where Daniel was looking and found Maldo standing calmly, lost in silent contemplation, revealing nothing of what was going through his mind. This made Luca hesitate for a moment and feel suspicious.
The silence that surrounded him was not comforting, but rather the emptiness after the storm. His body was still, but his soul fluctuated between images of torture, loss, the moment of revenge, and the faces of those who had fallen. Had he regained something? Or had he lost everything?
The blood that was shed was not salvation, but a mirror. And in that moment, as he contemplates, he realizes that revenge does not extinguish the fire, but transfers it from the outside to the inside.
"Hey!" Sally uttered in a voice they had not heard in ages, a voice that carried the warmth of the past and the tremor of nostalgia.
Everyone froze in their places, exchanging glances, as if afraid that if they blinked, she would disappear. Was she an illusion? Or had Sally really returned?
"It's Sally..." Luca whispered, a broad smile spreading across his face, as if hope had returned to breathe again.
Sally took his hands and said,
"Thank you for not forgetting me... and for leaving that place."
Maldo couldn't resist the urge in his heart and embraced her as if trying to prevent time from stealing her away again.
"Sally... I can't believe you're here... Forgive me, I'm so late. I left your wish hanging between the walls of that hell... I'm sorry."
Sally smiled and stepped back a little, her gaze moist with reassurance:
"It's okay... I'm just happy you got out of there. I've been waiting for this day for so long, and now... I can be okay. Thank you."
Daniel approached, his face showing noticeable sadness despite his sly smile, and hugged them both.
"You fools..." he said, trying to hide the tremor in his voice.
Luca, feeling a pang of jealousy, joined them and hugged them too.
"Me too... I missed you, Sally."
Sally laughed, that laugh that filled the room with life, then sighed.
"I missed you all..."
But the glow of her body began to fade, a sign that it was time to leave.
"It's time for me to go..." she said, the light fading around her.
"Sally..." Maldo whispered, trying to hold on to her with his eyes, as if refusing to say goodbye to her again.
"I'm glad I saw you again, Maldo," she said to him.
"And I... more than you can imagine. I miss you, Sally... I really miss you! And I want you to know that dancing and having fun with you was the best thing that ever happened to me...
He shouted with all his heart so that he wouldn't feel regret later...
A single tear slipped from Sally's eye before she whispered:
"Bye bye, Maldo... Thank you for everything."
And after only a few seconds... she rose and disappeared into the sky, and with her disappearance, snow began to fall, as if the sky was crying with her.
As she left, Maldo smiled a quiet smile that no one was used to seeing from him.
Daniel felt a sense of relief wash over him just from seeing that calm side of him.
"It's starting to snow... Let's go to my house."
As soon as Daniel finished his words, Luca shrank in size and jumped onto Maldo's shoulder as usual, filled with excitement. Everyone walked on, the snow falling, covering their footprints with a soft blanket... announcing a new beginning, completely unknown.
Towards an unknown destiny, towards a new beginning...