ARAWN
My men had spent quite a good amount of time, looking into the murder cases. But even after asking the underbosses and interrogating the people who could have witnessed something in the respective districts, they came back with nothing.
Which bothered me because this has never happened.
And even if I normally wouldn’t care much about the matter, and New York was surely not Disney Land, I couldn’t let it go.
Not if it was so close that it seemed to come for Nerthus.
After I got the profile made by the profilers, I already thought that Derek wouldn’t quite match the picture. He was a sunny boy, always known to enjoy partying with women. He didn’t seem the type who wanted to cancel and humiliate them.
But I couldn’t ignore what Vito had said, so I stuck with it.
Until we found him in a rehab clinic, still trying to cope with his injuries.
Well, damn it.
My boots hit the wooden tiles of the pedestrian overpass, generating a hollow sound as I reach the hut to meet Mattia. He is already sitting at a table outside of it, his head buried in his hands.
“Mattia,” I say as I reach him, making him look up at me helplessly. “What’s wrong?”
He whimpers, shuffling the documents in front of him that he was just staring at. “I’m sorry that I called you, but I don’t know what to do. This never happened. I never saw my father handling something like this.”
“Don’t worry. Let’s take a look. I’m sure we will have it sorted out in no time.” I try to calm him, taking the documents he is passing me.
He buries his head back into his hands, pushing out a deep sigh. “I was about to fuck it up.”
“Nothing can be fucked up that badly that it can’t be solved with a good bribe,” I chuckle but fail to lift up his spirit as he whimpers again.
Slapping his shoulder gently, I sit down next to him. “Come on. Don’t make that face. Everything will be alright.”
As he starts to go through the documents still lying in front of him, he fills me in with a shaking voice. I take out my phone to shoot Nerthus a quick text as it doesn’t seem like it is going to be resolved soon.
Arawn: I think I’m going to be stuck here for a bit. Maybe I can treat you to dinner?
Amber: Don’t worry. Do you want me to come your way? I don’t need to go to a fancy place. We could go somewhere where people won’t glare at us if we don’t use our forks the right way as soon as you are done with whatever you are doing.
I chuckle, making Mattia look at me questioningly.
Arawn: Should I get Dario to pick you up?
Amber: No, I’ll get a cab. See you in a bit.
Putting away my phone in a good mood, I concentrate back on what Mattia is trying to tell me. And it’s soon clear that they messed up big time.
I have been struggling with one of those rich assholes from a so-called good family wanting to do business on my territory. He seems to be a sleazy rat, who first tried to make his way into my territory by playing friendly, wanting to help me out with some amazing deals. But this rarely works as everyone tries to sneak in through that door. Also, we are inherently doubtful of outsiders and don’t make deals easily with them.
This one though, maybe because of his social status and people always chucking him under the chin, is quite the tenacious son of a bitch. And with a few strange occurrences happening on the territory, I’m beginning to believe that he is preparing for a revolt.
“Fuck, Matt! How could you miss this? They searched one of our real containers? How did this happen? Where were the mock-ups?” I ask, shuffling through the papers.
Mattia drives his hands into his hair, gripping them, making it seem painful even to me. “I don’t know. They were prepared correctly. I went through the setup with Stefano myself. Arawn, I swear that I don’t know how they could have been exchanged. I mean they are huge.”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “It’s not like someone was playing with bricks accidentally here. What was in the containers they searched?”
He whimpers, rubbing the sides of his head. “Nothing much. We were lucky they didn’t find the container from Colombia.”
“What does ‘nothing much’ mean, Matt?” I groan, wondering how much this will cost me.
Taking a deep breath, he stays silent for a few heartbeats before he whispers towards the table. “Weapons.”
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” I growl as I get up. “Let me call Harvey. You go through the setup of the mock-ups again. Play save. Have a few men check out the situation regularly. If something happens, tell Stefano to take care of whoever is intervening in our placement. I guess it’s either a rat or a corrupt dock worker. Let’s hope it is an idiot sent by the asshole.”
As I am about to make the phone call, I can hear him murmuring how sorry he is and how he will do his best to sort this out.
“Lucky,” I push out with a laugh, just as Harvey picks up the phone. “Harvey, last night we failed a sampling inspection at the port. They confiscated our load. Could you take a look into it?”
“We did what?” he yells through the phone, making me groan.
“Yeah. Try to find out where they brought it and what charges they are preparing to press against us. If we catch it in time, I can speak with our judge and ensure that the case gets settled under his adjudication. If we miss that it’s going to be complicated.”
Harvey is already rumbling again, just adding to my anger as I see a beauty in a bomber jacket, and totally wrapped in a thick scarf and a wool hat. I laugh to myself as I see that she is declining a pushy dock worker who wants to help her down the few steps, no one would be struggling to descend. As she turns towards me and walks over the wooden bridge, she rolls her eyes with a big smile.
“Araaaawn,” Harvey moans, making me realize that I have stopped listening to him completely.
I collect my hello-kiss from Nerthus before I answer him. “I’m listening.”
Practically able to sense his annoyance over the phone, I can’t stop grinning as her sole appearance has already improved my mood drastically. “I said that I would look into it. But prepare yourself that our judge will be asking for a bigger pay for this faux pas. He is facing a lot of trouble with his colleagues as well. It’s not like the old days, my friend.”
“Sure,” I chuckle, watching Nerthus who is playing with her mittens as she must be cold. “Keep telling yourself that. But until they don’t get to rip Gotham out of my cold, dead hands, I won’t believe it.”
“Don’t say that,” Nerthus whispers, scrunching up her face cutely as she looks at me.
Harvey, on the other hand, laughs, “Well, I guess you have to be like this to do your job. Talk to you later.”
“Thank you, Harvey.” Disconnecting the call, I wrap my arms around Nerthus immediately, making her squeal lightly. “Are you cold?”
“It’s fucking freezing,” she giggles as I kiss the tip of her nose. “This is what I get for declining the warm and fancy place in the middle of winter.”
“I’ll take you somewhere warm in a minute,” I say, letting go of her.
Stepping aside, I reveal a still despairing Mattia, who is still whimpering with his head buried in his hands.
“This is the king of the ports. Don’t get fooled by his current appearance. He is having a tough day,” I whisper, laying an arm around her waist. “Matt, can you stop crying for a minute, so that I introduce you to someone real quick?”
Mattia has barely lifted his head as Nerthus gasps, “Oh my God. Matty?”
“Nerthus?” Mattia asks.
I’m worried for a moment, but as he gets up with a big smile, and they hug like old friends, my worry shifts into something else.