Luca woke up in a tiny windowless room. It took a few seconds for his mind to calm and for the memories of yesterday to come back to him. He let out a deep sigh.

Having contacts with the mafia occasionally came in handy for things other than getting his hands dirty. That’s how he got this room to hide out in. Of course, with only a bed and toilet, it looked more like a jail cell.

After he got away from the mall, he called one of his contacts. Then this contact called another contact, and that contact did the same. Things worked best when people didn’t know who they were helping and for what reason.

Of course, it would only be a matter of time before the police identified him from camera footage. After all, he and Bruno walked all around that fucking mall in plain sight. How was he supposed to know that the killer would be bold enough to attack them?

In fact, how did the killer know to target them in the first place? Sure, they were wearing watches, but they weren’t that unusual of a sight. Certainly not enough of one to assume they were targets. Was it just dumb luck?

There was a knock on the door. “It’s me,” a voice said from the other side.

Luca got up and unlocked it. He opened it to see Pietro standing there with his usual stone-faced expression.

Luca didn’t speak, glancing out into the hallway. It was empty. He pulled Pietro in, closing the door behind them.

“What happened?” Pietro asked.

“What the fuck do you think happened?” Luca took a few steps away from the door and then turned back. “We were played. Didn’t learn a god damn thing and Bruno got himself killed.”

He meant that he got Bruno killed, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

“I’m… sorry,” Pietro adjusted his baseball cap. “We’ll find him.”

“Pietro,” Luca reached into his pocket and put his hand on his knife. “I need you to answer a question for me, and I need you to look in my eye when you do it.”

“What?”

“You were supposed to meet us at the mall,” Luca bit down on his lip. “Why shouldn’t I think that you killed him?”

“Are you seriously saying what I think you’re saying?” Pietro glared. “Are you telling me you think I tried to kill Cory?”

“I didn’t ask you…” Luca started, but Pietro cut him off.

“Are you asking me if I tried to kill my own brother?” Pietro shouted.

“Keep your voice down,” Luca snapped back. “I’m not asking you about Cory. I’m asking you about Bruno.”

“This is fucking unbelievable.”

“Do you think I like having to ask my own nephew that question?” Luca asked. “I saw my… friend dying right in front of me, and I couldn’t do a god damn thing.”

“Unlike you, I’m not hiding anything,” Pietro said. “You talk like you were with him when he died or something. You want to explain to me why you weren’t caught?”

“I’ll come clean about everything,” Luca could feel his eyes getting foggy, but he wasn’t about to cry in front of his nephew. He’d rather die. “I just need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn’t do it.”

“Look,” Pietro’s tough expression wavered for a moment. “I didn’t do it, alright? I was running late. I wasn’t even to the mall when I got caught in traffic from the time stop.”

Luca stood for a moment studying his face, then he let out a long sigh. “Alright. I believe you.”

“Good,” Pietro said. “Now take your hand out of your pocket.”

Luca’s hand was still tightly clasped around his knife. He relaxed his grip and removed it. “Sorry.”

“Some welcome,” Pietro looked around the small room. “I should have just turned in your ass.”

“There aren’t any chairs,” Luca said. “Just sit on the bed. Or there’s the toilet, I guess.”

“I’ll just stand.”

“Suit yourself,” Luca sat down on the edge of the bed. He took his watch off his wrist and threw it over to Pietro.

Pietro looked caught off guard, fumbling around to catch it in time. “What the hell?”

“I said that I’d tell you everything, right?” Luca sighed. “Well you’re holding everything in your hands right now.”

Pietro looked down at the watch, then back up at Luca. “You’re not seriously going to try and tell me…”

“It stops time,” Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out another watch. “And this was Bruno’s.”

“This is insane.”

“Test it out if you don’t believe me,” Luca set Bruno’s watch next to him. “See the numbers on the side of it? Press the 1.”

Pietro slid the watch around his wrist. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“Just get it over with.”

Pietro pressed the button.

“Ouch, what the fuck?” Luca grabbed his eyes. “What did you do to me?”

“I poked you in the eyes,” Pietro was kneeling down in front of him.

“What’s wrong with you?” Luca clenched his fists.

“I had to make sure you weren’t just good at keeping still,” Pietro stood back up and shrugged. “I waited two minutes, but I couldn’t be sure.”

“You idiot, don’t waste the charge,” Luca rubbed his eyes again. “It’s not going to last forever.”

“I really can’t believe it though,” Pietro said, a faint smile on his face. “That Ocean kid was right.”

“Yeah, he was,” Luca sighed, picking Bruno’s watch back up.

