No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 7

"First day of work!" Everett exclaims as I walk through the front door of Le Aquile Rosse's estate, grinning as he holds the door open for me.

"How exciting!" I gasp with fake enthusiasm, rolling my eyes as he frowns.

"Less of the sarcasm miss," he says, his lips curving into a smirk  as I glare at him.

"I'm going to be the bigger person and not get into a fight with an old person," I say in a bored tone, trying to fight the smile which threatens to overturn my lips as I put my hand up and walk past the indignant man.

"Old?" Everett scoffs indignantly, "I am in my prime," he says, saying each word phonetically.

"Sure you are," I laugh, making my way to our office dedicated to this mission, smiling as I see the office set up with 5 desks with laptops, a whiteboard and a few couches.

Gabriel is very organised, so he always argues that the whiteboard is essential, as we can write down shit and all that. Although I think it's the OCD in him, he likes everything running perfectly, and we let him have his little ways.

So far, we've done all the basic stuff, now we need to get into the knitty gritty of their lives, figuring out how to perfectly execute our plan to take down our targets; and since the auction, we've decided to stay at a safe distance to the family for the foreseeable future.

Whatever any of us think about the De Santis family, at the end of the day they are the most feared and powerful Mafia in the underworld. It would just be plain stupid to not be cautious and meticulous with every move. They have resources which we don't, so we need to precisely plan out every move. We can't afford to fuck up even the slightest.

Everett and I sit down, making myself comfortable on the couch next to Ari as he pats my shoulder. "What are we starting with today?" I ask, looking around the room.

No one answers my question, instead Griffon turning to look at Gabriel; "Gabe are you still in contact with Valentina?" he  asks, his question sudden as my eyebrows shoot up.

"Not anymore, and even if I was, I wouldn't use her as a way to kill her family," Gabriel says bluntly.

"Always such a fucking saint," Everett mutters, taking a packet of cigarettes from his pocket.

"When were you guys ever in contact?" I ask, widening my eyes as I watch his facial expression change.

"Some twenty years ago," he says curtly, signalling that this conversation is over.

"Well now that we're all familiar with Gabriel's biggest fumble, what's on our agenda today?" Everett says, clapping his hands as he looks around the room, throwing a wink at Gabriel.

Gabriel throws a punch at Everett's shoulder and is immediately pummelled back by both of the twins.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Ari groans, pulling Everett away who in turn pulls Griffon back.

"Today we want to find all of their estates and properties across Italy, which would be easy if you didn't all act like fucking children," Ari says in an irritated tone.

"I'm sure Gabe knows where some are," Everett smirks, his expression dropping as everyone glares at him.

I swear it's impossible to remember these men are all in their 50's sometimes. They act like fucking children half the time.

"I do know where their primary Italian estate is though," Gabriel says, scratching the back of his neck as his wrinkled cheeks burn a dull pink, as if embarrassed to actually be of use after Everett's dumb comments.