Chapter 3: Check
669 Words
15 hours ago
Jensen
“Check!”
“How?” I ask.
“Look again, my knight,” Vince insists.
“Oh, that’s smart.” I move my rook to take out his knight.
“Interesting,” he snorts.
Our game is interrupted when we hear a knock on the door.
“Who’s it?” Vince asks.
“It’s Aldo. We have a big problem,” Aldo answers shakily, panting heavily so we could hear him breathing.
“Not again. Aldo has a history of making trivial matters seem so huge,” Vince scorns.
“There’s this tone to his voice that makes me suspect he’s serious about this,” I retort. “Let’s hear him out.”
“Alright. Come in!” Vince growls. “It better be worth it this time.”
“Madam Maria is in the hospital as we speak.”
“What?” I blurt. “Aunt Maria?”
I turn to look at Vince whose eyes gaze back at mine furiously.
“Why?” Vince asks.
“She was on her regular route to the mall to get items for tomorrow’s breakfast when a black SUV crashed her car. I only managed to escape,” he raves on.
“Did they take anything?” Vince asks.
“No, they just crashed the car and left.”
“Must be a warning, then.” I mutter.
“Who do you suspect?” Vince asks. “And why?”
“f**k!!!” my hands are rolling all over my hair. “Father asked me to follow aunt Maria to the mall this morning.”
“What???” Vince vents with rage. “You mean this was avoidable and we did nothing? IS THAT WHAT YOU MEAN?”
“Hey watch your tone!!” I warn.
Luca storms in through the door.
“You grown ass men be spouting on top your voices, eh?” Luca snorts. “Back from work and I can’t rest?”
“Aunt Maria is in the hospital. Don Rodin wants to meet everyone now.” Aldo tells Luca.
“f**k!” Luca whispers.
We are all in the living room, waiting for Rodin to arrive. The entire room is as quiet as though there’s no one there.
“I’m scared,” I whisper.
Vince hears. “You should be, coward!”
Anthony walks in later. He must have been feeding my father with intel on the incident.
“The Don is here,” we all rise.
The room remains quiet with everyone on their feet as Rodin walks in, gazing at everyone in the face. The only sound I hear at this moment is the thudding of his footsteps.
“Take your seats,” Rodin says. “We’re already aware of the situation at hand. And nobody leaves until we’ve figured out a plan.”
Rodin continues. “We have to be fast about this. Anthony has the security footage of the route to the mall in the last 24 hours.”
“You’re saying we know who is behind this, pa?” Luca asks.
“LeBratga Costra,” Anthony breaks the suspense.
“What business do we have with the Russian mafia?” I ask curiously.
“It wouldn’t have got to this if you just listened to me!” Rodin lashes out. “Now you’ll be the one to fix this! Giuseppe will commit some men to you to hit them back.
“I expect a positive report before noon tomorrow.” Rodin continues. “That’s all for now.”
Rodin rises from his seat to leave. We all rise and remain standing till he leaves. Giuseppe walks towards me.
Giuseppe is one of the old guards. You needed something, he could make it happen. Info? Done. Cuban cigars in the middle of nowhere? Done. Now his sons run a legal recreational resort in Manhattan, mostly.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” I tell him. “What business do we have with the Russian mafia?”
- Writer