“What happens if I press these other numbers?” Pietro brought the watch up to look at it.

Luca put out his hand to stop him from pressing anything else. “They make the effect bigger, and they take more of the battery too. Don’t go wasting it, because I’m giving it to you.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious,” Luca felt a headache coming on. “So in exchange, I need you to use it so we can find the fucker that did all this.”

“How… did you even get these in the first place?” Pietro seemed like he was starting to understand the power of what was around his wrist. “These… can’t be legal.”

“We got them in the mail,” Luca sat back down. “And before you ask, I don’t know who they’re from.”

“Okay, then how…”

“I don’t know how they work either.”

Pietro raised his eyebrow “So basically, you know nothing.”

“That’s right.”

“This… is crazy,” Pietro said. “I think I need to sit down after all.” He sat down next to Luca, holding his head in his hands.

Luca knew he couldn’t expect Pietro to just accept everything right away. However, he didn’t have time to wait for him to calm down.

“He slit Bruno’s neck behind me and I didn’t even notice,” Luca said. “If he attacked Cory for his watch, I think it’s safe to assume he attacked Bruno for the same reason.”

“I don’t get it,” Pietro looked up. “Why didn’t he take his watch then?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Luca shook his head. “Maybe he just didn’t have enough time.”

Pietro’s voice started to take on his calm demeanor again. “Did you fight him?”

“No, he was already gone by the time I turned around.”

“Then… why didn’t he kill you too?”

Luca sat straight up as he heard the words. Pietro was right. If his goal was to kill people with watches, then why did he leave him alive? It didn’t make any sense.

“You didn’t think about that, huh?” Pietro asked.

“Look, next time someone’s throat is suddenly cut behind you, we’ll see how clearly you can think about it,” Luca reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cigarette case. He reached inside and took one out. He used his lighter, and breathed in deep.

“So you have no idea.”

“Maybe… he just didn’t notice me,” Luca said, exhaling smoke. “Or… maybe he thought he wouldn’t be able to take me.”

“He figured he could take Bruno but he couldn’t take you,” Pietro’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “Right.”

“Shut up,” Luca waved his cigarette in Pietro’s face. “I’m more worried about why he knew we were there.”

“You think he knew?” Pietro took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “Is that even possible?”

“Of course it’s possible,” Luca got up and tossed his cigarette into the toilet. “And if he knew, I want to know why.”

He looked down the Bruno’s watch now wrapped around his wrist. He had cleaned the blood off of it, but it still seemed filthy. Rather than last words, this was all that Bruno left behind.

It was almost like Bruno was telling him to take it and avenge him. Like a knight handing someone their sword on the battlefield as they laid dying.

Yeah right. Bruno probably just didn’t want it falling in the hands of any dirty cops.

Whatever Bruno’s intentions were, Luca knew he owed him. He was so caught off guard that he didn’t even think to take Bruno’s phone off his body before he left, not that there was anything incriminating on it. If had forgotten to get his watch, it would have been a disaster no matter whose hands it ended up in.

“What about those other two guys you work with?” Pietro put him hat back on and adjusted it. “They knew you would be there.”

“They wouldn’t gain much from it,” Luca said, but he knew that wasn’t true. They’d gain a bigger cut in the money they stole. Marco ordered them to kill Zack like it was nothing, so it wouldn’t be all that strange if he tried to kill them too.

Still, it didn’t make sense why they would let him live, and it didn’t make sense why they would attack Cory or that girl. Of course, that was assuming that this was all being done by the same person.

His headache was getting worse.

“Neither of them have a burn mark on their hands either,” Luca said.

“That was just some anonymous tip,” Pietro said. “It could be total bullshit.”

“Either way, I don’t think Marco would do it,” he fumbled around with his lighter. “That goes for Ferro too.”

Pietro crossed his arms. “But you thought I might.”

“Will you give that a rest?” Luca groaned.

The two of them were quiet for a minute.

“I guess Clock Link is going crazy over this,” Pietro broke the silence.

“Of course they are,” Luca said. “Bunch of fucking vultures. This is like a sideshow to them.”

“Liliana said that the page is getting a lot of activity,” he went on. “Lots of posts and messages.”

“Posts and messages…” Luca mumbled.

Wait. Bruno couldn’t have been that stupid, right? Surely he would have been able to stop himself from posting that.

He felt his heart drop. He had to make sure of it. He picked up his phone and turned it on. For what felt like it was the first time in ages, he clicked on Clock Link. He typed in Bruno’s name and found his profile.

Forget what he said about owing him. Bruno was, in fact, that stupid. His final post stabbed into Luca like a knife.

Bruno13: “Headed to that mall.”

