Diamond's are a thief's best friend...

Chapter 3

I couldn't help but to chuckle at Jake's dramatic entrance.

"Always so dramatic."

Jake glared at me and pretended that I hadn't spoken. Instead he focused his attention to Rafael, knowing that Rafael can make more out of the information that he was about to provide than I can.

"His name is Sean McKaiden. He's 22 years old, same as you Olivia." Jake quickly looked at me when saying this and then turned his gaze back to Rafael.

"He's originally from here, New York, but his parents moved to London, England when Sean was five years old and he was raised over there. Rafael, this guy is something else. He doesn't have a fancy background. In fact, his family were struggling financially for many years, yet he went to the best private schools England had to offer, graduated early and on top of his class. He had top universities fighting over him. I'm talking Oxford, Cambridge and the Ivy League. He rejected all of them and nobody really knows why. His record of past hits includes the Louvre, the British Museum. He even broke into the Vatican and convinced the Pope to have a cup of tea with him."

Jake only stopped to pour himself a drink. In the meantime Rafael went to stand by a window that held a view of his large garden, with his back turned on us. Still sipping his drink and in deep thought.

"That's not all. Rafe....." Jake paused here as if hesitating how to say the next part. Finally he let it out all in one rush.

"He was trained by the Wolf."

Rafael's head snapped around so fast I thought for a second that he might have snapped something off. His face had gone from being aloof to suddenly holding so many emotions: shock, disbelief and maybe, if I wasn't mistaken, hope?

"That's impossible", he said as if in denial. "He's dead. Everyone knows that."

"His body was never found. There is no evidence that he actually died."

"Nobody's heard from him. He would've let people know that he was alive. He would've let ME know that he was alive", Rafael responded still in denial.

"Who's the Wolf?" I interrupted.

Both Jake and Rafael turned their heads towards me as if just discovering that I was in the room. Nice. Really feel appreciated over here. When nobody answered, I repeated the question.

"Guys, who's the Wolf?"

Jake just looked at Rafael as if expecting him to respond. Rafael, on the other hand was starring holes in the carpet. And it took one or two minutes before he answered.

"Back in Italy I grew up with a boy by the name of Valerio Viccei." He sighed and retook his seat in the armchair. "We met at a young age and connected instantly and before long we became best friends. There were so many things we had in common. We both came from similar working class backgrounds and wanted nothing more than to become somebody. God, we did everything together." Rafael breathed out as he started reminiscing. "We went to the same school, played soccer together, chased girls" he added the last part with a smile. "He was a few years younger than me and he used to look up to me. When I started stealing so that my family would have enough food on the table, Valerio did the same. We told our parent that we had gotten jobs and that's where they thought the extra money was coming from. And believe me I tried finding actual jobs but being from a small city not many people wanted to hire the 'hood rats' as we were know by. Employers had deemed us untrustworthy and wouldn't give us a chance to prove ourselves. I never wanted to be a thief Olivia" he said looking at me.

"But it was the one thing that I was really good at and my family was starving. What would you have done?"

I just nodded my head in reply to his question, signalling that I understood his motives. I kept my face blank but on the inside I felt bad. I had no reason for why I was stealing, except from being bored. 'Oh poor little spoiled rich girl is bored', I thought to myself. For the first time since I started stealing, I felt sick with myself. All around the world people were forced to steal so that they could buy food to survive but here I was, the person that already has it all, stealing just for the thrill of it. 

My thoughts were interrupted by Rafael's voice.

"We chose two different paths. I did art hits and he robbed banks. We were both skilled enough to steal anything but Valerio always claimed that he didn't have the patience to slowly and gradually build up a fortune by making small hits. No, he wanted the big bucks and that's why he specialised in banks. And he was good at it."

"Soon I had made enough money to leave Italy and go to America and try to make an honest living. At that time, Valerio had been part of so many robberies that the police were close on his tail. He had no choice but to also leave Italy. I begged him to stop robbing banks and to come with me to America. But instead he was convinced by his accomplices to move to London. London was and still is Europe's cosmopolitan city and Val was tempted by the riches that the city held. So we parted, I came to U.S. and he went to England. After having been there for a couple of years he organised the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery."

I gasped. The Knightsbridge Security Deposit heist! Of course. Now I remember. One of the biggest robberies of its time. It happened the year before I was born, Rafael is almost three times my age, but everybody has heard of the hit. It was committed by a group led by a man that called himself the Wolf.

'Valerio Viccei is the Wolf?'

"Yes. Do you remember reading about the heist?" Rafael asked.

"Yes"

"Then you remember what happened next?"

"Valerio and his gang got away with $174 million dollars. He went into hiding in Latin America but came back to London to get his Ferrari. That's when the police caught him and he was sentenced to 20 years of prison. One day during a release day from prison he was involved in a gunfight and was claimed to have died after being shot." I recited from my memory.

"Yes, but he didn't come back to London for his Ferrari. He told the judge after being caught that he came back for his bird, his lady, which the media have decided to claim was his car. But actually it was his wife, Mary. Mary was so upset about the heist that she said she wouldn't have anything to do with him. Val, being persistent Val, refused to give up and said that if she wouldn't come to him, he would go to her to convince her that they belonged together."

"What happened then?"

"Well, Val got caught. I don't know what happened between them, if she ever forgave him but I do know that Mary died five years ago."

"Rafe" Jake interrupted with a serious voice. "You have to consider the possibility that Val really is alive and that he's trained this McKaiden boy."

Rafael seemed to consider this. "Well, there's only one way to find out. What functions are being held in the nearest future?"

"There is a gallery opening next week. Expensive art."

"Jake, make sure he's invited and that he shows. Olivia, I want you to look your absolute best for this event."

"Excuse me?" was my brilliant response.

"We are going to get some answers out of him and you" he pointed at me "are gonna be the bait."

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Hey everyone,

Just to let you know that there was an actual Knightsbridge Security Deposit heist in 1987 committed by Valerio Viccei - an Italian robber who called himself the Wolf. And he was in a shooting in 2000. It just fit brilliantly into the storyline. Everything else is altered or fictional for the sake if the story.

Don't forget to comment! And vote! 

Thanx