Angel in disguise (Angelo sotto copertura)

Twenty Three.

Standing outside the jet, I looked back at the family that made me feel appreciated and gave me a reason to live. Sighing, I gave them a last wave before taking my seat. I spent the last day mostly with Sienna, Natalia, Aless, and Viviana. Everyone was so ecstatic of the new family member, they never left Sienna and the newborn alone, including me. I already miss cradling her in my arms even if it meant to keep me up all night. Xavier sat down beside me with a stoic expression and I let it out an involuntary yawn.

'You haven't slept at all, have you?' I shook my head.

'I was with Natalia the whole night. Sienna was exhausted and Viviana had to rest to before going to work, so I took care of her.' He hummed in response showing no expression at all.

'Oh hell no. I'm not third wheeling, not today,' Theo said entering the jet and moved towards the far corner of it. I rolled my eyes at him and turned my attention back at Xavier.

'Did you find anything about the person who drugged me?'

'The bartender. He drugged you, while the other man tried taking advantage of you. They had around 10 men with them in the club with their target set on abducting you. After you passed out, most of them aimed for the both of us, failing miserably. But, they weren't Marcello's men,' The last part didn't surprise me at all. 'We had one man held captive, but he killed himself before we even reached the warehouse. We searched him up for any hint, merely finding any,' he completed running a frustrated hand through his hair.

'It's fine Xavier. You did whatever you could and that's what matters.' I placed my hand on his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He did not return the gesture, instead he stood up walking towards where Theo was seated. I stared at his retreating back dumbfounded. What crawled up his ass now?

I couldn't help but think about the event tomorrow. A part of me was excited as I've never been to such stuff before, but a part of me was nervous as fuck as we're about to start a mini war at the venue. Sienna gave me some pointers about the ball as she's been there with Axel. The surprising part was that Xavier has only showed his presence there once or twice, mostly sending Axel or Mason in his place.

As the jet took off, I closed my eyes falling into a dreamless slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to the safe house opened, and I was instantly attacked by Kyle's bear hug.

'I MISSED YOU SO MUCH,' I laughed slightly at his childish behavior.

'I missed you too Kyle, even though it was only for a week.'

'1 week, 7 days, 168 hours, 10-,'

'Okay! We get it, you missed her.' Getting out of Kyle's embrace, I moved towards Mason and Mary while keeping an eye on Xavier at the same time. The loud voice of someone clearing their throat caused everyone to turn around and look at Theo.

'Theodore, my man.' Mason reached out to him giving him one of those bro hugs, Kyle being the next one to do the same.

'Meeting in 10 minutes,' Xavier announced out of the blue.

'Dude, can we do that after eating? Mary didn't let us have dinner because we were waiting for you guys to come so that we could eat together.' Xavier simply nodded at him and walked away.

Something's really wrong and it's scaring me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As planned, we were now having a meeting after finishing with dinner. Evidently, the meeting was just between Xavier, Kyle, Mason, Theo and I, with none of us knowing the reason behind the short gathering. So now we were just 'patiently' waiting for Xavier to start speaking as we have since the past 10 minutes. I was slowly losing my patience.

'As you all know, the yearly masquerade is tomorrow,' all of us nodded. 'It is also the setting where we will ignite the fire of a small war with Marcello Alexander. Now that everyone knows that I will be attending the event tomorrow, Marcello will obviously not show up, sending his consigliere instead. Keeping in consideration of whatever he has done since the past 3 months and years before that, we will be assassinating his consigliere as a sort of warning to show him that he messed with the wrong famiglia. Theodore will be in the opposite building, situated on the top with his sniper waiting for my signal. As soon as I give him the green light, he shoots and we make our way out. Obviously it's not going to be that easy; therefore, we will be taking around 25 men with us to the event, just in case shit goes the opposite way, which it probably will. Another thing to keep in mind is that Marcello Alexander has probably made allies with other mafia leaders, hence tomorrow is the only chance to find out who exactly are they. For this reason, Ms. Alexander will be going with us. When they see her there, they will clearly find ways to get close to her, trying to find the best opportunity to maybe abduct her. With the four of us by her side, that would be quite impossible. Am I right gentlemen?' The three men nodded. 'Good. Remember that after the shot, you will instantly start making your way out while making sure Ms. Alexander is protected. We leave at 6 pm. sharp. I hope I'm clear.'

'Uh boss? Does Ms. Alexander really have to go? She's going to make her appearance in the mafia world after 8 years, and we're really not aware of the dangers that await her.'

'This is why I'm giving you three the job of protecting her while we're in there. And I'm sure you won't fail to follow orders,' Xavier raised a perfect eyebrow while Kyle weakly nodded at him. 'Ms. Alexander, that's all for you; you may leave now. The rest, I need to have a word with you. Have a good night Ms. Alexander.'

Good night my ass, was the last thought I had before exiting the office.