<-I-L-A-<<< Matteo explained the phone call that happened between Stollo and him, "Stollo still insists that it was us that killed his men that night. He wants five of our best men in return of the five deaths of his members."

"I vote Adriano," Kianzo said, jokingly. Adriano, sitting beside him, lifted his head from thinking and looked at Kianzo disapprovingly. Kianzo swung his arm over Adriano's shoulders, bringing him close as he boasted, "Don't worry, I'll go with you too. I'm obviously on the top five."

"Top five?" Marcella asked.

"Yeah, top five of the best looking Il Bisbiglio members."

Giovanni exaggeratedly groaned in pain, "I guess that means I'll be going."

"I volunteer as tribute!" Aiden said, egotistically raising his hand in the air.

"It doesn't work like that, Aiden," Marcella said.

An idea came to my head and I raised my hand for either Matteo or his father to call on me. People saw and looked at me questioningly.

"If you have something to say then just say it. You don't have to raise your hand. It's not a classroom." Marcella told me, quickly grabbing my hand and putting it down.

"Oh, well, what if we poke around and find evidence on the real suspects that killed Stollo's men? Surely if we find out the ones who really did it, Stollo would get off our backs."

Marcella shook her head and explained the complexity of it, "It's not that simple. The scene where Stollo's men were attacked at was cleaned up by Stollo's mafia. Apparently, it was a clean attack on the five. Nothing was left behind, literally. Their wallets, watches, jewelry, and even their shoes were taken from them. A real low blow that high-level mafias wouldn't do."

"It could have been one of the many newer crews, gangs that are trying to make a name for themselves," Giovanni suggested, putting his two cents into the conversation.

"Yet, they didn't claim the attack as their own doing?" I asked.

"If people knew that they were the ones that manage to take down five best members of Stollo's mafia, it would gain themselves popularity. However, it would make them a target by Stollo. As you can tell, he has a thing for revenge."

"Don't we all?" Lorenzo asked. "We can't let Stollo get away after hurting Lauretta, Dante, and Marco."

People murmured in agreement. Francesco cleared his throat and everyone turned their heads to face him. He gave an evil smile as he revealed his plan, "We give Stollo what he wants and more. We are going to give him our best men. It so happens that all of our mafia members are nothing but the best."

A bad feeling in my gut told me to start worrying. A powerful mafia armed with weapons attacking another big mafia that was also well armed with guns does not sound like a good idea.

<•••>

The meeting ended with Matteo telling people that they got an hour to get ready for the surprise attack. After everyone is done gathering their weapons, we were to meet back in the meeting room to discuss the fighting plan.

"Apparently, we are going to one of the Stollo's mafia house and attack there," I informed Dante, Lauretta, and Marco as I packed my emergency aid bag. They were curious from being left out and stationed in the office.

"That sounds fun. Although, I'll sit this one out." Dante said.

"As if you had an option, boy." His mother scolded.

Marcella entered the office, holding a gun. I flinched at the sight of it and quickly raised my arms in defense.

"Whoa," I exclaimed, "Please don't point the gun aimlessly! Put that away."

"It's for you," Marcella said, rolling her eyes. "Look, I know about the whole 'not killing people' thing, but you should come with us protected."

I shook my head, "Why would I need it? I'm only there to help you guys when someone gets hurt."

"Unexpected things can happen," Marcella argued. She, then, looked over at the three injured people occupying my office. "You should know that not everyone plans to get hurt."

"No, I can't," I said, pushing it away.

"Ila, why aren't you going to take the gun?" Lauretta asked, confused.

"I can't. I don't want to kill anyone."

"Why? Is it against the doctor laws?" Marco questioned.

"If there were doctor laws, I'm pretty sure Ila wouldn't be working for us," Lauretta told Marco.

"No, but I-"

"Fine," Marcella said, giving in. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a switchblade. Marcella begged as she extended her arm to give me the knife, "Please just take this then. If you don't want to kill anyone, then the least you can do is harm them."

I reluctantly accepted the weapon from her, only to make Marcella satisfied with no intentions of using it. I turned away from her to put it into my bag when she stopped me.

"Don't put it in your bag."

I zipped up my bag, seeing that I had nothing else to pack, and put it on. Then, I lifted the bottom of my shirt to reveal the front pockets of my jeans.

"You got to be kidding me." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, where am I suppose to put it then?" I asked.

Marcella pointed to my chest as if that was the obvious answer.

"My bra?" I asked, not liking the idea.

"Duh."

"No," I said and continued to slide it into my pockets.

Marcella tried grabbing the switchblade from me. "No, put it in your bra. Give it to me."

"No!" I said, trying to get it away from her.

She successfully got the weapon out of my grip and proceeded to shove the blade under my shirt and into my bra. Marco looked away respectively while Dante's mother covered her son eyes with her hand.

"Stop getting so handsy," I told her as I stopped fighting back and allowed her to conceal the weapon.

