THE HEIR WHO LOVES ME.

Five men sat around a table playing poker in a rundown apartment, each dressed in different suits.

"Let me tell you, dealing with the five families is becoming too much of a headache," a huge, muscular man dressed in a tight-fitting blue Armani suit said as he raised his stake.

"No kidding, I had some business to take care of in Maine. The territory of the Gordon family, just some minor gun run when my idiot of a business partner decided to pull in a local as a look-out." A thin man in a brown leather jacket chimed in.

"What happened?" the huge man asked.

"What else, I shot my partner dead and made my escape while being hunted down by 'The Demons', an assassination squad of the Gordons with a hundred percent mission success." The thin man replied.

"Shit! You survived being hunted down by the Demons? Respect!" A short man in a flannel suit with a huge cigar spoke as he folded, not liking his chances.

"I don't buy it, just because you say you escaped the Demons, we are just supposed to believe you?" A handsome man in a gray one-piece suit with a thin black coat rebuked as he raised the stakes by a few hundred dollars.

"What did you say?" The thin man asked as he pulled out a customized desert eagle and slammed it on the table.

"Hey! "Calm down, I'm sure he didn't mean no disrespect, because if he is disrespectful to you then, by extension, he is being disrespectful to me." A black man dressed in a black two-piece suit said while looking straight at the thin man.

The thin man snorted and put away his weapon as the black man turned to the handsome man and cocked a brow.

"Sorry about that, Rick meant no disrespect." The handsome man apologized.

"All's good. Now let's focus on the game. "It's not every time we get a reprieve like this," the black man commented as he folded his cards.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but a mate of mine was caught by the crows, enforcers of the Castillo family.

Before he gave up his ghost, he was skinned and flayed and had all his bones broken and teeth removed.

"The worst part is that he owed me a few hundred bucks," the short man said as he took a quick draw of his cigar.

"Everyone knows that if you get caught by crows it's better to kill yourself first. "That is the only mercy you can give yourself," Rick said as he poured himself a drink and continued.

At this moment, a knock came from the front door, stopping everyone as all eyes turned to the door.

Rick gulped audibly as he wished that the knock had been just his imagination, but another round of knocks dissuaded him.

Rick stood with shaky legs and made his way to the door and opened it.

The muffled sound of a silenced gun greeted him as the hot lead exited his head.

"I had a recent run-in with the King's family, a disgusting bunch. I had to sit through a whole meal while they rubbed their pretentious status on my face. How they came to be one of the great five is still a mystery to me."

"I heard it had to do with their strategic advisor, some Italian guy named Vince.

If the stories I've heard about him are half true, then the Kings are not to be messed with."

The short guy took a puff of a Cuban cigar and replied, "Of all the Great Five, none is as scary as the Luthor family.

This family has a nasty habit of playing with their enemies, like a cat playing with a mouse before eating it.

Last I heard a certain prime minister had it out for the Luthors, any sane person would either take him out or strike a deal.

But not the Luthors. They played with the prime minister, making him run mad enough to kill his whole family.

"Turning one of the most prestigious politicians into a murderer while putting their man into his seat," the thin man said before spitting on the ground in disgust.

"Funny enough, the leading family of the five is the only sane one out of all of them," the huge man said with a chuckle.

"That was a joke, right?" the short man asked as he exhaled his cigar smoke.

"Hey Paul! "You do know that out of all the families they are the craziest ones, right?" Rick asked, puzzled by Paul's comment.

"One time, I was invited to their mansion to celebrate a kid's birthday when a snotty kid kicked me in the shin, so I took the kids candy and thought nothing of it.

Only to have my house raided that night and beaten half to death before I was handed over to the authorities.

The one that did all this was the kid whose birthday I attended, Dino Carmichael! Of the Carmichael family." The thin man said as he shivers at the memory;

"One time, I put together some crew to hit a federal gold reserve truck. Little did I know that the truck route would be passing through the Carmichael family territory. "Just as I was putting the finishing touches to my plan, my hideout was stormed by the Carmichael family," Rick said as he sipped his drink.

"That's bullshit!" the handsome man said as he placed his cards that turned out to be a royal flush on the table, drawing a groan from everyone else.

"The Carmichael are not that fearsome. I mean, just a few hours ago, I took a commission. Someone wanted some fatso dead, the easiest job ever.

"After the job was done, feeling lucky, I took some rich kid off the road for some pocket change and here I am, still alive," he added.

"Simon you idiot!!!" Rick roared in anger.

"Is that what has been making those noises behind that locked door?" The huge man asked with wide eyes.

"I'm out of here!" the short man said as he slammed the table in anger.

