MATTEO (book 2)

56. Matteo

I walk into the building the feds are using, walking up the stairs and into Hamada's office. Him and his son were there.

Perfect.

I make myself comfortable. "Oleg is trying to reach out to me." I look at Hamada. "He keeps sending his men to my warehouse."

Hamada nods his head. "Do you think he knows?"

"I don't think he does. His messengers are implying, now that I'm back, he wants to start up a business again." I clear my throat. "But there is also the possibility that he knows and this is all a trap."

"What if you don't reply?" Hamada asks.

"One of two things will happen. He'll give up, or he'll lose his patience and force me. Most typically, he's get pissed off and a gang war will start."

He leans back. "We don't want that."

"No. We don't. Not when half of my men have just went to Italy for training."

Asahi bites the inside of his lip. "I can come with you-"

"No, you look too much like your dad. I can have my men come with me but I do not want to put them in danger."

Hamada nods his head. "Want us on standby?"

"No. I'm just informing you that there may be a gang war soon. And even if not, there's going be something big. I can feel it." I say, then his office door opens and Xena walks in.

I haven't seen her in a whole month. After the thing with Benji, which I maturely walked away from, she hasn't been seen since. I go out of my way to try and find her but she isn't anywhere to be seen.

She has a bruise on her eye.

She looks at me and immediately covers her eye with her braids, leaving something on Hamada's desk.

He looks at her with a worried expression. "What happened to your eye?" He leans over, picking up the files.

"Hurt it in the gym. Can you let me know when you're done with them? I need to head home." Her voice shakes.

Hamada looks at me before looking back at her. "I will."

She smiles falsely and leaves.

Hamada and Asahi look at each other, giving each other the same look.

"What was that look about?" I narrow my eyes at them.

"Nothing." Asahi clears his throat.

"Tell me." I frown.

"When's the last time you seen her?" Hamada asks.

"Like, a month ago."

They look at each other again.

"Okay, tell me now or I'm going to use Asahi as bait for Oleg." I lean back.

"She's just been very... weird." Asahi says. "She shows up to work, doesn't stay extra hours, doesn't do extra work like she always would, doesn't come out with everyone and it all started a month ago. I was watching her."

"And you guys think what?"

"The last time I seen her, she was with Benjamin. She looked up at me and I just knew something was wrong." Hamada says. "A week ago. I haven't seen her since. He tapped her leg and she immediately looked down."

"You guys think he's hitting her?"

"We don't want to..." Asahi says. "Yeah. I do."

I stand up. "I'll see you guys later."