Two miles away from Lincoln park at Gold coast. The area was full of mid-rise and high-rise condo buildings, the city's most prestigious homes had an access to the Lake Michigan
inside one of the condos, two men were discussing
The one was facing the glass that viewed the lake and the beach. The features on his face were well-defined, his lips were set in a thin line as he was lost in thoughts. the dim light made his face more handsome with his hazel eyes fixed ahead. The older one drank the liquid in his glass on the sofa facing the young man's back.
"We should celebrate together Joaquin why don't you join your big bro" he watched his younger brother who was looking at the scenery outside
When he heard Mateo talking, he focused his gaze on his brother whose image was reflected in the slightly mirrored glass by the darkness ahead.
He was the man he despised the most after his uncle but he still needed him for now. You always have to keep your enemies closer than your friends. He knew how much Mateo was twisted and selfish, he is not very smart but is wise enough as he had immersed himself in dirty businesses before him, he had to be extra careful with him.
"Sure" He smirked at him when turning around then took a glass of whiskey to down it in one go
Mateo chuckled at his brother "Why don't we go out and have fun, the girls at the night club will be thrilled to see the new underboss" he smirked "We should enjoy the night, we deserve it don't we? After all, we worked very hard" They just came back from Mineapolis, the heaquarters of the Luccheses to finish an important business
"Aren't you married? Clara should be waiting for you" He raised his eyebrows at him
"What married. A man doesn't need to be tied to one woman all his life. She just needs to warm the bed and be pretty at home" He said as if what his brother said was ridiculous
Joaquin frowned but still fakely smiled before telling "Not today, i still have something to do"
"You never go out to have fun, but fine i'ill go alone this time or maybe your dog can accompany me" He smirked
"You should ask him" He walked passed the sofa to put his glass at the counter's mini bar behind. The smile disapeared from his face.
"He is so boring, i doubt he will agree" He stood up "i'll get going then. See you tomorrow future big boss" he winked and went out of the appartment
The silence filled the room. When he was sure that his brother was definitely away, he took a device from his breast pocket and dialed a number, after a while a voice sounded from the phone "I'm listnening"
"We're heading to the basement now" He ordered before hanging up
It was 22 : 25 pm. A Mercedes-Maybach Exelero drove to a remote location
"Don't you have anything to report to me Ethan?"
The man named Ethan looked at his boss who before departing ordered him to sit on the passenger seat as he was planning on driving the car. At high speed at that
The assistant cleared his voice before saying "The old man keeps on trying to join me since you threw away your phone last time"
"Then throw your phone away too" he told him
The poor man cried inside as he thought "I'm still on good terms with my family unlike you. i can't throw my phone away just like that, my wife will murder me"
His young boss scared him to the bone, this young boy matured earlier than his peers and was a genius in handling things. He was never able to discern his way of thinking but knew very much how cruel he could be to his enemies.
"What else?" Joaquin inquired still focused on driving
"Axel tried to buy information about you to the ancient gang " Ethan looked at his boss reaction
The man in his twenties sneered "he still doen't trust me, that's troublesome. Did he find something worth it?"
"Nothing. Just a few irrelevant things" he informed
"mmh" He just hummed
Before integrating his maternal family organization he already made a name for himself in the underwold by entering a criminal syndicate. He ascended to a high position in one of the most prominent gangs to finally have the merits to be the underboss of his family. No one could just rule the underwold, he needs to be feared, respected and gain the recognition of all the members.
They arrived at the location. Joaquin went out immediately and was greeted by a bulky man who was waiting for his arrival.
The place was far away from the bustling city. The snow piled up on the road but was not thick enough to prevent from walking
"Where is she?" He asked the man who was a few centimeters taller than him
"inside but still unconscious"
"Bring me to her"
The huge man nodded and walked ahead to lead the way
They stepped inside the house that was decent and small on the outside but actually hided a lot of things inside. The three strode to the door at the end of the alley where two other men garded the entrance. They greeted their boss and opened the door for him
They descended a long stairway before finally reaching another alley which contained many other doors; but this time, they were all reinforced doors. The bulky man named John laid his finger on the reader and the fingerprint was recognized by the locking system right away.
Walking inside the dark room, they turned on the lights. An unconscious woman was attached to a chair, her appearance was disheveled. It was clear she was violently dragged to the place.
"Wake her" Joachin ordered
John takes a bucket of water to throw all of it at the woman in an already poor state. She abruptly woke up and when she was conscious enough, she spotted the man she tried to seduce the night before.
"Y, you... what do you want from me" she stuttered
Ethan couldn't help but pity her even if he knew the woman in front of them was a bitch who was involved in human trafficking, god only knows how many girls she coerced or captured to engage in commercial sex acts. Neverthless, she was not here because of those crimes as they were no less criminals too.
