"Don Ferna!" He could not pronounce the two words without his ridiculous accent getting in his way as he rushed forward with an outstretched hand. "It is nice to finally meet you."

All eyes were on Tobias as he hesitated to accept the eager handshake but he did eventually and clasped it with both his hands in a conservative gesture.

He knew he didn't like the man at first glance.

Well, there were a lot of people he did not like at first glance.

"I honestly wish I could say the same, Gustavo." His almost pure American accent reminded him that he had spent more time in a foreign land than on his home soil.

Unlike Gustavo, Tobias could not bring himself to mention the same last name that had made life mildly uncomfortable for him but the Italian did not seem to mind.

"Come in, come in. Take a seat!" Gustavo said, grinning with his obnoxiously white teeth as he gestured at the round table with four chairs that a woman stood by.

She had a frown on her blood-red lips as her arms were folded across her chest, forcing the almost non-existent breasts to stand out where oil-black hair could not cover.

With a slightly tilted head, Tobias decided she was uninteresting to look at.

He first sat down with Eniola right by his side as they both preferred and the man continued speaking.

"Eniola Gillian." Gustavos said with the same wide smile, his eyes wavering downward for a moment. "You are as beautiful as they have said."

Tobias felt his lips curve into a frown. Look away.

He definitely did not like the man.

"Alvaro Montezuma." He briefly acknowledged and though Tobias could not see Varo who stood behind him, he could feel the cringe he made as Gustavo completely butchered his last name.

"Varo is fine."

"Right."

Berlusconi still maintained his grin as he snapped his fingers at the bodyguard next to him, "Wait a moment, I have something for you, Don Ferna."

He quickly returned with a wine brand that Tobias was familiar with.

"I learned that you liked white wine." He said, popping open the cork with ease and pouring it into an upturned glass.

Tobias knew he had no intention of sharing a drink with the man but picked up the glass.

"I appreciate the hospitality, Gustavo but you should understand that I am not here to exchange pleasantries." He said kindly, almost rolling his eyes when Eniola nudged him with her foot.

Her eyes said 'stop, he's being nice!'.

Gustavo looked at the exchange and then chuckled as he sat down with a brown envelope in front of him.

"I am aware but it is not every day I have the king of Spain in my house." Tobias mentally grimaced at the title.

His father preferred it, not him. And for God's sake Spain already has a king.

"Where's Giannini?" He asked bluntly, frowning at the crestfallen look on Gustavo's face.

"I— I will have his second answer to that." Looking around, he barked, "Where the hell is Kent?"

The man slid past the ajar door with an awkward smile looked very familiar.

Of course, it's him.

"Kent?" Eniola raised a brow, making them look at her. The man ignored her entirely as he walked up to Gustavo.

Tobias could already see the man in a coffin because of the disrespect.

The pale man bent to whisper in Gustavo's ear but the man quickly waved him away,

"No, tell them what Giannini said."

Kent stood firmly and looked Tobias in the eye as he spoke. "He said he couldn't make it."

Don Ferna could feel a smirk stretch his lips.

"Oh?" He asked in amusement, hearing Varo crack his fingers as he stood behind him.

Thankfully, they both had the same thing in mind.

"He does have a lot of guts, doesn't he?" Gustavo quipped with slight annoyance. "This moron told me an hour ago and I had to go to Giannini only to realise he had already left the country."

Tobias watched the American that fidgeted behind the oldest Berlusconi.

"What time would he be back then?" He asked calmly, biting his tongue when Kent stole a glance at Eniola.

There were a lot of factors forcing his patience to run thin.

The idiot only shrugged in response and Tobias could hear a snort behind him. He was not the only person getting ticked off.

Alvaro leaned over to whisper. "I'm going to shoot him in the face if he keeps talking."

Same.

"This is fucking hopeless." The visually unappealing woman grated, making Tobias raise an eyebrow.

"I told you to—"

"Excuse me?" Tobias asked, rather nicely, cutting Gustavo.

She glared at him from where she sat as Gustavo simply turned away after muttering 'puttana'.

"I said it's fucking hopeless. Just give us back our brother." The realization made Tobias bark out a surprised laugh.

She was Catalina Berlusconi.

He quickly collected himself when Eniola grabbed his hand from underneath the table. He squeezed hers reassuringly. He was not going to act rashly... yet.

Looking back at her angry face, he smiled sardonically. "Did I hear you correctly?"

He was met with no answer but still the glaring face. She was brave. Unbelievably stupid, but brave.

He rose to his feet, ignoring the tense posture Berlusconi's men took. He leaned over the table, staring her right in the eyes as she swallowed nervously. He knew she was doubting her choices at that moment.

