Quin's Dilemma

Ch. 23 - Rules And Consequences

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"What are you doing?
You know the rules."

- Dominic
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Chapter 23 - Rules And Consequences

▪️V I N C E N T▪️

About forty-five minutes later, I was sitting in the private purple room at the club.

The space had been opened up with the curtains drawn back and the glass walls parted to create an extension of the larger room itself. All the mafia bosses and their second in commands were at a large table while their body guards stood nearby, most of them just outside of the area.

Dominic had arrived a while ago and as soon as he had stepped out of the elevator with Jade, I could tell that something was wrong. I watched as he approached the purple room with a glower on his face before he sat in the empty chair next to me.

Leaning in to whisper, I asked, "What's the purpose of your face?"

Turning to frown at me, he hissed out in a hushed tone, "Jade asked to join!"

"But we knew that she would though, especially with her final summer exams coming up," I countered knowingly.

Growling, Dominic downed the purple drink that was handed to him, "Exactly! I thought perhaps she would wait to see her exam results first. I didn't think she would ask on the way over here!"

There were times I often wondered if my best friend had been hit in the head too many times.

Surely, he could not be that daft?

I could not understand how Dominic did not predict Jade's request. It was blaringly obvious that being in the Calvetti mafia was what she wanted more than anything.

Scoffing slightly, I replied, "It's Jade, what did you expect? It's obvious that she would ask now, she knows that she's going to pass those exams and graduate a year early."

"Yea, yea, blasted know-it-all," Dominic waved me off as he unbuttoned his jacket and leaned back in his seat.

From our elevated position, we could survey most of the fourth floor.

It had a fair number of people scattered around, ranging from a mix of Jade's friends to the few politicians who sat together with the Commissioner of Police at a large table just outside of the purple room.

When Thomas' eyes locked with Dominic's, they acknowledged each other with a slight nod.

There were also a number of undercover policemen and women among the crowd, as well as bodyguards from each of the Aelbank mafia organisations scattered about the dance-floor.

I noted that Quintin was talking to Cristiano, while Jee-min kept moving around, never standing more than a couple of meters away from Jade. A few minutes later, I watched as Blaire and Jade joined Quintin and Cristiano and the four of them hugged and laughed as they chatted and drank.

The sound of a heavy Russian accent pulled my attention back to the purple room.

"All is well, Dominic?" Aleksandr asked before adding, "I got word that there were a few other fentanyl-laced cocaine related deaths."

Nodding, Dominic began to address the entire table, "As all of you are aware, the situation with the Cartel has been handled. However, there's a few lingering traces of their product in the streets. I spoke with the Commissioner tonight and he'll clean things up on his end. What he needs from us is to keep an extra eye on the city borders in case those Mexicans decide to stir up more trouble."