13

Massimo

Nothing excites me more than watching the city burst with excitement from above. I loved seeing everyone and everything from where I stood. It has always been my thing, therefore every one of my buildings had one thing in common

Their height

I held the glass of scotch in my hand and dipped it. The liquid burnt my throat in the exact way I wanted. The warmth sent chills down my body and I felt goosebumps on my skin. 

I was giddy just thinking about what was coming. The thought of how much I'd earn from that drug coming in made my stomach tightened. And the kids? Some will be sent to work in my mine just like I had discussed with Arseni. The rest will be sold as usual. If I continue this way, I'll be rich in no time.

The incessant sound of knocking on my door drew me out of my thoughts. I grumbled as I dropped the glass on my table. The intruder didn't wait for my reply before turning it open..

“Florence,I told you I don't want to be disturbed. Is that too hard to get?” I asked. Florence is my assistant. Yes it sounds weird that I have a female for my assistant but it's the truth. 

Contrary to anyone's opinion, I prefer female assistants to male. Females have lesser dreams and they are easier to control. Give a male assistant some sort of freehand and they'll see themselves as your equal.

Additionally, in the case of Florence, she has a bit of mafia in her lineage, hence she's smart, skilled and meticulous.

“It's not that hard but this can't wait. There's fire on the mountain.” She said,

“What fire?” I asked 

“This, " she said, dropping a file on my desk. I opened it and began to read through it. Saving me the stress of perusing each of them, she gave me a summary of what it entailed.

“They spoiled your fun. The ship never reached the dock. It was taken away. The lifes of our men were wasted. The drugs are gone too and the worst part is that we can't trace where they disappeared to.

“What about the other container?” I asked with hope. It was the most important to me as it is. If I could get my hands on that one, it'll sort whatever mess on the ground a bit. Florence didn't say anything,so I took the time again and opened it to the last page till I saw it.

“The container is gone too. In its case we know its whereabouts.” She paused, staring deep into my eyes, one that told me that there was more to come.

“Both the container and everything in it found its way into the hands of the police. Currently, they are sweeping out every of the dead men they saw at the docks, questioning their family and their acquaintances just to get into who they work for. Not to worry, I made sure to silence everyone. They won't find out anything,trust me,” she said.

I sighed deeply as she said everything,my blood boiling with rage. To think I was just rejoicing earlier and then this mess. I dragged my fingers through my hair, thinking of what best to do. 

“Before then, how did this even happen? No one knew that ship was coming in. We communicated via radio frequency to Arseni.

“What do you think?” She asked, cockiing her head sideways in a way that I know too well.

“The Niccolos?” I said with a rasped breath

“Definitely. Only they could manage to boycott our communications and carry this out with no loopholes. Not only that,they involved the police. What happened was perfectly carried out, nothing is pointing to them at all.If not because I used all the resources we had, it would be difficult to get out what really happened.

Stefano! Quell bastardo!

He dares to mess with me and what? Returned the half starved kids back to the police. How dare he turn those kids over! He's trying to play the role of an angel right after all that we did together? I snarled with anger.

"How about you make him feel exactly what he's done to you?” Flo began.

“That's not possible. Knowing that I'd have gotten wind of what he did, he'd be more than ready for any impact coming his way. I've lost quite a number of my men, I won't gamble with more life , Florence” I countered.

“Which is why we have to hit them from a different side, one they aren't expecting. I'm sure they'll be guiding their warehouses jealously like you said and that's the exact reason we won't go their. We'll take a detour”

“How?” I growl ed. I was already tired of listening to her long talks and it is making me dizzy. Even though she's good at what she does, Florence talks too much and currently I wasn't in that mood.

‘What do you suggest we do?” I asked again.

“We'll cut off their buyers and suppliers if possible.”

“Suppliers? That's like hanging a price on our heads. Those ones won't budge. The Niccolians have a long history of drugs in their line. Their suppliers have been there for as long as I could remember. They all have treaties aging as Italy itself, no one will dare to cut it off.” I explained.

“Then we sway towards their buyers then. Those ones have no loyalty towards them right? It is about who has the sweetest and lowest deal. We'll find the buyers a deal they can't say no to, even if it'll cost us a bit of our money. We'll do this steadily, with no noise till we cut off all of their taps. They won't know what's coming for them.” She said,

“No, this isn't a good idea. It could backfire. Truly,I and Stefano don't see eyes to eye but in the history of the street, no one has ever tried that because they know what will__”

“No, they didn't try because they never thought it possible and that's what we'll do. Something no one had ever done and got the results no one has ever gotten.” She said with confidence.

My heart raced as I thought of the possibility of ruling over the whole of Italy. It'd be a huge turn over and, not only that, I'd rewrite history with my name never forgotten on the streets of Italy. Not only that, I'd end Stefano that bastard with all of my strength.

“What if this backfires?” I asked,

“It won't, I'm sure this will work. I did my assignments, all I need is your authorization to get on it. “

“Of course you did,” I mumbled to myself, drumming my fingers on my desk. Knowing Florence, she'd have double checked everything detail, triple checked even but I still need to be careful because once I start this, there's no going back.

“What do you say, Massimo?” She pressed on. I zoomed out a bit and then spoke.

“Get on with it”