“Stay away from my daughter!” Zeus barked.“Why?” Jake asked calmly.“Because she’s off limits. She’s not some dumb bimbo you can play around with as you like.”“I don’t think of her that way.”“I don’t care what you think! Stay the hell away from her. She’s not going to be your plaything like Mamba.”Jake was surprised. “Wait, Mamba told you we had sex?”“Yes, Jake. She tells me everything. It’s part of her job description and the fact that she keeps to it even in uncomfortable circumstances shows her undisputed loyalty to me. I can’t say the same for you.”Jake sighed. For some reason, he felt sorry for poor Mamba who had no secrets. He sipped from his wine glass and scanned the party crowd indifferently from his spot in the secluded VIP section where he was chatting with The Boogeyman.They were at The Association’s second quarterly meeting for the year. Zeus had sent for him to have a private chat. He’d already known what the conversation would revolve around and he hadn’t been di
“Daddy said he’ll cut me off if I don’t stop seeing you.”“And what did you say?”“I told him to go to hell with his money. He can’t keep wielding his wealth over me like a weapon!”“Attagirl! I’m proud of you.”She grinned and kissed the tip of his nose. They were lounging in his bed on Saturday afternoon.They hadn’t seen each other in over two weeks because Jake had been out of the country on an important business trip to Japan. He’d deliberately made himself unreachable from her because he wanted her to miss him. It worked.“I thought I’d been in love before but I was wrong,” she said softly. “This is the real thing.”“I feel the same way too.”“Do you mean that?”“Completely.”“Aww… Jake!”“I brought a special gift for you from Japan.”“You did? Ooh, let me see it!”Her excitement made him smile. He reached for his bedside drawer and pulled it open to remove a small gift wrapped in baby pink foil and tied with a crimson bow.“Ooh!” She squealed delightedly when he gave the gift.
“Can you hear me, baby?”Jake blinked. Everything had ceased to exist and his world had turned black after that gunshot. What now?“Can you see me?”He turned his head slowly and looked at the face hovering above his own. It was a woman’s face that could have been considered beautiful if not for her puffy eyes, red nose and swollen lips.“Diamond…” he croaked.“Yes, honey. It’s me,” she whispered and sniffed back a blub of mucus before it slipped out of her nose.“What happened?” He rasped.“You saved me, baby. You saved my life!”“I did?”“Yes.”Jake didn’t remember much about the shooting but all he knew was that something hard hit him in the chest and he passed out.“That bastard Mendici fellow tried to shoot me and you jumped in front of me to protect me at the last second just as he pulled the trigger. That was insanely brave of you, Jake. You saved my life!”She started to cry and Jake winced. He wanted to comfort her but he was in so much pain, he couldn’t even move his arms.“
“Did you kill my wife and my mother-in-law?” Silence. “Answer me, you sick bastard!” “Yes.” Gasp. “What?” “Yes, what? What are you saying yes to?” “The question. My answer to it is yes.” “God! So it was you all along!” “A smart man with half a brain would’ve figured it out a long time ago, but you were too busy looking at life through rainbow-tinted eyes to see beyond your nose.” “What the fuck!” “Who told you?” “That doesn’t matter.” “My lucky guess goes to Mamba.” “Why did you do it?” “To encourage you to join The Association.” “But I already agreed to join!” “As a base member. The double homicide made you thirsty for the top-tier spot and that was what I wanted.” “Why the hell are you telling me all these things?” “Because you asked. If you insist on marrying my daughter and becoming my son-in-law, you’ll need to grow some real ba
“Why did you do that?”“Do what?”“Marry Diamond. I told you to call off your engagement with her and you went and married her instead. What is wrong with you?”“I don’t have to take instructions from you and I don’t owe you an explanation about how I choose to live my life.”“You have made the biggest mistake of your life by marrying that girl. You practically walked right into Zeus’ trap.”“Excuse me?”“You heard me right, Jake. You’ve fucked up.”“Are you going to explain what you’re rambling about or not? I’ve got a ton of work to do today, so please, get to the point or leave my office.”Mamba growled in frustration. “You egotistical idiot. Zeus is about to take away everything that belongs to you and make his daughter the richest widow in the country.”“Are you saying
“What now?”“It’s back to business as usual.”“Are you nuts? They now know that I’m on to them. I’m sure they know that I got that info from you.”“Don’t panic. They won’t make any sudden moves because they don’t know exactly how much you know about them. Just play it cool and act normal.”“What’s normal? This father-daughter tag team might be warming up to take me out tonight. I have a daughter to protect too, remember?”“I know. Trust me, Zeus won’t make any move for now. I know how he operates. He’s going to keep checking you out to see how much you know before he makes a move.”“I don’t like any of this. All I ever wanted was a chance to leave my horrid past behind and live a good life with my child. I never wanted to be involved in this mafia-type battle between you and your boss.”&ldquo
“Good evening, Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for honouring my invitation on such short notice,” said Mamba. She was dressed formally in a navy pantsuit and her hair was held in a sleek bun. “I know there’s only a handful of us here tonight but I believe that when the others begin to see the light, they too will join us,” she continued. Jake looked around the room discreetly. There were only fourteen of them including Mamba. The group comprised eleven men and three women. The meeting was being held in a textile warehouse owned by one of the attendees. “As you already know, the Boogeyman has shown that he is only loyal to his pockets. Where does that leave the rest of us and our businesses?” There were murmurs of agreement among the group. Jake remained quiet but listened intently and observed everyone’s body language. “Some of you have continued to pay heavily for the Boogeyman’s protection and seemingly inexhaustible connections. Was
“Liar!” Mamba shouted at Zeus. “That thing is fabricated.”“It looks like the real thing,” Jake remarked as he continued to study the document.“It is the real thing,” Zeus insisted. “I am your biological father, Athena.”“Stop it!” She screamed.“I was in love with Maria Mendici when we were younger,” said Zeus. “Then she was Maria Milan. She was from a humble background and I had nothing. Her parents wanted the best for her so they matchmade her with Roman Mendici who fell in love with her at first sight.”Mamba lowered the gun. She was intrigued by the story and Jake was relieved that nobody would be dying there yet.“It was a cruel twist of fate because Roman and I had become friends and he was mentoring me on how to start my first business,” Zeus continued. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was in love with M