Chapter 11

Luca’s POV

The fire had almost escalated into something way huge and tragic, but had been thankfully put off before it got to that point. Thick black smoke thickened the whole arena of the two story building which belonged to Philip, the assistant head general handling one of my numerous warehouses. From what I’ve been told, the top building had been set on fire in the middle of the night and the occupants there had all been able to get out and alert the ones living downstairs before the fire grew bigger. The firearms took extra long to arrive due to an accident that occurred on the road this early morning.

I turned towards Philip who was doing a very shitty job towards shielding how shaken up he was by what had occurred. His face was set in a harsh scowl, showing how pissed off he was, while his body language said another thing entirely.

“Philip.” I said quietly and as expected, he jolted upwards a little and puffed out his shoulders before turning toward me and lowering his head respectively.

“Mr Ricci.”

“Who do you think could be behind this?” I questioned him after throwing another glance at the house and the whole commotion going on there as burnt up stuffs were currently being cleared out, while the ones worth saving were being positioned in a different position.

“I don’t know, boss. I haven’t been into any recent disagreements with anybody that I see as a serious threat.” He replied with a sigh and I watched as he ran his fingers through his hair and puffed out another harsh breath from his mouth.

He was so shaken up.

“But you do know everybody is a threat, right?” I said in a flat voice with my eyebrows raised to the top of my forehead and I watched as his eyes widened for a few seconds before clouding up as he quickly masked that tiny slip in his emotions and stared pointedly at the ground.

“I do, boss.”

“Where were the guards when it happened?” I inquired and he answered immediately, “They were not behind the house when it happened.”

“So what do you think could be behind this?” I rephrased again before shoving my hands into my pants pocket and waiting for him to give me a reply.

“I think the two men who tried to bribe me into letting them into the inner part of the warehouse, a few days ago.” Philip finally said before glancing up at me.

“Who are they?”

“I have no idea about who they are, or where they came from. I held them hostage for a few hours because they had the audacity to think I’d let them into something like that. We had them searched but didn’t find a damn thing on them, then we ended up releasing them.” Philip explained and my brain started analyzing the whole situation, they might be behind this, and they might not.

It might be someone else entirely who’d be behind this, it might be someone he trusted in.

That’s one of the most complex things about being in the mafia, you cannot completely trust someone.

“How sure are you that this wasn’t done by someone you’re close to? Someone here in the Mafia…” I demanded and quickly glanced at my wristwatch, the time was already some minutes after eight in the morning, meaning I’d be leaving here in a few minutes.

“I don’t think so, boss. I’m not close to a lot of people, and I guess it could only be done by someone who’s jealous of me or someone who just wants to see my downfall.”

“I’ll have people look into it. You make sure to place more guards around the house, and your wife and kids should lay low for a while. Whoever the person or people behind this could currently be planning another way in which they could use to get you or your family.” I said to him and he bowed his head a little.

“Thank you, Mr Ricci.” He echoed in respect and gratitude and I nodded my head at him before heading towards my car and settling into the back seat once the door got pulled open by one of the guards. The car pulled out of Phillip’s compound and into the busy express road in a few minutes, the second car with the rest of the bodyguards tailing the one I was currently in, for extra protection.

It was my duty as the mafia lord to protect everybody working beneath me, as we were supposed to be one huge family. We’d have been that if I could see everyone’s mine and read everyone’s thoughts. But since I couldn’t do any of that, I couldn’t fully trust any of the men working for me in the Mafia.

Except James, that is.

I couldn’t trust anyone else, but to protect them I could, and I’d always do my best to keep them all save and in that process, keep the whole Mafia enemies free.

I dug out my phone from my pocket and quickly went over my whole schedule for the day, the whole day was fully booked with different meetings and official gatherings.

The car gradually pulled into the office's huge compound and I alighted the car once the door got pulled open. My briefcase got carried by one of my four guards and we all made our way into the building, and then into the elevator.

Two of the guards made their way into my office first, to thoroughly check if there was anything out of place before coming back out after a few minutes to give me the ‘go ahead’ sign. This has been my routine since I took after my father’s position in the Mafia, in order to avoid any danger or trap that might have been set down by one of the numerous enemies that I had automatically inherited the moment I took over from my father.

