◆ Friendly User ◆
◆ MILES ◆
The entire universe must be having a laugh right now. Just having absolute fun playing the biggest practical joke on me.
Weirdly appropriate explanation. I wasn't even the superstitious type. Nor was I religious. But after all the shit that got thrown my way, there couldn't be another explanation for all this.
Someone or something — a supreme being, they would all say — had been messing with my life ever since my mother brought me into this world. This hateful, messy, disease-ridden world run by soulless power-drunk scumbags with too much influence and wealth at their disposal.
In the grand scheme of things, I could just be lacking the foresight or maturity to see things in a better light. But this shit's getting real old. I'd better not get killed before 30 for nothing.
"Juno didn't tell me shit. I didn't even know about Angelika." Niccolo sighed. He sat in the front passenger seat while Ricchar kept busy with his phone beside me. "That they changed her name, or... Dude, I don't even know his grandparents' names. Ilya didn't tell me anything about them."
Still defensive. Just like I expected. I ignored his complaining tone and stared out the window. Alessio, our driver, stepped on the gas again. The gated village where I lived was only minutes away. I should be home before this annoying headache left me alone.
"You know..." Ricchar chuckled beside me as if he found the whole situation hilariously entertaining. "At this point, 'I told you so' just doesn't do it justice."
I scoffed and ignored him, too.
"Told him last year it's no coincidence Emira looks like Kel," Ricchar told Niccolo, his tone still bordering on amused instead of surprised.
"If I found out sooner, I would've told you before I said yes to Magnus."
"Whatever," I wanted to say. I glanced at the back of Niccolo's bald head and kept my mouth shut. No use wasting what's left of my energy.
Maybe he's just paranoid, thinking I would beat him up like Pappa usually did every time he found out about Niccolo's lies and secrets. Like Ricchar, I didn't trust Niccolo more than I trusted my family, but I trusted him enough to keep him around.
He knew it and must be scared shitless now, thinking I suspected he's been lying to us and keeping secrets again. I knew he had some ulterior motive before agreeing to my plans; I just didn't want to dwell on it since I still needed his skills and resources. There's still a chance he's secretly working on something with Ilya, but maybe it's just my growing paranoia.
Considering the things Magnus must've found out about us, I had a dozen suspicions racking my brain right now. Ricchar's right: no one could be trusted. But to make our plans work, we still needed some outside help.
I pulled a face. Almost forgot he's always right.
"Your Mamma and Pappa are the same." Ricchar tapped my arm when I kept staring at the road.
"What?" Niccolo shifted in his seat to look at us.
"They're second degree cousins."
"What?" Niccolo scoffed.
"Paternal side."
"No shit."
"No shit." Ricchar laughed. "They said it's how the bloodline stays pure. First and second degree cousins getting married was highly encouraged. They were more superstitious back then. Hence the term 'pureblood'."
"Disgusting," I wanted to say. I kept my trap shut. It's not like my opinion would change anything.
"It is what it is." Ricchar sighed. "Maybe the witch included that in the spell, too," he muttered in a singsong tone. "Or not."
"You still believe in that witch curse story?" Niccolo snickered.
"He should now."
"Yo. Maxim." Niccolo sighed loudly when I ignored them and kept my eyes on the road.
Besides my resting bitch face, I had my headset on and I barely said a word since we got off the plane. This annoying thorn in my side just wouldn't take a hint. Lately he's like the annoying younger cousin I never wanted.
Cousin. There's that word again.
Shit. I just didn't see it coming. If Magnus wasn't lying to us, then Mykaela and I could actually have come from the same bloodline.
It's probably why that one-way telepathic thing with her happened. Dammit. I knew it wasn't just that stupid blood pact game at Paul's party.
"Pappa called you?" I sat back to stare at Niccolo. "Back in the restaurant?"
"Yeah." He glanced away and made a face.
"What'd he say?"
"Just rambling about the shipments."
"We're here." Ricchar yawned and stepped out of the SUV before Alessio could park it in front of my house.
The metal gates slowly opened after Alessio entered his thumb print on the console. For a minute or two, Ricchar and Niccolo hung out on my front porch while the bodyguards did a quick check around the house and the property.
Alessio and the guards gave us some privacy after Niccolo sat down with me in the patio. Then Ricchar adeptly raided my fridge and brought out some wine for us. Just so he'd have an excuse to drink before dinner.
"I thought your flight's tonight?" I frowned at his full glass of wine as he sat across from me.
"Where's Cloe? Still at her parents' house?"
"Rescheduled it. They took her to Munich." Ricchar glanced at Niccolo who looked busy with his laptop. "I told her I'd be there Saturday afternoon."
"Leandro thinks Pappa's stealing from him now?"
"Beyond furious," Niccolo mumbled while his baggy eyes focused on his computer. "Thinks your dad sold him out. Or stashed the packages somewhere."
I shook my head and grinned. Pappa must've threatened Niccolo's life again during that phone call in Nice. What's new...
"Let him rot with rage," I'd say if I were feeling chattier than usual. Besides, those greedy drug lord wannabes didn't have any real proof that we deliberately planned the missing packages nightmare. Not yet at least.
"You sure it was 200?"
"At least 200 kilos last time they checked." Niccolo reclined and smirked at Ricchar. "I screwed with the trackers before the ship could reach the border."
"So, where's the package now?"
"Still safe."
"Where?" Ricchar squinted at him while holding his glass of wine.
"Maybe sitting somewhere in a construction site. Looking like sacks of premium white cement."
"In Nurzia," I added. It's a town near Mariangela just an hour away from Ricchar's estate.
"You're serious?" Ricchar laughed out loud. "You sneaky little shits."
I almost laughed with him.
Leandro should be throwing all sorts of fits right now for all I care. I didn't say yes to stealing his high-value contraband just so that psycho would think Pappa would steal from him this early on in their partnership. I wasn't trying to get my father killed. But knowing Pappa, he probably lied his way out of it before Leandro could shoot him in the head.
I didn't know for sure; he wouldn't take my calls for some reason. "He's not pickin' up." I looked at Ricchar. "You tried calling him?"
"Your Pappa?" He belched and frowned. "No. Why? Hey. Does he know Magnus and his wife?"
"Not personally," Niccolo replied.
"Can you check his location now?"
"Stefano? I should be able to." Niccolo leaned forward to type something on his computer.
"You told him we were in Nice?"
"He found out."
I tutted and shook my head. "How?"
"He called one of your bodyguards again."
"Shit." I sighed and massaged my forehead. Fuck this migraine and all living snitches. "Can you trace his phone?"
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