"So, I guess it's something really important," Samantha said and sipped her coffee from a giant mug in her hand.
She stood right in front of her father. They both shared the same pair of eyes.
"Yes. It always is," David answered and picked up his mug from the kitchen counter.
"She came home late," Samantha informed her father and he didn't give any response to that piece of information.
Samantha had always loved her father. She had actually loved him the most in this world but she couldn't say the same for him. She had no idea if her father loved her as much as he loved this mafia business.
"This is a serious matter," David mumbled.
Samantha heard it. Before she could say something again, Mia's bedroom door slowly opened.
"Good morning." She said coarsely.
Mia looked exhausted. She had eyebags and she dragged her feet across the floor to walk.
"Did you get drunk yesterday?" David asked and sipped his coffee. It was too bitter for him to swallow. He wondered if the flavour was intentional.
"No." Mia outright declined and sat on the couch with a grunt.
"You look sick." Samantha slowly approached Mia and sat right next to her. She could see the tiredness in Mia's eyes. It was evident that she had not been sleeping for the last couple of days.
Samantha had been hearing a lot of rummaging noises from Mia's room every night.
"I'm fine," Mia replied and waved her hand in the air to dismiss Samantha's worries.
"You should be fine." David stood up from the bar stool by the kitchen island and approached the two girls.
He stood right in front of them and crossed his hands in front of his chest.
It was evident that David was here to discuss the further steps.
"There's a product launch party." He said strangely loud.
Mia looked up at him and nodded, "Carys invited me."
Samantha immediately looked at Mia in surprise and then looked back at David who for some reason seemed unfazed.
"You're going there again?" Samantha had to ask the annoying question.
"This is a great chance." David stood straight up, waiting for Mia to agree with him.
"But-"
"It is," Mia said and looked over to Samantha.
There was worry on her face. It was the same face she makes when she's tired of Mia not eating food on time or not drinking enough water.
"I'm okay," Mia assured her.
Samantha looked unimpressed and just sighed. Mia knew that no words could ease Samantha's worry. She would always worry about her.
"But, we need to ask Earl to double the price in return." Mia stood up from the couch.
David smirked and looked down at his shoes, smiling.
"Pericolosa never does something without a prize." Mia had an unidentified confidence in her voice.
"Care Technologies will be releasing a new product and the one person who would be over the moon to get some dirt on it is, Robert Earl," Mia stated the obvious and went over to the kitchen counter.
"Earl is now in the position where even if I ask him for the blood of his firstborn, he will drop it on my feet." She continued after pouring herself a mug of black coffee.
"I like where this is going." David smiled like a proud father. Somewhere, in Samantha's heart, a string was pulled but she immediately looked over at Mia.
"I bet he is about to call you right now," Mia said and pointed at David's phone in his pocket.
As if on cue, David's phone started ringing. The echo of the phone's ringtone occupied the whole room.
Mia let out a villainous laugh and sipped coffee from the gigantic mug in her hand.
"Pick up." She said after the sip and gestured towards David with her mug.
David followed the leader and picked up the call.
"Hello there, Earl." He said in a monotonous voice, hiding the obvious smile he had plastered on his face.
"Yeah, we got the air of that," David replied.
Mia walked towards David and signalled him to put the phone on speaker. The Pericolosa in her wanted to hear the desperate voice of that ugly hag.
"Tell Pericolosa that I want every bit of information on the new product." Earl still had the authoritative voice and it irked Mia.
She smiled and grabbed the phone.
David knew that Mia had always hated Earl. He had seen it in her eyes on the first day when she met him back in Italy.
Earl was clearly some rich douchebag.
"You don't talk like that when you're the one begging, my friend." Mia had her Pericolosa voice on. There was a stark difference between both voices. Strangely, Mia had never noticed the difference but Samantha had.
"Pericolosa," Earl said slowly as if he wasn't expecting Mia to talk.
"Yeah, so what were you requesting?" Mia sat back down right next to Samantha.
Samantha was always intrigued to see Mia completely transitioning into Pericolosa when the time came.
It felt like when the day descended into the night. The only difference was the change was too sudden and the night was too dark.
"This is a crucial moment for us, Pericolosa. If I get my hands on that new product technology, I can take over the Jones in such a matter of a few months." Earl now sounded humble.
"But what's for us?" Mia asked and looked up at David for some kind of approval.
David nodded.
Silence occupied the room for a second.
"Double or nothing, Earl." Mia spoke after a second, "Double or nothing." She repeated.
"Pericolosa. I have already given you guys enough." Earl talked in a slow voice.
He knew who he was talking to and he didn't want this conversation to take any wild turns. He was in a compromising position, they both knew it.
"I'll double your prize." Earl finally gave up.
"What about the shares, Earl?" Mia asked again and David bit his lip in anticipation.
"I'll think about it after the deed is done. Is that fine, Pericolosa?" Earl decided to take a chance.
Mia gave out a chuckle.
"You don't believe I can do this?" She asked.
Samantha had known Mia enough to know that when she says she'll get something done, she will complete it no matter what.
She had a rage in her eyes.
"No… I never doubt you for a second, Pericolosa." Earl was quick to compensate for his comment.
"Okay then, Earl. We will talk about the shares when you have the product details on your computer screen." Mia decided to let her actions do the talking for once.
"Thank you, Pericolosa. I will reward you with everything I have." Earl said and with that, Mia just handed David his phone back.
"We'll proceed with the infiltration at Jones launch party." David communicated the rest of the details to Earl as Mia rested her head back on the couch.
"Do you want breakfast?" Samantha had a lot of worries for Mia and right now she just wanted Mia to eat something.
She looked weak and her collarbone had decided to make an appearance again.
"I'll make pancakes," Samantha added after there was no response from Mia.
"I'll take two." Mia signalled Samantha.
Samantha happily got up from the couch and hopped towards the kitchen where David was still talking on the phone.
Samantha hated a lot of things about her father but one specific thing topped the list, the ability of her father to ignore her existence.
Ignoring her father's existence, Samantha silently got started on making some pancakes for Mia.
Mia had other worries on her mind.
She had her eyes closed and it felt like her head was heavier than this gigantic planet.
It was true, she was not able to sleep a wink yesterday. After she received the text from Carys, she knew that David would want her to go to the party.
There was no way she could not go to the party. She had to attend it. Mia wanted to be apart from Carys. She wanted nothing to do with him but it would be impossible. It would be impossible to not see Carys every day. It would be impossible to not think about Carys, every minute.
She remembered Carys texting him as soon as he got home. She remembered him typing that text to her and then sleeping right there on the couch with a slightly satisfying smile on his face. She remembered the soothing scenery of Carys sleeping on the couch.
Part of Mia wanted Earl to reject her double-or-nothing proposal. Hell, she had made up that stupid double-or-nothing proposal because she thought that Earl would never agree to it.
There was no way that Earl would agree to it, the offer made no sense.
But the stars were never in favour of Mia. Ever since she was born, she had never once thought that the stars were in her favour. Not even for a day!