I accepted my briefcase from the guard’s grip before making my way into the office and closing the door behind me. Once I had sunk into my chair and rested for a little bit, I pulled one of the large files still in need of my signature and quickly went through it. Once I was done with cross checking and signing it, I sent a text message to James, since the first three meetings I had scheduled for today involved him as well.

James and I had known each other since we were kids, our fathers were just the way we both were now. My father had been the Mafia lord while his father had been my fathers right hand man. I wouldn’t say his father was as close to my father the way James was close to me though. Because my father took the whole ‘do not trust anybody’ quote to the deepest part of his heart and never fully trusted his right hand man, the way I did mine.

Whereas, I also took those words which he had instilled into my head while growing up to heart, but James was exempted from that quote.

I know damn well that he’d never be completely pleased with most of the decisions I’ve made in life after becoming a mafia lord, but it is what it is.

A knock resounded on the door and I lifted my head and stared at the door for a few seconds. “Yes?”

“It’s James.” The familiar voice of James filtered into the office through the door and I called out for him to come in, which he did in the next second.

“Dude, where the heck have you been since morning? We’re almost running late already.” I said to him once the door closed behind him and he quickly sank into one of the seat before my desk and breathed out a long, harsh breath.

“I’m so sorry, man. I was held back at the site by a bug. Can you believe the Ïtrishs are still so dumb to think they can plant a bug in our midst and we wouldn’t notice? Despite how brutally we dealt with them the last time they tried this same thing.” James started to say with a small shake of his head like he expected the said gang of people to be able to at least do better than that.

“I’m honestly not surprised, everyone cannot be as smart as we are.” I said with a smug grin and James snorted out a laugh.

“Did you take care of it yet?”

“Yeah, immediately. Hopefully after this, they won't dare think about trying to plant a bug here again.” James continued to say as he dug out his phone and stared at it pointedly when it suddenly started ringing.

“What did you do to it?” I asked and James glanced up at me with a blank expression on his face.

“Well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be able to walk anymore.” James answered with a dismissive shrug.

******

James and I slowly made our way into the elevator which was labeled for only exclusive people, two of my guards accompanied James and I into the elevator while the remaining two stayed behind to guide the cars and be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

I was here with the sole purpose of ending a long time feud that started since the time my father ruled the community. Ever since I became the new leader, I’d have to shoulder so many problems which my father has carried all through his life, and automatically passed unto me. I made investigations a year ago and had been completely aware that this particular leader of this mafia whom we had come to visit today, hasn’t been the one at fault.

I had hesitated at first at the thought of reaching out and settling misunderstandings between both neighboring mafias because of the amount of advantages and disadvantages surrounding that decision. I finally made that decision to reach out to them and try to fix a date for us to meet up and discuss. They had taken longer than necessary to give me a particular date for us to meet up, to the utmost annoyance of James who had been against the whole thing from the very start.

There was nothing pleasant about having a thousand enemies, in which I had no idea about what caused the issue between both parties in eighty percent out of the amount of enemies I have. It is a very unpleasant and uncomfortable feeling. And because of that, I patiently waited until they finally got back to me with a fix date and time.

The elevator automatically stopped and the doors slid open to reveal to us a glass room– the walls of the whole room was made of glass and I made my way into the room with James by my side.

The room was empty, safe for two people –a man was stood on the far end of the room, his back facing the whole inside of the room and a glass of drink in his left hand, and another man who was sitting in a relaxed position in the room, his leg placed on his other leg while he slowly slipped from his own glass of drink, his dark and sharp eyes quickly assessing us from head to toe. Our eyes locked and neither of us averted our gazes, my left hand was shoved in my pocket and the side of my lips twitched. I knew I appeared extremely unbothered at the moment with my shoulders lifted high and a bored and amused expression on my face, it was a pose I had perfected ever since I was a teenager.

“No guards in here.” The one sipping on a drink in the chair said without taking his eyes away from mine.

“No! The guards stay. You can bring in your own guards if it would make you feel safer.”