Story of the Two

"M―Mafia? Here?"

Neal asked nervously. Arjun nodded, taking a tissue. He sneezed and coughed before turning to his friend again.

"Yes. And not only them, there are more gangs but you can say Rendells are number one on the top five list. They are known for their cruel way of punishments actually. Do you know what they do to their preys?" Arjun asked leaning forward. Neal shook his head no.

"Let me tell you, it is better to get killed on the spot than being just thirty minutes in their custody and getting tortured. They won't kill you easily. They will torture you until they get what they want from you."

Arjun thought for a moment before continuing,"I once heard they burned a man alive. I don't know why. They pulled his all teeth and nails before pouring wax all over his body and tortured so many times before setting him on fire. And his―"

"Okay that's enough. I think you are exaggerating." He shivered at the thought.

"I'm not―" Arjun tried to protest.

"Whatever. Stay on the topic."

"Okay. So....where was I? Oh yeah punishments! That chain," Arjun pointed to the pillow, "is damn important to Rendells. It is a warrior helmet, a symbol of Rendells. It shows their power and position in the circle. Only important people have it. Now tell me what will they do if they know their precious thing was taken by someone else. Are you ready for their punishments?" Arjun asked with an expressionless face.

Neal gulped down and looked at his hands and beautiful nails. He fisted his hands pulling them to his chest.

"I....I didn't stole it okay? It was lying there. If they....if they want it back I will just give it to them. Problem solved right?" He asked with hopeful eyes.

"Wow! Simple right?" Arjun clapped his hands slightly with smile and his expression changed the next moment.

"Do you think they will just slide it so easily?" Arjun sighed. "Jay, don't forget what you saw in the morning. If my guess is right, the dead man in the car was shot by Rendells. They must have put a fight and one of them lost that chain. Which means it is an evidence. If the police find it, they will arrest Rendells. But you my lovely friend brought the chain straight here and now they are going to find you."

"But...but it is in our hands, and police will only arrest them if they have evidence right?" Neal was panicking minute by minute. He cursed the moment he picked up the silver thing.

"Think from everyone's point of view Jay. The Rendells by now know they have lost the chain. Eventually they will search for it. Imagine they found out the chain is in your hand. If they think you might hand it to the police they won't hesitate to kill you."

"But I didn't. And I won't. So they should leave me the hell alone." Neal raised his voice.

"Do you think police will help me?" He asked in a small whisper.

Arjun looked at his friend with pity.

"Rendells committed so much crime Jay. What do you think they are still outside the jail? They have connections, everywhere. Besides you are the one who found the chain, a simple citizen. If you go to police giving the evidence, their connections can't do anything because the media would already take that on their hands. Like I said, it's not just a chain. It is important. Think about you before doing anything stupid."

"What do we do now? Are they going to kill me?" Neal felt like crying. He pulled his hair with both hands leaning down.

"I don't know yaar (friend). They weren't this cruel before. It all started when they came back." Arjun said leaning back and closed his eyes.

"They?"

"Yeah. The Frosters."

Neal leaned forward like he is going to hear the best story of his life.

"Although there were many mafia gangs in America Rendells and Frosters were the powerful ones whether it was eight years ago or now. They always compete each other."

"Rivals?" Neal arched his brows.

"Yeah. You can say that." Arjun nodded and continued. "Among the two of them Rendells was more.....human like? They both did dark business but Frosters was greedy and more into dirty business, including prostitution."

Arjun's face showed his disgust.

"Gerald Laine Rendell had three children. Eldest daughter Hazel and second one Hailey. He was disappointed with the female population in his house. God must have heard his prayer, because Natalia gave birth to a son, Hunter."

Arjun stopped to sneeze. Neal sat there waiting for his friend to continue.

"Valantin also had three children, all of them were boys. Adriel, Atlas and August. Hunter and August were around same age. They were friends too."

"I thought they are rivals?" Neal asked confused.

"Their story is different Jay. Hunter and Valantin's sons were nothing like the greedy bastards of other mafia boss's sons. They wanted a normal life like other children. But their Dads had other plans."

"It all started because of one thing,"Arjun paused looking at his friend. Neal arched his right brow asking what.

"Love."

"Atlas fall in love with Gerald's second daughter Hailey."

"Like Romeo and Juliet?" Neal asked giggling. Arjun chuckled shaking his head.

"Yeah. Like Romeo and Juliet. But when Valantin comes to know this he confronted his son. He was furious, because he loved Atlas more than his other sons."

"Why? They are also his sons right?"

Neal is genuinely curious now. He pulled up his right leg hugging it and put his chin on his knee.

"Yeah but, Valantin wanted Adriel to take over his business. But he has no interest in it. Adriel always wanted to travel around and he was kind of rebel too. They both fought a lot, and at a point they started to ignore each other. Then he had only Atlas and August. August is more like his mother, soft by nature and too sensitive. And he was not fit for any of Valantin's expectations. So he put all efforts in making Atlas his follower. Although he didn't like it Atlas followed his father's steps."

"When Valantin confronted Atlas he thought his son was pretending in front of Hailey to manipulate her. But then Atlas admit his love for Hailey. Valantin was furious. And we know what will happen when anger blinds a person." Arjun said looking at his friend.

"He killed Atlas?" Neal asked, his eyes widened with shock.

Arjun shook his head.

"No. He killed Hailey."

"Jesus!" Neal muttered.

"That's when the war started. Gerald didn't like the loss of his second daughter. He went to kill Valantin. Alone. But there was a surprise for him." Arjun paused.

"What?" Neal asked curiously.

"When his father killed Hailey, Atlas destroyed everything in their place and he killed himself. But that wasn't the surprise. There was two bodies when Gerald arrived. One was Atlas and the other....Valantin."

"Who....who killed him?"

Arjun shrugged and shook his head. "No one knows who killed him. There were rumours that Atlas killed his own father before committing suicide. But something was off."

"Aren't they supposed to have like... bodyguards?" Neal asked wondering.

"That's the thing. There were only few of them and they were attacked by Atlas. Isn't that strange? They have hundreds of bodyguards but only few of them was there."

"Which means everything was well planned." Neal said nodding his head.

"Yes. And do you know what is the strangest thing?" Arjun asked.

"What?"

Arjun laughed seeing his friend's curious innocent face.

"If you want to know go take a shower and bring me a coffee." He said yawning, ignoring Neal's frown.

"That's not fair. You made me curious and now you won't tell me. What the hell Mr. Harris?"

Again Arjun ignored his friend, opening his laptop.

Neal sighed.

"So......what are we going to do about this?" He asked. Arjun looked up. His eyes followed Neal's gaze towards the chain.

"You have to put it back where you picked it. We are still alive, which means they are not aware that the chain is missing. So you should do it before anything happens." Arjun said rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Okay. Should I do it today?"

Arjun sighed looking at his friend.

"Don't be stupid Jay. I would say it is better to do it as soon as possible. But we can't do it today. Look at the situation. One, the whole place is surrounded by police. Two, we are visiting our mothers today, remember?"

Neal's mouth formed an 'O' before standing up and rushing towards his room. Arjun chuckled shaking his head and turned to do his work.

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