Romeo + Juliet | s.r

Chapter 12

"Rafael Almanza. Owner of Capitol Bank. We have the best security in the state. About to surpass Citibanks this March." He stated proudly.

"Pleasure to meet you." I shook his hand as politely as I could, knowing what a disgusting human being he really was behind all those layers of power and paper bills.

Emily interrupted, noticing how tense I had become. "Alright fellas, which one of you is going to get me a drink?"

"Sweetheart, I don't do things like that. I have a reputation to uphold. You won't be seeing me kissing anyone's ass. Certainly not one of a woman." Rafael quickly shut her down. I scowled. So much for gentlemen.

Emily shifted uncomfortably, and I knew she was trying not to shoot this man's head off right here.

"I was actually looking for one of my clients. He said he would meet me here, but I'm afraid he hasn't shown up." I was going out on a limb. We had no evidence to actually connect Rafeal to Giovanni.

"Well, I'm sure I know him. I know many people here." Rafeal stated, the arrogance evidently showing in his tone. Scumbags get along with scumbags.

"Um, Ricardo, Romano? Today's my first time meeting him. In fact, he was the one who suggested this club, isn't that right Margot?"

"Oh yes, Mr. Lombardo. He said he'd be here by ten." Emily butted in.

Rafael's eyes shifted between mine and Emily's before deciding on staying on mine. He clearly wanted to intimidate me. Basic behaviour for a control freak.

"Well I know a couple people who are regular customers at this club whose names start with 'r'. But you're going to have to give me more than that."

Emily glanced at me, and I knew what she meant. We had discussed many plan Bs before coming here. I wasn't a big fan of this one.

"Well, Mr. Almanza, It would be nice to spend just a little more time with you. But if Mr. Lombardo's client isn't here, I'm afraid we're going to have to leave." Swirling a few loose strands of her hair, Emily reckoned.

That caught his attention. Of course it did. I rolled my eyes, wanting nothing more than to punch the shit out of him.

"You know what? I'm sure your client's here. Let me just go check our records."

I gave him a tight lipped smile, "Lead the way."
We walked to the back of the club, and into a small dusty room. It held many books containing records and receipts on anyone who has ever entered the club. And Ipads, considering how we'd gone digital this generation.

"Here you go," Rafael said, handing me an Ipad, "that's everyone who's been here in the past month."

I started scrolling through the Ipad for Rio, trying to find the last time he visited here.

"Margot, baby, why don't we go back here. No one will bother us." I could hear Rafeal say from behind me. Suddenly, a loud thud rang throughout the room, causing me to turn back.

Rafael lay unconscious on the floor, a little cut on his forehead that looked like it was from the barrel of a gun. I glared at Emily, and she shrugged lousily.

"Oh come on! He'll be fine, he had it coming." She rebutted. I rolled my eyes. And I was the baby of the group?!

"Did you find anything?" Emily peered over my shoulder at the brightly lit Ipad.

"Not yet." I kept scrolling.

"Wait. Go back to two hours ago." She demanded, and I scrolled back up.

"What is it?" I asked, not seeing what she was seeing. Emily pointed to a name on the screen. Iro Vina Gino.

My brain seemed to run at 100 miles per hour as I connected the dots. Iro Vina Gino. Iro Ginovina. Iro Giovanni. Rio Giovanni.

"That's his alias!" I exclaimed, a bit too loudly for Emily's preference.

"Shhh. And yes, he checked in two hours ago. Today!" She explained, and I swallowed down my embarrassment. How did I miss that the first time?

Emily continued, "So he's probably still here."

We walked back out, now splitting up to better cover the ground.

After a while, I checked the time. We had been looking for almost thirty minutes.

"Emily, anything?" I asked.

"Not on my side, no. Anything on yours?" She answered through the phone.

"Nope." I sighed. What if he left already? What if I never find him? How could I let Peyton down again?

Emily's voice through the phone brought me out of my head. "Hey, Reid? I think I've got something..."

"Does he look like our guy?" I questioned, already running over to where Emily was.

"I can't see his face properly but he looks like Rio. Same hair and everything. In a red suit and black tie."

I pushed people out of my way. Trying my best to get to Emily as fast as I could. God, why did clubs have to be so crowded? "Excuse me, 'scuse me." I muttered, making my way through the crowd.

"He saw me. He's running, um towards the back of the club. Spencer, corner him!" Emily yelled, and I did a 180, heading towards the nearest exit I could find.

I pushed through the doors, a gust of wind blowing into my face. Even though it was chilly out here, my face was still burning with rage. I'm probably as red as a tomato. I sighed. Peyton definitely would've made a snarky comment about it. Peyton.

I ran faster, rushing to get to where I'm hoping Giovanni and Emily would be.

"Stop! Hands in the air!" Emily's voice rang out. I rounded the corner, and Emily came into my view. Along with Giovanni's back to me. I had the perfect advantage.

"Listen, I just want to talk." Emily said, cautiously, putting her gun on the ground. My grip on my gun only tightened.

Giovanni stuttered, "No please, I'm just following up on an order." I narrowed my eyes. Wasn't Rio the head of the organization? Had we profiled something wrong? No, we were very careful.

Emily went closer to him, her eyes flicking to me only for a second.

"He's supposed to pay me to do this." Giovanni spoke once again, his voice filled with panic. This doesn't make any sense. This was not what we profiled.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I really need this money." And with that he crouched down. My eyes flicked down to his socks, following his movements. He had a gun in there. I looked back up at Emily. She wasn't even wearing a vest. Before I could realize what happened, two shots fired.

Emily fell to the ground.

Along with Giovanni.

I had shot Giovanni just as he shot Emily. I hurried over to Emily.

"Emily! Emily, no please. Don't leave me!" I begged, tears quickly returning to the surface.

As weak as she was, she managed to speak, "T-t-that's not him. He p-p-played us."

"What?" I looked back at Giovanni. That wasn't him. I shot someone innocent.  I looked back at Emily, who was trying her best to stay conscious. Even with the guilt threatening to swallow me whole, my shaky hands managed to dial a number on my phone.

"911, what's your emergency?" A voice answered back, and I swallowed.

"My friend has just been shot." I sobbed into the phone. I glanced back at the man, his eyes were almost black as they stared right back at me.

"And I killed an innocent man."