Breaking Omertà

investigative journalism

gifs above are the face claims for Alex and Giovanni.

KYLIA

"We'll start easy. What's your name?" The tall man that helped me up asks as he pushes the chair he forced me to sit down in closer to the table. He takes his seat.

"My name? My name? You totally seem like someone that I'd like to share personal information with," I scoff, crossing my arms. Presumably I'm not really in the position to be an asshole, but I am who I am.

"You're right, I am someone you want to share personal information with; because if you don't, you will never see the sun again." Mr. Man sits down in the seat across from me. 

"So dramatic...," I mutter. "Uh, I'm Kylie Hadler. Who are you?"

"Matteo Villella. Kylie Hadler, you say? Pretty name." He starts to flip through a folder in front of me, resting his head on one of his hands. "A very, very... pretty name." 

The numb feeling starts to creep back into my fingers. He seems very skeptical. Which he should be, because I'm totally lying. "Um, thank you." We sit there in silence while he just flips back and forth through the file, glancing up at me sparingly. 

All of a sudden he scoots his chair back, grabs the file, turns around, and walks out of the room through a doorway. He shuts the door behind him softly. Now I'm all alone; despite my fear and ridiculously high level of adrenaline, it's time to snoop. It doesn't look like I'm leaving anytime soon, so why not? 

.....

This is gold. Pure gold. I don't know what they were thinking, leaving all these files in here. I don't really care about any incriminating information, but as shown, I'm a nosy person. I've now learned about seven "hits" completed within the last six months and three people with current hits set out on them. Maybe I'm a bad person for not even thinking about going to the police with this information; however, these people are obviously involved in criminal activity that is under the radar and has fatal consequences. I'm not stupid, blabbing anything about this will just make me another case in a file. 

It makes me wonder what's in that file Matteo took with him. It's sensitive enough he won't just leave it out in the open for me to take a peek. Not that I think he expected me to go through his cabinets. Maybe he thought they were locked... Oh well. I think I'm enjoying this snooping a little too much... Investigative Journalism, here I come!

I hear the doorknob start to turn and messily - and frantically - stack the papers, literally throw them back into the cabinet, and gently close the door. It's just closed when a hand snatches my wrist in a hard grip.

MATTEO

I shut the door behind me and let out a deep sigh. "Find out who she is, where she came from, and why she's here. She's already lying about her name. Pretty sure there's a picture of her in Hadley's file. Kylia Hadley. His daughter." I toss the file to Toni and lean against the door. 

A smirk starts to grow on Gio's face. "She's hot."

"Now is not the time, Gio," Toni snaps at Gio. 

I tilt my head in consideration. "I mean, she is very pretty. But Toni's right. She's a liability right now, which is why I'm having you find out everything about her. Maybe we won't have to, you know, kill her father? We could use her."

"You always wanna take away my fun!" Gio shouts and pouts like a tiny child. 

"You know it makes things easier when there isn't any blood to clean up. Now get started on digging." I tell him. Rubbing a hand over my forehead, I think aloud, "I'm gonna go back out there. Hopefully she didn't do anything stupid..."

.....

She did something stupid. Piccola signorina thought that she could go on ahead and snoop around. Not that there was much for her to find in this room; it was just a conference room - it had some files, but Gio should have locked it considering they're his cases -, but it seems she doesn't know who she's dealing with.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I ground out between my teeth. I see her face freeze in horror as I grab her wrist, keeping it from opening a door in the cabinet unit in front of us. 

She steels her face as she responds, "I'm a curious person, okay? I don't want to know why, I just want to know what. Your secrets are safe with me."

"And how would I know that? Besides, even if they were, what makes you think we'll let you know, better yet, let you go?" I raise my eyebrows and throw a smirk at her. This girl is a piece of work and I barely even know her. But sadly I spoke the truth. We couldn't let her go knowing that she is literally blood-related to the case in question. 

She rips her wrist away from me and takes a few steps away. "I'm not stupid. You all are obviously not good people. I like living, thank you very much."

My eyebrows pinch together. "I never said we'd kill you, I said we wouldn't let you go. Why would you think we'd kill you?"

Her eyes widen, a flash of fear in them and her mouth hangs open a bit. "Um, just guessing... You guys have that whole look going on and..."

I squint; somehow she knows about our work - which she shouldn't considering we're deep in the underground, all our work is. I cover the few steps it takes to reach the cabinet and pull the door open, displaying a messy array of files. Damn it. I sigh and silently curse Gio to the deepest pits of hell. "You're a terrible liar, Kylia." 

KYLIA

Maybe investigative journalism isn't for me.