Chapter 3 He's Not Here Anymore

“Your newfound friend’s fine,” Aidon interrupted her thoughts. If there’s one thing Rein admired about him, it was his ability to read people’s minds. “If you haven’t stayed with him, it would have gone worse.”

“How did you find me so quickly anyway?” She asked, wanting to keep her thoughts away from that man. “I made sure to arrive as discretely as possible.”

Aidon gave a dry laugh, “My, my, Eirene. You forget who you’re talking to. Anyone who steps foot in Erebus is instantly under my watch.” He flipped through the newspapers and continued, “What did I tell you about surveillance? To make your targets believe there’s nothing going on, that they’re safe.”

“And here I thought the King of Spies was losing his touch,” Rein quipped. “By the way, did they say if Leofric remembers anything?” Her chest did feel a pang of guilt for leaving the guy bleeding and passed out in the bar.  Thankfully, Damon came right away so she didn’t have to carry him by herself.

“If he did, what would you do?” She didn’t want to spoil her breakfast by thinking about her stupidity yesterday. So Rein answered by taking a sip of the black coffee Linda, their housekeeper, brewed for her.

Aidon chuckled at his niece deflecting the question. “Well, I heard that all he remembers were the confrontation with the Swedes,” he paused to let her dig in on her toast. “What else?” Rein asked and continued to chew but her heart never stopped pounding. “And asking a certain marine for her hand in marriage.”

Crumbs and pieces of food flew out of her mouth at great speed. They barely missed the older man who used the stack of papers as a shield. “I knew you had my charms but how did you get him to propose from simply one meeting?” Aidon asked incredulously.

“Damn it, I ruined everything.” Rein lost her chance. Now she’ll have to go back to the base and tell her superior Special Agent Cleag about her foolishness. Rein sighed, picturing the man with his baby blue eyes and suave voice berating her for what happened.

Aidon, carefully watching her daydream, said, “I thought you were against marriage but now I see that you’re looking forward to it. Should I call them to say that you were that woman?” He teased but also couldn’t help but feel giddy. He was familiar with Eirene’s repulsion towards such commitment, so this new turn of events got him excited.

“Ugh, nothing happened yesterday that would warrant him asking me to be his wife. The concussion the Swedes gave him must have piled on with him being dense,” Rein passionately explained. “So he remembers everything?”

“Fortunately for you, all he remembered was the name Eirene and that’s it. He forgot what you look like.” Luckily for her, Rein being Eirene Evander was also a detail only known by the most trusted of the specific mafia family. It was an open secret that Alexi Evander has a child, but the child was hidden from the world. No one knew where the child was, let alone if it was a boy or a girl. Until now.

“That’s also why I had you driven here, not the manor. Because there are too many eyes prying nowadays,” Aidon informed her.

Their safe house, which was craftily hidden in between middle-income houses, looked just like another regular residence. With a busy neighborhood of people coming and leaving, and droves of trees covering most homes, it was difficult to track anyone. And the Evander family being the most covert in the mafia helped with it.

“And you know why, Eirene.” His eyes met with hers in silence.

“You have been chosen as Delian Leofric’s consigliori.” It’s time. Her first step into her mission was now underway. Rein’s heart quickened to a pace. Fear? Excitement? Maybe somewhere in the middle.

“I did my best to convince the rest of the Council to pick you despite not seeing you personally. And boy was there some opposition.” Aidon recalled having to show Rein’s military credentials and achievements to them. He did have deep connections with the military. That was how her identity was kept confidential all these years. “That’s why you’ll still have to prove your worth to everyone.”

“But having to know why you have to be the right hand from your bosses and not from you is quite wounding,” he sighed, looking straight into Rein’s gray eyes.

“I didn’t have the heart to tell you since it felt like I was betraying some Evander code.” Rein regretted that she only thought of the consequences on her family after taking on the huge burden. “And I’m first in line to become the Evander head, but here I am. Exposing the mafia instead of protecting it.”

“You’re not betraying anything,” Aidon answered. She was indeed breaking an Erinyes code. And that was to keep the loyalty and solidarity within the mafia in the face of government and authority. But she didn’t have to know that, he will bear all responsibility in the future.

“The Erinyes mafia has a rule not to deal with weapons and drugs, the most terrible combination. Collaborating with terrorists? That’s much worse. So you’ll be doing us a favor. In fact, you’ll be doing the whole country a favor.”

Aidon’s eyes blurred with dejection. “I do hope you don’t continue with this, but you have your father’s passion. I’d be a fool to stop you now.”

“If you want to reconsider though,” Rein flinched at his words. He was a pain in the ass when he was being a clown, but more so when he was serious. In a run-for-your-life kind of way.

