Zane's mood hadn't gotten any better by the time he had reached the bar that his younger brother had asked to meet him in.
Julius seemed to expect that as well as he had already ordered them a round of drinks.
"You look rather worse for wear. Something more than this going on with you?" He asked as he pushed the glass over to his brother as the other sat down at the bar stool.
"I was actually having a rather nice night until this all happened." The other grumbled as he took hold of the glass. He took a whiff of the amber liquid before he took a drink of it. Wasn't something that was strong enough for him but he would have to deal with it for now.
He couldn't quite let himself relax until he got more information about what was going on. Not to mention if he drank too much before he knew what his brother had to say, he might lose it.
"Oh? what kind of a nice night? I thought that this was the only thing that you had going on?" Julius as intrigued.
The music that was floating around in the background was at a volume loud enough that they didn't have to worry about being overheard by the other customers in the bar.
Not that many of them would speak outside of the place even if they did eavesdrop. They were smart enough to know who the two young men were and knew better than to think about doing anything that could get on their wrong side.
"I actually met a rather interesting woman today." Zane replied as he looked over at the other.
"The one I mentioned before that I had been in search of to make sure that there wasn't a loose ended to be tied up?"
"And was there? I would imagine not based upon your reaction. I don't think that you would have been in a good mood if you had to do anything about her." Julius smirked. He knew his brother well enough to know that the other hated having to do anything violent against women unless there was no other way around the matter.
"Of course not. At least not where things stand at this point in time." He clarified at the end.
"Seems that it was a case of wrong place, wrong time based upon her words and the testimony that I got."
"From who? Because you know that if you're cutting corners in order to get out of doing anything that won't work very well. Father will have something to say if he finds out." Zane scoffed at this as he shrugged out of his damp jacket.
The weight of the thing was starting to get on his nerves since there was no reason for him to currently have it on.
"Even if my father had nothing to say about the matter, I wouldn't mess about with something like this." He told the other as he took another sip out of his glass.
"I know what I am doing well enough to not make such mistakes. Unlike the fool tonight." He grumbled under his breath.
"Was it really that bad? You didn't quite tell me what was going on." Julius inquired as he flagged the bartender down to refill their glasses.
"I didn't think that I needed to tell you what exactly was going on as it seemed like you already knew." The older brother replied.
"Only part of it. But if what I knew was good enough no need to waste words on that." Julius told the other as he brushed the matter aside.
"I think that right now this time could be better used to focus on other things instead."
"Right like you ruining my mood even further than it already has been by telling me about whatever is going on with father now." Zane didn't even try to hide the venom in his voice as he spoke.
"Relax. I don't think that the matter will be as bad as you think." Julius patted his brother on the back in a reassuring manner.
"I just thought that it would be better for us to be able to talk about it in person rather than over the phone."
"Don't waste your time dawdling about it then and tell me whatever if it so that I can decide for myself." Zane instructed the other as he shifted in his seat so that he could fully face his younger sibling who seemed to be far more relaxed than he was at the current moment in time.
"From what I have gathered, it seems that father is planning on doing another takeover or other. Not now of course. In a little bit. It's all rumors right now but it seems like he's targeting one group in specific." Julius told the other.
He did lower his voice a touch at this point in order to not allow others to easily hear what they were talking about.
Rumors could result in the start of some rather terrible things if they turned out to be false.
"Which group is he targeting?" Zane questioned in the same low tone of voice.
Julius didn't reply to this question verbally and instead passed him a piece of paper so that he could look for himself.
"That is one part of what I wanted to tell you. The other part is the one that I think you will be less impressed about." Julius leaned back in his chair.
"Father is looking at another set of suitors for you. A little bit different than the ones he has been bothering you with recently."
"Different how?" Zane didn't really want to know the answer to this question but felt that it would be better to ask his brother about it so that he had time to process it before his father brought it up to him.
"The kind of people that would be harder for you to say no to." Julius replied simply.
"This time around, you might want to actually think about taking them seriously. I don't think that father is going to let it go this time unless you decide on someone. You never know, might turn out to be worth it." He knew that his brother was trying to look on the bright side of the matter.
But no matter how the young mafioso looked at it, he didn't think that there was a bright side.
"Worth it? Absolutely not. I would sooner burn in the fiery pits of hell than accept the hand of a woman my father puts forward!" He snapped as downed the rest of the liquid in his glass.
He truly would rather burn in the pits of hell or even be disowned by his father before he would agree to marry someone that the other thought was the right fit for him.
If he had to, he would even say to Bernard's face the next time he saw the other man to ensure he understood how serious his son was about the matter.