He was sitting at the head of the table, a few of his men were seated around the huge conference room, Matteo was sitting by his right as usual, while Bernie was on his left.

True to what he'd ordered Matteo to do, the blonde had called some of his men into the conference room for the meeting, and he looked more alive than he had done in days, hope was evident on his face and it was much stronger in his heart.

Something in his gut feeling told him this wasn't just a hunch, he could feel it deep down that he was going to find Nate.

He looked at the chairs and it was just Vince, Nico and Murphy, one of his very good shooter, the guy was good with a sniper, he didn't want to have all of his men here, not because he didn't trust them but because the smaller the team, the faster and efficient they would be.

"I'm sure most of you already know why I called for this meeting"? Spade's voice bounced off the walls of the room, making them to nod, as that was making it even easier for him, he didn't have to start explaining what was going on. "There's been new information on Salvatore and his location" he said making them all to focus on him "Nico, I want you to go with Vince to the location they were last spotted, Bernie would give you everything you need and report back to him in everything you see" he orders and both men he just referred to nodded their heads "The rest of us will prepare back here at the mansion and when we're certain it's not a trap and is legit, we will randevous with you there" All of them nodded without asking questions, he liked that, complete and total submission from his men

"If there aren't any questions, everyone can get to preparing, we're gonna need all the gear we can get" he tells them and the room starts dispersing, he looks at Matteo and the blonde gets up, following behind him as he walked through the door, stepping out of the conference room, only to be intercepted by Nate's sister.

She looked a bit out of breath as she stopped in front of him and peered up at him. "Is it true"? She asked, her eyes moving from Spade to Matteo and then back to Spade, who sighed out "You know where he is"? She asked

"We're not sure yet if he's there, but the car that was seen circling around his apartment the night he went missing was spotted somewhere outside town and we're going to check it out today" he explained, seeing the way her shoulders slumped and the small hope in her eyes slowly diminishing "But if he's there, I promise you I'm going to get him back" he whispered out and she just sighs and nodded

"Can I come with you"? She asked and he just clenched his jaws and shook his head

"It's too dangerous, I can't let you come with me" he said gently, almost wanting to put his hand on her shoulders but he refrained from that, not sure if they had gotten to that point yet.

She looked at him and then Matteo, he hoped she wouldn't oppose because he couldn't bring her with him, it was too dangerous, and he knew how much Nate loves his sister, if anything happened to her on his watch, coupled with what he did to Nate, the young man will never forgive him.

She just sighed out and nodded "fine" she mutttered, she was about to say something else when the footsteps of someone coming behind her stopped her.

She slowly turned and came face to face with a rather handsome and attractive man, dark hazel eyes, long black sleek hair that was let down shoulder length, he was wearing a black shirt, the sleeves folded up to his elbow and he had on black slacks, but his eyes looked dead

He stopped in front of them "Spade" he rumbled out, his voice felt as if it was struggling to fit in the thin corridor

"Stefano, I appreciate you coming at such short notice" Spade mutttered out, surprising even himself more than Stefano, he never thought a day would come when he would join forces with Stefano, or even need the man's help, but now he was going to need a whole lot of help from Stefano.

He turned to look at Nate's sister who still had her eyes on Stefano "I'll see you before I leave okay"? He muttered and she nodded before she walked away from them, Spade just started advancing towards his office while Stefano and Matteo followed behind him.

Stefano gave Matteo a good amount of space, he wasn't even close to the blonde. After that day at the gym, this would be the first time they'd be seeing each other, and neither of them knew how to react or what to do.

And for the first time since Matteo met Stefano, the man was a total opposite of how he usually was, bubbly, cheerful and carefree, but now he was almost emotionless, his eyes were dark and stoic and he hadn't made any jokes yet.

That was so unlike Stefano, but Matteo wasn't one to butt into things that didn't concern him, instead he just walked with equal silence beside Stefano until all three of them entered into Spade's study here at the mansion.

It was kind of huge but dusty, not exactly dusty, but it showed the office hadn't been used in a long while. Spade leaned his back on the desk, while Stefano and Matteo just stood in front of him, Stefano was looking at him, waiting for him to speak up, but he didn't, obviously lost in thoughts. "Why'd you call me here Spade"? Stefano asked, his voice hard and very far off from the cheerful voice he always used before, even his whole posture was different.

But Spade didn't want to concern himself with that, he had his own personal problems to worry about and not Stefano's sour mood He sighed out and folded his hands across his chest, bracing himself for what he was about to say "I need your help" he muttered out, watching Stefano, who's face didn't give off anything, he didn't look surprise and he wasn't acting overly dramatic like Spade had expected

He just looked at Spade with a bored look, he blinked slowly, Matteo on the other hand was slightly surprised that Spade was asking Stefano for help, of all people, he least expected Spade to ask Stefano for help, but he wasn't going to judge or oppose to the idea. "With what"? He asked and Spade just sighed out.

