His face was calm but inside he was boiling, hyperventilating and losing his mind, he wasn't reacting in the way someone would expect and that alone was a bad sign. Matteo knew well enough that under that cool and calm face he had on, he was a ball of angry mess inside and like a ticking time bomb, he would explode just any minute from now.

"What's his name"? Spade asked, very cold and dangerous

"Who"? Matteo was the one to speak up, because even Bernie couldn't talk at a time like this, Matteo was the only one that was used to Spade being like this, and it didn't freak him out.

"Liam's Uncle" he gritted out, feeling his sanity leave him as each second drew him closer to exploding, his day didn't pan out the way he'd expected

"Frederick" Matteo muttered, Spade just hummed not saying anything as he scratched his beards for the millionth time standing there

"Boss" Bernie spoke gingerly, looking wearily at Spade as he was thinking of how to word what he was about to say, he didn't want to upset the man and end up like the one in the paper bag.

Spade's sharp gaze cut through to Bernie as his eyes held no single emotions, they were bloodshot and scary, Bernie recoiled a bit but he stood tall. He continued with what he wanted saying. "This isn't just a broken alliance, it's a warning"

Spade let out an almost animalistic growl, vibrating through the walls of the office "Of course it's a bloody warning" he growled out "¿Cómo se atreve?" (How dare he?) He almost roared, he could feel his hands trembling on his side as he felt the anger bubble inside of him. He started pacing the room, doing a little breathing exercise as he tried to calm everything inside him down, contain the raging beast inside of him. "He wants to cut off the alliance" Spade asked no one in particular "I'll show him how to really cut off an alliance" he muttered before turning to look at Bernie "Gather the others for a meeting, I'm gonna rain fire on Frederick" he muttered lowly, he was not going to take it, killing Liam was bad but killing one of his own was crossing the line. He really didn't care if they killed Liam or who killed Liam, all he wanted to know was why and if he was a target, but now that they'd touched one of his, he would find out everything about what went down that night at the party, and why only people he had dealings with were targeted, but before that he would show this Frederick that he was nothing like other people he'd dealt with.

Matteo quickly stepped closer to him, using his hand to stop Bernie from walking away "Spade what do you want to do"? He asked looking at Spade, it would he invincible to someone else, almost unnoticeable but he saw the crazed look in the man's eyes, making him fear for what was about to happen if he doesn't step in "Are you trying to start an open out war? Spade you don't even know this man or what he's capable of, you don't know if he has someone backing him up and inciting him to do all these things, you can't just declare war on someone without having not a single clue, what they want and who they work for"

"He started a war when he killed one of my men" Spade growled out, Matteo just sighed out, shutting his eyes for a milli second before opening it back "and I don't have to know him before I put a fucking bullet in his head, he should have known before messing with me"

Matteo sighed out again, he took another step standing very close to Spade, he stood maybe at least an inch and half shorter than Spade, but he was just as muscular, if not even more than him, he placed his hand on Spade's shoulder "Look Spade I get that you're mad, hell I'm pissed too, Laroit was my friend as well and I want justice for him, but I can't let you start a war we know nothing about, what if this is what he wants? A lot of people are gonna get killed, especially if he has someone backing him up"

Spade grounded his teeth together, but he was already thinking about what Matteo was telling him, he clenched his jaw and shut his eyes for a second, and then opened them again, his eyes matching with ocean blue eyes, that instantly calmed him down, if there was anything about Matteo that he like and cherished, were the color of his eyes, they reminded him so much of his mother, she had a way of always getting him to feel at ease, and he sometimes felt like that around Matteo. "Whatever this Frederick is doing, something tells me it's not just because he wanted Liam's power or your attention, it has something to do with the shooting, and our mystery man, it's not just a coincidence"

Spade let out a deep breath "fine, until we figure out what their plan is or why they're even targeting all these people, we won't do anything or make any rash decisions that might affect us"

"What are we gonna do now boss"? Bernie asked, he could feel the tension in the room dissipate, making him feel more free and relaxed as he asked Spade that question

Spade looked at him, pursing his lips in a thin line "Gather everyone in the conference hall, I'm gonna have a talk with them" he muttered and Bernie just gave a curt nod about to walk away when Spade's voice stopped him again. "How many people know of Laroit's death"? He asked

"Myself, Matteo and a few others that saw me when I brought it in before I called Matteo"

Spade nodded, before Bernie walked out of the office leaving just Spade and Matteo. He was much more calmer than he did before, his eyes landed on the paper bag and he brushed his hands up through his brows, shutting his eyes. "Arrange a funeral for him, meet with his family if he has any" he muttered, Matteo just nodded without saying anything else. "Do you think this Frederick killed Liam"?

Matteo pursed his lips, thinking about the possibility of it, it sounded plausible but at the same time, he couldn't be sure and they wouldn't just act on assumptions. "I don't know" he muttered "but I know that everything that has happened from the night of the shooting is not a coincidence, it has to have something to do with our mystery but what that is, I don't know"

Spade paced the room, both of them waiting for when Bernie would walk back in and let them know that it was time for the meeting. "First Liam, then Batroix, who still hasn't woken up by the way, then Martineli, and now this, there's a pattern here that doesn't spell good, and we need to find it as quickly as possible" Matteo muttered.

