"Please don't call me that." Alex turned towards the owner of the voice and said, "There was only one Alexander the Great in the history."
Sicilia Begano, the only child of Antonio Begano. Well, the only one that was still alive – the mobster had a couple of sons, who died from unnatural causes before Tony met Mila and retired from the industry.
Sicilia had her mother's looks, but the character was completely different. While already in her early twenties, she still had the rebellious phase of a thirteen year old.
But no one could blame her. Locked up in this exquisite prison under the paranoid supervision of her mobster father with no chance to ever escape – anyone would start acting somewhat stupid. It is said that every boy needs a father in his life, in this case it was obviously a girl who needed her mother.
Currently she was dressed in a formal black trouser suit and her shoes had heels so high, she could almost look Alex strait in the eyes. Her hair was gathered in a bun and she looked very much like a young, emancipated businesswoman. It was as if her whole nature screamed 'I'm different than him!' - her father was an ugly short old man, dressed in white suit while she was beautiful, tall and dressed in all black.
"Come on, don't be like that!" Sicilia bashfully smiled, "Let's go and take a look at those snobs upstairs."
While Alex didn't fall for her theatrics, she didn't care either and grabbed his elbow and pulled him towards the stairs.
There was something wrong in this family with the habit of grabbing people by their elbows, but before Alex could comment on it out loud, he could already hear the soft music and murmurs of dozens of people. The air was filled with aroma of champagne and expensive snacks or it might have been just an illusion and Alex would've soon immersed in that if not for the earlier incident.
Of course, normally he would've grabbed a bottle of a good whiskey and sat in a corner while observing the cream of this society while periodically one after another old and new clients would come over, exchange few polite sentences or maybe even make an offer. Unfortunately the pretty annoyance in the black trouser suit was mercilessly dragging him along and there was no chance he would not be in the middle of attention if things continued like this.
"Sicilia, please wait!" Alex said in almost a begging voice.
During the previous years he already experienced how there was no reasoning with this vixen, but suddenly he got an idea. There were two rules if one wanted to get along with her – the first, never mention her father and the second – be 'fun', whatever that meant.
Seeing her questioning look, Alex almost whispered, "What would you say if we sneak in from 'the office', stay back and observe them from a side. You know, I could tell you quite a few stories about … well … snobs, how you called them."
"What else are they, if not snobs? Pretending to be some kind of aristocrats in the twenty first century, acting all so high and lofty while actually being slavers and murderers." Sicilia snorted, but then was back all smiles, "Alright, let's do it since it's you who asked! But those stories better be really juicy!"
Alex sighed. He didn't really 'ask' to do that, it was more like a way to potentially survive the event. In the hall upstairs there were quite a few Sicilia's suitors and even if most of them knew who he was, many would not tolerate someone being too close to her, even though none had any chance anyway – at least according to Tony. In fact, quite a few young men had disappeared from this world because of her and Sicilia seemed to enjoy that.
She immediately changed the direction and pulled Alex towards 'the office'. Actually 'the office' in this villa were the security facilities located on every floor and connected with a separate staircase. It housed the guards on duty and in the largest room on the ground floor there was a monitoring room that Stevie oversaw.
"Yo! Alex, long time no …" Stevie barely managed to say when Sicilia already pulled Alex up the narrow stairs at the far side of the room.
All what Stevie actually saw was Alex's wave of hand and apologetic smile. He sighed and sat back down at the wall full of monitors, switched the image on the few closest ones, grabbed a pack of chips and then grinned. Even though he wanted to question Alex about what happened at the gate few minutes ago, most likely there will be more 'fun' events to watch tonight and they could chat later.
Twenty minutes later Sicilia and Alex were still in the most inconspicuous corner of the grand hall that was filled with guests. They managed to stay hidden near the entrance to the premises of the security staff as it was not payed any attention to.
After arriving, the heiress unceremoniously commanded one of the guards to bring them drinks and the big guy didn't even think of objecting her request. In fact, for the time being he was turned into a personal waiter for the pair. The guard kept bringing snacks and new drinks while Sicilia listened to Alex with a condescending smile on her cherry lips.
"… and that guy, over there, having a friendly talk with the elderly couple … it is rumored that last year he killed their eldest son in a dispute over territories near Bilbao, in the northern Spain …"
"… those two middle aged men, laughing together like they were best friends, in fact are the two largest illegal arms dealers, currently generously supplying the middle east while Americans desperately try to keep some kind of order in Iraq while robbing it dry. They would've killed each other on the spot few years ago, but it seems they have come to some kind of agreement …"
"… oh, right … that guy over there, he is the one controlling the most of the illegal goods that flow out from Iraq …"
"… that Asian gentlemen standing over there is the owner of one of the largest eastern slave routes coming to Europe. Basically everyone here is his client. And the one he is talking to …"
"These are not 'juicy stories'. You are mostly just introducing everyone." Suddenly Sicilia turned to Alex and said in annoyance.
"Well, I could probably tell you some interesting details …" Alex desperately tried to think of something while inwardly sweating.
