The Mafia's Arrangement

Chapter 4

Aspen POV

It’s been over an hour and that Leo kid can’t stop staring at my breasts. When we are done with the final tour of everything, we are released. The five of us get into the same elevator that took us down here and we punch in our codes.

“So, Aspen. We are going to the pub across the street. Care to join us?”

“I’m good.” Swift with my response, I am just waiting for the elevator doors to hurry up and open already.

“Well, actually if you guys want, I co-own The Celestial, if you’re interested.” Otis offers up and the other guys eat it up.

“Wait, are you serious?!”

“You can get us in?”

“That’s amazing!”

I ignore all of them as I make my way to the exit. But before I get very far, Otis catches up to me.

“Aspen, wait.” I stop to stare at him.

“What?”

“Just come out with us. We got into the Ender Project together. We should all celebrate.” Otis gives me a warm tan smile. “It’s not like we’re in high school anymore. We’ve made it.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I actually have to meet up with someone tonight.” His eyes can’t hide the fact that he was surprised, if not disappointed.

“Well, if you want, you can bring that person along.” I shake my head.

“Again, I appreciate the offer. Maybe another time.” Otis nods at me and then lets me leave before returning to the other guys. He was one of the popular kids back in our boarding school. Though we have never had any issues, him and his friend group didn’t exactly date the nicest girls.

I shake the thought of high school away. What a different time that was. But now that I have cell service yet again, I check my phone to see a bunch of calls from J, Riley, and Tom. Geez. This required all of them?

“Hello?” I ask as I call J back. My assumption is that they are all together.

“Where have you been?” J practically screams into the phone. He’s quite the big brother, incredibly overprotective and annoying as hell.

“In the lab. They don’t have cell service there. Their work is supposed to be a secret, remember?” I mock at him as I get into my car and lock the doors.

“Well, we’re here.”

“And where is here, Riles?” I address my older brother. Riley is older than Tom by 3 minutes and boy does he never let Tom forget it.

“At the Italian place Tom hates.” I let out a small laugh.

“The one with the cute waitress girl?”

“That’s the one. We’re in the private room, last one.” Riley informs me and I nod. I plug the location into the GPS on my phone. Ten minutes away. That seems doable.

Once I get there, I look around to make sure no one’s watching me. When I am certain, I walk in with a cap on my head. The moment I open the door, I am pulled by Riley into a massive bear hug.

“Hi, lil sis.” He breathes in and out deeply. Riley, always so dramatic. I return his hug before going around and doing the same with Tom and J.

“So, what’s so big that it required all four of you to head to London this time around? It can’t just be about that attack in Paris last night.” I plop myself down as I pick up my fork to start eating the pasta they already ordered for me.

“Dad’s thinking about telling Uncle Eric.” J rips it off like a band-aid and I slow my biting of the pasta to look up and around the three men in the room.

“Is he serious?” I place the fork gently down and lean into the back of my chair with my arms folded across my chest.

“Pretty serious.” Tom informs me as I let out a deep breath.

“If dad trusts him, so do I.” I shrug it off.

“He wants to ask you.” J looks me in the eye as he tells me this.

“Then, why didn’t he come join us for dinner and ask himself?”

“Because he knows that if he is asking you, you’d say yes.” I huff out a breath. What can I say I love my father. If he asked me to do something, I don’t normally disagree. Hell, I went into hiding for most of my life for crying out loud because he asked me to.

“So, he sent the three of you? To what? Make sure it’s my decision and all?” I sneak an eyebrow a them as I again pick up my fork to feed myself some more of this absolutely amazing pasta.

“Pretty much.” Riles gives me this sheepish grin as I stare at my food for five whole seconds without saying or looking at them.

“I’ll say it again. If dad trusts him, so do I.” I look up to meet each of them in the eye. They have to know I am serious about this. If dad wants to tell Uncle Eric about me, I’m fine with it. “So long as Uncle Eric follows the rules.”

“Yeah. Yeah. We’ll get him on board with it.” J assures me without hesitation, a little too quickly for my taste.

“Where is dad anyways?” I ask.

“At Uncle Eric’s.” Tom says as we finish up our dinner.

“Did it go well?” I question them after knowing that they have a mole among them. It makes matters personal and complicated. And I for one know that it’s not to be taken lightly.

“As well as you might think.” J shakes his head in frustration. “Dad is pissed.”

“Well, can you blame him?” With a small sip of the red wine, I set the glass down for Tom to serve me some more.

“Bast and Holden didn’t exactly take it well either.” Riley comments and I scream internally. He’s going to get me caught and I so don’t need this from him.

“With their iron clad reputation on the line? I don’t think anybody would take this well.” J starts. “Holden called me afterwards on a near rampage.” J and Holden are the same age and apparently very close from when they were kids all the way through boarding school. They still keep in touch especially since our families are so close.

“Dad told us to go to their hockey arena tomorrow night.” Riley tells me. “Let off some steam.” I nod. I never get invited to these things. Perhaps when I was a kid, I was envious about that, but as an adult, it gets old. I have other things I need to worry about. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

“I hope you have fun.” I tell them genuinely, but I know they all feel bad about it. I don’t. I understand why it has to be this way, and to be quite frank, I kind of prefer it.

“Do you have any of the plans drawn up yet?” J changes the subject. I nod slightly and hand him a small journal.

“I finished this one up awhile ago. I should have more written up soon, but it should be enough to get the marketing started.” J runs through the journal and eyes widen every and then.

“Geez, Aspen, overkill much.” Tom responds after he takes a look at the journal after practically peeling it off of J’s fingers.

“I didn’t go through all of that school for nothing.” I remind them. It was difficult to go all the way to the states alone, but if you want to be the best, you have to learn from them.

“I’ll have the team try and make a model. You may need to test run it to make sure it works.” J takes charge, as always. I wonder if he ever gets tired of being the dutiful eldest son.

“That’s fine.” I reply back to him as I check the time. s**t. I still need to drive back to Cambridge for the night for my class tomorrow morning. “I have to get going or I’ll be late for class tomorrow.”

The three of them immediately sadden. This is always the case with us. A life of constant goodbyes tends to make us pretty depressing as far as siblings go. Giving them each a tight hug, I go back to campus to get ready for the next day.