Dino Carmichael stood in front of an apartment door and knocked. He waited for a while before knocking again.

He could hear heavy footsteps from behind the door. When the door swung open, he pulled up the gun on his right that had a silencer attached to it.

In one fluid motion, he shot the person that opened the door in the head with an ease unbecoming of someone his age.

His actions shocked the other people in the room as intended, giving him a second to access the situation. Then, with inhuman grace, he slipped into the room and fired off four shots in quick succession that sounded like one drawn-out shot behind him. The body of his first kill hit the floor and after a few seconds the others followed.

Dino accessed the situation with cold eyes and moved across the room.

As he checked each room for his target, he came across a locked door and kicked it open.

Inside was a young girl of about nine years old with a clear Asian accent shivering with fear in her eyes.

Dino made no move to comfort her as he tapped his earpiece, "Alpha to base, target secured. Repeat. Alpha to base, target secured."

Immediately, the sounds of several heavy boots stomping the floor filled the apartment as men dressed in tactical gear busted into the house and quickly secured everything with efficiency.

Dino walked out of the building and made his way to the alley behind the apartment building, "Like we agreed, last mission." Dino spoke to the empty alley.

"Hahahaha, it seems that you really want out, huh? What's wrong Dino? Grown a conscience?" a voice said as a shadow separated itself from the wall and stood before Dino.

"You killed your first man at four, mastered more than fifty different martial arts at nine, took the bar at ten and aced it, started missions at twelve and now five years later, with a hundred percent track record you want.

"What would the family head say if he knew his youngest son wanted to drop out of the family business?" The shadow said as he slowly crept into the light, revealing an old man with a face filled with scars and a head full of white hair.

The same white hair that Dino spotted, a signature sign of the Carmichael family.

Dino didn't flinch as he looked at his granduncle, "Are you going to renegade on the deal?" He asked with cold eyes.

Sin Carmichael, Dino's granduncle, shook his head and chuckled,

"Not really, but you just have one thing to do and remember you will owe me one," Sin said with a bright smile.

"What is it?" Dino asked.

"Beat me and I will help you drop the Carmichael name. "If you can't even do that, then you should return and continue with what you are so obviously good at," Sin said with a sly grin.

Dino frowned as he looked at Sin with a raised brow, then, without any indication, he raised his gun and fired off multiple shots at Sin, who vanished from his spot and appeared beside Dino with a kick aimed at Dino's face.

Dino quickly squatted to evade Sins' attack while bringing his gun to fire the rest of the remaining bullets at Sins' groin, only for Sin to disappear and appear back at his original position.

"Wow, I'm impressed. "You didn't even flinch when you pulled the trigger while aiming for my groin." Sin chuckled slowly as he turned serious. Gone was the joking granduncle that Dino knew.

What stood before him was Sin Carmichael, a man who made it to the RED list– Run! Extremely dangerous! – a man whose very name was said to scare even death away.

"No matter how many martial arts or techniques you have mastered, in a fight only three things matter. "One is mental warfare!" Sin said as shadows spread from him and filled the alley as they all took his form, creating identical copies of Sin.

Dino flinched for the first time since he appeared in the alley.

Sin and his various copies launched themselves at Dino with precision punches and kicks.

Dino closed his eyes and centered himself. His decision to forgo the use of his eyes and rely on his other senses made him realize that all the copies were illusions and there was only one Sin who was approaching from his left.

Dino tilted his body slightly as he raised both hands to block Sin's punch and used the force of the punch to create a distance between them.

"Oh! You saw through that, not bad for a kid still wet behind his ears.

"After mental warfare is number two, close combat!" Sin said as he lounged at Dino while his copies dissipated.

Dino had no idea that the copies were gone, so he had to face Sin's attack while relying on his other senses, which put him on the defensive. All Dino could do was evade and block while making sure that none of Sin's attacks hit a vital area.

Sin, not content to increase the tempo of his attack, decided to catch Dino off guard, creating an opening that Sin used to punch Dino in the chin.

Before the punch could land, Dino's eyes opened as he caught Sin's punch and, in quick succession, he used the force of the punch to twirl to Sin's unguarded side and elbow him in the face.

Without giving Sin a chance to get himself together, he launched a kick at Sin's midsection only for Sin to block and use the force behind Dino's attack to create some distance between them.

"Nice one, drawing me in like that also good use of mental warfare and close combat, but if that is all you can do, then you should head back home kid.

"You can win a fight if you master the first two, but to dominate in a fight you need to learn to harness your surroundings!" Sin said as his shadow crawled up his body and made its way to his hands and formed a sharp katana which he used to leave a mark on the wall of the alley.

