Fishing

~08~

Chiara

The chattering of the keyboard filled my office as I abused G****e, YouTube, TikTok, and I* since morning. Not caring about the chaos that transpired out there. The chaos that was born out of somebody’s consequences.

When I robbed the hard drive from the Ministry of Defense’s server room, I brought it to Xander first. Since he was a fed and tech-savvy, he decrypted it and copied the information before encrypting it again as though it were new before handing it to Enzo.

We planned on using the information on the drive about the corrupted politicians and rich businessmen when the right time came. And fortunately, Antonio’s time was up. Enzos would, too, eventually. The bastard wouldn’t be prepared for what I’d planned for him.

Marco barged into my office. “You should see the news!” He took the remote from the coffee table and switched on the flat screen TV mounted on the wall ahead of us. “I saw it already, Bud,” I uttered while still typing away. I caused it, but he didn’t have to know.

“And you are not shocked? Or happy maybe?” He said.

I sighed. “About what? Antonio's atrocities with other politicians, the bribe he gave the prime minister to buy his seat in the upcoming election, or his two burnt warehouses?” My eyes squinted when a prominent figure appeared on the screen. Not my words. It was what the article called him.

“I don’t care about the Prime Minister, Chichi. Papa is charged with bribery and embezzlement, and those two warehouses are like his life line! The prosecutors came and confiscated everything. The secret documents, slush funds, they mopped everything! You should’ve seen his face.” He narrated, amusement dripped from his voice and shone in his eyes.

“Aren’t you too happy about it? That man is your father, you know.” I said. He scoffed, disgust covered his face. “Only by birth. And you seem occupied, what the hell are you on, Chichi?” His eyes narrowed. “Foot printing.” I hit the search button and waited patiently for the result. “Who’s the target?” his eyebrows drew together.

“The biggest fish in the sea.” My eyes locked on the man on the screen as though he were in flesh. Marco came over and stood behind me. “No way.” His eyes widened, “Chichi, you’re not thinking of—”

“Yes, I am.” I cut him off.

“But he is Carmelo Conti.” 

“All the more fun. Don’t you think?” I winked at him and continued searching more and more about my handsome target.  Knowledge was power, but too much knowledge was a weapon. And I just happened to crave both recently.

“Okay, so what is your plan?” He asked, crossing his hands over his chest, looking down at me as though I’d lost my mind. Oh, I have lost my mind. A long time ago. “I’m going to fish him for myself. Wait and watch.” My eyes were fixed at the composed figure on the screen.

****

The charges were still not dropped but he somehow managed to escape jail. Which made my blood boil every time I thought of it. His reputation on the other hand was tarnished. His drugs burnt into ashes. Perfect. His political manager, coordinator, or whatever told him that the charity Gala was his chance to connect with people so as to reduce the damage the news had caused in his political career. 

So here we were. All in a fucking limo as one happy and united family, each with responsibilities to carry out tonight. Except for my Mamma. The demon ordered her to never leave her room after my little failed escape. Back to square one, consequences. Thanks to me, my Mamma would not know what the world looked like outside. I swallowed.

We all submitted our coats to the smiling lady at the coat check area, right outside the event hall.

The sound of beautiful classical music filled my ears as we entered the hall. It smelled like money and displayed utter luxury. Every corner you looked, were people chatting and laughing away with flutes of champagne in their hands, trying to make the most of the night by seeking connections.

The rest of the evening was a collection of people turning down Antonio. Rejection never felt so nice before. It felt like cold water was sprinkled inside my burning system. It was refreshing to see him getting declined at the Gala, even though he was a terrorizing Mafia leader. Was, consider the tense. In this century, people were more scared of not having money to show off to others than an old Mafia with a deadly backstory and a ruined reputation like his.

"Oh, look, it's the Contis." A woman said. People's attention swerved to the entrance. My heart danced with excitement. Between Antonio and me, at least one of us could've left the Gala as a victor.

The Contis oozed with superiority and luxury wherever they went. Talk about their foregrandparents' money. I watched how natural and happy they were in their own company, unlike our dull table. Filled with long faces and a disturbing silence. It was suffocating, enraging. 

And I was supposed to seduce their elder son somehow If I wished to save my mother. I’d tried the decent ways and failed miserably. God forbid I beat the man up instead of seducing him because he had a nerve to irk me. I could count with my ten digits the number of times we had a decent conversation together. I needed all the help I could get because… how does one make the person they are annoyed by fall for them?