CHAPTER 339: THE MAN WHO RULES IT ALL.

To be true, James didn’t understand anything, because everything happened so fast... like, how the fuck did he even fall asleep?

He usually woke up every half hour because of the nightmares, there were times he couldn’t sleep at all, but now, out of nowhere, Mike said he slept through the whole fucking day... and not just that, but after seeing the news... he just couldn’t understand shit. He was confused as fuck.

Though Darvik in fact told him that something is going to happen, but didn’t say anything specific about it.

But now everything was in front of him. People had died, his enemies had died, and with that, everything once again fell into his hands.

Like hundreds died, ministers were arrested which meant that the power of the underworld wasn’t just unbalanced... but now there was no competition at all. There wasn’t even a chance that somebody would take over the market. There wasn’t even a chance that somebody would try it.

Because what the agencies did was... the exact thing he needed the most. To clear the path and let him walk.

"So they mowed down everybody who they knew about?" James asked as he closed his eyes to think more about it.

"Yeah, but Sophia actually provided her information." Mike answered and for a moment James still kept his eyes closed but then he suddenly stood up and just smiled out of nowhere.

"What you are saying to me is that Sophia provided the information which means all the deaths are those who were against us?" He asked as he still grinned, though it wasn’t because he was happy or excited but more like it was a stress reaction to just understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Exactly, James." Mike answered him as she stood up too. "But of course the agencies had their own targets too and the death toll is going to go up to at least three hundred or even more. They killed everybody on Sophia’s list which technically means—"

"We have no competition." James whispered.

"We are now in total control of the capital city... a complete monopoly. The trafficking routes, they’re ours too. Every single one of them." Mike said as he stepped closer to James and placed his hand on his shoulders while looking into his eyes. "Now you are truly the Don, the Kingpin, the Lord."

In that moment as those words left Mike’s mouth, something washed over James’s body, something that didn’t fit the moment at all. It wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t exciting. It wasn’t the rush of victory, nor the arrogance of power.

It was a strange calmness that spread through him... not pride, not joy... more like his heart had finally stepped into a role it had long rehearsed, long expected, long known would one day come, yet still didn’t know how to feel about.

The crown was his, yes... but the feeling that came with it was something entirely different.

And when his tears started to roll like a waterfall, he finally understood what that feeling was.

It was the feeling of how much all of this had taken from him.

To live in peace, he had given up many things, pieces of himself, people he cared about, dreams he once held tightly. To reach the moment when everything finally rested in his palm, when life whispered that he had won, it took so much more from him than he ever imagined.

And in this moment, when everything is in his hand, when he could say anything, could smile, could be happy, could be excited about it, the only thing echoing inside him is how much he lost to finally get everything... how much was stripped away from him just to finally stand here and call it peace.

He could not celebrate, because even as life offered him everything he ever wanted, his heart kept counting the things that disappeared along the way. And that weight, that silent grief, drowned out the victory that should have been his.

The pretending lasted so much time, but reality lasted more and impacted him more, this life is no longer pretending, this life is no longer a game of a trickster who lies, pretends, and manipulates and misleads people... but a life of somebody who has it all.

The life of James Bellini now is the life of a true Drug Lord, even if he didn’t want it to be, even if life grabbed too much from him.

There was no turning back from it, nor he wanted to. Yeah, if life took so much from him to reach this point, then he was going to fully embrace it.

Tears of guilt? Tears of pain? Tears of regret about what he became and how much it took?

Yeah, all of it, but most important it was the tears of something much greater.

It was finally over, nobody was on his level back at home, nobody was able to do anything against him and more importantly there is not going to be wars, more blood flowing as he remains the only one that controls everything... yeah, with this news blood will stop flowing and a new era will begin, the new era where he becomes a billionaire, where he can finally take a step back and lay in the shadow building up an organization that is truly untouchable

But once again, like many times, Charlotte’s voice was the light in the darkness but moreover the warmth as she hugged James tightly. "Why are you crying?" she asked as she looked up with her big blue eyes at him and... yeah, she started crying too, more like almost began crying.

"I just woke up, Charlotte, so my eyes teared up, you know." James said as he wiped his face off.

"Nightmare?" She asked again as she gripped him more tight.

"No, more like a dream that’s too good to be true." James said as he petted her head like every time, but it felt so different... different to be the one who is from the point on he is the man.

The man who rules it all.