The door opened again and Bernie peeked his head inside, his eyes darting from Spade to Matteo. "They're ready for you boss" he muttered, Matteo and Spade walked out through the door, with Bernie on Spade's right and Matteo on his left.

He turned to face Matteo. "You're sitting this one out Teo, I need you to help me pick Nate up from work"

Matteo rolled his tongue against the upper part of his mouth as he nodded, but he still had that weary look on like he knew Spade would do something brash at the meeting Spade just looked at him before giving a reassuring look, letting him know that he had everything under control.

They always had a way of communicating with their eyes, something only both of them could do easily and understand each other. It was like a secret exchanging code only the both of them could pull off

"Fine, promise you'd update me on how everything goes"

"Yeah sure, just take Nate home, he shouldn't be at the club tonight, tell him I said he can do whatever needs to be done at his place" Spade muttered and Matteo nodded, understanding why Spade said so, but what he had in mind wasn't exactly the entire reason why Spade had asked him to drop the young man at his apartment.

His intentions of avoiding Nate was still very solid, with everything going on he didn't think he had time to be messing around with anyone, especially not Nate. But still he would ensure to keep him safe, that was something he'd do regardless of whether he liked Nate or not.

He gave Matteo one last glance before walking towards the conference hall with Bernie on his right side, following him.

They both walked through the warehouse, swerving through every corner and corridor, since the place was empty it was quite easy to get to the conference hall.

Stopping in front of the huge double metallic doors, Spade pushed it open and stepped inside the room. Huge and wide, with the table filled with his men, some were even standing, but the space at the head table and the right side and left seat were empty, for both Matteo and Bernie, but since Matteo was absent, his seat would be empty for today.

The whole noise in the room seized as all eyes watched him until he was at the head of the table, he straightened his suit before sitting down, Bernie sat on his left while the chair on the right was empty, those standing had somehow arranged themselves and were now on the other side of the long table, watching him with keen interest.

"Some of you must have heard or seen what happened to Laroit" he started, making sure his voice was loud, cold and domineering, just like his face. Some of his men looked at each other, some nodding in agreement while others just watched cluelessly. "After Liam's death a week ago, someone else took power of the American Mafia, and he has decided to cut all ties with us the italians"

Murmurs suddenly erupted through the crowd, making everyone to talk in hushed whisper while other made hand gestures, but there was still a few that just watched. "He killed one of our own" his voice once again stopped every noise in the room, making it graveyard silent again. His eyes moved from each man to the other, watching their facial expressions, reading each and every one of them like an open book.

Most of them he'd worked with from when he assumed power from his father, while some he recruited on his own down the line "What are we gonna do boss"? One of the men asked, Spade just faced him, putting all his attention on the man, he was at least 30 years old, he had a very unfriendly face, with tattoos that ran from his neck down to the rest of his body, his name was Nico.

"Does it mean we're going to war with the Americans"? Another asked making Spade to shift his attention from Nico to him. Spade didn't know this one's name but he would recognize him anywhere, he was dark, he had this ruggedy hood boy look, he had a durag on his head.

Most of them weren't even Italian, some were more Americans than Italians but they proved themselves countless times to him, they proved they could be trusted, and some had even gone as far as proving that they could die for him

"It should be a war yes, but.." he was cut off by grumbling and hushed whispers as the crowd was slowly going haywire with noise.

One glance was all it took from him to get them all to quiet down, one cold and ruthless glare was all it took. Everywhere was once again very quiet, giving him the chance to speak. "We can't start an all out war, when we don't even know who we're dealing with and what he wants, we still have the shooting to consider and there's the issue of the police and our mystery man"

Some of the men nodded in agreement. "And to answer your question Nico, here's what we're going to do, Nico you and Vince are gonna find this new Don of the American mafia, you're gonna tail him from a safe distance, find out everything about him there is to know, things that are off the record, Bernie's gonna give you everything you need to get to work" Spade explained and both men he just called nodded their heads in unison

"What about the auction"? The same dark guy from before asked again "with everything going, shouldn't it be postponed"?

Spade shook his head, seeing the way the others in the room turned to look at him, waiting for his answer to that "No we won't postpone it and we won't cancel it either, it'll hold as scheduled but the security will be extra tight, Matteo will make sure of that"

They all nodded in agreement, satisfied with what Spade had just told them "The rest of you will keep a low profile for now, all transactions and exchange should be kept on hold unless I authorize it, keep an eye out for mystery man and anything suspicious" he said with finality as everyone in the room nodded, already knowing that the meeting was over, Spade was the first to get up before Bernie and then the others scattered around the room.

Spade walked towards the door, while Bernie rushed to follow behind him, stepping in line with him. "Bernie, you remember the young man I introduced to you last week at the club"? He asked and the man just nodded "Good, you're gonna be in charge of him, help him with whatever he needs at the club, whatever assistance at all that he needs, provide it for him without question"

"Okay boss" Bernie's deep voice muttered before Spade stopped in front of the door, pulling it open and stepping outside

Okay, please for those of you asking for the juicy stuff, this book is also centered around mafia, so please bear with me on the action and mafia stuff, there's juicy on the way, but we need to go through the mafia and action first 😃😃

And also, the words in italics in brackets, are translation of the Italian words Spade uses