Chapter 14
The room felt colder, emptier now. Jimmy and Garry stood there, the weight of Lucian’s absence pressing down on them like a tidal wave. The air was thick with sorrow, and the heaviness in their hearts was overwhelming. They had made their decision a gangster’s funeral for Lucian, a send-off that would shake the world.
But even the resolve to give him a grand farewell couldn’t erase the pain of his loss.
Garry wiped his tear-streaked face with trembling hands, his legs barely holding him up. He looked down at Lucian’s lifeless body, still not fully accepting that his friend their brother was gone. The thought tore at him, a deep, visceral ache that no amount of action could fix. Lucian had always been the glue that held them together, and now… there was only emptiness.
“How the hell did it come to this?” Garry whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “We were supposed to make it out together. We were have it all money, power, everything. And now look at us…” His voice cracked, and he turned away, trying to compose himself. But the tears kept falling. He couldn’t stop them.
Jimmy didn’t respond, his gaze still locked on Lucian’s face, pale and still, the life gone from his once vibrant eyes. Memories flooded Jimmy’s mind, images of Lucian laughing, joking, and dreaming about a future that would never come.
“We were supposed to be invincible,” Jimmy murmured, almost to himself. His hand brushed over the phone resting on Lucian’s chest, a reminder of the final message their brother had left behind. A message that still echoed in his mind, haunting him. Lucian’s words had cut deeper than any wound Jimmy had ever felt.
Jimmy clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms until they left marks. “We f**ked up, Garry. We let him down. We should’ve seen it. We should’ve known…”
Jimmy’s lips pressed into a thin line, his jaw tightening as the anger bubbled beneath the surface. He couldn’t help but feel responsible, even if Garry didn’t blame him. Lucian had been their brother, their family, and they hadn’t been able to save him. The guilt gnawed at him, eating away at what little resolve he had left.
how many times have we tried to make him come out of those demonesses
Suddenly, Jimmy’s eyes hardened. His emotions were a volatile storm grief, rage, guilt all crashing into one another. He wanted to break something, to feel something other than the overwhelming sorrow that was suffocating him.
“He gave everything for those people,” Jimmy growled, his voice low and dangerous. “For Avey, for his sister, his mother… and they never gave a damn about him. They never saw him, not really. And now, he’s dead because of them.”
Garry glanced at Jimmy, recognizing the rage building inside him. It was a dangerous line Jimmy was walking, and Garry knew where that path led. He had walked it before himself.
“Jimmy, don’t,” Garry said, his voice firm but soft. “Lucian wouldn’t want that. You heard what he said don’t hurt them. He made that his final wish. We can’t dishonor him like that.”
Jimmy’s eyes flashed with fury, but Garry’s words held him back, tethering him to the reality of the situation. Lucian had loved them, no matter how little they had given in return. As much as it tore at him, Jimmy couldn’t betray Lucian’s last request. He had to let it go, no matter how much it hurt, no matter how much he wanted to burn the world down in the name of his brother’s pain.
Jimmy exhaled sharply, trying to push the anger down. “I just don’t get it, Garry. I don’t get why he kept loving them. After everything they did to him, why couldn’t he just let them go? Why wasn’t our love enough?”
Garry shook his head, his eyes brimming with tears again. “Because that’s who he was, Jimmy. He loved with everything he had. Even when it hurt him. Even when it destroyed him. He couldn’t help it.
And we loved him for it… even if it was the thing that killed him in the end.”
The silence between them stretched on for what felt like an eternity. Both men stood there, lost in their thoughts, grieving not just for Lucian’s death, but for the life he had wanted to live, the life he had been robbed of.
After a long pause, Jimmy spoke again, his voice softer now, filled with resignation. “We’ll give him what he wanted, Garry. The whole world will know who he was. They’ll remember him. They’ll know his name.” His fists unclenched, and he turned to face Garry, his eyes still filled with the remnants of unshed tears. “We’ll make sure of that.”
Garry nodded, understanding what Jimmy meant. Lucian’s funeral wouldn’t be a quiet affair, it wouldn’t be a small goodbye. It would be a spectacle, a statement to the world that Lucian Kane mattered. That he was loved, even if it wasn’t by the people he had spent his life chasing.
“We’ll make it loud,” Garry agreed. “We’ll send him off in style. A gangster’s funeral.”
Jimmy’s lips twitched into a small, sad smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah. A gangster’s funeral.”
For a moment, they stood in silence again, the weight of their promise settling over them. It was all they had left to give Lucian the grand send-off he deserved. And though it wouldn’t bring him back, it was a way to honor him, to show the world that his life had mattered, that his love had mattered.
Jimmy took one last look at Lucian’s still face, the peaceful expression that didn’t match the turmoil that had raged inside him for so long. “Rest easy, brother,” Jimmy whispered, his voice cracking again. “We’ll take it from here.”
Without another word, Jimmy and Garry turned and walked out of the room, leaving Lucian’s body behind. The air felt heavier, the world quieter without him. But they knew what they had to do. The funeral would be a celebration of Lucian’s life, a final act of love from the two people who had stood by him until the end.
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