A low chuckle rose within me, growing into a wicked laughter. I threw my head back, still drowning in amusement almost forgetting my hands and feet were tied down.
In a flash, he bent down in front of me and pressed the gun to my chest.
"Do it, I d...
"The body is already taken care of. We had no other choice."
"Iara, if they find out--"
"They won't."
There was a pounding in my head, a pressure in the sides of my temple drilled into my skull. I took a deep breath in, my eyes were still closed while the rest of my senses became acquainted with my surroundings. My fingertips graced the surface of a cool polyester texture beneath me. My muscles were sore but the open gashes on my body were somehow cleaned and taken care of.
Wait, Iara?
My eyes shot open as the sound of her voice filled my ears. Her arms were crossed over her chest, a man slightly taller than her stood before her as they whispered back and forth. We were in a spacious place, much bigger than Harry's living room.
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Harry. Where was he?
My eyes trailed to the identical couch parallel to me, where he was laying asleep. His button-down was covered in dried blood, his curls were tousled and messy.
God, he was actually tolerable when he was sleeping. If only he was always like this.
"What's... going on? Where am I?" I whined, pulling myself to sit upright. There was a painful ache in my bones, my face was tight in certain areas where blood was dried over wounded cuts.
I was oblivious as to why Iara was in the same room and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. A hint of uncertainty hid behind her eyes as she walked over to me.
That's when I noticed a man behind her that I hadn't seen in years. The same man who would tell mystical stories about Iemanja, the Queen of the Ocean, and who gave me seashells whenever I went to Iara's house. It was her father.
"Claudio?" I whispered in disbelief. He trudged over to his desk at the back of the grand room with a troubled look on his face. I glanced around the room, large portraits of him were on the wall and smaller frames of him, Iara, and his late wife laid on wooden tables. We were in his house.
"She's not ready, Iara." Claudio warned.
"She has to know, dad. This is her fight now too."
Iara turned her attention to me. It was difficult to find comfort in her familiarity.
Part of me questioned if she had anything to do with the man who attacked me. The light heartedness in her eyes was lost and it was replaced by a hard and worried stare.
Harry shifted on the couch, bringing himself up as he groaned in pain. He took the space in and released a breath of frustration when he saw Claudio and Iara.
"Not exactly where I wanted to wake up." He glanced at me, side-eyeing until he caught Iara's hard glare.
She took a deep breath, ignoring her father's firm tone.
"Maya, there are some things you should know." Her face read deep introspection. It seemed like there was no way in which she could phrase her thoughts to sound normal.
"We're in a Mafia called the Viperae." She stated bluntly. I remained quiet, waiting to see where she was going with this.
"And so was your mother."
Both Harry and I's eyes shot up to her and in unison we exclaimed, "What?"
Iara continued, "She was a highly regarded figurehead, known for conducting international drug operations and weapon trades."
I shook my head, my brows hardened to a glower.
"No, she owned Ambrosia Resorts." I referred to the hotel chain my mother owned and operated.
It had various locations around the globe that she travelled to for work and I rarely saw her as child because of it. I still felt guilty for begging the nanny to let me call her "mom", while my real mom spoiled me to compensate for never being home.
I spotted Claudio in the back, his brows were raised and he chuckled under his breath.
"Yeah, like how I own my own club. That business was a front to run Mafia operations."
I struggled to grasp what they were saying because I didn't want to believe it myself.
I resisted the thought that the same woman who radiated love and positivity, who preached about doing the right thing, would ever get caught up in all of this.
"I don't understand..." I understood what they were saying but it just didn't fit the image I had of her.
Claudio left his desk to join us on the couches with his hands folded in his lap.
"I first met Scarlett in Brazil. She was there to recruit me to work in Toronto. I was shocked at how well she spoke Portuguese." His brows furrowed as he recalled the memory.
"When I finally came here, I quickly realized how headstrong she was. She hated being told what to do and especially hated when she was viewed as incapable, I guess that's why she ran away from home and joined at 18."
My mom always told me her parents died when she was a teenager, before she had me.
There was a glint of sadness in Claudio's eyes. I almost forgot he knew my mother.
"She made an amazing reputation for herself, but she hid her pregnancy from everyone. When the Boss found out, the entire organization only saw her as a liability. I thought he'd kick her out or kill her, even. But he let her stay."
My mind was spinning and Harry's face was painted in shock. I couldn't form a coherent thought so I stayed quiet and mentally sorted out the information they were giving me.
Iara further unfolded the story, explaining that it was my mom who sparked the revolution. Anyone who wasn't an executive, Boss, or blinded by loyalty were used as pawns, in constant danger, who carried out the dirty work while only the former remained protected. She sought justice.
"So why weren't you guys persecuted? You're clearly against the Viperae or whatever." I attempted to make sense of what they were telling me.
"Some of us operated under the radar. Scarlett was more open with her resistance but Nicolas and I were more discreet." Nicolas must've been Harry's dad because his head bolted up at the sound of his name.
"You're joking, right?" Harry chimed in. I forgot he was here with how quiet he was. "My father would never do something like that. He was always incredibly loyal to them."
Claudio laughed. "Harry, he hated them as much as I do. In fact, he planned much of our revolts."
"That makes no sense." Harry still refused to believe it. He was blinded by the image he created of his father, refusing to accept the truth.
Claudio simply replied, "You don't know him like you think you do. The less you know the more protected you are."
Harry scowled at them. I normally would've felt smug about Harry being lost, but the heaviness in my chest proved he was as discouraged as I.
"Don't you realize who killed him?" Iara prompted.
My stomach dropped, where a cavernous burning blended with sadness and fury. I fixed on Harry's green eyes which clouded into a deep forest colour, rings of black framed his irises. His fists were balled up, tensed with a hue of red. Although he didn't say anything, his internal rage was hard to ignore.
I paired two and two together. If the Viperae would go so far as to turn on their own and kill his dad, why wouldn't they take the opportunity to kill my mom? The person it all began with?
I swallowed hard.
"They killed her too, didn't they?"
Iara nodded gently.
A thousand questions filled my mind, but I was too mentally exhausted to know where to begin.
My own mother, who I rarely saw because I thought she was working, was basically turned into the Karl Marx of organized crime.
I broke the uncomfortable silence in the room.
"Why haven't you told me before?"
Claudio answered this time. "Neither of you were meant to find out. After your parents' deaths, I took over the operation because there were too many people who needed justice on the inside. Us included."
Shock riddled in Harry's eyes. He was officially down to my level of confusion, no longer wrapped in his smug glory.
"So why tell us now?" Harry asked with his jaw tense.
Iara let out a sigh.
"Because the man who attacked you," she gestured toward me, swiftly glancing over my covered wounds. "was a member of the Mafia." She further elaborated that they took care of the body, and I had nothing to worry about.
Mental exhaustion and shock stopped me from saying anything else.
Harry brushed the sweat off his brow with a hand to his hip. "Okay, so let's say our parents did revolt against them. What are we supposed to do about it?"
Iara paced back and forth, a hand on her chin.
"This is actually perfect," the cogs in her brain worked faster, like her puzzled thoughts were aligning into a plan.
"They don't know you know about any of this. It would be the most effective way to infiltrate them seamlessly without getting tagged." Harry and I looked at each other. It was bizarre to feel the way his heart thumped faster.
"We can't do it because we're too well-known. But Maya," she laughed.
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