"Mystery man" he muttered not wanting to tell Stefano about Nate, he didn't think it was necessary "I finally found out who it is and I know where he is"

"Okay" Stefano pressed, shoving his hands into his pocket

"I'm going there with a few of my men tonight and I need your best ammo, the best you can get your hands on" he explained, watching as Stefano, raked his tongue through his teeth, before biting his inner cheek

"How many"? He asked surprising Matteo, Stefano was never one to do things without asking unnecessary and stupid questions, so what had suddenly changed in the man, the Stefano Matteo had come to know would have already started trying to get something out of Spade for this, but the man in front of him looked like he could care less what Spade needed the ammo for.

"Just enough, I'm taking four of my men with me, Matteo and I are good" he paused watching as Stefano nodded his head slowly "and also I'm going to need a really good shooter, someone who knows how to use a sniper" he said, his eyes hinting at something, he was patiently waiting for Stefano to refuse, but shocking him once more

"Fine" Stefano muttered, making Matteo to frown as he furrowed his brows, something was definitely wrong somewhere, and he was curious, almost restless to know what it was, it brought an unsettling feeling into his heart as he watched Stefano

Spade nodded slowly, surprised by Stefano's compliance, he didn't think the man would agree that easily, but he wasn't about to ask why Stefano was suddenly so kind to even go as far as going on this mission with him, he was just kind of grateful that the man was ready to help him out.

"When do you leave"? He asked and Spade just rolled his tongue through his teeth and mouth.

"By sundown" he muttered out and Stefano just nodded

"I'll have everything here by 5 and then we can prepare" Stefano muttered, making Spade to nod before he turned around, his eyes meeting with Matteo for a split second, he looked away and walked out of the study.

This shocked Matteo even more, Stefano had never been one to ignore him, but now that it was actually happening, it wasn't really as liberating as he expected. He was used to the man always cheerful around him and now he just seemed to be completely avoiding the blonde.

He swallowed as his eyes landed back on Spade who just shrugged, already knowing what he was thinking. "I might be busy when he comes, just help him with whatever he needs, and brief him on everything" Spade muttered, and for once Matteo isn't really bugged that he has to be stuck with Stefano, actually he was counting on it.

Maybe he would speak to the man and ask him why he was suddenly like this, although he suspected it was because of what he said to him the last time they met, but he wasn't really sure, it wasn't as if he said something bad.

*****

Everything was ready, Vince and Nico had called Bernie and gave him an update, and it was what Spade was expecting. The van was parked at an abandoned building and men kept coming out of it and going inside, through the lenses of both men, Bernie was able to identify some of the men as one of them had a familiar tattoo on his arm.

They belonged to Vlad, and if they belonged to Vlad then definitely they're exactly who Spade was looking for. He was sure they were there for Salvatore, and he was really counting on it.

He stood in the middle of the room as he debriefed his men again, everything was set, except for the weapons, they were already available too but Stefano and of course Matteo were doing a double check on them at the far end of the room.

"These are your comms devices" Spade said handing each one to each man standing close to him and then to Bernie, he picked up an extra, one for Matteo and one for Stefano.

"Remember no slip ups, we go in and we come out quick, anyone who finds Salvatore, don't kill him, he's mine" he gritted out and they all nodded.

He looked to the other end of the room and Matteo was still there with Stefano and so far they haven't eaten off each other's head yet, and that was kind of surprising, since Matteo always hated the presence of the other man.

Matteo looked up slowly as his eyes met Stefano who was focused on the gun in his hand, he was checking and cleaning them out, he still hadn't said anything to him and it was beginning to bug him, as strange as it sounded.

It felt like something was missing, and he didn't like it, but he didn't know what to say, he was used to chatty Stefano, cheerful and annoying Stefano, so he could deal with him easily.

But this part of Stefano he wasn't used to, the man was totally ignoring him and giving him attitude, it was as if he wasn't even in the room.

He clenched his jaw and looked at the gun he had at hand, he knew now that what he said at the gym a few weeks ago was the reason Stefano was like this. He didn't even know why he said that thing to Stefano, he was just so pissed off at how the man was acting like everything was normal, it kind of got to him and he snapped, and now he wished he didn't because for once he felt bad for the way he had spoken to Stefano.

He swallowed and looked at him again. "I'm sorry" he muttered out, this caused Stefano to look up briefly as if he didn't understand what Matteo was talking about, Matteo looked up at him, his blue eyes meeting with dark hazel almost dead eyes, they looked bored like they didn't even care about anything "I'm sorry about what I said to you the other day, I didn't...." Stefano cut him off quickly

"It's fine" he gave him that simple reply with finality, almost as if he didn't want Matteo to say anything else, he dropped the gun on the table before heading off towards Spade, leaving Matteo there.

Matteo couldn't for the life of him understand what just happened, he clenched his jaw as he watched Stefano walk away from him.

He knew he had gone too far, it wasn't like he said that to hurt the man, he just said it to get Stefano off his back, but he realized too late that he said too much to the man, and Stefano didn't deserve half the things he said that day.

Wow 😳😳

Stefano is angry at my boy 😩😩