Dino stood as he watched Sin leave a mark on the ground wall.

"Scared now kid?" Sin asked.

Dino let out a deep breath and responded; "No! You just talk too much old man" Dino said as his shadow crawled over his body the same way it did for his uncle before morphing into a 30cm long dagger.

Sin's expression cracked as a smile spilt his lips, "You really are a once in a century prodigy, your value just shot up kid, this time I'm going to make sure that you head back home.

The Carmichael family can't lose someone with such potential." Sin said as he went into an attacking stance.

"Like I said, you talk too much old man." Dino replied as he took an identical stance as Sin.

At this moment a black trash bag tumbled between them, like a choreographed dance both Dino and Sin moved at the same time, at this moment they held nothing back as both turned into a blur as they clashed.

The sound of weapons clashing against each other filled the alley as both Sin and Dino exchanged blows with each other, they moved so fast that to the naked eye it would look like the alley was empty except for the occasional sparks when their weapons clashed.

After their weapons clashed for the final time both Dino and Sin separated, they now occupied the others previous position before the start of the clash.

Dino had a bleeding gash that ran across his arm while Sun had a slash on his chest that ripped his clothes but failed to injure him.

"You are a century too young if you think you can injure me kid." Sin said as he traced the slash.

"Oh, for God's sake just shut up will you!" Dino shot at Sin as he gritted his teeth while trying to ignore the pain from his injury. Dino steeled his mind as he set his gaze at Sin.

"Want to give up?" Sin asked.

"Never!" Dino roared as he dashed at Sin, half way there his shadow spread out and two copies of himself appeared each with a dagger in hand as they launched themselves at Sin at a speed inperceptive to the eyes.

Sin chuckled as his katana moved to match Dino's speed as he blocked all the attack Dino launched with ease, when suddenly he felt the familiar cold sting of a weapon on his neck.

Sin froze as he watched Dino grin in victory as his two copies faded leaving only one copy of Dino who held a blade to Sin's neck.

"How?" Sin asked.

"Easy," Dino replied.

"Let me guess this plan started while you got that injury, you actually cut off your shadow and let it blend in with mine.

You used yourself as bait, good." Sin explained.

Dino just shrugged with a smirk as he let his copy dissipate.

"Nice trick, making a copy solidify enough to inflict damage. You know, even if you drop the Carmichael name you will always be one of us. You might fight it, but eventually you will come to understand that being a Carmichael is more than just the name and its influence." Sin said as he grinned.

Dino frowned at those words then responded, "Don't hold your breath old man."

Sin laughed out loud, "If you say so Dino, from now on you do not carry the Carmichael name and the responsibilities that come with it.

You are free, well as free as you can be." Sin declared with a chuckle.

Dino nodded in acknowledgement as his shoulders slumped, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He turned to leave but paused as he cast a glance back at Sin. "What of the favor I owe you?"

Sin laughed in glee, "I thought you forgot and wanted to surprise you, but seeing as you brought it up I'll get to the point.

"When I call in on the favor you will know," Sin said with a snicker.

Dino had an expression of disgust as he made his way out of the alley and into the night.

Sin watched Dino walk away as the smile faded from his face. "Did you really have to do this?" Sin asked out loud.

"Yes," came the reply as a streak of white fell from the sky only to land as soft as a feather, revealing a middle-aged man with features strikingly similar to Dino.

Dressed in a two-piece suit, Zed Carmichael stood and looked in the direction that Dino left from. "You went easy on him," Zed commented.

"Well, I wouldn't want to harm my favorite grandnephew now, would I?" Sin scoffed, then added, "So you are really letting him go?" Zed asked.

"Yes, with the situation between the five families, his existence is a flaw to the Carmichael family," Zed said with no emotions.

"The five families!" Sin spat out in disgust.

"That's just an excuse, it's all because you haven't chosen a successor yet," Sin said as he eyed Zed.

Zed just kept quiet; his silence spoke more than his words.

"You want to keep the status quo with the five families and, with Bate gathering influence, you choose the easiest way out." Sin added, "Uncle, you know that empires are not destroyed by outside influence, but from within".

Dino's existence will split the family, and when a conflict starts brewing with the family, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the sharks that are circling."

Zed said with a sigh as he continued, "I know that, Bates knows that and even Dino knows that. At least this way we can walk away with as little bloodshed as possible."

Sin sighed as he seemed to age a few years, "What are your plans for him then?" Sin asked.

Zed turned to look at Sin before shaking his head, "I have none, the family will be in chaos for a while. After all, Carmichael has a dead prodigy to bury."