"What if I told you that your brother is no longer in my custody?" His voice was barely above a whisper as he blew air onto her face. "Hm? What would you do then?"

The way the room grew silent did nothing to unnerve him as he continued.

"What if I told you that just like Giannini did to Anthony and Maria, I ended his life as well? Hm?" Tobias asked. "What would you do then?"

She was completely quiet.

He stared at her then at Gustavo with a frown. "Your brother crossed the line a good while ago. Would it be wrong if I made things a little bit fair?"

If it were only up to him, he would have made things completely even.

Tobias heard a small click from underneath the table as Catalina leaned away from him.

He raised an amused brow at her.

He was sure she was the most stupid person he had ever met.

With a small smile, he placed a hand on her stiff shoulder. "Do not be foolish."

Her tense hand suddenly relaxed and a loud crack was heard on the floor. A guard came forward to retrieve the gun she had dropped.

"I only have a slight regard for Gustavo due to Chun Wang's report. Do not make me take it back."

He returned to his seat like nothing happened, subtly grabbing Eniola's hand. Her palms felt sweaty.

"Don Ferna, forgive my sister's—" He did not want to hear any of it. He was more than ready to get it all over and done with after talking so much.

"If you truly want to talk, Gustavo, get her out of here."

Gustavo hesitated for a moment and sent a pitiful look to Catalina who looked understandably livid. Begrudgingly, she stood up and left the safe-like room with two of the guards.

"And the American..." It was Varo who said this.

With a brief nod, the man stalked out of the room while Eniola's gaze followed him.

The sound of a ticking jaw certainly did not come from Tobias.

"And the guards."

There was a bit of hesitation but Gustavo waved them away, leaving just the four of them in the room. Patrizio stalled but withdrew from the room as well.

"Trust me, Gus Gus, if we wanted to do anything, the guards wouldn't be a problem." Alvaro said.

Tobias shared a knowing look with Varo as the latter withdrew to the corner of the room, blending into the dark walls as usual.

"I hope you understand that I mean no harm, Don Ferna." Tobias sighed tiredly at the formalities.

"I do understand that. It is just unfortunate that your brothers and sister do not." Gustavo grimly nodded as he pulled out a lighter.

Tobias fought a grimace.

If this man had done enough research like he claimed he had, he would know Tobias hated the smell of tobacco.

"Is Giovanni alright?" The Italian asked calmly, his dark eyes resting heavily on Tobias's.

Tobias hesitated before replying. There were more important things to talk about.

"Why am I here?" He retorted with a question instead.

"They had not always been like this," Gustavo started with a sigh and Tobias watched as Eniola took his glass.

He was beginning to think she had a drinking issue.

"I guess it's what happens when you have an absent father." –Tell me about it– "And I promise you, no matter what you've heard, he never cared for any of us. Not even me, his heir." Gustavo's smile was far gone by now. "He only left the family to me because he had no choice."

"How is this our problem, again?" Eniola asked with Varo grunting in agreement as he rubbed his face.

"Do you not want to know how you became entangled in this?" Well, we don't have much of a choice now, do we?

"Eh, go on."

"My father never married out of love or anything but he chose my mum, Don Castano's first daughter, to help him pay off his debt."

Tobias knew about the Castano family.

They were a small cartel in Sicily and for some reason, couldn't keep their noses out of Venezuelan business so they died out a few years after he returned to the States.

Nothing important there.

"I was born not long after and then Giannini whose mother was our maid. My father never took responsibility for Giovanni and Catalina but admitted it in his will." Gustavo scratched the back of his gelled hair as he continued, "He also admitted other things as well..."

"What else did he admit?" The story was getting quite intriguing.

Gustavo exhaled loudly, "Well, my father said he liked men."

He eyed Tobias who still maintained the same blank stare while deep down, he wished he could get some popcorn.

"Good for him, I guess," Eniola said awkwardly as Varo wore an amused grin.

"Not exactly. He told my mother that he was no longer interested in the marriage but was willing to keep up with appearances and all but she ran off the next morning and went to her father.

"He somehow got her back with the threat that he'd kill me if she told anybody about it. According to him, he only wanted to keep the identity of his secret lover safe."

"Okay, that's really sweet of him."

Alvaro rolled his eyes but Gustavo continued.

"He literally forced my mother to stay with him until she fell sick and died before he sent all my siblings to hell. Even when he took his last breath, he said all he did for me, he owed it to my mother." The oldest Berlusconi sighed, "Sometimes, I like to think he might have felt something for her along the way."

After a few moments of silence, Tobias spoke up, "Now, the important part?"

