To Play The Devil’s Game

Chapter 9

That day was the day of the meeting and Luciana’s blood pressure was high. She had absolutely no idea how this would turn out and all she hoped for was that this turned out well. There was nothing more she wanted than for the meeting to go as planned. Everything depended on the success of the meeting.

Just then, her phone beeped, indicating she had a message. Luciana didn't need to stare at her phone to know that the message had come from Mateo. He had been much earlier than he said he would be but all the same, Luciana was quite glad that he hadn’t bailed on her at the last minute. If he had done that, it would have been very terrible.

‘’What have you got?’’ Luciana asked.

‘’We’re just about to begin the meeting but it would interest you to know that there are a lot of people in attendance. This has never happened before and i highly suspect that there is something odd going on.’’ Mateo said.

Luciana’s brows furrowed as she listened to everything he had said. It was odd to say the least but she knew that when it concerned the Fontana’s, there was nothing really odd about it. They were really the ones who engaged in things that were odd unlike the other smaller mafia groups around.

‘’Okay, just stay close to the people that matters then we will take it up from there.’’ Luciana said.

She had a feeling that this meeting would answer most of their questions. The Fontana’s were known to always keep secrets within themselves and Luciana was quite glad that she had someone like Mateo who would monitor the whole event.

‘’Noted. I’m going in already.’’ he said.

Luciana could hear movement. She made her way to her father’s study, a place where she knew she could get the utmost silence. She shut the door behind her, putting her phone on speaker as she quickly connected it to the bluetooth speaker that would broaden his voice.

She wanted to hear everything that was being said without missing a single word of it. Soon, the noise she heard from the background reduced a bit and she knew that Mateo had gotten into the building.

‘’I’m in.’’ his loud voice reverberated round the room.

‘’Okay.’’ Luciana simply said.

At that moment, Alessandro walked into the study. Luciana didn’t know how he had found her but that wasn’t what was important now. As a matter of fact, she was quite glad that he was here. For this kind of thing, she needed additional ears in case she had missed something and he was the only one she trusted that could keep what was being said confidential.

Luciana waved him over. Alessandro made his way towards one of the high back chairs, facing her. Her phone was placed at the center of the table but there really was no need for that since the loud speakers were on. He could have stood in any corner of the room and all that was going on at the meeting could have still been heard.

‘’It's just about to begin.’’ Luciana whispered.

Alessandro nodded solemnly as he stared at her phone on the table. Already, the gears on his head were already turning and twisting as he tried to think about some of the things that could be said in the meeting.

Just then, there was a screeching sound which had Luciana covering her ears but not Alessandro. The noise was disturbing to say the least and she feared that Mateo might have somehow gone off the phone.

‘’Mateo, do you hear me?’’ Luciana asked.

The last thing she wanted was for him to leave the call. She needed him to always transmit whatever was going to be said in the meeting.

‘’Yes. Sorry about that Diabla, some idiota powered on the microphone without enabling the muffler.’’ Mateo said.

Luciana heaved a sigh of relief as the noise lessened a bit. There were some movements before everything came to a stand still.

‘’Pablo just walked in.’’ Mateo said quietly.

If she was there, Luciana knew that his lips would have barely moved. There was no way anyone within that hall would know that he was giving vital information away. Mateo was really good at what he does and she was grateful for that.

‘’Okay.’’ Luciana said.

Alessandro, who had been quiet all along, seemed to freeze in place as soon as he heard that name. Luciana found this odd because nothing ever scared the man. For him to look like he had seen a ghost was something she found strange and she put it at the back of her mind to ask him what the problem was as soon as she was done with this.

‘’We have gathered here once again to talk about the affairs of the group.’’ Pablo’s deep baritone voice filled the hall.

That was a voice that Luciana wanted to silence forever. She smiled because she knew that with time, it would happen.

‘’Though the group has faced many challenges, I want to specifically thank each and everyone of you for how well you have stood by me and held this group together. Without your help, we wouldn’t have achieved anything so i say congratulations to us all.’’ Pablo said.