He actually knew quite a bit of confidential information on few people here, but if anything of that got out, dying would be a light punishment for him. At the same time he didn't want to anger this moody princess at his side.
Fortunately her father involuntary came to the rescue. The whole large hall suddenly fell silent when the Old Tony walked in accompanied by, of course, Frank. Sicilia snorted, theatrically turned away and soundlessly disappeared behind the 'office' doors, but Alex could finally heave a sigh of relief. He carefully observed Tony, who was still in the same white suit, but the red tie had disappeared. Other than that, there were no signs of the earlier incident.
He walked to the center, held a short speech, tried to joke and thanked everyone for coming. The crowd politely laughed along with him, drank after the speech and the atmosphere quickly returned to what it was few minutes ago. The only difference was the old, thin guy in a white suit energetically walked around greeting his guests individually.
The event finally was going the way he expected and Alex now just needed to wait until Old Tony was done with pleasantries. Then he could get his payment and leave. While he was not in a rush, he was looking forward to vacation he planned to have, this time in Argentina – Felipe Batista insisted Alex visited his ranch for few years already.
Unfortunately things once again didn't go as planned.
"Let's go!" Alex felt Sicilia's warm breath as she whispered in his ear and afterwards the familiar grab on his elbow.
While her father held his speech, she managed to change and now wore a tight purple dress, accentuating her womanly pride. Her hair freely fell down over her shoulders and if not for the slutty outfit, she very much looked like her mother.
"Sigh, where to?" Alex asked when he was already behind the 'office' doors and was pulled down the stairs.
"You will show me what you brought him this time!" Sicilia looked back and playfully winked.
"Wait!" Alex stopped and this time she was not strong enough to move him, "I just arrived and we have no idea where the package is. In addition …"
"Come on! There is only one place he could take anything you bring him!" Sicilia looked at Alex provocatively, "And there is no need for you to worry about anything. First of all, you are with me and second – even a thief would not steal anything in his own home, much less you here."
When Alex still didn't move, she waved a bottle with a dark brown liquid inside in front of his eyes and laughed, "Don't worry, you won't suffer a loss!"
The only thing Alex noticed was the word written in large letters 'Macallan'. While he was not certain which one exactly was it, he knew Tony had a few different Macallan's in his collection and they could go for several hundred thousand dollars per bottle, sometimes even more. It didn't matter that the old man didn't like whiskey himself, he enjoyed to have an exclusive personal collection.
'Maybe they also are a family of snobs? Buying the 'good stuff' just for the sake of collecting and not even tasting it.' Alex thought restraining himself from gulping loudly and followed the tonight's femme fatale.
A minute later they stood in a small elevator that brought them few floors down, underground. This was the area basically no one was allowed in, except for the very few from security and Sicilia, of course. Normally she would not have been able to bring a plus one in here, no matter who it was, but Alex was one of the few exceptions. In fact, he was the one who gave the final approval for all the security systems down here.
They walked out the elevator and found themselves alone in a large dim hall. There was some antique furniture around, few paintings on the walls and an exquisite snooker table in the far end – another thing Old Tony bought just to have it.
While here were no guards present in person, these were the most secure premises in the whole villa. Sicilia threw an emotionless look around and, while still holding whiskey bottle in her hand, proceeded to the door on the right and Alex followed her trying to understand how to not make a mess of this situation. There would be no problems if Tony found them here, in fact, it is possible he already knew. Main thing was to watch over the little vixen and make sure she didn't do anything stupid.
After few turns they arrived at the inconspicuous door. Sicilia quickly pressed the buttons on the code panel and after a beep the door opened and she walked in.
'Still 2-4-7-5-4-8? I wonder why he trusts her with this place?' Alex thought while following her.
Back then he tried to insist that the most important places would be accessible only to Tony himself and, maybe, Frank. But the old man casually waved him off and said it was fine.
'Well, it could be considered fine, since there are no super-expensive pieces of art or jewelry here that could be easily stolen.' Alex mused while looking around. Few of the things he had brought Old Tony himself, but few … he had no idea how the old bandit even got them down here.
After the door opened, light turned on automatically and while it was as dim as everywhere else in the underground premises, one could finally observe the sacred place of Antonio Begano. Well … judging from the aroma lingering in the air and the somewhat oppressive atmosphere this could be also called a ritual chamber.
On the walls there were strange ancient paintings, tapestries and carvings, mostly from Hinduism and Buddhism tradition, quite unfitting for a man of Italian descent. Several items had their own stands and could be seen only from behind a glass. In the middle of the room there was a large, antique table and a similarly large chair – obviously the Old Tony's favorite workplace. Behind it there was over two meter tall circular rock carving.
The most eye catching was the golden statue of a woman encrusted in countless gemstones in one of the corners. Only god knows how much did it cost to make the life-sized Mila's statue, but Alex knew the old mobster didn't care. Even now there were candles and an incense burning on a small altar below it. Obviously Tony has been recently here – item on the table and Alex's empty backpack on the floor also proved that.