After what seemed like forever, Alec suddenly woke up. He looked around him, but all he could see was black. It was obvious his head was covered in a sack. When he tried to stand up, he noticed his hands and legs were bound by a chain.
The sack on his head was suddenly removed, and Alec's vision was restored. He looked around him and noticed he was inside a large garden. Although the air was pleasing to smell, it caused Alec to be wary further. He was placed on the grass, below the feet of the mafia boss.
"Great, you're awake", the old man in front of him started. Alec looked at him calmly, without saying anything. "I see you've met my new accomplice", the old man continued, stretching his hands to point at something.
Alec followed his hands and stopped at Mateo, who was standing behind him. He doesn't look like the Mateo Alec knew anymore. He more or less looked like a gangster than a subordinate.
This didn't surprise Alec though, so he turned around and faced the old man, without any expression on his face. The old man raised his brow in curiosity. "You are not shocked that your subordinate betrayed you? Even I will be surprised", the old man said.
"There's no need to be surprised. I knew of all these from the beginning", Alec simply said, before he became silent. This realization surprised both Mateo and the old man
"Stop lying you stupid child, you didn't know anything. Stop acting tough at all", Mateo said with disdain. The old man smiled and gazed at Alec again. "Alright, tell me how you knew". It was obvious the old man wanted to converse with Alec because he was confident that he would never leave the mansion.
"Right from the moment, we met. Before then, Diego was still alive. Diego used to tell me you were very talkative, but anytime we make plans on infiltrating the. While we were planning on coming here, I noticed you would take a break from time to time, and because I was curious as to why your bladder was so small, I realized you kept this old man updated about our plans, but I pretended I saw nothing.
"Soon after that, while I was collecting supplies with the bus, I saw you talking with two men inside a restaurant. I saw piles of money on the table, and you appeared nervous, but I chose to stay silent, much to my regret.
"You were the one that planted those bombs that killed Diego and some of his men, not Marco. You only instigated the whole situation and made Marco the culprit, but of course, I rode along.
"Don't forget the time I caught you communicating with this old man a few hours ago while we were on the bus. You think you planned all this, but what you didn't know was that I orchestrated everything, Mateo", Alec said and smiled
Mateo was utterly dumbfounded. His mouth gaped open as he was at lo_ss as to what to say. He had always believed he covered up his tracks, right from the time he was bribed to betray his boss. The plan was not to implicate Alec at all.
So all this time, he was being watched. That realization terrified Mateo. Suddenly the way he viewed Alec changed drastically. He no longer saw Alec as a small child anymore. To him, he was more like a con artist, a terrifying one at that.
The mafia boss looked at Alec and Mateo with interest and cackled loudly. "Wow, wow, now this is very interesting. I'm very glad I met you Santiago. I can not believe you came up with such a wonderful plan, bravo", the boss clapped excitedly like a child.
"That's good, that's good. Mateo, do you have anything you want to add in response to this?" The boss stared at Mateo, who was lost in his thoughts. "Nothing, alright let's move on", the old man said with joy written all over his face.
"I will be honest with you, that plan was good. You even surprised me so much, considering your, ahem, condition. However, isn't it obvious? I don't think this was how you wanted your plans to go through. I bet you didn't expect to be captured by us, am I right?" The boss looked at Alec, subtly glancing at Mateo.
Alec didn't respond, confirming the boss' thought. "Alright, now we're back to square one. Bring my trophies please", the mafia boss ordered one of his men guarding the door.
Just then, a beautiful woman arrived at the garden, and seeing Alec on the floor, she became curious. "My wonderful husband, I thought you said you were free, but you lied", the woman's face flushed sadly. The boss stood up and approached the pretty woman and caressed her cheeks softly.
"Mi belle eposa, I will never be busy for you. Don't worry, this won't take too much time, okay", the boss' usual frightening demeanour melted away when talking to his wife. "Okay, but I will be waiting. The guests are arriving", the lady smiled and left the garden. "What a beauty", the boss said and sat down back.
Then, the boss glared at him, "As you can see, I have a lot in my book, so let's cut to the chase. I want you to be my bodyguard, or you choose death". Alec stared at the mafia boss, without saying a word. This action enraged the boss, as he tore Alec a slap. Alec didn't see the wound, but the stinging pain on his cheek informed him of the situation of the wound. The boss touched the ring on his withered hands while glaring at Alec coldly.
Just then, the man brought the boss' "trophies". It was a series of heads hung in such a way that the faces were looking down. Seeing this made Alec a bit uneasy, and it terrified Mateo to the core.
Alec even saw Diego's head among the series of hunger heads. "As you can see, I've collected a lot of trophies recently, but there is still an empty spot here, so it's yours to decide if you are joining us or filling this hole", the boss said coldly.
Alec looked at the boss in anger. The way Diego's head was hung on the board was irritating him to the core. "F**k you bastard", Alec blurted angrily. The boss stood and smiled. "Then it's settled. Mateo, you have the wonderful privilege of hanging his head on my trophy. Take this knife and slice off his neck, but make sure he's alive to witness them, alright", the boss approached Mateo and handed him a long knife.