Despite how strong his voice was, Luciana couldn’t help but notice that it was wavering. Pablo was old. In fact, he was even older than his father and Luciana had a feeling that soon, he would hand over to his son Reed.

‘’But yet, there are still some things we must achieve because the battle against our enemies is not over.’’ Pablo said.

In those words, Luciana felt a warning of evil things to come. Just like what Mateo had said on the day they met, the Fontana’s were planning on robbing a bank and it wasn’t just any bank. It was the main bank of the city and if that happened, there was no doubt that the city would be thrown into recession.

That was something Luciana couldn’t allow to happen. She had to find a way to stop them and already, a plan was already taking place in her mind.

‘’Before I move onto those matters, let us discuss the Areas.’’ he said.

Alessandro and Luciana stilled as soon as they heard the name. This was really what Luciana was after and now that the conversation was about to begin, she didn’t really know what to feel about it.

There was a bit of murmuring amongst the crowd as they talked about what their leader had said. Luciana was quite glad that her family name caused a bit of a confusion amongst them.

‘’We have to take them out. It's a must. We all know that the Andreas are very strong and one attack from them could have us crushed. I want them dead, all of them.’’ Pablo screamed.

‘’We will work on it father.’’ a voice said.

Luciana had no doubt that this was Reed, the infamous son. At that moment, she hated him with a burning passion. His voice which was velvety smooth grated her nerves and at that moment, all she wanted to do was squeeze the life out of him.

‘’I’ll get you, you son of a bitch.’’ Luciana seethed.

She didn’t care if her voice was loud. She was past caring anyway. All she wanted to do was to have her revenge on all of them for destroying her family.

‘’Easy there Diabla.’’ Alessandro said.

‘’We can not deny the fact that they have more armor than us and if we are to destroy them, we have to begin from the inside. Reed, how about the inside man we hired for the job?’’ Pablo asked.

There was a bit of a static due to the fact that Reed was adjusting his small microphone. Every minute he spent doing that, Luciana hated him the most.

‘’As of this moment, father, we have heard nothing from him. All his lines are dead and no one seems to know where he is. I fear he has been killed.’’ Reed said.

Upon hearing those words, loud murmurs rose up around the hall. Luciana knew the reason for that. If their inside man had been killed, it only meant that the Andreas knew all about his betrayal.

‘’His head?’’ Pablo asked.

He said it as if it was a piece of candy he was requesting for. There was no emotion in him whatsoever other than cold fury.

‘’Never been found.’’ Reed said.

‘’Then we must assume he has been killed. We must look for another person immediately. Anyone in mind?’’ Pablo asked.

‘’No one father, at least not for now.’’ Reed said.

‘’I see. Well, think of a solution and get back to me on that as soon as possible.’’ Pablo said.

‘’Very well father.’’

‘’Now, to other matters, which is our proposed bank robbery. I have created a seven man team who would be carrying out this operation. It has to be as flawless as possible and the time I am given to carry out all these is twenty minutes. No more, no less.’’

There was dead silence in the hall as they listened to their leader speak. No one dared to contradict his words because he had the final say.

‘’Reed shall bid you all as soon as this meeting disperses. The seven man team is within you. I want no mistakes and failure to carry out this operation successfully would result in your heads being slaughtered and fed to my wolves.’’ Pablo said quietly.

Even from within her father’s study, Luciana and Alessandro could feel the cold chill that spread throughout the room. Pablo meant everything he said and in a brief moment, Luciana felt bad for the men.

‘’That would be all for now. The date and time for the ball shall be communicated soon. Return to your positions.’’ Pablo said.

The same loud screeching noise from earlier on returned in full force. There was movement again and Luciana knew Mateo was walking out.

‘’That’s all Diabla. Is there anything you would like me to do again?’’ he asked.

‘’No, that would be all for now but if there is anything else, I'll let you know. Thank you and good job.’’ Luciana said.

She disconnected the call and sat back facing Alessandro who had a far away look in his eyes.

‘’What do we do?’’ he asked.

‘’Now Alessandro, it is time we commence phase two of our plan.’’ Luciana simply said.