I woke up to the sound of my door knocking lightly. Vexed, I yelled at the person to come inside. "Sorry to disturb you Miss. Lia but you have an invitation letter..." my assistant, Hellen, let out nervously. I stared at her like she's dumb, which she technically was
"Do I.. from any angle look like I freaking care?!" I roared. "This foolish letter isn't worth to wake up at nine a Sunday morning."
"Maybe you should take a look," said Hellen.
I inhaled loudly and snatched the card away. "Get lost," I said. As I was about to fling it away, the name of the sender caught my attention. I raised a brow and took a look.
'SIM JAKE (JAYC MOB) TO AURELIA OBAYASHI (ROS-W-GOLD MOB)
YOU ARE RESPECTFULLY INVITED TO A PRIVATE ALLY MEETING WITH OTHER MOBS. YOUR ATTENDENCE WILL BE EXPECTED. SEE YOU SOON.'
Below was an address I didn't recognize. This was going to be the third meeting between the massive north American gangs after about two decades. My dad and the leader of the JAYc mob had perpetual friendship but since their deaths, both the parties never met in private nor in a meeting. I didn't want any allies but I understood the significant purpose of the meeting. The punt-taking event was soon arriving and crazy rich families were going to be a part of it. A weird gambling game with huge sums. This would be the right time to easily earn without gambling.
My eyes shone with greed as a smile appeared on my face. I set the card on the nightstand and drifted back to sleep, this time happier.
* * *
Today was the meeting day. My mom made sure nothing changed my mind from attending it. "Keep the tradition going, dear. Your dad would be disappointed to see you doing all this alone. You should be happy these potent gangs are not trying to destroy each other like in South America," she had said.
I wore a simple black tank top, a leather black jacket and a pencil skirt. Heading out, I clutched my handbag as the heels clattered against the tiles and got in my brown Volvo. The address was pretty far away. It took about forty minutes to arrive. Once we were there, the driver parked the car and I asked Hellen to stay in the car as I didn't like or trust her enough. She never seemed serious or loyal enough to be relied on. Everybody inside would be with their assistants, but taking mine in would be a bigger embarrassment than having none at all.
This place was a huge villa with big windows showing off the interior of the dining room and the first floor. I walked up to the big wooden door and lightly knocked on it. Soon enough, I heard foot steps echoing down the hallway. As the wooden barrier opened, a tall man almost my age (early twenties) stood there. He looked at me head to toe before assuming, "You must be Aurelia Obayashi, right?"
"Yes, but you can call me just Lia," I responded.
He nodded and walked inside, signaling me to follow him. I briskly walked after him, analyzing the surroundings. Just as fancy as I had expected. The blonde guy led me to a meeting room with dozens of chairs on a long black table. "Have a seat. Others must be arriving. I am Jake, by the way," He smiled slightly, which was warmer than I had expected; his plump lips curling sideways.
"Oh, the assistant that wrote the invitation letter.." I mumbled to myself but loud enough for him to hear. Instead of just nodding, his expression suddenly turned bitter. "No actually, I am Jay's cousin. He is the new leader of the gang after his father. He wants me to join his mob as his assistant but I have a stable business outside of this world," saying the last word he sounded like he hated it and continued "He asked me to write these invitation cards, and of course who can say no to that aggressive human. You might not see me again actually, because I am simply nothing more than his cousin and have nothing to do with this theft system. Sorry."
Wow this man seemed pissed. Must be forced into the mafia world. He seemed pretty decent and anyone could tell that he is no match here. "Kim, you handle the rest of the guests. I am heading out. Let Jay know I have some packing to do for a business trip. Can't be his servant anymore, I am a rich and honoured man," He uttered.
Soon after Jake left, two more people walked in. I looked up to shortly glance at them and continued to play with my phone and sip my tea. The man, who seemed to be the leader sat down across the table followed by the other one. The other one glanced at me with his deep, sharp eyes as he settled down. The leader kept his eyes at the table, his face well hidden with the mask and bucket hat.
As I was about to doze off someone cleared their throat and all heads in the room looked up towards the entrance of the big room. One thing I didn't realize was that there was one more person now sitting at the table whose head was still turned in my direction. He was looking at me with curious eyes and mouthed 'sleepy?.'
I just turned away to look at the other person who was now standing at the far edge of the table with a solemn expression. He looked at me and the others slowly before finally speaking. "Hello fellas! Sorry for keeping you waiting. We're seeing each other for the first time, so before we proceed on maybe introduce ourselves. I am Jay, the leader of the Jayc mob,"
He then gestured towards the two mysterious men sitting across. The silent leader finally looked up and light shone on his nearly perfect and mysterious features, his eyes showing nothing but heartlessness. Surprisingly, this wasn't what I had imagined; sitting between men old enough to be my dads with nasty alcohol breaths and gold rings. Everyone here looked my age. " I am Eden," He said and finally looked me in the eyes, locking mine for a couple of seconds before looking away. "And this is Jacob, my right hand," he pointed towards his assistant, seemingly the youngest here, but he looked like someone to stay away from. He smirked at Jay before looking around the whole room and nodding.
Next was me so I quickly voiced, "Hi, I am Lia; short for Aurelia." Everyone bobbed their heads and turned to look at the remaining person.
"Hi, I am Leo," said the silver-haired one. He looked liked he belonged to the movie FROZEN. He then beamed at everyone. Charming smile, I noted. Seeing Jay's bewilderment, he quickly added, "Boss doesn't like to attend meetings. I do all stuff for him. All he does is practice power. I am his right hand."
Jay proceeded on with the meeting, devising a perfect plan for the theft. The punt-taking event was extremely secured and stealing wouldn't be easy alone but now that we all were together, I felt at ease. I didn't know them, but we belonged to the same environment and I knew we would do anything for money specially at these type of events.
"We all get equal amounts of share as we are all taking similar task burdens which are already decided. Further objections wouldn't be valid. Now that it is all settled, I'll meet you again next week during lunch. Let's have a pre-victory celebration," Jay finished with a confident grin.
Everybody got ready to leave but suddenly Leo stopped and remarked, "It is important to stay in contact for any changes. I don't want to risk it by sending letters."
After that we all exchanged numbers and headed back.