Arrangement : with the gang leader

63

SHADOW

It's been approximately 2 weeks since the accident. 2 weeks since I've seen Lerato and she's been missing. 2 weeks since I've been sane and 2 weeks since I've been killing people every single day.

It sure as hell has not been a good time for anyone who dares to cross me or merely greet me in a way that annoys me for the past 2 weeks. No one's safe and I'm making it my ultimate goal to fight and not rest until my baby is resting beside me. 

"Mfo, he's dead yeka lo muntu." Gumbi says entering my torture room. 

I let go of this piece of shit and order for him to be chopped and fed to the pigs. 

"Still no leads?" I ask and when I get silence as a response I know my answer is no. 

"Answer me damnit!" I demand because even if I know my answer, I will not be disrespected and answered with silence as if I'm a mind reader. 

"No lead" He says. 

Gumbi is my right hand, followed by White but he knows his place. I don't like people crossing lines. I'm less tight when it's just us but we're at the warehouse and if the others see me treat him or White differently they might start getting comfortable me. Gumbi and White, they know when I'm being a brother and when I'm the leader of our gang. The others may not be able to differentiate the two and I don't consider them brothers anyway. 

"Has the shipment for the 2 ferraris arrived yet?" I ask Rue, one of my guys. 

"Yes sir, he even sent another one as an appreciation gift for your loyal service." he says and I nod and dismiss him. He leaves me and Gumbi alone in my office. 

"There's no way she just disappeared off the face of the planet Gumbi. What are the girls saying?" I ask and he shakes his head. 

"I can't keep asking them the same thing mfo. They said they would let us know if there are anymore details they remember," he says, sighing.

I nod in understanding, "How is she?" I ask. 

"She's healing well and has one more day before she can be discharged," he says with a glimmer of light as I look up at him but the light quickly fades when I make eye contact. 

"She still won't talk. The nodding and head movement are an improvement but fuck man, this Lerato thing is really messing with them. All she does is cry and stare into space. I feel so useless" he says and I can see how defeated he is. 

I nod, not knowing what to do or say. I can't exactly advise him when I feel the same. 

"I feel you," a tear escapes his eye and he's quick to wipe it off "and Tumi?" I ask, ignoring that.

"She's fighting. She's been training and going for counseling. She says that she wants to help find her. She and White have been getting through this together. Did you know they're a thing?" he asks and I give a weak smile before nodding. 

I found them sneaking around this one time when we were out eating. I just let it be because it's none of my business. 

"How did she take finding out that Ralph is dead?" I ask and he simply shrugs. 

"She seemed indifferent about it. Mfo this guy can't be completely invisible. He must have some traces somewhere, anywhere" he says and I've thought about this but it's not like we haven't tried everything. 

"You're right but we've tried it all and called everyone," I say and he heaves a sigh and rubs his face in frustration. I know this is hard on him too because Lerato is like a little sister to him. He's already spoken to Leratos brother and hasn't said anything about Godfather to him in hopes of keeping the family out of this. 

We know Lerato would want that. I have guards looking out for her family just for extra precautionary measures. Tumi has only been to Lerato's family once since even though they visited her everyday since she got admitted. Weird but none of my business. Maybe they aren't that close. I won't lie, meeting Lerato's parents was scary but they were surprisingly not as I had expected them to be. 

I wasn't expecting a scary father or gangsters but they just don't really have Leratos spirit in them. They seem too far off. The mom did kind of look like Lerato but I don't know I can never tell the similarities between kids and their parents unless it's super obvious. 

That's not what really caught me off though. It was their reaction to Lerato being missing that was off to me. They seemed too relaxed. They somewhat looked distressed at first but it looked like an act for the most part. The brother was the only one who genuinely looked kind of concerned.

I thought I was tripping but Gumbi said he noticed it too. They've always been like this, according to T, though so we just shrugged it off. Not completely though. I'll have to look into that. I would never say they did this but they just seem off. Maybe if I had asked Lerato about this before but I never did so now I have to rely on research. 

I don't know what the story is there but they seem suspicious. I got my guys to do a run down on them and they are clean. While looking out for them, my guys mentioned that they seemed unaffected by Lerato's disappearance. They continued with their everyday life as per usual and just lived life as if everything was okay. 

Yabona k'ba andiphambani? Do they just not give a shit about their daughter okanye yibo that are behind yonke le kaka? I swear if it's them I will make sure they have a slow and painful death ke mna. Kuzo nyiwa nyi nyi nyi.

"What are you thinking about?" Gumbi asks and I shake my head, dismissing him but he doesn't budge. 

"Her family man. Kona into e off" I say with an accusing tone and he nods in agreement. 

"Ngiyakuzwa mfo, ngivumelana nawe. Kodwa... ucabanga kuthi mhlabe yibo-" he's trying to be calculative with his words right now and gauge my reaction. 

"Okwe nyan, andaz nam. Bendicinga njalo nami at some point kodwa ngok andisazi nyan. Yonke le wei yi kaka mfethu" I say.

"This is a mess. I just hope wherever she is, she's good. I can't even sleep" He gets up while saying this. 

There's a knock on the door, followed by White's entrance. 

"What did I miss? Anything?" he asks, hopeful, as always. Ya ne. My boys love this woman and I don't even blame them, nam futhi.

"Nah. It's just dead ends" Gumbi answers while they handshake. 

I dab him up too and we leave my office. We're going to the prison to see the guy who gave us details on Godfather's location last time. Hopefully, he might be able to help. The only problem with this is that he's Lerato's people and we don't know much about their relationship and where his loyalty really lies. The most important thing with what we're about to ask of him is lies on whether this man even cares about Lerato. 

If he doesn't care, he could always sell us out or not be bothered to help us. Or even worse, he could be working with the people that took her. It's obvious that she was abducted because why would she hurt her people if this was her plan to disappear for a while? 

"Who's going to do the talking and what are we saying to this person exactly? Nee man, did we even do a background check on this person?" White starts to voice out questions that I'm sure Gumbi is asking himself right now. 

These motherfuckers sometimes forget who I am. Ndingu Shadow kayi 1 mna ke.

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Y'all think Lerato will survive this?