Surreal

Chapter 13: Big Bad Mafia

"Hey" I greeted when I walked in the library. Vanessa turned her head to look at me. Austin was lying down on the bean bag that was in the corner of the library. My best friend smiled then motioned me to come sit next to her. She had a few files opened in front of her. Austin was tossing his lighter up and down in the air. He had the same dark hair as his brother. He just seemed less serious. The big smile on his face showed that he was carefree and playful.

"Rihanna!" Austin greeted happily. I could feel my cheeks turning red but I didn't say anything. I walked to the chair and sat down quietly.

"Nora, this is my brother Austin, and Austin, Nora" Vanessa quickly introduced.

"I'm a fan!" He quickly exclaimed.

"Shut up" I muttered. "What are you guys doing?" I asked, with the aim of changing the conversation to something less embarrassing. Vanessa pushed the folders away from her in frustration. She turned to me then sighed in defeat.

"I can't do this" She breathed out.

"Do what exactly?" I asked in confusion. She reluctantly reached for the files again and put them in front of me.

"You know what my family is all about now" She started. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for putting you in this situation. You have no idea how bad I feel" I offered her a small smile while I took her hand in mine. "I know that it's killing you to go to work. I know that all you want to go is to go out, But we can risk your life. I will never forgive myself" She said quietly. I shrugged then shook my head.

"I'm not blaming you for anything" I told her. "Thank you for everything, Van" I said and gave her a side hug.

"That's so cute" Austin gushed from the bean bag. I chuckled at his reaction, then pulled away to take a look at the files. When I opened them, Austin stood up, then walked to the chair next to me. He pulled me, smiled at me while he sat down.

"What's that?" I asked them. There were a lot of pages. Each pages had a profile of different men on them.

"That's the folder of the men that we know are on the other side" Vanessa explained.

"By other side, you mean?" I questioned awkwardly.

"The rival. The rival gang. The enemies. The losers" Austin explained. I laughed at his words.

"Got it" I answered. Vanessa opened the folder and showed me four different men. "I know them" I quickly said as Vanessa gave me a nod.

"Yeah, because they are the one who attacked our home" She said. I could detect hatred in her voice. "Remember the one that got away?" I nodded at her questioned while she flipped through the pages. "Well, we got him" She said and stopped on his profile.

Alvarez Jose

"What do you mean we got him?" I asked, a frown on my face.

"We captured him. We kidnapped him. He is on our custody" Austin explained. I turned to look at him.

"Why do you have to explain like that?" I asked in annoyance.

"Because you seem new to all this. Figured out that you wouldn't understand our slang" He said playfully.

"Slang?" I uttered while shaking my head. "What's hard to understand with the word captured or kidnapped?" I asked as I air-quoted him. He shrugged then smiled sheepishly.

"My bad" He whispered in amusement. I rolled my eyes, a smile still present on my face though. Austin seemed fun to be around. I wondered whether he was going to be staying with us here or not. Vanessa knocked on the folder that was in front of me to attract our attention. She seemed stressed and a stressed Vanessa was up to no good.