"Here's your breakfast. Bacon, eggs, and cheese sandwich."

"I see." Mira tried to act indifferent, but her tummy rumbled.

"You really outdid yourself this time, attacking me with my favorite food. This is not fair," she said, sounding like a little child.

"I will get you back one of these days. I should sue you."

Alex chuckled.

"I didn't do this on purpose though, I mean, come late. I really wanted to come in that hour, but something else came up."

"I didn't..."

"Let's go to the apartment. This food is getting cold."

———

They got to the apartment, and in no time, she was eating while Alex played with Jasper. Soon, they sat down to craft a perfect plan.

Alex pinned the latest clue on a small board.

"So let's go over it, shall we?"

As it stands. Alex has managed to get an invitation pass to the 70 birthday party of the Baroness, Kade Valenti's mom. It took a series of clever manevre and trickery, but here it is, the plastic pass that will make sure Mira goes through the heavy-duty security at the cottage.

Once she gets in, that is when the game really begins.

She will need to find out and meet up with a mysterious man who is known only as Mr X.

"Wait, Mr X?"

"Yes. He is withdrawing his name for good reasons."

"Can we trust this...Mr X?"

"I would not lie to you. I can't really say. But my man on the inside, the one who got me the pass, trusts him. So this is a risk we can take if you are willing."

Mira sighed. "A risk, but all of these are too, so I am willing to."

"Okay. Mira. You know I won't ask you to do this if I know it will get you into trouble, I wo..."

"Please. It's fine. I told you I would pay any price, so if this risk is the price, this is how we play. Please continue."

Okay. Now she meets Mr X. This man, the source explains, has access to the darkest of the Valenti operations. Most of these operations are on a secret computer buried in a vault in their castle. Mr X has the key to this compartment.

Because of the party, security will not be as tight as usual. They can sneak out of the party and go after this computer.

"Hmm. It's a good plan. Not foolproof. There are too many problems. Number one, what does Mr X want for bringing down his boss. If he is on the inside, clearly Kade is his boss. What does he stand to gain to ruin him? And what about the risks to him? What does he stand to gain?"

"He is..."

"Please wait, I'll finish, and you'll talk. And what is the evidence in the computer?"

"Okay. First, my source told me Mr X is a broken man. He used to be a loyal servant of his boss until one day a deal went south. It was all Kade's fault, Mr X lost his young daughter. From that day, he had been looking for a way to destroy the Valenti empire."

"Fair enough. But is that good enough? These people, this clique, they stick to one another. They are like family. If Mr X is willing to destroy his boss, I reckon he loved her daughter a lot, and Kade ruthlessly disposed of her. Or..."

"Or...or what?"

"We are walking into a trap. This all feels convenient, too convenient."

"Hmm, I share your sentiment. But I trust my source. He really wants to bring this organization to its knees. It's Mr X, I don't trust so much. In all, it's all risky."

"Yes. And I am willing to take any risks."

"On that computer, Mr X says, are details of every shady business the Valenti family had ever run, running or going to run in the near future."

"It's like their journal of evil deeds."

"Exactly! It contains names, times, commodities, and all of the incriminating things. Every crime committed, everyone murdered, every drug sold, it contains the whole thing we need to nail them to a wall forever. We really need to get it!"

Mira looked at Alex's eyes, flash. She knew how hard it was for him. How hard he is trying to break out Emma. This evidence will set everything straight. It will free her and sink Kade. It was a sharp dagger to the heart of the blood sucking vampire.

Even if it was a trap, she was willing to try to get it. If they could, this is over.

"So what do you think?"

"Like you said. It's risky, but I am doing it. For us. I will do anything to bring down the Valenti family."

"That is my girl. I admire your courage."

Jasper jumped onto her lap and purred when she rubbed her ear.

"You mentioned you ran into another lead at the restaurant?"

"Ah, yes. Ted. Good bloke"

"Who is he?"

"Ted is a former private investigator that used to work for the Rossis. He, like us, has only one problem, Kade."

"I like him already. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Like us, Kade ruined his life. He turned the Rossis on him, and they almost took him out. And till this very day, they have a mark on him. Ted is not safe until the Valentis are ruined. He got wind of a deal going down in two days, big cash money laundry. He intended to tail them to catch them red-handed. The only problem is that Kade might not personally show up for this deal. He is more interested in his mother's party since it is on the same day."

"That means our case is bigger than Teds. We are more unto him than Ted."

"Yes. But that doesn't mean we can't still use this."

"How?"

"We can channel most of their attention to the deal. By compromising or attempting to compromise it, Kade will put more men on the deal, which means fewer men at the party."

"I do believe Kade has enough men for two operations." She said, 

"Do you want some coffee?"

"No, I will pass. True, but not if we had something to do with it. We will make sure he is short of men."

"How?"

"I am working closely with Detective Ian of the Narcotics department of the FBI. We will round up most of his boys just a day to the deal."

"On what grounds? Kade will get them released with just a call."

"Of course, we have no right, but we do know the nightclub they hang in, Officer Ian and his men can do a random raid of the club, we only need to keep them overnight. By that time, the deal gets undermined, and you can have an easier path to the computer."

"That is...okay. More layers to the plan, but it could work. I hope we will not draw attention to ourselves by striking a day too early."

"It won't. Valenti's men are often arrested in clubs. The only thing we can't do is prosecute them because we either have no evidence to do that or the little we have is shredded off by his multitude of lawyers."

"I see. So a little arrest here and there won't raise enough dust to garner suspicion. It is all routine work to them."

The coffee machine peeped, and Mira went to pour some for herself. Alex looked as the steam scattered from the drink.

"On second thoughts, I think I will have some of that too."

"So that is the plan. And it's what we have. If all goes well, we will have Kade where we want him. Right where we want him."

"Yes. Now come along, we need to go now." Alex said.

"And where are we going?"

"Shopping. You can't attend the birthday of a mafia boss' mom looking like that."

"Looking like what?"

"That. You look like a little elf that escaped from the inner chambers of Santa's prison."

Mira smiled. 

"Okay. Now I will definitely sue you."

‼️

👀

I

WOULD

APPRECIATE

YOUR

VOTE,

YOUR

COMMENTS,

YOUR

SUPPORT.

HAVE

A

HAPPY

READING^^

In a corner of a dark room, Kade sat in silence. He was stroking his gun, tenderly, like the weapon was a French poodle.

Occasionally, he picked a pickle from a jar and ate. He was tired but he couldn't sleep.

How can he sleep?

With all the responsibilities expected of him. He was the boss of the Valenti empire. After all, Grandfather had passed it down to him, and Mother trusted him to run the business. And he is willing to do it.

But all those deals and all this work gets to you eventually. No matter how composed one appears to be, a constant threat to your life is not healthy.

The information about the No. 19's guest to Mom's birthday, being an assassin, bothered him.

More than usual.

That was the sixth death threat to him in three months. They have snuffed all of it out, of course, but somewhere deep inside of him, he feared they might someday be successful.

He was Kade Valenti, head and controller of the Valenti family. He should not be feeling this way.

He will not be a weak link to the dynasty. He will be a model to all of the family.

Then why was he still feeling this way?

Well, his feelings can wait.

All he wanted to see was guest number 19. He can't wait to fuck him up.