Don Enzo put both his hands on the table. "First order of business, I heard about what happened with Mr. Toeeb. Do you care to explain yourselves?"
Alistair leaned forward but I raised a hand to stop him from speaking. "We realized that the police were watching us so we decided to draw them out. I apologize for not asking before we used your distributor in our trap but it all worked out for the best."
Don Enzo nodded his head. "That makes sense, and you are right, it all worked out so there is no problem."
"Now secondly I heard about an unfortunate incident that befell you and Alistair four days ago." Don Enzo picked one of the glasses and gulped down all the water in it, he then burped and smiled at me. "Do you have any idea who robbed you?"
My eyes behind my mask seemed to be deep in thought, but in my mind I was seething. 'This asshole, I'm almost certain that he was the one to send those four people after us, and to think he has the guts to act all innocent.'
Even though I wanted to strangle him, I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "No, I have no idea."
Don Enzo snapped his fingers once again and this time a waiter walked up to our table with a bottle of wine in hand.
I looked at the waiter with suspicion. 'Is he also one of his men? I can't be sure of anyone anymore.'
As the waiter poured the wine into a glass that Don Enzo held up, he smiled and surveyed all of us at the table through his uneven eyes. "Time for the final topic of discussion."
The smile on his face dropped off and as I looked into his eyes I saw that a cold calculating look had appeared in them.
"I heard that you," he pointed at Alistair, "and you," he pointed at me. "Had a meeting with the Ninth Icon, Jason Acad." He then smiled again, but this one had no humor in it. "Would you mind telling me what was discussed."
The words he used might have made it sound like a question, but I could see by the dangerous look in his eyes and the cold smile on his lips that it was an order.
I swallowed heavily and took a deep breath before I managed to gather my courage and stare into Don Enzo's eyes. "And if I mind?"
Don Enzo's grin extended so wide that he no longer appeared to have a face, it was all smiles. "If that is so then we're going to have a problem."
As I looked at Don Enzo's face there was only one emotion I could feel, and that was fear.
'I'm going to die. I've always known that he's a First Tier, but it's now that I'm really understanding that. He doesn't even have to do anything, just him looking at me through my mask is enough for me to want to give into his demands.'
I looked down and realized that my hands were shaking.
Alistair raised up his hands. "Now, everyone should just calm down-"
"Shut the fuck up," barked Don Enzo.
All became quiet after that and Don Enzo turned his eyes between Alistair and I. "I'm going to ask one more time before I start making assumptions."
His eyes then settled on me. "And I can promise you that you don't want me doing that. What did you talk about?"
The room became as quiet as a graveyard and I felt everyone, both Don Enzo and his men, and Alistair and Agustin's, eyes on me.
It was like everyone in the room had come to the conclusion that I was the one that should answer the question.
Alistair's gaze on me seemed to be saying that he would go with whatever I decided, and although Agustin had kept quiet for most of this meeting, I could feel his fighting spirit coming alive.
I swallowed and began weighing my options.
'I have three possible choices,' I squeezed my hands together and tried to calm my racing heart. 'One, I tell him everything and pray he's in a forgiving mood. If he's not...' I touched my throat, 'I might lose my neck today.'
*BANG*
I jumped up slightly, and looking forward I saw Don Enzo's fist on the table.
"You're running out of time kid," I could see a look in his eyes that told me that he wasn't playing around. "Make up your mind soon."
I forced myself to think through my remaining options. 'I could also either lie to him or refuse to tell him anything.' I squeezed my hands so tight that I thought they would shatter. 'Either of those choices would probably end badly for me. Just by looking into his eyes I can tell that he will know if I lie.'
'But then again, if I don't stand my ground now then I'll probably never get the guts to break away from him. Even if it's obvious what we talked about with Jason Acad I have to stand my ground and refuse to answer, even if it's just to prove to myself that I can resist Don Enzo.'
With that thought I steeled my resolve and gritted my teeth before starting into Don Enzo's eyes. "I can't tell you what we talked about."
*BOOM*
Suddenly the table broke apart into tiny pieces and at the same time I felt a pressure bearing down on my body, moments later my chair collapsed from under me and I was forced to my knees.
Out of the corner of my mind I saw that Alistair and Agustin were also on their knees, but I was in so much shock it didn't really register in my mind.
'Shit, what type of pressure is this?' I struggled before I eventually managed to push my head up.
Don Enzo was still sitting on his chair, the only difference was that the angry look on his face had now disappeared.
"Since you won't tell me it's time for me to make assumptions." He held up his hand and raised one finger. "One, you want to stop transporting diom here in Freedom City."
He raised up a second finger. "Two, you went to the Ninth Icon of Freestone and probably offered to work under him, thinking that I wouldn't dare to do anything to you if you get his support."
Don Enzo then raised a third finger. "My last assumption is that he didn't agree to have you work for him, if he did either you wouldn't have bothered to come meet me, or the way you carried yourself in this meeting would have been different."
*SNAP*
Don Enzo snapped his fingers, and once again a waiter came, only this time the person was holding a tray that had one glass of what looked like wine.
"Let's be honest," he glanced at the three of us that were on our knees, "it was obvious that all of you were nervous."
His eyes then flicked to Alistair. "Some of you hid it better, but for someone that's been in the game as long as I have it was as plain as day."
The waiter reached Don Enzo then took the glass of the tray and handed it to him.
Don Enzo closed his eyes and took a sip, then after a few seconds he sighed in contentment.
"I only have one question," he looked at me over the rim of the glass, "even if you switch to working for Jason Acad in the end you'll just be serving another master, so what's different about him?"
"Isn't it obvious?" I turned my head to the right and saw Alistair forcefully lift his head. "He has a higher ceiling than you."
Alistair lips then turned into a smirk. "Why would we stay the cronies of a small-time player in the Underworld? I have bigger goals than that."
*CRUNCH*
The glass of wine shattered in Don Enzo's hand.
I looked up and the moment my eyes landed on his face I felt a chill move up my spine.
Don Enzo's face had turned red, which highlighted his scarred face and made his eyes look even more asymmetric than they actually were.
It became hard to breathe and I could feel the tension hanging over the room.
Slowly, the redness of Don Enzo's face reduced before it completely disappeared a few minutes later.
"You know," said Don Enzo slowly, "when you first came to me two years ago about working for me I was skeptical. I mean two kids trying to act like adults showed up in front of me and with their little kid voices asked to be my transporters."
Don Enzo quietly stood up. "Against the advice of some of my most trusted subordinates I decided to take a chance on those kids. And this is how you repay me?"
*BOOM*
Don Enzo stomped on the floor, and immediately all the masked people in the restaurant stood up and drew their weapons.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you killed?"