Erica awoke to the sound of a police siren getting nearer and nearer, finally stopping just outside her bedroom. She groaned and slapped her mattress in frustration. She really hated being a light sleeper. Alighting from her bed, she crossed towards the window and took a look outside. The police were getting off their cars one by one. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦.
Narrowing her eyes, she saw her neighbors huddled on one side, peering over a manhole and chattering with themselves. One policeman approached them and told them to stay away. The door to her room suddenly opened. She turned her head at once.
"Oh, you're awake. Breakfast's ready." Erica's mother, Julianna but preferred to be called Julia, smiled at her.
"You don't have work today?"
"No, I have the day off. Come out now." She waved her hand as she walked out of the room, leaving the door open.
Erica went to freshen up first before following. Both mother and daughter sat on the wooden chairs, the waft of hot preserved egg congee and steamed buns warming them as the TV rumbled on the side.
"What's going on below?" asked Erica.
"Someone reported a rotten smell in the manhole to a nearby police station. I hope it's nothing serious." Julia said with unease in her voice.
"Mm. I hope so too."
"I saw Lucy in the hospital yesterday," Julia stated, scooping up her congee and blowing on it.
Erica chomped on a bun. "Oh? We met too." The food was resting on her cheeks like a cute squirrel while she spoke, "She seemed to have gotten more haggard."
Julia chuckled softly. "The hospital does that to you. Do I look haggard too?"
"No. You still look as gorgeous as you were back then." Erica complimented her mother sincerely but Julia rolled her eyes.
Julia was a gorgeous Chinese lady that most men would swoon over during her youthful years but only her father had successfully seized her heart up until the present time. Even now, her mother's time-defying appearance was still the talk of the town. They could never guess her age. Denise and Felix received more of her genes.
"Ah, it's him again."
Erica looked up at Julia's words and saw her watching the TV intently as if she could shoot lasers from her eyes. She frowned and angled her head to see what got her mother so focused. A female host was currently shaking hands with a man in a crisp gray suit. She studied his side profile. His jet black hair was slicked back nicely and his face was shaved clean. He exuded sophistication and spruceness at the same time, clearly showcasing himself as a wealthy businessman. But the one she noticed the most was his aquiline nose molding perfectly in his face. Hmm. Her brows subtly rose in appreciation.
"Thank you so much for joining us today, Mr. Raphael. It is truly an honor to have the second richest and hottest bachelor in City Z attend our program!" said the host of the program.
The man smiled wide, causing fine lines to appear on his eye and cheek.
Erica faced her mother and teased, "Mom, you like an impressive man, huh?"
Julia abruptly switched the TV off, not waiting for the man's reply. She glowered at her in embarrassment and said, "How ridiculous! I am 52, for God's sake Erica."
Erica barked a short laugh then they both continued eating.
"Erica, do you...have any news?" asked Julia.
"Yes. Zeke told me something. There's a war brewing within the Rossi clan."
"Rossi? Where are they located?" Julia sighed and rubbed her temples. "I can never memorize the clan names in this godforsaken country."
"They're in City L but still, you should be careful. We can never know what might happen."
"Yes, dear. You should too." Julia stared with such intensity she averted her eyes first.
"I will, Mom," Erica replied then ate some more congee. After she finished her portion, she stood up while checking over the clock which read 8 AM.
"I'll take a bath now, Mom. Thanks for the food."
Julia only hummed. Erica returned to her room, shutting the door with her leg as she stripped her clothes off. After taking a bath, she put on a pair of white-washed jeans and a black shirt. Braiding her hair while leaving the room, she kissed Julia on the cheeks as a farewell.
Their home was situated on the fifth floor, outermost left of the 5-story Polaris Building painted in blue as dark as the ocean. Large, horizontal, U-shaped balconies were aligned atop each other, overlooking the river in the east and the park in front, which was filled with lush trees and the laughter of children. The balcony was her favorite place to unwind. On its sides were other similar buildings but with different names of constellations. Beyond the river was the business district where her job was. Erica didn't want to drive her hypercar to work. She preferred to use the subway.
Erica arrived at exactly 9 AM, standing before a workshop with a signboard above displaying the words: XX General Repair Service.
She walked inside while nodding her head as a form of greeting to her colleagues. Most of their work comprised of personal services aimed to repair a wide range of equipment limited to common household ones only. The facility was divided between 2 major departments, electronics and machinery. It was further separated by minor partitions like the storeroom where the old and damaged goods were retained, the warehouse where the unsullied parts were being protected, the testing site, finished product room, and the common room. Above it, the offices of the administrative department settled.
She stopped and gazed at the two wide big screens suspended on the wall, showing the name of the customer, date received, deadline date, requested service, name of employee, and status of the work. Choosing the damaged TV, she clicked the name of the customer in the laptop and punched her ID against the scanner.
