His men eventually arrived.
He couldn't tell how long it had taken for them to find him, because to him every moment had stretched into eternity. They had followed the emergency signal to the cave and found Adrian lying on the ground, his clothes soaked in blood and mud. His skin had gone pale from blood loss, his breaths shallow but steady.
Some of the men who had gone ahead during their search were locked in a gunfight with the attackers. Gunshots echoed in the distance.
Adrian looked up weakly as the team rushed.
"Boss. Boss!"
"Doctor. Rick, he's over here!"
The paramedic who had followed them hurried inside the cave.
"We need to turn him over."
He said quickly, then stepped back outside to allow two other men the space to walk in. They lifted Adrian and placed him on a stretcher.
Just as they were about to walk out, he reached out with his uninjured hand and grabbed the wrist of one of the men.
The man leaned down, placing his ear close to Adrian's lips.
"Don't worry about me," Adrian rasped. "Go find Jack. Now."
The man stood upright and spoke into his communicator. "Everyone, be on the lookout for Boss Jack."
Most of the men around the cave turned back immediately and dispersed into the stormy night to search.
"The photo…" Adrian murmured weakly
The men in the cave checked the floor properly and found it on the ground, a bit muddy but intact.
The man who found it respectfully handed it over to Adrian.
He raised the photograph to his face. With light now filling the cave, he was able to look at it properly.
In the picture was a young man, barely out of his teens, probably still in college. He had soft features, tousled black hair, and the picture was taken from far away, his expression was unmistakable.
He was smiling.
The smile was bright and genuine, unfit for the bloody world Adrian lived in.
Five years ago, Adrian's father had fallen ill suddenly, and Adrian had been called home from Germany, where he was studying business management at the time. He had managed to be present for his father's final moments of life.
That night, his father had made a request that changed everything.
He had begged Adrian to take over the family.
He knew Adrian had never agreed with the way the mafia ran things. But Adrian was the only one he could trust with it. Adrian could change it the way he had always wanted. Make a new path for them.
He told Adrian that his uncles were too brutal. They didn't care about the lives of the men under them. They were also getting into more dangerous dealings. His father had found out the uncles had signed a weapon smuggling deal, and when he confronted them, it had led to his heart attack, which landed him on his deathbed.
Adrian had hated the mafia lifestyle since he was old enough to understand things. He had grown up surrounded by violence— countless kidnappings and assassination attempts from childhood till adulthood. Even though his family had been loving, with his mother always providing warmth. He had lost her.
She had died protecting him during one of such attacks. She covered him with her body, absorbing all the bullets aimed at him.
He had seen so much death, and he only got to enjoy a few years after he went to Germany.
But his father was right, too many people— too many families— depended on them. If Adrian refused, one of his uncles would take over. Not only would those people suffer, but Adirain would immediately be marked for death.
So Adrian agreed, his father had been elated.
He had wept, smiling through his tears.
"I can finally be with your mother again," he had whispered before falling asleep.
He didn't wake up again.
In the five years since he inherited his father's mantle, he had fought tooth and nail to pull them out of the underworld. He worked relentlessly, investing in legitimate businesses— real estate, chain restaurants, hotels, resorts, and more— to provide alternate jobs for their men.
He encouraged the members and their families to go to college or acquire technical skills, offering scholarships to those who couldn't afford it.
He wanted their mafia family to become a legal, proud, and clean organization.
No more blood-soaked deals.
No more hiding from the law.
No more families destroyed because a parent or sibling was in jail.
He wanted a future where his people didn't die young from gunshot wounds or rot away in jail.
But his uncles and many other older generation gang members didn't want to change the business model. They had rejected his vision and even pushed to start selling drugs in addition to the casinos and loan sharking operations they already ran.
They said Adrian was standing in the way of their making money.
An enemy of the family.
They called him naive. Soft. Weak. Other names followed over the years.
But Adrian never gave up.
And now, it seemed they wanted him dead.
They were the ones who sent killers after them.
His two closest relatives chose profit over him.
A fresh wave of pain surged through him. His vision blurred.
As his consciousness began to fade. He reached out again and passed the picture back to the man beside him.
"Find him," Adrian whispered. "His name is Felix Reed."
Immediately after, he blacked out.
When Adrian opened his eyes again, the sterile white ceiling of the hospital greeted him.
The soft beep of a heart monitor was the only sound.
He sat up on the bed, wincing as pain flared in his side. His hand tugged at the IV attached to his hand.
He was alive.
The two men in the room– Matthew and Pete. Both jumped to their feet when they saw him stir.
"Boss!"
"Boss!"
Adrian's throat was dry. "Where is Jack?"
Matthew stood up and helped him pour a glass of water, placed a straw inside, and held it to Adrian's mouth.
Adrian took a few sips.
"We haven't found him," Matthew answered softly. "The attackers were interrogated, and they confirmed it was your uncles who sent them. But they said they said they didn't shoot Jack."
"Then what happened to him?"
"They said he might have fallen off the cliff, because they lost sight of him around that area. Our men are already searching the bottom, the ocean, and the surrounding islands. So far, nothing has been found."
"Keep searching."
Matthew nodded and turned to leave.
Adrian looked at the second man in the room.
"What did you find about the boy?"