Both men sat on opposite sides of the table, both of them holding a glass of whiskey each as they schemed and planned. One's inner plan was far more bigger than the other, while the other was just out for revenge and a little bit of fun.

"Has he come yet"? The younger of both men wheezed out, his voice coming out way different than a person's voice should sound, he sounded like an old engine, that was almost dying

Greg shook his head as he watched the strange looking man in front of him, he always wondered how he'd lived this long with such a hideous face, scars adorned his face and one of his eyes was almost completely damaged, but he still always managed to look dangerous and scary.

"Not yet and the 48 hours he gave me elapsed two days ago" he muttered scratching his beards as he twirled the whiskey in his cup, watching it move from side to side.

The scarier one out of the two nodded and smacked his lips. "Don't let your guard down, he's gonna come when you least expect it" he muttered "what about the boy"? He asked referring to Nate, and Greg just looked up at him before sighing out.

"I gave him a short limited time to get his sister back to me, I haven't heard from him either" he muttered making the other man to grunt out

"You're too soft on him, on both of them that's why she had the nerves to run away" he grunted out making Greg to ground his teeth together in irritation "I told you to let me take him with me to Italy years ago, if you had then maybe he wouldn't be such a mess" he muttered making Greg to further clench his jaw, before taking a huge gulp of the drink.

"If I'd let you take him, there'd be no one to oversee my company, I'm old dear friend, and I'm not gonna be around forever" he muttered "and if I had let you take him, it would have killed her" he added quickly

"Well now they're causing troubles for you, putting you in a tight spot with Spade" he muttered before letting his fingers trace his scar, the long one that ran from the bottom of his one good eye, down his chin.

Greg let out a deep sigh, thinking of the pickle he was in with Spade "That's your problem anyway Greg, I hope it's not gonna mess with our plans"? He asked and Greg just nodded

"It won't mess with our plans" he mutttered and the other man just grunted out in response.

"Good, we're already neck in deep in this, and there's no turning back now" he muttered "we're so close to getting what we want, he's lost more than enough already, what will finally push him over the edge and have him out of the picture is the auction coming up"

Greg looked at the man in front of him, bitting his inner cheek "How? He's not even agreeing for it to be held here in New York" he muttered

"I know, but that's not gonna stop us, everything is already in place, all we have to do is get him to attend it, and then from there, everything will run smoothly, we've let this drag on for far too long" the man muttered still looking at Greg.

"You're right" Greg mused "but how are we gonna get him to attend"? He asked

"Leave that to me" the strange man said "have you heard any word from Stefano"? He asked and Greg just shook his head

"No, after our last deal, the one I sent Nathan to pick up for me, he hasn't reached out yet"

"We need to extend our hands to reach more people, we need stronger and influential people, not just the chief of police, we need to stop doing things like amateurs, tipping the cops off and stealing his shipments, yes it's having an impact on him but we need to strike him harder and we need to do it fast" the man mutttered

Greg scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes on the drinks in front of him. "What do you suggest we do"? He asked moving his eyes to the man in front of him.

"The Russians" he muttered making Greg almost choke on his own spit as his eyes widened in shock

"The Russians"? He asked "you wanna involve the Russians in this"? He asked again and the man in front of him just nodded "are you sure that's a good idea, let's not forget he has an alliance with the Vlad" Greg mutttered

"It doesn't matter, they don't like him, none of them do, they just fear him and if they were to have something far more bigger and better than the fear they have in him, I believe they'd be open to negotiation" he explained, making Greg to relax back on his chair as it swirled "And him not being in Italy makes my work a little easier, he can't watch me there all the way from here, he won't suspect a thing" he mused with a smirk tugging at his lips, the sight looking so horrible, Greg almost grimaced

"This plan sounds really dangerous, but... I trust you and if you think the Russians are gonna help us, then it's worth a shot" Greg muttered letting out a deep sigh "But what if after helping us take him out, they request for the leadership rights"? Greg asked making the other man to shake his head.

"They won't, it's likely not to happen, by rights if anything should happen to Spade, I should be the one to take over" he muttered, Greg just let out a deep sigh before nodding his head, letting his mind go back to what the man in front of him just said.

"Okay" he muttered after a long line of silence "what about the other one"? Greg asked making the odd man to look at him.

"Who, Blondie? He's okay. He's not gonna be a problem" he muttered making Greg to nod slowly

"I saw him a few days ago, he came here with Spade" he muttered, his eyes looking at the man in front of him "he looks just like her, he has her eyes and her hair color" he whispered, feeling his heart wrenching in hurt and longing

"I know Greg, are you gonna tell him"? He asked before quickly rephrasing his sentence "I mean when all this is over, are you gonna tell him"? He asked again and Greg just scrunched his nose up, thinking long and hard

"Do you think he doesn't know? Do you think Micheal didn't tell him"? He asked and the other man just shook his head.

"I don't think Micheal told anyone, not even Spade" he muttered and Greg just sighed out, placing his hands on his chin and thinking about what the man just asked him. Would he tell the kid after all this was over? How would he even do it? Well, he would worry about all that when the time comes.

