Chapter 4

An infuriated Octavio paced around his office. It was a well lit white-walled office in a large and busy warehouse.

“I never lose- either in business, actual fights or anything.” he repeated continuously.

“You already lost a few pounds just pacing around this little space and if you keep on with it, who knows?…you may take part in the next olympic.” Mr. Matteo, his lawyer mocked.

There were a few giggles from the guards to which Octavio reacted by clearing his throat, causing everyone to revert to their serious looks. He sat in his chair and brought out a box of cigar.

“So tell me, what's your plan, and how do you intend to execute it?" Mr. Matteo asked.

“I intend to solve it like I’ve always done in the past. I’ll hunt. Him and maybe everything linked to him that breathes, recover my stuff and go on like nothing-”

“Tsk tsk tsk.” Mr. Matteo waved at Octavio to stop. “Definitely not this time. This is someone equally or I should say, a little bit more powerful.” he sat back in his chair and looked Octavio in the eye, which no one does, except he wasn’t no one. He was Octavio’s uncle and Godfather.

As an established lawyer, he handled everything that looked like paperwork and with his strong connections, was able to keep Octavio away from the eyes of the law and government, making him operate undetected just like he did his father and grandfather. He was the most valuable asset.

As an uncle, he was one person Octavio feared, the only person alive who could scold or oppose Octavio without the later reacting and the one person holding him right up.

“We are not going gun blazing this time as I have no intention of holding any conversation with officials.” he continued. “If I recall correctly, you said you never met him in person...Your collector.”

“Yes, Correct.” Octavio replied.

“Good. And you won’t."

Octavio leaned forward “Now I’m interested.”

Octavio signalled for everyone to leave the office so that he was left alone with his uncle.

“What is the plan?” Octavio asked.

Mr. Matteo pulled out a file from his briefcase and flipped through it “I did my own digging after your disaster of a deal. I mean, with the time you've been in this business and considering the kind of people that groomed you, the stuff you were exposed to growing up, one would think you'd close such deals with ease on your own turf. But well, it turned out to be quite the opposite and that's really unfortunate. I'd be too kind to call you a disappointment.

My contacts made some findings and if they should be accurate,” he dropped a photograph before Octavio “This should be your man Victor."

Octavio’s eyes went wide and white. He demonstrated as if he was strangling some invincible object and clenched his fists.

“Is there a problem?” Mr. Matteo asked

“That’s him uncle” Octavio said bitterly and rose from his seat “that’s the man that –“ he stopped abruptly.

"Go on...say it." Mr. Matteo requested.

Octavio kept fighting the urge to use the word his uncle wanted to hear. Instead, he kept cursing inaudibly.

“Defeated you.” Mr. Matteo helped him finish.

“I wish I could lay my hands on him.”

“Unfortunately, that wish won’t be fulfilled.” Mr. Matteo put back the photo in the file and tossed a bunch of documents on the table. “He is more protected and connected than you are. Touch as much as the tip of a strand of his hair and you’ll have every available uniform coming after you.”

Mr. Matteo pulled out another photograph and pushed it towards Octavio "And that is your collector, Alexander Williams, Victor's cousin. He owns the whole stuff and Victor is just the front man. So if Victor is that protected, what do you think about Alexander?"

Octavio suddenly became calm. This was definitely beyond him but he wasn't ready to let go. And even if he wanted to, he still had his ego to repair. He wanted his pound of flesh.

“What do you suggest then?” he asked.

“Can you flip to the eight page.” Mr. Matteo requested.

Octavio did as he was asked and was shocked at what he saw.

“Looks familiar?” Mr. Matteo asked.

“Aaron Richards?”

Mr. Matteo nods.

“I thought it went down.” Octavio now confused, turned to his uncle, hoping for some sort of explanation.

Less than three years after the confrontation at the park, Mr. Richards filed for bankruptcy, shut down all his businesses including the antiques shop save the art gallery which he sold to a mega group. Couple months later, he turned up dead.

“He played you” Mr. Matteo replied as he walked up to a cabinet and took out a bottle of scotch, took a glass and poured for himself. “And now, that’s our Easter egg”

Octavio was lost. Even though he tried so hard to understand his uncle, he couldn’t.

"Who does the document name as the buyer of the his property?"

"MARRT Group. I followed up on that one."

"Ofcourse you did. Now take a look at the second photograph properly."

Octavio watched the second photograph with disgust. It was the opening day group picture and had both Victor and Alexander standing in the middle of the group, right infront of the ARRT Group complex.

"This can't be. MARRT belongs to the Martelli. One of them runs it currently"

"Unless Alexander Williams is a fake. Real name is Christian Martelli, first of two children. His sister was said to have died at a young age, with no records of her burial. He was reported dead after a ship he boarded never returned. Christian Martelli left, and Alexander Williams returned. Anthony Martelli, the current chairman is believed to be a cousin."

"But that's still impossible. I mean there should be records and stuff like that."

"Not for an undocumented illegal immigrant who is believed to have been lost at sea. You'll be surprised what one could do with a few surgeries."

Octavio looked weary already. He thought he was good at what he did, but here he was being showed how much of a joke he had been the last years.

“Aaron owed a debt before he died right? A debt that got transferred to his next of kin.”

“Yeah. His daughter Kristine. I've been keeping tabs on her for sometime” Octavio replied.

“Good” Mr. Matteo poured the scotch in his mouth and swallowed hard. “I did some digging too and fortunately she’s our buddy's kind of lady. So I was thinking, why don’t we give him a lady whom he might be interested in, promise to cancel her debt which she inherited from her late dad at a little price which is getting us what we want from our buddy?

We give him what he may want, she gives us what we want and we give her what she wants.”

“Brilliant!” Octavio walked over and gave his uncle a tight hug. “How do we make them meet?”

“There’s a party coming up and he’ll be in attendance. I will handle her pass and you, you will set her on the mission.”

Mr. Matteo started returning the documents to his briefcase, but stopped halfway to look at Octavio again. "I know you must be thinking about completing the triangle by taking your pound of flesh in the end, but I must warn you. Certain actions come with very expensive repercussions."

“Thank you, Uncle”

“You don’t need to thank me, since I only did what I had to."

There was a moment of silence between the duo, during which Mr. Matteo finished packing his stuff, then he left his seat and walked up to Octavio. He stood directly infront of him and looked him in the eyes until the later began to look away.

Mr. Matteo held Octavio's face roughly in his right hand, his fingers dug into his flesh and his facial expression showed a gread deal of seriousness. Octavio even with his bulky size looked inferior to Mr. Matteo who was much taller and of composed build, although quite aged as he was in his late sixties.

"I worked with my dad- your grandfather and I worked with your dad. Those were real tough times but I've never been this stressed in my whole life. You turned out to be the weakest. It's a wonder how long you would have survived in this wild all by yourself. I've tried my best to keep you glued to that seat you boast of daily and hell you don't know what I do at the background, how many people I've made to disappear just to make sure one fool, who has somehow decided not to abandon his baby stroller and become the man he is, keeps his family legacy. You turned what was suppose to be a spark into a flame and now they expect much more from you. It's a second chance-the last chance kind."

He let go off Octavio, who all these time looked haunted.

"There's rumor Mr. Richards didn't lose our goods. Now they want you to retrieve them...all of them. Boy there's a limit to everything and I hope- I really hope that this one time you do not disappoint me.”

Although he had seen his uncle mad a good number of times, the only time he was this exact way was when he wanted to cut loose ends. He understood very well the message and knew he had to make things right.