She then strolled inside the storeroom, looking for the object. Once she found it, she wheeled the trolley out, pushing it towards the electronics department. Now clad in blue jumpsuit and face shield, she started working until the work hours almost ended.
Wiping off the sweat on her forehead, she removed her face shield then glanced at her watch.
"I'll just finish this tomorrow." Erica murmured to herself while shedding off her jumpsuit.
Her only friend in the workplace, Old Carlos, paused in his work and looked over her. "Leaving work now Erica?"
"Yes, Old Carlos. I have to eat dinner at home."
"I see. You're so filial, Erica. Your mom's lucky to have you." Old Carlos praised as he grinned at her and continued his work.
"We're both lucky to have each other." Erica softly whispered. She hanged her jumpsuit, stored the other accessories back to the drawer, and waved goodbye to her colleagues.
She took the subway again going home. When she arrived at the front of their apartment, the first thing that welcomed her was the awful stench swirling the place and the hoard of people blocking her way.
"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦!"
"𝘚𝘰, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰."
"𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘯...𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘴?"
"𝘚𝘴𝘴𝘩! 𝘓𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘸𝘪𝘵!"
Rossi Clan? Did she hear that right? How could they reach here?
Squeezing past through the crowd, she saw the scene before her had changed. The police had attached yellow tapes around the area and her eyes zeroed into the source of the smell. Inside, people in white coats were squatting and examining three dead bodies covered in muck and blotched to the point of being unrecognizable. She turned her head away instinctively and jogged towards the apartment's entrance, never looking back. Inside the elevator, she took deep breaths and closed her eyes, only opening them when the doors dinged.
Here she thought the Wards were the battlefield. She had to be more alert from now on.
In contrast to the foul smell below, the heavenly scent of food traveled to Erica as soon as she entered their house. Disconcerting thoughts gradually faded in her mind as she made a beeline to her room. The hard assault of hot water in her taut muscles seemed to do the trick and she relaxed completely. She turned up in the kitchen with a refreshed feeling.
Leaning on the door frame, she watched her mother then spoke, "Smells good, Mom. Do you need help?"
Julia flinched, almost dropping the ladle in her hand. "Jesus, Erica. Make a sound, will you?"
"My bad. You know, old habit."
Julia just shook her head and replied, "I'm finishing up. Just prepare the table."
Erica placed the finished dishes and empty plates on the table. She took a seat and scrolled through her phone, checking for news. A continuous sound rang out and she clicked the messaging app, entering her crew's group chat.
[Zeke: Erica!!!! Where are you!!!]
[Zeke: Are you still alive?! I heard there are dead bodies in front of your home. Is that true?!]
[Theo: Woah there! How's my goddess Mama Julia?!]
[Ethan: Lower your libido kid]
[Ysa: Ugh, look at this whore.]
[Lucy: Erica! Why are you not replying?!]
[Erica: I'm alive. It's true. And stop lusting over my mom, Theo.]
[Lucy: Thank God. What happened anyway?]
[Erica: Someone reported a smell in the manhole then the police came. They salvaged 3 bodies in there.]
[Zeke: Hey, you okay?]
[Erica: Yep.]
[Ysa: Did you hear the police say who they were?]
[Erica: No. But the neighbors said they were from the Rossi from their tattoos. I don't know if that's true.]
[Theo: What!? Why are they there? Did the Zamora allow entry, Zeke?]
[Zeke: Fuck. I don't know. Gotta go first. Will report.]
[Ysa: The young hoods are getting ambitious huh. They don't want to serve the old farts anymore.]
[Ethan: Oldies are too high on power. It makes them stupid sometimes.]
[Lucy: Uhm, I'm still here.]
[Ysa: Sorry.]
[Ethan: Sorry, darling.]
Out of all her crew, only Lucy was averse to the mafia. She also requested them that as much as possible, they shouldn't talk mafia business in front of her. Though, there's not much difference. Sooner or later, she would know everything because she was the crew's superstar, the daughter of the infamous mafia lord of the west City B, Philip Barrons. As a compromise to approving Lucy's wish to escape family business, her father had sent Ysabelle to accompany Lucy here in City Z and both of them would be recalled in the event of a feud, just like now.
"Erica! Help me up with this!"
Putting her phone in her pocket, she strode towards the kitchen and helped her mom. The table was filled with ingredients for a scrumptious hotpot accompanied with cans of beer for Erica. The mother and daughter duo ate with minimal chattering.
Remembering the scene below, Erica stopped eating and said in a grave voice, "Mom, from now on, put your gun beside you when you sleep."
Julia stared at her, eyes filled with anxiety but nodded nonetheless. "I got it."
After finishing their meal, they both returned to their respective rooms.