****

It's been a week One week since his encounter with Nate. One week since he's seen or heard from him, well except the occasional report back that Matteo did for him about the kid.

It felt like it had been years already, everything he'd done since then has been by force and strong will. If he had his way, he'd lock himself up in his house and not come out, but he couldn't do that, not with everything going on.

He hadn't even spoken to Greg again, he'd totally forgotten about him and the stupid deal, the deal that started all this in the first place. The reason he met Nate, the reason his life turned upside down for the second time.

He let out a deep breath as he looked at the paper in front of him, briefing on the meeting he was having in a few minutes, at Nate's office to discuss the new contract they'd given Nate, the same one he gave him about two weeks back before the casino incident.

He didn't even know how he'd face Nate today, since that day in his house, he hadn't seen him again and they definitely hadn't talked about what happened.

He hadn't even talked about it with anyone, not even Matteo. Although he could see the questioning gaze the blonde always gave him, but he never asked and Spade wasn't really one to talk about his feeling, he wasn't like that.

And today he was going to finally see him again, and for the first time in years he was nervous, he hasn't felt nervous in years, not since he shut off all emotions in his brains, but here he was feeling like a ball of nerves, simply because of one person.

He was excited, feeling jittery and nervous, what would go down today, he didn't even know if he had it in him to talk to Nate. Not that he was scared of talking to him, but he was scared of looking into those brown eyes and seeing fear in them, doubt, hate, just like he saw that night. He didn't wanna see those emotions in Nate's eyes for him, it hit his heart with a string pang of pain.

He tapped his hands on the desk as he kept thinking and thinking. This was his daily routine since that day, going round in circles with thoughts about Nate.

He heard a knock on his door and looked up before he muttered "come in"

The door creaked open and his PA walked in, her heels clicking in the floor, she stopped In front of his desk "Sir it's almost time, I came to remind you" she mutttered not looking at his eyes, he let out a deep breath before nodding his head and waving her away.

He looked at his table and picked up his car keys, and phone before getting up and stroding out of the office. He walked towards the elevator, getting in he flexed his hands by his side, easing off the nerves from his body.

This was so unlike him, getting cold feet before a meeting, feeling nervous because of someone. He'd faced dangerous men, killers, murderers and psychopaths and he'd never felt as nervous as he was feeling right now, over a harmless man.

The elevator dinged and opened on the lobby, he stepped out, powerful, confident and fearless, that was what people saw, but deep inside, he was just as regular as everyone else right now, feeling nervous and excited like a little kid going to his favourite toy store.

He walked out of his office building and entered into his favourite car, starting the engine, he looked at himself in the mirror one last time, seeing his hair looking perfect and his face still okay, he zoomed off.



****

"Sir, they're waiting for you in the conference room" the voice of his secretary jolted him back to reality from the whirlwind of thoughts he was getting lost into.

He looked at her and sighed out before nodding his head "You can go, I'll be out in a minute" he muttered and she gave him one last look before she nodded and walked out shutting the door behind her.

He could feel his nerves pick up as his palms got sweaty. He didn't realize he'd be having a meeting today with the shareholders of the new contract which he'd signed two weeks before, the same one Spade had given him without much of a hassle.

Speaking of Spade, he wondered if he would be here today? If he was already here in his office building. Would he ignore him or was he going to talk to him acknowledge his presence, his mind drifting to the talk he had with Matteo a week ago.

It had been a week since he'd seen Spade, since their last encounter with each other, and since Matteo had spoken to him and explained a few thing to him about Spade

Now he was at a crossroads, would he listen to Matteo and do what he wants, or follow his heart and stay away from Spade? He couldn't even decide. His mind was being torn into so many places at once, Matteo's words and Spade's action, which should he consider.

He sighed out, running his hands through his hair. This was much harder than he thought. He turned around and looked out through the huge glass in his office, looking at the city from up there, people going about their businesses.

Spade had done a lot of shitty crazy things since they'd met, some he witnessed and some he felt. But Matteo had told him not to let those things get to him, but that was easier said than done, especially with the voice in his head surfacing every now and then.

Yes he was trying to forget the bad things he'd seen with Spade, but what about the good ones, was he supposed to forget about those too. The way his heart rate spiked whenever Spade was in the room, the way his whole body became hot around Spade, the excitement that came with being around him, the way his bones and cells felt whenever Spade stared at him, the way his skin tingled when Spade touched him.

Yes there were bad things, but there were good things too. And those good things were making it hard for him to continue feeling so hateful towards Spade. He'd never felt this way about anyone, so interested, so drawn to someone, not until Spade showed up

Spade had changed a lot of things about his thoughts, made him question a lot of things, made him wanna explore a lot of things. Things he never thought he'd even remotely think of or feel.

He could feel his head throb at all the thought. Letting out a deep breath, he picked up the files he needed for the meeting, before fixing his suit, he strolled out of his office, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen.

Another short boring chapter 😥😥