"Right..." He finally touched the envelope and ripped it open. "Fifth of May 1993, Dean Gillian was kidnapped by a small gang."

Everybody knew that Dean had been kidnapped once. It was national news and his sudden release made journalist bother him for years. He never addressed the topic and just thanked God.

"If you didn't know already, it was not just a gang." Gustavo paused again and passed the first sheets of the document to Tobias, "El Plateado is a breakaway group from the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico and they needed a startup. What is a better way to get such capital aside from demanding a ransom to release a New York senator?"

Tobias opened the file, flipping through the pieces of information that seemed to have been gathered for years. It was basically data that Gustavo had taken it upon himself to translate. Which was good because Tobias could not bother to read legal documents.

He quickly handed it to Alvaro.

"As you might already know, my father, Vincenzo, had a clash with El Plateado and Dean was just lucky enough to be rescued. He then promised to repay Vincenzo in a bid to compensate him for the losses he had accrued due to the unexpected rescue mission."

"But my father never paid him back..." Eniola asked and Gustavo nodded.

"Well, with what I got, it seemed your father paid him in another way..." The man trailed off and Tobias raised an eyebrow.

"In what other way?"

Gustavo exhaled loudly as he leaned back into his seat, drawing his cigar to his lips. Tobias had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

"They were in a relationship."

Eniola's eyes had never widened so much.

"What?!"

Gustavo nodded again as he continued,

"After the entire ordeal, your father signed a contract stating that he would settle my father for all he had lost during the clash with El Plateado." As he said this, Varo waved what seemed to be a photocopy of a contract. "Vincenzo stated that he was reluctant as he felt Dean Gillian owed him nothing but Dean was quite persistent. I'd like to think that the whole relationship fiasco happened as they went back and forth with the contract signing."

"My dad was gay?" She asked almost silently, trying to process what he said. "Are you sure you've got your information right?"

Even in her state of shock, her hand still found Tobias'.

"Are you alright?" He questioned softly and Eniola shook her head.

"Do you think that's why she left?" She asked.

Was it possible that her mother had found out like Gustavo's and left as well? He did not think it was unlikely.

"Well, I can't say for sure..."

Eniola exhaled, "Was it enough reason to leave her only child?"

Tobias had no answer for that.

If he had found out his partner had other interests, he would take his child away with him. Or still try to maintain a relationship with the child. To him, a broken marriage was never justification for child neglect. Even his father was invested enough to still want to have him take over the family... Although, for completely different reasons.

"Yeah, I need to get some fresh air or something." She said, getting up from the seat.

Tobias turned to her in concern, "Go with someone." It could easily be translated to 'take all the guards with you'.

"Sure."

He watched her as she left, knowing very well she was going to be protected before returning his attention back to Gustavo.

Now that she was gone—

"Give me a reason to not kill you."

Gustavo's eyes widened in surprise while he just leaned into his seat. He was done playing nice.

"Sorry?" He eyed Varo who slowly walked to the door as Tobias crossed his arms over his chest.

"I may entertain certain things with Eniola around but I am not as level-headed as you think." He started. "Give me a fucking reason."

Gustavo shot up his seat with an almost panicked look.

None of his guards were in the room and with the pads on the wall, Tobias was sure as hell that it was soundproof. He would gain nothing from killing the oldest Berlusconi but he already had a penchant for getting rid of things he did not like.

"Now, wait a moment— why would you want to kill me?" Gustavo asked and Alvaro chuckled, still guarding the door.

Tobias was almost regretting not bringing weapons.

"Does your brother take me for a fool?" He asked, "Sit down."

Gustavo obeyed without protest before shaking his head, "Listen, Don Ferna. The kid is scared. He knows he fucked up."

About fucking time.

"Then why did you lie? Why did you say he returned back to Italy?"

"I—" Gustavo sighed deeply before continuing, "He says he needs time before he can confront you. Something about attempting to pay for the loss and damages."

Pay?!

"Is he going to resurrect dead bodies?" Tobias questioned incredulously, leaning in for emphasis. "He killed a member of my family and a completely innocent woman, Gustavo. How in God's name is he going to pay for that?"

"Don Ferna, please, just give him some time—"

"I'm still convinced that I need to even the scoreline." Tobias said easily, waving off the man's plea.

It was a life for a life after all.

He sent a long stare toward Gustavo and frowned. He did not dislike the man enough to actually end his life. But the American on the other hand—

"Varo?" He called, "Get me Kent Wallace."

He had every reason to murder the bastard. He was going to send a message and quell his jealousy. A win is a win.

Varo wasted no time in pulling the tall man in by the collar while Gustavo watched. The American was dropped to his knees as he stubbornly protested. Varo is not going to like that.

