Mae

Chapter 2: Mae Kazimi

Chapter 2: Mae Kazimi

More than six months ago, I attended Alek Russo's funeral. I dressed up like the rest of them, covered head to toe in black, masks covering our faces. The only difference was that I attended as the heir to the American Mafia.

I was obviously unwelcomed.

After that stunt, many people tried to kill me, but clearly proved unsuccessful. Some tried poison, others tried sniping. But nothing beat the good old assassin inside my bedroom. Don't get me wrong, I respect their great struggle, but they all are just wasting their time. Do all the assassins really think I became Shadow just like that? Respected in all of The HIT Network and wanted in so many countries? I'm pretty sure my body count surpassed theirs. I'd somehow even managed to kill the ruthless heir to the Italian Mafia, even though that was one person I'd purposely tried not to kill. Excluding the first few times I met him, of course.

The phone on my office table rings, the sound making me groan. I take my feet off my table and turn my chair around, accepting the call and putting the phone to my ear.

"Yes–"

"Our stranger has struck again. You won't believe what he's done this time," Yan speaks quickly over the phone, continuing without bothering to wait for my reply. "He just helped criminals escape from the police!"

"I–"

"I mean, yeah, he's giving me shit to write about for The New York Times, and as a reporter it's my job, but he's seriously waaaay out of control."

"Yan–"

"And I know you're going to ask for the location of where he was spotted last," there is a rustle of papers on the other end of the call and then, "so I made sure to go there and check out the place myself. Nothing interesting, actually. It's an abandoned alleyway south of New York after a long line of shops on the side of the street. It's not too far from here, surprisingly."

"Can I talk now?" I grumble, trying to sound annoyed. In reality, I'm glad she just did a large chunk of my job for me and handed it to me on a silver platter. "Or do you have something else to add?"

"Ummm, just that I know you're secretly blushing and kicking your feet on the other end because I just did your job for you. Honestly, Mae, as a reporter I can give you so much information I don't know why you never accept my help."

I scowl, picking the loose strand on my black shirt, "Whatever, Yan. You're hired. Anything else before I go back to my miserable life in my office and put on a great show of me working so my parents can finally see me as a useful person? Or is there something else–"

"One last thing," Yan says on the other end. "You never asked why the police arrested the criminals."

I curse under my breath. I've tried to keep Yan out of the dark side of things, but it's kind of hard knowing what happened to her father by the hands of Aleks father, Tommasso. Though she is already in deep, I've tried to not dig her in further. But there is so much I can do. Adding on to all of that, the stress of working as the official heir of the American Mafia was more than I'd ever anticipated. How was I supposed to know it was my job to take care of deserters and traitors? Or that I was supposed to look through the reports of the other members? Or write my own report? I'm a high school drop out, I know nothing of how to write a report. Thankfully, so far, Google has become really handy.

"I was waiting for you to tell me," I lie.

I hear Yan let out a loud sigh. She knows I'm lying, "They were thieves. From all the information I've collected on this guy, it's a surprise I can't seem to figure out what he wants."