Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss-Chapter 169: Line.

James simply turned around and walked toward the gate, to everyone's surprise that was it, nothing morem and he was followed by the others like Thomas, Hector, and many of the IF agents.

Something was strange about him, like he had an aura or something. Nobody spoke, nobody even looked at him, like his silence was death itself.

"I'll go with you, Thomas, to Linda and the others. We need to talk." He said but didn't look at him like he was giving an order. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"Understo—"

"Excuse me!" A woman's voice came from the gate the moment they stepped out, camera in her hands recording James and literally everybody around him. "I'm with the KSC News, I would like to know what exactly happened here."

Stopped. Everyone stopped. But not just them… almost Thomas's heart stopped as he stared into that camera. There wasn't any worse thing that could happen than a news crew pulling up on them.

"How comfortable you are, standing beside these dead bodies." James suddenly spoke, looking into her eyes.

She immediately looked at him, and in a second knew that he wasn't a detective or any agent, but something worse. She literally stepped back a little.

"Who are you?" She asked as she pointed the camera more on James and noticed it.

The signet ring, the cane itself, and even his whole attire was screaming gangster. But which gangster?

She focused on the details… the little things. The ring on his finger looked like more of a female ring, a butterfly ring. But the other one, the signet with a capital B on it, was telling, and she immediately knew it.

Tonight, she fucked up.

"I'm—"

She couldn't finish it… poor soul… poor woman. The bullet gave her no time to even explain herself, struck her on the forehead, the bullet which James fired himself.

Her body immediately collapsed to the ground without any other sound, without any more recording of the site.

Thomas was shocked, as well as all the agents, and Linda too.

"Roaches." James said simply as he looked at her body. "Aren't they roaches?" He turned back to Thomas as he put away his gun. "Recording the dead, wanting to make out a story about something they don't truly know a single thing. Fucking roaches."

"...Y-yeah…" Thomas whispered hesitantly as he just realized James killed a civilian, moreover a woman.

He couldn't think right after witnessing it, because he thought James was keeping his laws, that few laws, few things that protected the civilians, but now he did it so smoothly, so fast, without even caring about it.

But at the same time, his wording was pointing to something else.

He said roaches, the journalists who just pick up a story for a hit, those who have no morality of showing the dead, spreading misinformation, but still, she was a civilian… a civilian who would've died otherwise too, because even if Thomas was shocked, he would have done the same to protect the operation.

Still, the feeling was on him, that really James is starting to lose it, not his mind, not that he's becoming crazy, no, he started losing that last bit of morality, last bit of humanity that was in his soul.

"He finally stepped over the line." Benjamin muttered as he saw it, and Linda immediately looked at him for an answer.

What fucking line? That question was in her mind, because there wasn't any line, there is no line for fucking criminals, serial killers, warlords. There isn't any line.

"Line?" She asked back.

"Yeah." Benjamin looked at her. "He isn't just the most influential and powerful gangster anymore, but he stepped over the line where he's thinking before he kills. That line has just disappeared, you saw it too." He gestured toward the screen. "This man we knew, James, that maybe had some morality left in him, maybe it was his mother who influenced him, but now, he is alone and there isn't anything to chain him down… he is free, and he will do things at his will. Just became more dangerous than we ever thought he would be. Fuck me." He said as he swept away the sweat on his forehead and leaned back.

It was true, Linda had known it for a long time. James was only acting that way to maintain a good image in front of his mother, to make sure he behaved in a way that didn't disgrace her… but now, knowing she's no longer there for him.

"Now what?" Edward asked the question. "What do we do about a dead reporter, with a bullet in her head?" He looked at Linda, who was just frozen in place. "Linda!" He shouted at her. "Think, not fucking freeze down! You are the one that wanted to do this, so think before we fuck up!" He was furious, and he had reason for it, because if it came to light that a journalist just died, it's going to cause more outrage.

"We hide her body." She said it confidently as she got up. "Fuck morality, fuck everything, I don't give a fuck about anything anymore!" She shouted. "We hide her fucking body in a barrel and throw her into the fucking ocean or the sea, I don't give a fuck which one! We do how we planned to and hide everything that can cause the downfall!" She shouted again, because she, up until this point, actually believed in something like a greater cause or something. But now, there wasn't any greater cause, it was just a deal with James, a deal that helped both of them, but didn't serve any greater cause. It was just to secure their spot in the government, in the corrupt country, and nothing else.

She gave up chasing justice… gave up on everything.

Just as James gave up, on being a fucking soft boy, on pretending to be someone he wasn't, he stopped trying to intimidate people with words, stopped acting like he was some badass. Because the truth is, he's not a badass.

He's not scary. He's just a good-looking guy. He's young… too young, maybe. But now, he knows he needs to act. He needs to prove who he really is. That he's no longer pretending. That he's accepted the invitation into the darkness, fully, willingly, and without hesitation.

Let it be civilians, let it be anyone in the world, if they step into his world, if they try to do something that hurts him or the family, he is going to kill, he is going to act on it.

Whether he's working with the government or not.

"Shall we go?" He asked as he looked at Thomas, who was still eyeing the body, along with Hector, who felt pumped up now. He felt that this would finally lead to a path where there was no more hiding, where they would be in the spotlight, known as the family. The power. The influence.

"Y-yeah, let's go…" Thomas said, and they walked toward one of the cars then turned back facing Hector and an agent.

"You gave the patch to Hector." He pointed at the agent, and the man, without a second thought, ripped the patch from his vest and gave it to Hector. "Cover your face too and go to the hospital. Be with Ferucci and… just call me if you get any news, okay?"

From the look in his eyes, Hector knew that James cared… yeah, he cared deeply. He just put on the mask and the badge, and with one last look, he walked off to another car. Meanwhile, James was debating with himself, whether he should go to the hospital... but he knew that in this world, his presence meant nothing, only actions did.

So he got in the car with Thomas, and they drove toward Linda's office, already planning the next step toward total war. And man, he had plans… a lot of them.

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