Not even a second later, Kent was kicked to the floor, with Alvaro's boot-print vivid on his back.

Told you.

"Don Ferna—" The look Tobias sent Gustavo made him shut up almost instantly.

Tobias stretched a palm out to him, "Give me a gun."

"Wait— what the fuck did I do?!" Kent protested with Varo holding him in place. Sometimes, the lawyer was a bit too strong for his build.

Tobias tilted his head at him while collecting the gun from Gustavo.

It was a customized gun with 'Berlusconi' engraved down the barrel. Killing him with his boss' gun would be fun.

"Right. What did you do?" Tobias started, pretending to think as he leaned against the table, still inspecting the gun.

If Lucado was there, he would gush over it. Idiot.

"Of course!" He started with a small smile, "You just happened to be incredibly unfortunate." And well, you dated Eniola so...

"That's what you psychopaths do?" Kent asked, his voice strained due to his chest being pressed to the floor. "Kill people because you feel like?"

"Exactly." He replied, squatting to Kent's position, "Open up."

He pried Kent's mouth open with the gun, "Plus, I am currently on a two to nil scoreline with Giannini and if you have all done your research well," he paused as he tightened his grip on Kent's jaw. "I do not like to lose."

Kent gulped as he tried to struggle in vain, knowing very well the gun in his mouth could go off at any moment.

Tobias pushed it in further, feeling the strain around the corner of the American's lips. He didn't care if he ripped them apart.

"Do not look at me like that. You're almost making me feel bad." He said, gesturing at the ugliest shade of glassy blue eyes he had ever seen. "I didn't know blue could be so hideous."

He removed the safety of the gun and gave Gustavo one last look. The Italian was trying to pull off his best poker face. Pathetic.

He was just about to pull the trigger when a soft voice stole his entire attention.

"Tobi?"

Behind him, Eniola stood with a confused frown, "What the fuck are you doing?"

He could hear Varo mumble a swear word before he removed the gun from Kent's mouth.

"Keep him in place." He turned to Eniola, "Fuego, please stay out of this?"

As expected, she shook her head stubbornly, "I'm not going to let you kill someone while I'm here, Tobi."

"Then go outside."

She narrowed her eyes at Varo before continuing, "That's my ex for fuck's sake." She gestured, raising her voice.

He was more concerned that the frown had not left her face since she came in.

Something had upset her.

"Give me the gun." She instructed when he kept quiet. "Right now."

He contemplated doing just that but the flashbacks from her former actions with a gun made him halt.

"I can't do that." Eniola pressed her lips together and turned to Varo. Perhaps she remembers as well.

"Let him go." Varo raised a brow at her, clearly enjoying punishing Kent.

He only did as she said when Tobias nodded.

"You're not going to kill anyone. Tell me you aren't."

He didn't.

"Eniola.."

He had a lot on the line and avenging Anthony's death was just the first step.

"What about Anthony and Maria? You really expect us to forget that shit?" Varo asked from behind as he held Kent by the neck. "Stumble again. I fucking dare you."

"You think killing him would bring any justice?" She asked, "What if Giannini wants payback too? What then? Y'all really ready to die over some misunderstanding?!"

Tobias put an arm on her shoulder.

"Eniola, please calm down—" She interrupted him by swatting his hand away.

"I won't calm down. I'm tired of this shit!" She said, her brown eyes, glittering with unshed tears. "I don't want any of this. I just want you. Is that too much to ask?!"

He was taken aback by the last statement and went away to drop the gun on the table, across from where Gustavo sat. For fuck's sake.

"Fine."

His fingers tapped away with slight vigor as he hoped his annoyance would slip away in that way.

"Que?!" Varo asked in disbelief. "Are you being for real right now?!"

Tobias stared at Eniola as he nodded. He wouldn't let the tears drop.

"Get him out of my sight." He ordered watching as Varo basically booted Kent out of the room.

He could suffer spine problems but it was better than being dead.

"You can get your brother tomorrow." He told Gustavo whose ears perked up at his voice. "Fifteen million in cash. Pounds. Varo will be your point of contact."

He picked up his blazer, still keeping his eyes on Eniola. It was not like he needed the money for anything but it could be helpful for Maria's family at least.

"I will not hesitate to burn down Sicily if your family crosses me again." Gustavo quickly shook his head as Varo approached him.

Unbelievably, he had a hand ready for a handshake as Varo just took the gun and bottle of wine.

"You already gave it to us."

Tobias held the door open for Eniola, holding up a finger before she could say anything. He would need a while to get over it.

~~~

Believe it or not, the drama hasn't even started. Remember our body count? THREE TO GO, BITCHES!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👯