She didn’t scream, not even a single voice came out of her mouth as she was gritting her teeth and taking heavy breaths through her nose, as if she did want to show she was weak. But the thing is, it was because of her training. She might be a woman, might not be as powerful as a man, but she was trained to not break under pressure and torture, and a shot to her shoulder was not that big of a deal... she only feared that Joseph would shoot her straight into her heart or a spot where the blood would be gushing out and she couldn’t do anything about it, because she was still roped down in the chair.
But the bullet hit her shoulder and it was just a simple wound, not that much blood, not spraying out like how Vincent on the floor... well yeah he was dying for real. He was bleeding out heavily from his forearm where the bullet struck an artery, and from his stomach, but he was actually trying to stop it, while Jelena and Gabbana were still screaming their lungs out in pain.
On the other hand Joseph was just standing there looking at them as they were suffering on the ground in their own blood, and he felt something... like an emotion he hadn’t felt in years... he was happy.
Even he didn’t understand why he was feeling this sensation, this feeling. Just looking at them, it was satisfying something that he had the need to smiled about, even though he knew nothing about them and didn’t give a fuck about them even when he was still with the family... maybe because they tried to torture him, maybe because Jelena was doing the utmost to get her answers. Still everything was strange about it, like holding the gun and feeling the weight of it, of a weapon that was made to kill, a weapon that he never before held in his hand and never before shot with it, especially not at a human. But now this feeling was still creeping upon him, like it was something good that he did... that he just shot them... a federal agent and the top mafia family heads.
He truly can’t live a normal and peaceful life out of jail, especially if they die. The news will spread, especially if Olivia will launch a whole-ass investigation against him, the whole agency will be going to hunt for him.
But that too made him feel excited... like people hunting him down, people going against him to fucking put him in the dirt, to send him after his family... it was exciting.
He is truly a Cassian, heir to a throne that’s just in his blood, even if he wanted to go against it in prison, even if he thought about it every day, why does he even belong to this world? Why wasn’t he killed the moment his mother pushed him out... even death was better for him than that cell... but overtime he accepted that that cell was his home, his caretaker, that helped him transform into something that was way more dangerous than his father or anybody in his generation was.
The darkness was his father and the silence his mother, that took care of him for 10 years, that slowly helped him to grow up to be an adult, that took care of his emotion and made sure it was all buried to the deepest point of his heart, that he only feels something if he sees blood and death, that his morality and humanity was just a small pieces of what once it was.
Darkness helped him to push down his emotion while silence helped him to realize that there is no escape from this life, no escape from the blood within his body.
The Don of the Cassian family is him, and now there are people, who know how many are waiting for him, like he is a prophet returned from the judgment of God and changed forever.
How easy was it... He looked down on the gun because it was indeed easy to shoot someone and feel nothing bad about it, seeing them bleeding out.
"They are coming." Pirate said as he put down the phone. "We should go, Don Cassian."
"Yeah, but where?" He asked as he looked at him, because in his mind there was nothing to do, no home left to him.
"Home, of course." Pirate said as he thought about what that what emotion could Joseph feel, like he stepped out of the prison without having nothing and immediately got kidnapped and fucked up.
"Do I have a home?" Joseph asked back again as he was looking with his empty eyes.
"Of course, a beautiful home with people all around who are loyal to you until death." He said, and he also understood this part of it. For Joseph, there was nothing anymore. His family died, as well as his grandparents over the ten years.
"Then... let’s go." Joseph said as he turned around, gun still in his hand, but as he began to walk, Olivia spoke.
"Y-you... w-will die..." She said slowly and stuttering while she was staring at Joseph, but she needed to say it, just to let him know that he couldn’t just walk away and that’s it.
Moreover, she was stressing more about Joseph than herself and the gunshot.
It was clear to her that Joseph is dangerous and if he truly becomes the Don and fully accepts that role and power... shit is going to go wild in the city, in the country, in the underworld.
"Enjoy your promotion, Olivia... I bet we will meet in the near future." He said with a smirk on his face like he wanted to be sweet to her, but there was not a bit of emotion behind that smile.
With it, he made his way to the door, with his family members, his soldiers all around him, leaving behind them in their own blood, but he felt excitement, because those eyes of Olivia were serious, she was really going to hunt him, and he will wait for her.