"My father was the leader of the Cardenas, as I am today," Adrian started, crossing his arms across his chest. "I was five when the war happened. My father sent me out of the country with my m....with Marvin. He has been taking care of me my whole life. He is more than just someone that works for me."

Zara noticed the shift in his voice when he came close to mentioning his mother. Something had definitely happened to her which made the person before her who he was. She noted that he was five when the war broke out, when she had been a little over four herself. She had been right in guessing his age.

"The leader of the Ferraras and my father were deciding on a business plan. At least that's what Marvin told me when I demanded for answers one day. Turned out that Ferrara wanted to overthrow my father as the leader of the Council and brought arms into a normal meeting that could have ended in words." He shook his head with a sad smile on his face.

Zara waited, her heart taking control of her thoughts. Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up but she desired to know what could have possibly made the Ferraras assume that she could have been important to the man in front of her.

"No one knows what happened that night, but the bodies found the next day made it clear that one of the leaders started the fight." He sighed, stiffening as he let out a long breath. "Both the leaders were on opposite ends, but only one of them had a gun."

Her pulse increased as her instincts told her to keep her mouth shut. "Which one?" It came out shakier than she had intended.

Adrian shrugged. "That's what I've been trying to find out all this while." He leapt out of the chair and took the books that he had kept down earlier in his hands. "That's as much as I can tell you." He leant closer to her, once again asserting his dominance. "For someone who thinks they are a prisoner."

Zara stood stuck in the same place for a while. Nobody knew about the fight that had broken out but they did know that the leaders were found dead the next day.

But now she knew.

Jealousy was a dangerous game.

She turned back and followed him to the study table at the centre of the room. "But why?" She asked, sitting on the chair opposite to him on the other end of the table. "Both of them had their separate gangs and both of them were happy! I may not have lived through what you had and nor am I trying to disrespect your memories of your father, but is the Council really that powerful enough to kill each other? They were going to make a business deal. You said it yourself."

Adrian looked up from his book, making her realise just how long his eyelashes really were. "Do you know what the Council is? Or how important it is?"

She nodded. "It's where all the leaders meet up and....I don't know. Do their mafia deals?"

He smiled, clearly amused. The girl had absolutely no idea. "Which means that you know that the Council is what decides who holds how much power. It's the heart of all that America is. One discrepancy and chaos can take over the streets. Blood will flow endlessly. No one will be able to stop the shots to be fired, not even the law enforcement."

Zara's lips trembled at that thought, which was the first indication that her emotions were driving her. "Have you been to the meetings then? Now that the seat of the Cardenas is empty."

He sighed. "I've been trying to get inside but a meeting hasn't been held since it happened, which can be taken as a good thing. They don't meet unless something is severely wrong or something extremely happy to be celebrated. I haven't had much contact with the other leaders' children either."

Her eyebrows shot up. "T-there are children of the other gang leaders?"

Adrian laughed a musical laugh. "Did you really think that there were only two gangs?"

"Of importance? Yeah!"

The Cardenas and the Ferraras were the most-talked about. They had been the rival gangs for decades, which only made Zara assume that their children were of the most importance - a child, anyway, named Adrian. 

The leaders' decisions always overlapped with each other and although their fights on the low side, the tremors were always felt, like earthquakes. It was either the rise in prices of products or the frequent power outages. It was felt every time one of the members fought with the other by chance.

"There are three other legacies." He closed the book, placing a bookmark in between the pages that he had been reading. "One of them belongs to the Henderson's group and two of them are twins from the Reynolds'."

She nodded as if she were supposed to know it, so she pretended that she understood. "Could one of the other gangs have anything to do with who wanted to kidnap me?"

"That's highly unlikely. The Code that we share doesn't allow the members to trespass on each other's territories."

"How would that even work? For example, if you own New York-"

"I do." He said with a smug smile.

She frowned. "Since you own New York," She corrected herself. "And let's say that Hendersons own San Francisco-"

"They do."

She clenched her fists together. "Will you let me finish?" He chuckled. "Since you own New York and they own San Francisco, does that mean you can't go there? What if you want to take a photo in front of the Golden Gate Bridge?" He opened his mouth. "Assuming that you want to." She didn't want to know if he had already done it or not.

"It's not like that. What I meant by trespassing was...." He put his dominant hand in the pocket of his pants and pulled out a wooden emblem. He pressed something and a blade popped out.

It was clear what that meant.

What do mafia gangs do?

"Oh." She nodded. "I see."

Trespassing = violence.

"So I'm assuming that you have already been to the Golden Gate Bridge." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Then who would the third gang be?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out. Now," He stood up, clutching his books carefully so that they didn't fall out. "I'll see you for dinner tonight."

*****
There are secret chapters in between
by the way and they are from
Adrian's POV!