"Pl-please don't kill me, I c-can get it back. I swear, I can," the man said in utter fear, backing further away up the bed, not minding the naked ladies he bumped clumsily into or the fact that the towel he had around him had gone loose and he was now on full display while he scurried away.
None of those mattered.
All that had his mind ticking like a wild clock was how he would get out of here alive, but having a gun been pointed at him like this, he knew his chances were slim.
Very slim.
Not because of the gun though but because of the person holding it.
These people were terrifying, especially that person.
He had been having a nice evening when suddenly armed men barged into his hotel room and screwed it all up.
If they had gotten to him so easily, there was no doubt that his men had now become past tense.
"Where is it?" The lady with the gun asked, sounding almost bored.
"The do--doc- the documents," the man stuttered, stumbling back and hitting the ladies behind him, who immediately scurried off the bed this time, holding the blanket tightly to their chests. Now alone on the bed, he looked up at her, his body visibly shaky.
"Alex Cones! He made me do this! I wouldn't have betrayed the Don like this, everyone knows. You have to tell Don Morelli I was threatened!"
"And where is he?"
"He..." The man's voice trailed off.
"Go on," she cocked the gun.
"He is leaving tonight!" Seeing that the woman had now slightly lowered the gun, he continued, believing he had hit that information that would finally save him from all this hot mess.
"But he plans to first sell off the Casino and hand over the documents to a buyer at Santos Hotel. That is all I know, I swear."
One of the men standing around, walked over to the woman and spoke to her in inaudible whispers.
The man knew that what they really wanted was the document itself, that exact piece of paper. It had something in it that he didn't know about, something of high importance to the Don.
So maybe this was it, he would be the first that Alora Morelli had visited with the intention to kill but left alive.
Once she was out of here with her men, he had plans to fully continue his evening like all these never happened. All the moves he had been learning over the whole week couldn't just go to wast--
Bam!
The man dropped like a lump of flesh on the bed, blood streaming down his face, a bullet stuck in his forehead. The ladies in the room had now rounded up in the corner, whimpering at the horror before them.
The woman with the pistol scoffed, pulling a vibrating phone from the pocket of her leather pant to answer the call.
"Is it done?" An elderly male voice boomed over the phone.
"He doesn't have the document, Don, Cones does."
"And DayZ?"
"Dead."
"Good. Get me that document and make sure you get home before 12. A minute longer and your Ma will not let us hear the end of it."
"Yes, Baba."
The line went dead and she glanced at the time displayed on the screen.
10:58pm
She had better hurry.
"Kano, clean this up and pay off the girls." she said to one of the hefty men standing around and he got into action immediately.
She picked her long black leather jacket that she had folded carefully on the table when they came in, and pulled it over her white shirt, tucking her gun into the hostler by the right side of her belt.
Then she left the room, followed after by some of the men, while a few stayed behind to clean up the mess.
It was time to pay Alex Cones a little visit before he caught his 11:30pm flight out of the country.
The visit would be well deserved, after all, that greedy man had always been a double crossing fucker!
***
"Welcome to Tersa, Mr Eros Castle," a warm female voice welcomed the man in deep blue suit that was getting off the plane.
"Love the air," Eros took in a deep breath, a smile on his face that seem to glow under the bright white lights of the airport. "Smells like more money."
"Mr Castle!" Another suited man called out in a breathless voice, as he ran to catch up with him.
"Mr Cast--"
"What is it now, Oliver?"
Being right by his side now, urgent words tumbled out of Oliver's mouth. "Like I said before and the time before that and the time before that--"
"Hurry up, the money is not going to make itself."
"We have to go back. Let us just get back on the plane and fly back to Gannivile right now."
Eros didn't even stop walking towards the airport terminal, instead he just smile.
His secretary's paranoid behavior wasn't anything new to him, and most of the time, it was justified, but then without risks there was never money and he had plenty of that.
One more risk couldn't kill him, maybe injure him really badly, but oh well.
"Unless you give me a very convincing reason to do so, that is not going to happen."
"I have a convincing reason and I have told you countless times."
"Remind me?"
"This buniess deal you are trying to get is rumoured to be for the Morellis."
"For?" He pointed out.
"Well, they want it so--"
"It's not even theirs yet. Look, I don't care about what someone else wants. If they want it bad enough, they should offer to buy it at a higher price." Eros grinned, his focus on the airport terminal that were now some distance closer to.
A higher price? He would love to see them beat what he was offering.
"But Sir, they are the Morellis," Oliver's voice was shaky, his eyes filled with a sought of alarm.
Eros gave him a skeptical look.
What was wrong with him this evening?
"Who are even the Morellis?" He asked with distaste, pausing briefly to look at Oliver.
He looked super tense, more than usual.
"Very dangerous people, Mr Castle. Very. Dangerous. People."
"And I'm a very rich man," he gestured to the bodyguards around them. Despite how muscular he was, they were still heftier, twice as armed and ready to lay down their lives for him at a blink. He paid them enough for that. "Rich enough to buy the right amount of danger. So what is it?"
With a frustrated sigh, Oliver said, "Mr Castle, there are many more Casinos in Gannivile, let's buy more of those instead."
"I own all the Casinos in Gannivile."
"Mr Castle, we could--
"Oliver." His voice cut him off sharply.
He took a step closer to Oliver who took an immediate step backwards, his head bowed in fear and his gaze fixed on the ground. "Set up that meeting already. I must meet with Mr. Cones within the next thirty minutes." Then his voice dropped threateningly low. "I will not ask you again."
"Y-yes, Sir." Oliver nodded repeatedly, reaching for his phone with shaky hands.
He had to make that call, he had to make it right now!
Eros backed away, his face once again filled with that usual nonchalant playfulness.
"You see, how easy was that?"
***
The deal with Mr Cones had gone perfectly.
There were no back and forths, zero to non unending negotiations.
That had been easy, way too easy.
Eros tapped his fingers on the documents, reading them.
Was it just him or did the papers feel different, like as if they were made from something else, another material.
He had to figure out what it was, could be something worth reproducing, could be something valuable enough to bring him more money.
He smiled, content with himself.
There wasn't a thing in the world that he wanted that money wouldn't buy for him. He wondered what next he would acquire.
Another airport? Another Fashion house? Another 5 star hotel?
He chuckled, standing up and heading into the safe room. When he came back, the documents was no longer in his hand but a glass of wine.
He took a sip, heading to the large top to floor, window at one side of the room while he hummed along with the low music playing in the room.
That was one of the things he loved about this hotel. The fact that he could see could see the road and all the tall buildings from up here.
All those colourful busy night light.
How beautiful.
He took a look at his wrist watch, and dropped the wine glass on the table, hurrying to the bathroom.
It was 11:35 pm.
He would be having company soon and had to be ready when she arrived.
After some minutes, he stepped out, a towel wrapped around his waist, another in his hand being used to dry his wet shoulder length black hair.
There was a ding at the door. Must be one of his bodyguards with the woman he had paid for.
He eagerly went to the door, not checking the doorbell camera before swinging it open.
Eros was right about it being a woman but this was certainly not the woman he had been expecting, because why was she dressed in a shady hat and long black jacket, and holding a gun that was pressed to his forehead?