With those four words came a revelation. If the killer had seen Bruno’s post, then they weren’t the ones doing the hunting. Maybe they never were. Maybe they were being hunted the entire time.

He scrolled down on the page. Sure enough, it was filled with posts from Bruno about the places he was or the places he was going. Luca almost expected to see a post saying ‘about to steal money from a bank, brb lol’. Thankfully, Bruno’s stupidity hadn’t extended that far.

“You okay?” Pietro asked.

Just as Luca opened his mouth to answer, his phone rang. The vibration sent a chill down his spine.

He glanced at the caller ID. It was Marco, and he was probably pissed. Luca hadn’t talked to him at all after what happened. That meant that Marco had seen the news.

As the phone reached its fourth ring, he finally answered it. “Yeah?”

“I’ve been trying to call you all morning,” Marco’s voice exploded from the receiver. “He took it all, that son of a bitch.”

It was so loud that Pietro looked up at him as if to ask if everything was alright. Luca gave him a shrug.

“Wait, slow down, what the hell are you talking about?” Luca asked.

“Ferro!” Marco screamed. “That fucking piece of shit took every last cent of our money!”

Luca was speechless, but he felt like he could burst out laughing at any moment. Could things possibly get any worse?

“His car’s gone from his house and he’s not answering his phone,” Marco went on. “He’s making a run for it.”

“Well what the hell am I supposed to do?” Luca asked. “He could be out of the city by now for all we know.”

“Part of me wants to call the police on his ass,” Marco’s voice got slightly calmer. “Show him he fucked with the wrong guy.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Luca said. “If they catch him, he’ll rat us both out.”

“And now Bruno’s dead,” Marco sounded like he was starting to sob. “You really fucked up, Luca.”

“Huh?”

“Ferro said that this was going to get us all caught, remember? That’s why he bailed on us.”

“How was I supposed to know that someone would come behind us and cut Bruno’s throat?” Luca’s voice was the one that was getting louder now. “Don’t put this all on me.”

There was silence on the phone.

“You were the one that couldn’t just stand by,” Marco sounded collected again. “You just had to go out looking like you were some kind of detective.”

“Marco...”

“Shut up. You remember what I said? I said that my gun would be loaded next time.”

“Careful now,” Luca felt his blood starting to boil. “I might take that the wrong way.”

“There’s no wrong way to take it,” Marco said. “When this is all over… After we find the bastard that offed Bruno. I’ll kill you.”

The line went dead. Luca dropped his hand to his side.

“What was that about?” Pietro asked.

“Nothing,” Luca sighed. He sat back down on the bed.

“So… what do we do now?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Luca stared at the wall.

“Look, I actually came here for something else,” Pietro’s voice barely masked his annoyance. “I’m supposed to extend an invitation to you.”

“An invitation?”

“I don’t know what just happened on the phone, but I’m not giving up on Cory,” Pietro said. “Liliana hasn’t given up either.”

“Stupid girl.”

“Can’t be any more stupid than you are,” Pietro scoffed. “I doubt you’ve noticed, but she’s gotten really strong. I don’t know what happened, but it’s like I came back from Italy to a totally different sister.”

“Doesn’t change that she’s reckless,” Luca sighed.

“She’s reckless as hell,” Pietro nodded. “But she’s dealing with Cory’s coma much better than we are.”

“How so?”

“While we’re sulking around trying to figure this out on our own, she’s scrambling around talking to people,” Pietro said. “Unlike us, she’s not afraid to admit that she can’t do anything on her own.”

“She’s… really intending on doing this then?” Luca asked.

“It might sound crazy, but she has a lot of people helping her now. I didn’t believe it when I heard it, but she said she met some people in the KPW too,” Pietro stood up. “Now that I’ve seen this watch, I’m more inclined to trust her.”

“The KPW?” Luca started laughing.

“She said they have a plan to catch the killer too.”

“To think that I’ve been outdone by a couple of kids,” Luca hung his head. “You’ve got to fucking kidding me.”

Maybe there was some hope in this city after all.

“So are you just going to sit here feeling sorry for yourself?” Pietro asked. “Because I’m ready to admit that I can’t do this alone.”

“I give,” Luca fell backward onto the bed and let out a groan. “I’ll say it. I’m about as powerless as they come. If a 15 year old girl's doing that well, then I need all the help I can get.”

“I’ll let them know that you’re in,” Pietro said. Luca couldn’t see his face, but it sounded like he might even be smiling. Then again, it was probably just his imagination.

“Alright, time to start over,” Luca said. “All the way from zero.”

First order of business. He needed to tell Liliana about the burn mark.