Amethyst (ON HOLD)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Ai sat in the corner, his eyes glazed over. He put his face in his hands and breathed heavily, the movement set on constant repeat, the rustle of his clothes loud in the silent room.

It was the ring of the doorbell echoing throughout the manor that filled that silence. They listened to the movement of the other members of the Xavier group as they scuttled to open the door, greet the guests.

There came a loud knocking on the door and Cameron walked over opening the door after taking a long breath of air. "Cameron, the head of the Augustus familigia, Sir Erickson is here to see you. Apparently he came upon the calling of a letter."

Cameron's posture was no longer ragged and depressed. The aura around him suddenly changed as he spoke for the first time since Amethyst had fainted that morning. "Escort them to the guest suite in the Southern wing, please; I'm sure Erick is not alone."

There was a loud thunder of running feet, Ricky's confused face appearing at the door as he said, "Cameron, master and mistress Vern and Verna Rochelle are here and are demanding to see you and Ai personally. They claim that they came upon James' invitation. Cameron, what's going on?"

Before Cameron had time to even explain, another man came into the room and touched James on the shoulder, a face that showed even more confusion than Ricky spoke in a breathless voice, "James, Evergreen Notem arrived along with Sir Daniel Yun just a few moments ago."

Cameron ran a hand through his hair and turned, his eyes set straight towards Ai's direction as he sighed in silent frustration. He closed his eyes, letting everything around him fall away until he was surrounded in complete silence, Ricky's questions hanging at the back of his mind. All he saw was Ai, the red haired, the brown eyed, tall and lean body which always stood tall even in pictures shown to him by Amethyst.

Ai always stood tall and proud, an authority figure among all the men Cameron's age. No one could ever fill in that gap of respect that Cameron had towards Ai in his heart even if he never actually met Ai until the day he arrived back in London. Now, that tall figure was slumped, dejected, and indecisive all because of a girl who fainted.

Cameron couldn't help the small amount of disgust that he felt in that moment as he continued to watch Ai. That was until Ai rose from the armchair giving instructions to Ricky, telling him to bring all his best men to guard the perimeter around Amethyst's room and sending a message to all the other guards that were on duty to stay alert.

Ai then turned towards another Xavier member that stood just beside James, "Escort all the guests who hold an official invitation letter in their hands towards the South wing guest rooms. Should there be any trouble at the front gate, call me or Cameron or James. Tell the other guys to keep their earpieces turned on at all times, break times following code 246. James, thank you for sending out all those invitations in such short notice, I trust that you used the official Xavier seal?"

When James nodded, Ai continued, "Good, I want the whole list of invited guests, their background checks, pictures, personalities, everything printed and sent to all leaders of the security team. I expect all division leaders to report the on goings inside the mansion every half hour. Cameron? Cam, are you there?"

"Y-yes, sir," Cameron replied instantaneously, the darkness around him already falling away and colour creeping back into his vision. Then he frowned, why did I call Ai sir? He shook the thought off, realizing that the only person who has ever spoken to him in such a commanding voice before was Giotto and Leo alone.

Ai raised an eyebrow but said, "Tell Harry, the head chef, to prepare an appropriate formal feast for tonight. Call Maria and inform her of the guests arrival and order a complete check up on overall cleanliness, the dinner hall decorated to suit a meeting in the dining hall. I expect everything to be finalized and completed perfectly in 3 hours."

For a while, they all just stood there blinking at Ai, a small smile tugging on the corner of Kyle's lips when the awed expressions of everyone in the room appeared.

Being in the mafia, you'd have been taught to have a complete poker face at all times, the way you act, body language and your reflexes are all drilled into your body since a very young age. Standing there and watching those raw emotions creep up one by one was a rare event and Kyle never got tired of seeing them even when he and Ai worked closely in France.

Ai cleared his throat and tilted his head from side to side before adding quietly, "Whichever division of the family that fails to complete these tasks in 3 hours will be sent to the Red room."

Cameron blinked and shuddered, remembering the view of the Red room the first time he was taken around the mansion for a tour. He remembered the colour of the walls that was true to its name 'Scarlet Pain', the weapons, torture beds, shackles hanging on every inch of the northern wall of the room. It was the only door in the house that was in the colour red and ironically so, every member in the house knew it as the Red room.

Cameron breathed in a deep breath of relief when he saw the fire that was lighting up inside Ai's eyes. In one swift movement, he ushered Ricky and the rest of the members of the Xavier family out of the room, telling them to hurry.

He ran a hand through his hair and jogged towards the kitchen, phone in hand and already pressing the speed dial for Maria, the head maid and attendant of the Xavier family, and relayed the instructions passed onto him. Maria just confirmed to the time completion of the task and hung up.

When the doors of the living room closed, Ai subconsciously pulled his phone out and started to send a message to Amethyst without even realizing it. He was used to the action of reporting every single movement of the group to her, never has he been in the position where he would be the one giving out orders in the Xavier family at least. In France, he was the leader accompanied by Kyle, one wrong mistake and the whole of Paris would be sent into a bloody fight to the death between the members of the mafia.

Now here he stood, not a vice-leader to Amethyst in a small mission group. He stood as the stand in leader for Giotto, commanding the entire family. He felt anxious knowing that almost 40 soon-to-be mafia successors would arrive in London by midnight, some already arriving in time for the discussion dinner. He knew that other small families in London would take action. With so many powerful names assembling in one spot, it was impossible not to take up the opportunity to murder the big guns.

"Ai," Kyle's voice interrupted his train of thoughts and he turned towards him. "Are you feeling okay? You looked a bit pale earlier when Amethyst fainted and now you're standing like nothing even happened. It's not a good idea to keep your worries to yourself mate."

"I'm fine." He said through gritted teeth

"Why do you think Amethyst had a breakdown last night just from seeing a picture of a broken off wing from the plane? Do these culprits have any reason at all to take her out of the game first?"

Ai frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"I think these people knew about Amethyst's PTSD. I think they knew she would be able to find out who they really are and chase them down to the depths of hell." Kyle stepped a little closer, close enough that only a layer of air separated the bodies of the two men. "Whoever these people are, they know about us, of our abilities. Do you understand what that means?"

Realization hit Ai like a brick. He cursed, why didn't he see this sooner?

"Ai, there seems to be some dispute between Verna and Evergreen in the main hall and we need you down ASAP." Cameron came bursting through the door a little out of breath. Ai heaved a long and heavy sigh.

"They've only been here 10 minutes and they started a catfight?" Ai asked in disbelief, a little annoyed. The brief idealization of the enemy's motives pushed to the back of his mind, a promised case to look over. For now, his priorities were to prevent leaders from killing each other. 

"Let's get this over with."