Dangerously Sweet (MxM)

Chapter 11

On a typical day, during a typical lecture, I would feign offense due to Marco's comment, but seeing as his words rang true I couldn't find the energy to butt heads with him today. 

I fucked up.

I absolutely, positively fucked up.

I've been slacking.

I don't slack.

"Wasn't it your idea to turn this business legitimate, boy?" he seethed.

I frowned at his tone, truly feeling like a little boy being scolded by his father for hitting a baseball through the neighbor's window. Only, instead of costing a little money to repair the window, it was going to cost a lot more to repair this fuck up.

"I'll make it right," I practically whispered in response.

"Right?" he curtly laughed. "These aren't the kind of people you make it right with, Sorren."

He wasn't lying.

"You're young. You're new. You're naive. You're inexperienced-" 

A glare from me cut him short, reminding him of his place as well as my own. 

"You're intelligent and you've learned a lot quickly and you're probably one of the best in the business, but these original players don't understand that, boy. They see you and they see everything wrong with the business. They see a poster child for a mafia movie but not the real thing. We are trying to show them the real thing. You."

"I know, I know, I know," I groaned as I rubbed my eyes, resting my head back against the chair.

"If you know so much, why do you show so little? That big brain of yours, always cooking up the next plan, but it doesn't seem to be doing us much good anymore, is it?" he chided.

When I opened my eyes, he was standing in front of the desk, so close he was practically leaning over it.

"It's that boy," he accused.

I scoffed, waving my hand to shoo away Marco along with his words. He held eye contact with me, urging me to listen.

"Sorren, that boy is no good for you and he's definitely no good for our business."

At the mention of Kalen, I could feel the heat inside me rising. I squinted my eyes towards Marco daring him to continue.

"I think I'll be the judge of what's good for me and my business," I rebutted. 

He scoffed, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. 

"I am your advisor, Sorren. I advise. You have listened to every suggestion, remark, and opinion I've had for these past years. Even if you haven't agreed, you've taken my words into consideration because even with your hard-headed streak, deep down you know how to understand other's perspectives and you've always respected my perspective."

I listened intently, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"But with this boy-"

"Kalen," I corrected.

"With Kalen, it's different...you're different. You won't listen to a word I've got to say even if it's in your best interest. You're blind when it comes to that boy and he will be the reason you meet your greatest fear."

I waved my hand again, to signal the end of Marco's ranting. I was done listening to what he wanted to say about Kalen. I stood from my chair, placing my hands flat on the desk in front of me to lean over closer to Marco.

"You don't know what you're talking about, old man. The business I have with Kalen- no, the relationship I have with Kalen is none of your business. Your business is the business. Not my personal life. Because, just in case you've forgotten, you are not my father. No matter how hard you try to be."

The stern look on Marco's face faltered as I assumed it would with my comment.

"I suggest you stick to what you're paid for."

"What I'm paid for?" he laughed as he spun on his heels to march towards the office door. "You couldn't afford to pay me for what I'm worth to you, son."

The door is flung open, and Marco steps out of the room. While I'm expecting him to leave, he speaks with another one of our men who is standing outside in the hallway for a brief moment. He takes a thick file from the other man's hands before turning to head back inside the office. 

The door slams shut once again and he stomps his way back to the desk where he throws the file down at. 

"There," he matter-of-factly states.

"What's this?"

"What I'm paid for. Intel."

"Intel on what?"

"Open it and see, lover boy."

I rolled my eyes, tired of the back and forth between us, but reluctantly did as he suggested. When I flip open the file, there are stacks and stacks of paper. The first few I flip through are what seem to be transcripts from conversations in another language, potentially phone calls through burner phones. I keep flipping until I see the first page written in English which is more conversations had, with an employee of ours nicknamed Romeo for confidentially. 

"Marco, none of this makes sense to me. What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Keep flipping," was all he suggested.

I huffed, annoyed that he was being so stubborn. If he knew what I was supposed to be looking for, couldn't he just point me straight to it? Better yet, if he already knew what information I needed to know, couldn't he just tell me? 

I continued on, knowing that arguing with the older man would be useless. Eventually, I came across an employee registration file, with a photo of a younger man. The man looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't place him.

I glanced over the information quickly, storing it in memory for future use considering this was probably the man from the previous transcripts and Marco had me investigating his file for a reason. 

Name:  Marcus Costa

Age: 31

Job: Travel Sales

Status: Deceased

Family: One Wife, One Son

I kept flipping through the material in front of me to find any clues as to what I needed to be looking for. After multiple pages, I was getting agitated with this game Marco was playing.

"It's useless, Marco. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck I'm looking for. None of this makes an ounce of sense to me. It's just fucking transcripts after transcripts, and nothing is familiar-"

I stopped flipping and stopped speaking when the name crossed my vision. I read the sentence over and over again, trying to piece together the information.

'I'll have to be on a plane back tomorrow, Kalen's birthday is this weekend.'

.x.

Oookkkayy, and we are back! I am so sorry guys for the lack of updates but my life has genuinely been so hectic recently. I think I'll be getting back into routine soon enough though which means It'll be easier to make time to write!

The first chapter updated in a while and a lot is going on in it, isn't there?! Sooorryyy not sorry. We have a little bit of nsfw scene, some arguing and hurtful words, and theeenn a little bit of a surprise/cliffhanger of sorts. I know it may be a little confusing at the moment but I promise next chapter things will start to be explained in more detail. This was just my way of introducing things to the readers just as the information was being introduced to Sorren. We are all confused, okay!

Thank you to everyone who is, has, and is going to be reading my book. You guys keep me going with your votes, comments and reading. It means a lot to me that this little creation of mine is getting attention, so be sure to follow for notifications about updates!