"I'm trying to make it look natural," Marcella said, "Or else your left boob is going to look lumpier than your right."

"Marcella, I'm blaming you if this thing opens and slice my nipple off."

>>>-F-R-A-N-C-E-S-C-O-> The members of my mafia that wanted to take part in the attack filled the meeting room for the second meeting of the night. My son had left me, sitting next to Ila. She looked nervous and Matteo was trying to assure her with a smile. He noticed that it didn't work and took her hand, caressing it with comfort, in which Ila relaxed.

I looked away from the two and saw Aiden and Giovanni who were sitting across from Matteo and Ila. Just like me, Aiden and Giovanni had witnessed the act of PDA and was mocking them. Giovanni dramatically grabbed Aiden's hand as Aiden terribly acted as if he was terrified.

I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention, noticing that everyone was here. All focused on me, but Aiden and Giovanni. They decided to take it a step further and made kissing faces to each other.

"Hey, lovebirds, get a room!" I said.

Aiden and Giovanni pulled apart and instantly apologized.

"Sorry."

"Sorry, sir."

"Keep your hands to yourself until after I finish explaining to you guys the plan, alright?" I chuckled.

<-I-L-A-<<< "I called Stollo before this meeting and negotiated to give him Lorenzo, Janelle, Joel, Alessandro, and Alexi," Matteo's father explained. "He believes that the exchange will happen in two days so he won't be ready for the surprise attack tonight."

Francesco walked away from the table and walked to the whiteboard.

"When we reach Stollo's mafia house we have to surround them by foot in designated areas. Matteo will be stationed on the west wing, Giovanni at the front of the house, Adriano can have the east wing, and Marcella will occupy the back of the house. Each with a group of 10 people. Of course, some will have to be scattered around further away from the house just in case some of Stollo's men might escape. I want to kill as many men possible without losing any of mine. Let's have a fun tonight, ladies and gents."

<•••>

By the time we reached Stollo's mafia house, it was midnight. I got out of the car, slipped on my backpack, and fixed my Bluetooth earpiece as I walked to join the body of people.

"Where's the house?" I asked Aiden, whispering to match the hush voices that was being spoken in the crowd.

"We are going to take a short walk to it in a bit. We can't drive straight to it since the cars will give us away," Aiden answered.

"It's dark," I said, concerned if we'd get lost. Unlike our mafia house, the place was covered with trees. It was as if it was built in the middle of the forest. To add to the wild feel, the road that led to here was bumpy and winding. I felt someone at my side, grabbing my hand.

"Don't worry. If you're scared, you can hold my hand." Giovanni winked at me, promising, "I know the way."

Marcella came to my rescue and separated Gio's hand from mine. "Come on, let's get going."

Giovanni led the way to the house and we, as well as other members of Il Bisbiglio, followed. All of us stayed quiet as we moved in case someone had anything important to say through the ear-piece. Only the sound of clothing rubbing against each other on one person as they walked and their footsteps on the brittle leaves were heard.

Stollo's mafia house came into view and we slowed down to a stop. I got a better look at people faces due to the light coming from within the mansion. Somewhere familiar and others were complete strangers. A shadow was cast on me as Aiden stopped in front of me to fidget with something.

"What's that?" I asked as I pointed to the black object in his hand.

"A bomb," He answered. Aiden lifted up his other hand to show me a remote with a red button in the middle.

"Aiden, are you ready?" Leo asked Aiden through the earpiece.

Why Aiden? Exactly who thought it was a good idea to give Aiden a bomb, an explosive thing that can wipe out people?

"No, none of the windows of the second floor is open," Marcella reported.

Giovanni picked up a rock the size of his hand and aimed at the window closet to us on the second floor. He launched it and broke the window.

"Problem solved," Giovanni said, dusting off his hands.

Aiden threw the bomb inside the window and wasted no time in hitting the red button. We heard an explosion from inside, along with shouting. Then, it went silent. I looked around to see that everyone was still.

"What we waiting for?" I asked, whispering to Aiden.

I heard some wrestling coming from behind us. I turned around and came face to face with Marcella.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, remembering that she was placed on the south side of the building.

"It got boring over there." She shrugged. "We're waiting for their move."

"Guys, the door is opening." Someone said, alerting us through the small devices.

An angry man walked out slowly with his hands in the air. It was clear that he didn't agree to surrender.

"They're surrendering," I told everybody. "What do we do now? Pack up and leave?"

"Lorenzo, shoot him," Matteo ordered through the earpiece. Looking away from the man, I made eye contact with Matteo, who wasn't that far away.

"He's surrendering, though?" I questioned his order.

He looked away, breaking eye contact, "That's not what we came for."

"Wait a min-" I said, trying to get a word in. I was too late for Lorenzo, who was a few yards away from me, aimed his gun. He got the man in the neck, instantly killing him. "Oh my gosh!"

All hell broke loose as the man hit the ground.

<~> Please show much love <3