It was a long night for Mia. Ever since she had to return from Carys' house, she has had her share of confusion on the meaning of the word friend, the one that Carys had to call her. She had gone on Google and typed the word 'friend' there. She had also randomly popped up in Samantha's room and asked her why she considered Mia a friend. It was a tough night already, but the morning was tougher for her.
This was the day for the Gonsalves fake Art Exhibition. Mia had been working in the mafia business for 10 years now and the one thing she understood clearly was the importance of having a tough aura. Being the leader of Serpents, Mia had her priorities sorted. She needed people to fear and respect her, even when she was out of the country or even out of the world. They should carry her legacy forward.
The mirror image of Mia was staring back at her. "You need more colour, love." Samantha beamed with happiness. For a weird reason, she really liked when Mia wore normal clothes. She put up a yellow cardigan in the air and looked at Mia for approval.
Mia rolled her eyes. "Are you okay? Do you think I will wear that outfit?"
Samantha actually knew that Mia would never wear that yellow cardigan even if her life depended on it, but she had to try anyway.
Samantha scrunched her nose. "A spoilsport."
"Give me a shirt and some trousers, for God's sake, sugar," Mia complained. It had only been ten minutes since Samantha barged into Mia's room to dress her up as an actual student.
"Just wear that shirt I bought you the other day and call it a day, mafia leader." Samantha shook her head and went out of Mia's room to grace her with the privacy of changing her clothes.
As soon as Mia was done changing her outfit, she started looking like an actual student. The pink shirt was casual as it can get for a mafia leader. Mia looked at herself for a second before she heard her doorbell ring.
Samantha had actually opened the door by the time Mia came out of her room to see the person at the door. She knew who must have been standing at the entrance.
"Pericolosa." The man said when Mia was in his vision.
"Leo," Mia says after acknowledging the man. He was in his late twenties, a year or two older than Mia, but not much.
Leo had a great build. With his 6.2 feet of height, he could easily tower over anyone in the room. The jawline was chiselled to the level of an actual Greek God and his eyes were always narrowed as if everybody was his enemy, which was actually a substantial quality to have, considering that he was the head bodyguard for Serpents.
"Took you long to come and protect your Pericolosa, Leo," Tony said, coming out of Samantha's room.
"There is no one who can protect Pericolosa. She is the one who is protecting all of us," Leo said with respect in his voice, to which Mia rolled her eyes at him.
Leo gave out a chuckle. "People are missing you back home."
"I know, but we have greater things to consider right now," Mia spoke with authority to which all the three people present in the room nodded. When Pericolosa spoke, everybody listened.
"Now, Leo, tell me all about the art exhibition," Mia said as she took a sit on the couch. Leo followed her and scrolled through his phone.
"The Gonsalves had an idea that you are not in town when you didn't attend the party they threw last week, so they put their rats on us. It was eventually known to them that you are in New York and obviously everyone knows about Carys Jones." Leo said and met Mia's eyes.
"There is not one thing that can be done without the interruption of that gang of peasants," Mia spoke and clenched her jaw. She rested her right leg on her left and pushed her head back.
"I doubt they will do any harm." Leo cleared his throat.
"I cannot take any chances here, Leo. They are our rivals. They were the first gang to attack Serpents when my father-" There was a pause, then Mia spoke again, "was killed."
There was silence. It was an unspoken rule that nobody in Serpents should talk about Mia's father, the previous leader, except Mia.
"I still remember their then leader, the old man who I loath to this day. They were rushing inside the house with guns and whatnot. I had only one chance to shoot him, and I did. There was a commotion, and I stood there proud of my first shot. Alas, I got shot the very next second. That is where my scar is from." Mia finally looked at the three people standing right in front of her with wide eyes, not sure how they should react to the little story time from their leader.
Mia gave out a sarcastic laugh. "You guys look traumatised."
"Mia…" Samantha tried to say something.
"Leo, I couldn't put up the audio tracker at Carys' house yesterday." Mia had to cut Samantha's speech the mid-sentence because she knew what her 'friend' was about to say to her. She was about to sympathise with her, but deep down Mia knew that she was the last person on earth to deserve any sympathy.
"We needed that to track Carys' movements and also it would have been nice to know more about the business that goes on at the Jones residence," Leo said and looked at Tony for assurance.
"I think it is alright-"
"He is right. I should have tried harder. It was not a tough job to complete, anyway." Mia sighed and thoughts about Carys flooded her mind again. She had stayed up late last night, only to think more about the sentences Carys had spoken.
"They know about me," Mia says as she recalled each sentence that Carys had said yesterday in his room.
"What?" Tony was baffled and immediately closed the gaps between him and Mia. "What does he know? Did he say anything to you?"
"Relax. He just knows that someone by the name of 'Pericolosa' is behind him and will try to kill him. They have tightened his security and they are trying to find more about it." Mia says to Tony and then looks at Leo. "They have a system of security checks at the entrance for outsiders."
"How did you go past it?" Samantha said after coming back to her senses.
"It was pure luck. When I went there, security was not present at the entrance and Carys led me directly to his living room." Mia took a pause. In her head, she was considering hiding the whole truth from the people in the room, but she could not.
"I met his bodyguard," Mia says.
Leo raised his eyebrows because of the utter shock that he was in.
"Pericolosa, that is very dangerous. You do know that bodyguards can see right through you. You know it very well-"
"He found me standing in the living room and asked me who I was. I put on a facade but yes, I know, he might be doubtful." Mia took a deep breath and cracked her knuckles. "And that is why we cannot take any chances right now."
"Gonsalves can do nothing in New York, but we need security at every step. Don't take anything lightly and maintain your identities." Mia looked at Tony. "I hope you are having no conversation with Carys outside of my knowledge."
"No, Pericolosa." Tony bowed his head down and looked at his shoes. He had guilt in his heart, which made him not look at Mia because Mia could see right through him. She had always done it.
He remembered the last time when Carys had asked him about liking Mia and he had said a big no. Additionally, he even justified that he was talking to her for the first time. Tony thought to himself if he had gone too far and now Carys was aware of their relationship. Then he started thinking about his 'obvious' stares at Mia. Carys might have noticed those.
"Okay then, Leo. I think we can go now." Mia finally stood up from the couch and grabbed her phone off the table.
As soon as she looked at her screen, a text popped up.
'Wanna grab lunch?' The text read, and it took Mia no time to realise who had sent her that text. Carys Jones, the name flashed on the screen.
"Grab the car." She said to Leo and shoved the phone back into her pocket. There was no space for Carys in Mia's life and Mia knew that, but for some strange reason, when she would later look at her Google search history, she would still remember Carys calling her a friend.
Today, there was no sound of Pericolosa's combat boots because she had sneakers on, just like a normal business student. Today, she felt like Mia.