“Your father and I made all those arrangements for you to live away from here. A new name, a different environment, even a bakery just for you.” Aidon looked back to his past. “I remember when you were eight, you refused to do any activities aside from baking for all of us. You’d even call the gardeners and ask them to decorate your cake as they did with the flower gardens.”

Choosing to stay silent, she continued with her meal. “Every night after that, your father would methodically check every bakery in the country.”  Alexi was Aidon’s exact opposite all throughout. But when regarding Eirene, they shared the same conduct.

“That was more than a decade ago. I’m far from having that kind of life now.” Rein’s blood boiled as she recalled things differently. “And also, he’s not here anymore.” The rage made her eyes blaze as they met Aidon’s sorrowful ones. The image of a red-stained white cloth covering the bullet-riddled body of Alexi painfully crossed their minds like a shot straight through their chests.

“You’re right, he’s not,” Aidon said, conjuring ideas to deescalate his niece’s fury.

“So why don’t you finish your food, then we’ll go to Rhapso.” He put down the newspaper and finished his own cup of morning tea. “He’s the best in tailoring suits and disguises. You’ll like him.”

“What do you mean?” Rein asked cautiously, her anger dissipating. “Come on, I can’t present you to our mafia wearing cheap clothes or military uniform.” Aidon shuddered at the thought.

Rein quickly finished her breakfast and followed her uncle to the family car. “Oh, and let’s pick your friend, Damon Mitchell, up. Isn’t he part of the mission?”

>>>

“Are you ready?” Rhapso asked while the two men nervously fidgeted in their seats. Damon spoke up with a shaky voice, “Why am I so anxious about this transformation?”

“That’s how the Evander’s tailor works, you’ll question everything. Like sorcery,” Aidon replied, though there was also apprehension in his answer. The mentioned tailor just laughed at the absurd explanation and flamboyantly swung the dressing curtains open to reveal Rein in a man’s suit.

“Woah,” was all they could say after seeing the previous charming woman transition into a strapping male version of herself.

Getting conscious of her appearance, Rein tucked loose hair into her ear. Her wavy hair was cut to her shoulders and tied in a messy ponytail. Her clothes, padded in the essential parts, covered most of her body.

“Thankfully, your face is so well-defined that we didn’t have to do much,” Rhapso said while making last-minute adjustments to her look. He just had to thicken her eyebrows and make her luscious lips look thinner. Rein knew he has done thousands of guises for whatever the mafia members had to do. But after seeing the stubble and Adam’s apple prosthetics Rhapso created, she had to do a double-take to make sure they were not cut off from a real person.

“Do you think they’d buy it?” She genuinely asked, fixing her silk necktie in royal blue, the color for the Evanders. Her fingers grazed the embroidered peony flowers against the smooth texture of the fabric. “I’m still not sure if I look believable as a man.”

“Are you kidding? You look more handsome than I do,” Damon complimented. “That’s true, but you can never beat your uncle,” Aidon added. “And do you think I’d get all of these for you if I wasn’t confident about this?” The family don motioned to the room filled with custom-tailored clothes, countless types of shoes, and brand-new accessories.

“Thank you, Uncle.” Rein ran up and hugged Aidon. For all her crazy ideas, it was such a comfort that her only family has crazier ones.

“Now all you have to practice is how to act like a guy,” Damon said as he watched the whole exchange, still astounded at how different his friend looked now.

“Don’t worry, I have. Once we’re out there,” Rein raised her hands in mock surrender and spoke in her baritone voice, “No hard feelings, no strings attached. That’s my guarantee.” She clicked her tongue and winked at him. “How’s that for a guy impression?”

They all laughed at the silliness of the situation, but the three men thought that was brilliant. She was indeed ready for this.

Rein’s phone pinged after changing her clothes. A blush found its way to her cheeks as she quickly ran out of the room to make a call. ‘Special Agent’ illuminated on the screen.

“Well, I’ll be. I never thought I’d see Eirene act like a teenager with a crush.” Aidon peeked at the door to see his niece talking shyly on the phone, twirling in her position.

“There’s only one guy who can make her act like that.” Damon cringed at Rein’s complete 360 change. To imagine that the woman who can tackle and flip a large man would suddenly turn into the most demure sweetheart. “She’s talking to our captain, Thane Cleag.”

They continued to follow Rein’s actions as she came back to the room, beaming with the brightest smile she’s had since arriving in the city. “He’s coming here soon.” She cleared her throat, “And, uhm, I should prepare for that.”

She looked at the men with questioning brows and smirking mouths. “It’s for the mission.”