Our Game

12

Nicholas P.O.V:
"When will he be there?" I ask Antonio as we enter the garage. Stepping into the passenger seat of the Maserati, I continue to mindlessly scroll through useless data I've been sent to on my phone.

"The only time he was able to make it was 4:15 pm today, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see him for another 5 weeks" He reminds me.

"Fuck, how long has he been with them again?"

"Almost 3 years now" He purses his lips and nods to himself.

I sigh and use my arm to lean against the car door. The garage opens and Antonio speeds out down the driveway, I watch as the grand entrance gates begin to open.

"I can't believe we allowed him to do this mission" I mutter

Making a disapproving noise he says, "You and I both know why he was chosen, he's the only one out of this whole mafia who is qualified enough to complete the mission" He reminds me again.

By 'the mission', we mean the agent we have undercover in the Italian mafia who has access to data and information that we could have never contained any other way. Progress has been....slow, but it has allowed us to prevent any threats on behalf of our mafia. From what we know, the Italians have 0 suspicions about him and continue to share information with him that they probably shouldn't trust him with. Of course, the Italians have better technology and numbers but they're assassins and spies are nothing compared to ours. 

Not to brag but the one good thing about our mafia is the zero affiliation we have with drugs, unlike most mafias, we invest in weapons rather than drugs. Of course, it's no upgrade but the government appreciates the work we do for them, so we have that going for us. That's another thing, being fully protected by the government means that we have free domain. The Italians too are under government protection, but from what we've found, the government is slowly beginning to become more lenient with the Italians and is implementing a harsher criteria for them to follow.

"The Russians are back" I change the topic

He bangs the top of the steering wheel and speeds faster, turning around dangerously fast on the bend, "Of fucking course they are" He sighs

I glance at him and furrow my brows, "Who pissed in your Cheerios, normally you're not like this"

"Man I don't know" He shrugs "So much is happening so fast, I mean especially with you now being Don and my promotion, it's kind of hard to keep up with everything"

I bite my tongue and look out the window, "It'll calm down, you'll see"

He turns up the music in retaliation and pushes up his glasses, usually, I would get annoyed at his silent treatment but this meeting with the spy is the reason he is on edge, after all, his ties with the spy (or should I say, 'Agent Z') are more personal than my affiliation to him.

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In the Upper East Side, you'd think that there would be more security up here, but the Italians mainly target the poor so they have more regulation downtown. Whereas here, Agent Z is at less of a risk of being caught.

Sitting in a dimly lit bar across the street from us, with a cigarette in hand is the infamous spy. Antonio inhales sharply and pinches the bridge of his nose, his glasses raising as his fingers slide underneath them. I raise my brow at him and he nods, giving me the green light to proceed forth. 

Cars rush back and forth as the 5 pm rush begins to settle throughout the city, the golden hue of fuzzy car lights spills all over the roads, creating a golden path. Disregarding the crosswalk, we make our way through the road and easily avoid being hit by cars. Antonio holds open the door for me and I walk in, striding towards Agent Z, he notices me immediately but doesn't stand up to greet me.

"It's been a minute" Is all he says as we settle into our seats.

Two glasses of a bronze liquid are set out before us and Antonio takes his and downs it in one go.

Agent Z raises his brows in response, "I have news"

I set my gaze on him, he's buzzed his hair since we last saw him but he's still wearing the same trench coat he wears every time we meet up.

"I assume you already know about the Russians, they don't have much leverage over us yet though" He pauses and looks at Antonio who for some reason is too quiet", "They know about Ana" 

Antonio lowers his gaze, "Don't start" He glowers, a warning prominent in his tone.

"What else do they know about her" I try to dissolve the tension.

"That she's dead" He takes a sip of his drink, I lower my gaze slightly, he's letting on less than what he knows. "The Russians did it, they've been targeting people who were able to 'escape' the mafia for years now, that's why they've been quiet because they're slowly trying to bring us down"

Antonio sucks in a breath, "What else do you know?" 

"They've got a large shipment of drugs coming in exactly 3 weeks and we have suspicions that Stefano is working with the Russians to take us down" He says casually.

Antonio sighs, "And you're only just telling us this now why?" 

"Hamburger method, start with something good, then something bad then something good again" He shrugs

"Well fuck how do you know this is certain?" I lean forward.

"The little nerd they've got working for them found multiple records of Stefano with the Russian Don, they're cooking up something. What? No one knows yet, even Marco was surprised" by his Father's lack of communication with him"

"Yeah well everyone knows they have a shitty relationship, I won't be surprised if Stefano never hands over the mafia to him" Antonio shrugs.

"Back on topic" I cut him off, "If this all is true, to put it straight we're fucked"

"Not just us though, we think that maybe Stefano is trying to tear down his empire, maybe merge his mafia with the Russians" Agent Z gestures with his hands

"Why would he do that?" I ask

"Power? Fuck I don't know, we barely have enough evidence to even start making theories so right now that's all we have, possibilities" He rubs his forehead.

"I'm gonna go get another drink" I stand up to leave the conversation.

As I get up I hear Antonio whisper to Agent Z, "When are you going to stop this, it's been long enough." 

"I won't stop until every last one of them burns" He answers

"I know it pained you to say that" Antonio taunts

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's obvious you've grown some sort of attachment to them" He presses

"I assure you, that whatever you see is fake. They mean nothing to me and I am doing this all purely because I hate them" He leans back into his chair.

The lady behind the bar sends me a wink as I walk over so I pretend that I don't see her and do a 180 turn back in the direction of the boys, suddenly not feeling the urge to have a drink anymore.

"Before I go, I'd like to let you know that your assassins might have some competition" Agent Z smirks.

"Continue" I raise a brow as I sit down.

"Cass has been training some new girl, I tried to do a background check on her but there was nothing. No school history or run-ins with the cops so she's not in the system. Either way, she's good like even Cass is impressed" He explains.

"She'll be crushed by our assassins if she even tries to get close" I smirk back.

"I'll count on it" He gives a short nod and gets up to leave.

I grab him by the wrist as he walks past me and bring him to my level, "When will we see you again?"

"I  pulled a lot of strings to get out here today so I'll see, take care"

I look over to Antonio who just looks out the window to the cars driving by. I almost put my hand on his shoulder to offer some comfort, but instead I shake my head and pull out my phone, allowing him to stay in his own little world.