Gunnar -- Mafia Love Story

Chapter 31

Cafe Sunshine rose out of the sidewalk. Mostly Humza's secret operations run out of the corner store of a tall building with white paint in the street. It looks rich, but it's empty. They don't do much business here now since Humza moved all his work to the warehouse. They just confuse the people moving into the area.

Humza noticed his cousin Zahra walking towards the cafe when the guy working opposite the cafe holding the jackhammer puckered his lips behind her back, while another whistled. There's a comment ending with the word "baby," mocking her and inviting her into his filthy mind.

"Hey, Humza!" She waved to Humza, bouncing to the back room with her ponytail swinging.

He wondered which of the crew's throats he should cut first.

"I can go handle it, boss." Shayan wiped down the glasses behind the bar. Humza waved him off. He's loyal but not bright. He was the first one to point out the way the crew working on the street whistled at Zahra whenever she came into work.

Shayan thought he could handle it and make a show for her. He must have thought Humza's stupid.

"No," Humza said, "I'll handle it when I have time to slit his throat. Not before."

"We don't stay in business as long as we have if we act in anger," he muttered. Running an underground mafia is not easy, only Humza knows how he rose his kingdom from scratch. When Noman, one of his men, interrupted Rhythm and him by the pool, to warn him that Huzaifa Jawaid had requested a meeting, He wanted to rage at the messenger or the message, but he knew neither would get him far, so he accepted the meeting and came for it. Mostly Humza held his mafia meetings here.

Huzaifa Jawaid has to drop a foot and a half to get out of that car. He waved to the construction guy who was holding the orange cone looking to place it down since there was a pothole filled with water opposite the cafe.

It's not an apology. It's a dare.

Huzaifa and Humza used to be built about the same, but no more. Huzaifa worked on this body more than Humza, he was a few inches taller and more muscular than Humza. The scar on his left side started from just an inch above his thick eyebrow and followed down to his cheekbone, making him look more serious and menacing.

The bell rang when Huzaifa entered. He didn't need to be told to lift his arms so Noman could check him down for any weapons. He was in this position when Zahra came out from the back, tying an apron around her waist. Huzaifa caught sight of her like a hawk spotting a mouse in a parking lot.

"Who's this?" he asked as Noman worked his ankles.

"Zahra," Humza said, "I need you to list down the supplies in the storage room since you have a meeting to attend with our family."

"That's next week," she said, as if he didn't know what day of the month it was. She glanced at Huzaifa not as a potential partner or a threat, but as a potential tipping customer.

Noman nodded, and Huzaifa lowered his arms.

"Go to the..." He doesn't want to snap at her, but it's his duty to protect her, and that means the supplies in the back room. ".... storage room,"

"That's Zahra?" he asked when she slammed through the swinging doors.

"Little Zahra?"

Humza didn't answer.

"Something for you?" Humza asked.

"Yeah." Huzaifa slid onto a stool, leaning over the bar to Ahmed with one huge elbow. "Get me an espresso."

Ahmed looked at Humza for confirmation and he nodded so he could make it.

Huzaifa is as dangerous as a snake.