"Who do you work for?" Joaquin cut the chase
After absorbing the fact that she couldn't mess up with the people she calmly said "I don't know what you're talking about"
"Just answer the question" John growled
She trembled due to fear and partly from the cold as it was winter. She looked at the young man in front of her and knew she was done for
"I know i will die anyway"
Joaquin laughed out loud as he said "I'm fully aware you don't care about your already worthless life"
He looked at his subordinate and the last one moved to show her a picture.
She became pale and got nervous "please don't touch her, my daughter doesn't have anything to do with this" she cried out
The picture showed a little girl around ten years old who just got out of her school
"tsk, now spill the beans i don't have all night to deal with you" Joaquin looked annoyed
"I don't know anything about him, i swear someone just ordered me to approach you and seduce you last night" she sobbed
Joachin scrutinized the woman and after a long silence he stretched his hand to his subordinate and was handed a gun
The woman cried even more seeing the gun and pleaded "you can fucking kill me but please spare my daughter"
She was shot on the head, the blood slowly flowing on the floor.
As if he hadn't just killed someone, Joaquin turned around to leave. Ethan was dumbfounded by what just happened, he seemed to still not be used to his boss killing people so easily, he gulped before following his boss out. John stayed behind certainly to clean the mess.
When they were finally outside, Ethan couldn't help but ask "How could you be sure that she didn't really know anything?"
"Are you doubting my capicity Ethan?"
"I wouldn't dare sir" he immediately defended himself
"She was just an insignificant pawn and wouldn't know anything about our opponant"
Ethan nodded in understanding
"They must be really powerful to know the boss whereabouts in Mineapolis. What about the woman's daughter?" he suddenly thought of that picture.
"That little girl doesn't even know of that woman's existence, she was given to adoption when she was just a baby" Joaqin lazily responded
"Oh". It meant she gave birth to her baby and gave it away to avoid being burdened in the future, but she still cared for the girl and followed her growth during those ten years
Looking for people's history backgrounds was normally his job but as he was not in Mineapolis with Joachin during the last two days, he was not in a position to do the job which was rightfuly his. John was the one who accompanied him there.
"John is not just a brawny man indeed" he concluded to himself
Lincoln park the next day
The estate was busy with the young ladies return. They decided on organizing a small welcome party and invited some acquaintances to celebrate.
The evening before, the old man arrived late and welcomed his granddaughters as they were waiting for him in the living room. He tried to not show how emotional he was but it was seen how happy he was to see them.
"I lost two grandsons but i gained three granddaughters in exchange" he said
"You talk like they were dead" his wife scolded him
"They're dead for me, they betrayed our family. Now I have to deal with those sharks who want to take advantage of the situation" He complained
"Let's not talk about those things for now" The old lady said as she looked at her daughter-in-law who was not comfortable with the discussion.
After that they all went to sleep
in one of the bedrooms Winter was still asleep even if the sun was high in the sky. Her body was sprawling on the bed as her eyebrows furrowed due to the glaring sunlight. She tossed around for a while before finally opening her eyes. She gazed at the ceiling and heard a knock on the door
"Come in"
Freya opened the door "Good morning" She strode inside and sat on the bed
"Morning" Winter rose from the bed "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to talk with my daughter" She kindly smile "I missed you a lot"
Winter didn't know what to respond, she contemplated for while before telling "I'm sorry"
"For what?" The woman asked confused
"I left you when you needed me the most"
"Don't say that, i was indeed very sad when you left but i knew that was for the best" Freya took the girl's hand "You grew up to be such a strong and beautiful woman, i couldn't be selfish and let you stay in this city where you had your worst days"
Winter didn't have an easy life before and after her adoption. Her childhood contained a lot of bad events which she didn't like to remember. She hated her past self who was weak to defend herself, well she was just a child but she wanted to turn back time and beat up those people like she should have done at that time
"I'm doing fine now mom, let's forget the past" Freya nodded at her as she knew the girl wasn't comfortable with the subject
"Oh i forgot, the main reason i'm here is to let you know about something exciting"
Winter chuckled at her mother "and what could that be?"
"there will be a social event on Christmas eve, that is after two weeks so i thought we should go shopping together" She beamed
Winter slowly lost interest
"A social gathering then" she didn't hide her deppreciation
"Come on, if you want to fill the void of those eight years of leaving your poor mother you should spend more time with me" She tried to convince her unmotivated daughter
Winter sighed looking at the woman before her "I presume that i don't have no choice but to comply, the grandpa wants me to go as well?"
She had never gone to any gala before, not just because she didn't want to but her existence had been hidded from the high society since always.