Betrayal

‘The best way to suppose what may come is to remember what is past.’—Jimmyh SavileI

~~~

“Cielo Gino Bruno”, He introduces himself while leaning his hand to the old man sitting in front of him.

The old man accepts the handshake and introduces himself, “James Relish”

“Mr. Relish, no need to introduce yourself. I came to this town of clowns only for you”, Cielo speaks up.

“Can I ask the reason, Mr. Bruno?” James questions suspiciously.

James knows better than to despise the young man sitting before him. He knows a lot about his family. The young man’s father has always tried to bring James to his side. The side of crime. But James never gave in. He knows that Cielo is here for the same purpose.

“Like you don’t know”, another young man standing nearby says.

Cielo raises a hand to quiet him.

“Mr. Relish”, Cielo raises one of his eyebrows, “You and I both know why I am here”

“I am sorry, Sir, I think we are not on the same page”, James says.

“Why?” Cielo asks in his deep voice, “My family offers great money”

“But it doesn’t offer peace of conscience”, James sharply replies.

“You know better than to disrespect him, Mr. Relish”, the other man speaks up, “He’s the new boss”

“Yeah! I know he is! He is the new boss of Bruno’s empire and the new owner of his family's hard-earned money”, James speaks sarcastically.

The young man takes a step ahead but Cielo stops him with a hint of his hand.

“He’s saying the truth, Sean”, Cielo says.

James prepares for the same speech he has been giving for many years.

“Mr. Relish, don’t you want a little fraction of my hard-earned money?” His lips lift in a sinister way.

“I am happy with my current situation”

“Why work as a restaurant manager when you can achieve much more?”

“This town gives me peace. The work I do gives me peace. I have stopped hacking since people like you started bothering me.....

“I wonder why. I’ve heard so much about you. You are the best. They say if you hack from your right hand then your left hand would never know”, Cielo tries to reason with him.

“I don’t care what they say. Please stop bothering me. I even left my hometown because of you people. I don’t want to work for you. This is my final word”, James tells the young man.

“So...you won’t?”

“I won’t”

“People in the underworld say more things about you. There is this one interesting thing I got confirmed before coming here”, Cielo says.

“Mr. Bruno..."

“You listen to me, James”, His tone turns dangerous, “If you will not work for me....then your daughter will. Apparently, she has the same abilities.....

“Don’t you dare bring her into this”, James clenches his fists.

“Keep her away from your dirty business! She’s innocent and doesn't know how to handle the kinds of you”, James clenches his jaw, “I would never let you touch her..."

“It's good that she doesn’t know anything about the underworld. Manipulating her would be easier now”, Cielo says.

“That’s it if you will get to her”, James stands up abruptly.

A smirk forms on Cielo’s face as he says to Sean, “Disappear him”

~~~

He steps out of the building, content with his decision. He did his research before coming here. James’ daughter can indeed work like him.

“Boss, your phone has been ringing”, the driver says as he opens the door for him.

He swipes right as he settles comfortably in his car.

“Rocco, what’s up?” He greets his underboss.

“How did things go?” Rocco asks.

“Four months later, the young girl will start working for us”, He says with a smirk.

“You killed him, didn’t you?” Rocco questions.

“No! Why would I do that?” He questions back.

“Then how did you convince him?” Rocco asks.

“Sean convinced him”, Cielo answers.

“So you made Sean kill him?” Rocco questions once again.

“He was a stubborn..."

“You know how your mother feels about killing innocents?” Rocco mutters.

“Do you think I give a fuck?” Cielo asks in a careless tone, "How many times have I told you not to turn sappy in front of me"?

“I just..."

Cielo hangs up the phone.

~~~

It's been 8 months since he went to her town. As expected the girl was as resilient as her father and kept trying to find him throughout all eight months.

The new issue with the black cobras reminded him of her. There was no better time than today when he could use her skills to help him with this pickle.

“Sean?” He raises his eyebrow, “Report me on the girl”

“Boss, the girl is still not fully composed, she’s still trying to find her father..."

“For fuck's sake, it’s been 8 months. When will she get over it?” Cielo says with a thud on his office table.

“Sir, she’s a lot better now, I think we can talk to her, it’s a good time for us to take a step like that, she’s composed enough now but still vulnerable...“, A middle-aged guy with blond hair starts saying but Cielo interrupts him.

“Get the jet ready, we are landing tomorrow in LA. Ryder, you make all the preparations”

“Who else is going with us?” Sean questions.

“I, you, Mike, Pete, Andy, Chris”, Cielo replies while getting the cigarette box from the drawer.

“Okay, boss”

~~~

“So you are going to LA tomorrow?” Rocco asks, entering into Cielo’s office.

“Close the door”, Cielo says, “Yes”

“That deal I’ve been telling you..."

“I’ve told you various times, Rocco, I don’t trust Vitali”, Cielo takes a smoke from the cigarette.

“He’s offering to give us a 65% profit”, Rocco says, “We can earn billions from that. Think, Cielo”

The profit changes his decision a bit.

However, he had dealt with a man like Vitalli before. The man deceived Cielo in the worst way he could. That’s why he’s hanging in the basement right now.

“Bring me the file of that deal”, Cielo says, taking another smoke, “Let’s see if I can find anything in myself to trust Vitali”

Rocco walks towards the almirah, opens one of the cabinets, and takes out a red file.

“Here”, He says, handing it to him.

He hums in response.

He turns around some pages and decides to give Vitali a chance.

“Arrange a meeting with him”, he takes the final smoke.

