Of Mobsters and Men: Wild

13

Stefano's POV

As my door slowly opened, I raised up from my leather chair and walked over to a couch in the corner. I glanced at the door seeing my soldier, Louise Accardi, entering. He bowed his head and took off his coat before sitting down.

I crossed my legs and leaned back in my seat. I look Louise straight in the eyes, signaling that we're going to jump straight into business. "You tell me you want to be in on the mission, as if you didn't already know you were going to be. So Accardi, what's going on?" I asked him, my eyes narrowed as I waited for his response.

Today was the day of the mission. Segreto had called Franklin once more, giving him the address of where they're supposed to meet up. It was clearly a setup, but we weren't going to sit around and do nothing with useful information.

"Thank you, for listening to my request. Sir, I want to do a special task in this mission." He explained.
"And that is what?" I asked him, curious.
Accardi has always been known as cautious yet abrupt, so his complete silence was making me suspicious.

I furrowed my eyebrows as he looked at me. "I have strong reason to believe the enemy we're facing is Vincent Vandal." He said, firmly.

Shit, I inwardly cursed. Then again, Accardi is also smart and thinks of all possibilities before the approach.
I kept my straight face and my composure as I stared at him. I hadn't shared with anybody about the phone call from Vandal or the details regarding his death. No one knew I suspected Vandal or had gained further evidence of the enemy being remotely close to someone that's supposed to be dead.

"Why do you think so? You have to be careful with these kinds of statements." I asked him. I wanted to get out of him how he came to such a conclusion.

"I know, Capo. Anyway, I say that boldly because I used to train Vandal. Back when he was being straightened out to join the Pride, I learned much about him. On a mission I took his group to, my eyes were open to the true nature of himself that he unleashed." He elaborated, his eyes looking as if in a daze.

"You told me about that mission." I said, narrowing my eyes as I tried to remember the details.
"He was able to kill a soldier and it's one thing about the manner he did the killing, that got to me. The enemy's neck was slit ear to ear. He was quick, too. I only knew one kid who was childish when he killed. That kid was Vincent Vandal." Accardi continued.

"The boy impressive with the knives." I said recalling the phrase he used to describe Vandal.
"It was his favorite weapon during battle." Accardi added.

"Mmm. That day Enrico showed us the pictures of the death of Bruce Bianchi, you had this... look in your eyes. I thought you knew something." I said, keeping my eyes focused on him. He had a lot to say that day Bianchi was murdered. When Enrico showed us the pictures of his death, he couldn't get his eyes off it.

"I did. I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but I should have known better than to doubt myself." Accardi shook his head afterwards.
"There are no coincidences in murder, Accardi." I said lowly and he nodded in response.

I stood up from my chair and walked in front of my desk, leaning against it. "But, why do you wait to tell me now? That information could have saved us so much time and so many lives." I questioned him. Accardi has never held back on valuable information.

"Like I said previously, I doubted myself. But yesterday evening, Vandal contacted me himself." He shared. I narrowed my eyes and clenched my jaw. "He told me it's a shame that I'm his enemy." He added.

Vandal probably said that because Accardi was the one that he was most close to as he was straightened out.
"So, what do you want to do?" I asked him, wanting to know what his plan was for the mission.