Luca’s pov
“Why is it taking this long to schedule a meeting with the bastard?” I growled in an exasperated sigh while my hand tugged on my hair.
“That’s because you know how pompous the underground lords are. They must have all heard what has happened, and they know why you wanna see them, hence why they’re being difficult seeing as you never tried reaching out to them until right now.” James explained, voice coming out steadily. I heaved tiredly and sank into a seat, feeling tired as ever.
“I never want to have shit to do with them. I’m only trying to get in touch because I need their help, that’s all.” I let out, voice muffled due to my hands dragging over my face.
The mafia lords who run the underground are quite different from those who run things on the front line. The ones underground are powerful when it comes to intels, illegal tr@fficking, amongst other things. They always have intels whenever Someone’s in need of it, depending on who’s asking, which is the only reason why I’m trying to get through to them. The only tail we got led to a literal dead end, and so far, nothing has come out from the handkerchief which was retrieved along with Sofia’s phone.
“Oh wait.” James called out as he sat up, fingers flying over the laptop atop his thighs. He has been over here, working vigorously along with me in trying to find my wife, and I really appreciate him for that, because he was the line that kept me sane so far.
It’s been three days since Sofia has been kidnapped, three days with me not knowing if she was still alive or not. Her guards were also nowhere to be found and I had a feeling that they’ve been killed if indeed, Sofia has gotten kidnapped.
“They just agreed to meet up!” James exclaimed, glancing up at me with brightened eyes. I felt my heart lighten a little at his announcement.
“When?” I asked as I slowly leaned forward.
“Tonight. At a restaurant in their territory. They require you to come alone and with no weapons.” James continued and I rolled my eyes a little.
“I’ll go.” I said, just as James exclaimed about how crazy that sounded.
“You can’t be serious.” He added in disbelief, sounding like I had suddenly grown two heads.
~~~
James offered to drive me over since in his opinion, I was in no state to drive.
“They agreed to not come with weapons too, but I’m certain they’d still be safe no matter what since that’s their territory.” James began to speak as he pulled to a stop outside said restaurant.
“I’m definitely not gonna cause trouble. Once I get what I need, I’d be out of there immediately.” I informed him as I pulled on my tie a little to loosen it.
“They’re definitely gonna want something in return. You know they won’t give intel away for free.” James continued and I grunted in response.
“Don’t agree to any absurd demands just because you desperately need the intel. They know you wanna find your wife so bad, so they’re definitely gonna want something extravagant in return, but you gotta toughen up, be stoik and expressionless.”
After a few back and forths, I exited the car and walked into the restaurant. At the door, I turned in my weapons and got shown to a table, where two men were already waiting. On drawing closer, I realized that they were twins, identical ones.
“Hello,” I offered as I sank into the seat, and they offered their greetings before pouring me a drink. They looked a little younger than I expected, perhaps in their mid thirties, while I had been expecting to meet someone already aging.
The restaurant was empty, but still heavily guarded. As food got served, I felt a slight urge to puke. Food is something that I’ve not been interested in since the moment Sofia got kidnapped, but to be polite, I toyed with the food and made a show by chewing on a piece of steak.
“So, big, bad Lord Ricci has finally come to see us,” One of them broke the silence and I felt myself tense up for a moment.
“Let’s cut straight to the chase, we all know why I’m here today.” I dropped my cutleries as I began to speak.
The second one who looked chiller, snorted. He took a gulp of his drink before leaning forward. “Yeah, yeah, we do. News like this doesn’t take long to spread around the city, because it involves you. Everyone is wondering about who it could be that dared take what belongs to you.”
“Do you perhaps know who is behind it?”
I was regarded with an eye roll, one which took me by surprise because it wasn’t everyday that I get treated with such nonchalance, which reminded me that the ones who rule the underground don’t respect those on the frontline all that much, so far we stay out of each other’s businesses.
“What makes you think we’d easily spill if we did know a thing or two?”
“Cause I’m sure I have something you want. You’ve always wanted some sort of alliance between us, well, now’s your chance for that to happen.” I informed them, and if they were surprised by my response, they hid it flawlessly, causing me to hide my smirk behind my glass because I knew I had gotten to them.
“You know we don’t get involved with the frontline mafia businesses. The underground is our business and that’s what we mainly focus on.”
I hummed and nodded. “I can say the same about myself, but I still managed to hear some things about the underground, the same way I’m certain you have the intel I need.”
A sigh, and then a response. “I guess you’re right, we do have some intel.”
I leaned back in my seat and kept my face as blank as possible. “Let’s hear it.”
“Seen this logo before?” The buffer twin asked with the sceeen of a phone flashed in my face. It was the one I saw on the handkerchief, which I instantly whipped out.
The handkerchief got examined, and I watched as a guard got motioned over. He took a glance at the handkerchief, then went into the back for a few minutes. When he re-emerged, he was holding a handkerchief identical to the one I brought along with me.
The brothers leaned into each other and whispered to themselves after dismissing the guard. Their silent conversation lasted for a couple of minutes and I spent those time being agitated as fuck.
“So, Mr Ricci, we definitely know something about this.”
“I’m listening.” I responded, leaning forward.
The twins glanced at themselves for a second before one of them began to speak.
“So, do you know any Alejandro?” He asked and I shook my head in response.
“What about anyone named Ryan? A Ryan…”