Page 17 of The Mafia's Property

I type the first message: Installed.

Him: scrub our previous conversation and we’ll use this from now on. Are you on your own?

Me: Yes.

Him: Have you found anything?

It’s only been two days, a day really, and he’s already asking about information. The little I knew about the twins so far was stuff I already knew, and I’m sure stuff he already knows.

Me: I just got here.

Three dots scroll for a while as he typed the message. After some time, he responded.

Him: I’m sorry. It’s just that they’re putting us under a lot of pressure. The twins will take over the running of the casino soon and if that happens, I could be discovered. Zoe’s death would be in vain. All our plans will go to the shitcan.

The twins were taking over the casino? That’s interesting. Was that why their older brother was here? No wonder they sent me away. But if Nico and Rico didn’t know yet, I wondered how He knew before them. Clearly, He has intel from someone who is in a key position. If the twins were to discover him, it was only a few leaps till I was found out and then I would be toast. I quickly typed a response: Let me see what I can find.

Him: There’s a jewel in the twins’ possession. I hear they got it from a raid on one of Saccone’s compounds.

Me: What kind of jewel. What does it look like?

Him: A sapphire with diamonds. It’s big. You’ll know it when you see it. If you can get that, you would have accomplished your task.

He wanted me to steal a jewel. One that I have no idea what it looked like. That’s apparently large and possible expensive. If I couldn’t find it, I’m fucked.

I hear the faint voices of Nico, Rico, and their brother, Dante, filtered to my room. They were probably watching football. If they were preoccupied that means… My gaze went to the door that connected Nico’s room to mine. I rush over to it. The door was locked from the other side. Fuck. I went to Rico’s expecting the same and just like that, the door swings open.

And that’s how I ended up wandering into enemy territory without a single clue where I should go to search for what I am looking for. As professional criminals, I doubt they would leave a jewel lying around. My job was to take them down via any means necessary, and taking them to jail would be a great way to accomplish that, but I doubt the justice system was equipped to handle the Morelli brothers. If stealing a stealing a jewel from them gets me that much closer to avenging Zoe’s death, then I will do it.

My gaze darted around the room. It was clean, sparse and well organized. Somehow, I expected that of him. He has that straight edge to him while hiding something menacing. It was larger than mine but has little in terms of furnishings. Besides the enormous bed in the middle, there’s a little else. A white and gray rug was draped at the end of the bed and there was a door opposite the one I came from. I march over to it. It was a bathroom with a shower big enough to fit three people and a black tub below a window offering a view of the city. I closed the door and went back to the bedroom. The bedside drawers had nothing in them. Well, not exactly nothing. The one on the left side was filled with condoms of all types. A strange wave of jealously swept over me. I remember reading an article about his penchant for dating sophisticated supermodels. Women who look nothing like me. No wonder he found me repulsive.

But why should I care who he fucks? Good thing I wasn’t getting fucked by both of them, right? It was better to deal with one brother instead of two. Especially considering how inexperienced I was. I close the drawer a little too forcefully and went to the closet. It’s not as big as the one in my room but big enough to store a lot of suits, casual clothes and, was that a gun? Right at the end of the closet, behind the rack of suits, was a display case of guns plastered against the wall behind thick, possibly bulletproof glass. I count two pistols, one rifle, a shotgun and a handgun. That was interesting, but something to expect, considering the business they were in. My brief investigation was getting more futile and dangerous as I got back into the main room empty-handed.

Disappointed, I returned to the bedroom. This time, I tried to look for hidden compartments. I tapped and lifted every surface, but nothing happened. Not on the walls or the floor or the windows. I went to the drawers and tried to search for some hidden button of some sort. I ran my hand over the top surface to see if anything pops. Nothing. I scanned the sides. Again, nothing. My hand sweeps the surface below and just as I was about to give up, right at the far end, I feel something circular, small, and rubbery. A button! Was this it? My finger hovered over the rubber nub and just as I am about to press it I hear, “What are you doing?”

Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The voice sounded puzzled, but there was no doubt who it belonged to. Enrico. I froze in position, not sure what to do or say. This was as close to being caught red-handed as I could imagine. I am dead. This is it. He was going to send me out to the desert, kill me, and bury me.

I straightened and turn around to face him. He still had his usual look of disdain, although this time he seems to be even more repulsed by my presence if such a thing was possible.

“I said, what are you doing in my bedroom?” His voice was low, but the menacing tone was very much there.

I scrambled for an answer that would satisfy him and not make me look like the trespasser I clearly was. I glanced back at the drawers and blurt out the first thing that came to mind. “I was looking for condoms.” And immediately I wanted to take it back.

“Condoms?”

“Nico said I should grab some here. He didn’t have any, so…” I trail off, embarrassed by my foolish excuse.

“What did I tell you about entering this room?” He stalked forward, closing the distance between us. One second his frame was filling the door, the next he was right in front of me. My pulse speeds up. He was so close.

“I thought since it was Nico who sent me, it would be okay.” My throat felt parched. Because I had been caught or because his menacing gaze brought fire in my loins? I couldn’t tell.

“I gave you a simple instruction. Do not, under any circumstance, enter my room. How hard is that to follow?”

“But Nico…” Sticking to my lie was hard under his scrutiny. I hope Nico hadn’t said anything to him so far that Enrico might know I was lying. He glared at me as I searched for the right words. Nothing came except a small, “Sorry.”

His upper lip curled. “You’re not sorry. And you’re lying. You love disobeying me, don’t you?” Even though he clearly thought I was dirt beneath his shoe, I could see a shift in the mood happening. I couldn’t tell exactly what gears were turning in his head until he said, “Girls like you need to be punished.”

He grabbed my wrist and drags me to the door. He was throwing me out, I thought. But no. Instead, he closed it, turned the lock, and dragged me back to the bed. He sat down and threw me over his lap. I was lying face down, ass up, and staring right at the sheets. “What the hell?” I don’t have time to process what was happening until I feel my skirt getting flipped over. Fuck. I am naked underneath.

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