“Sure”, Rocco says, “Should I ask Sean to stay here as I’ll be going with you now?”

“A boss and underboss should never travel together, Rocco”, Cielo says, looking at the ceiling, “However, anyone can hardly harm us, therefore I agree”

A sound of ringing starts coming from his phone.

“And, yeah, your mother has been trying to contact you for two days”, Rocco says walking towards the door.

Cielo gets annoyed at the fact Rocco walked away without being dismissed

There is no doubt that Rocco is Cielo’s closest friend. Someone he can share anything with. Rocco is someone who gives him the best advice in both his personal and professional life. He’s someone who has been with him since childhood. But still, Cielo would never allow Rocco to disrespect him. He’s the same with his other friends; Sean and Ryder. Mixing personal and professional lives is not Cielo’s thing.

He treats Rocco like he would anyone in his position. Rocco is treated as a best friend when they are not in headquarters, not doing their jobs.

“Mother”, Cielo says after picking up the call.

“Where have you been, Cielo, my baby? It’s been a week since we last talked. And you have stopped visiting us too. Is something wrong?” His mother says in her worried tone.

“Baby?”

“You will always be my baby” " his mother says, “Unless you are planning to settle with a woman and being called baby by her. By the way, how are you dealing with the whole Samantha thing?”

His face scrunches up, “Don’t get me started on that bitch”

“When are you visiting us?” she immediately changes the topic.

His mother knows better than to start talking about Samantha. It's still too early to talk about her. Samantha, his ex-girlfriend, and the daughter of the American mafia’s boss, betrayed him when she tried to steal some pretty important information from his office. But Cielo is one of his names. He broke her arms even before she could turn on the computer.

It’s not like Cielo fell in love with her and now can’t get over her. It’s just that they were together for a year. A year is enough to get used to someone. Cielo’s father was the one to set them up. His dad wanted to make relations with the American mafia so they would help them when Russians tried to do something. He even convinced Cielo to propose to her even though Cielo didn’t like her much. Unfortunately, Umberto Bruno’s plans went to vain, the minute Samantha entered Cielo’s office with bad intentions.

It wasn’t that Cielo did not like Samantha due to a specific reason. It was not even because he didn’t want to give up on his lifestyle by sticking to one woman. It's not like he has a specific playboy lifestyle. His family’s customs don’t allow him to move from one girl to another. Even though he is a rich, independent, handsome, and elegant man, he doesn't take use of his charisma to play around with women.

Actually, Cielo doesn’t have much interest in love relationships. Right now his only interest is his duty. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t met the right one. Or maybe it’s because he met the right one but didn’t give her too much attention.

Samantha was a perfect girl to be Cielo’s wife. She knew how to defend herself. She could hold a gun. She could help him with making decisions. But she was a rat. Being a rat is one thing that cannot be accepted in Bruno’s family.

“I am just too busy at work, I don’t think we will see each other any soon”, Cielo says to his mother, “Bye”

Before he can cut the call, his mother says, “Stop, don’t hang up on my face, Cielo. Let me talk first”

“What?” He rolls his eyes.

“Spend this weekend with us, your sister is missing you so much, and don’t get me started on..."

“Mother, I have so much work, don’t expect any visit from me for another month”, he tells his mother in a final tone.

“Cielo, you don’t even go to your house now? You have started spending nights in the headquarters too?”

“Yes, mother. It’s not like I spend nights on a chair. I have a bedroom here. And all my men live here. It’s fine”, He explains.

“But Cielo..."

“I have to work, bye”, He says and finally cuts the call.

~~~

The deal with Vitali was final. Cielo is impressed with Rocco, the way he convinced Vitali to agree to certain conditions was commendable. Now, they are driving to the girl’s house. Rocco is still not sure if they have given her enough time to deal with her grief or not. But after impressing Cielo this much, he doesn’t want to ruin his mood. So, he decides to keep quiet.

“What’s her name again?” Cielo asks Rocco.

He wants to check if Rocco has read the girl’s file properly. Cielo cannot allow one mistake as they are going to completely play with the girl's emotions.

“Leia”, Rocco replies.

“Leia Relish! What’s she doing currently?” Cielo questions again.

“Still working as a head chef”, Rocco answers once again.

“Has the police visits ended?”

“Yeah, the detective has closed the file”, Rocco says, “She’s still not satisfied”

“How could she be? Her father was her only relative”, the thought comes into Rocco’s mind.

In his childhood, when his mother died of a tumor, his father was his only family left and he got killed, a few years later. He was just 13 then. That’s why he can feel Leia’s pain. He knows what it feels like to lose all your blood relations.

“I see”, Cielo says, looking like he’s deeply thinking about something, “You have actually read her file”

‘I still don’t understand. Why did he chose me to be his underboss if he did not trust me enough?’ Rocco asks himself the frequently thought question.

“Boss, we are here”, Mike informs from the front seat.

~~~

Deciding not to pressure the girl, only he and Rocco go to her door.

Despite ringing the bell twice, they haven’t gotten any response.

The sound of footsteps catches their attention

The door opens and the most beautiful girl he has ever encountered comes into his view. While looking at his pictures for the first time, he knew there was something special about her. However, nothing could convince him that someone as beautiful as her could exist. Her pictures hadn't done her justice. Her blue dress brings out the colors of her eyes which would leave any man mesmerised for life. Her long blond hair reaches down her waist in waves, making her look like an angel.

She narrows her eyes at Cielo.

She puts her hands on her hips and questions, “You?”

~~~