Jex |Complete|

[12] War?

I pull my ringing phone from my pocket, Malcolm's number flashing across my screen.

"It's Malcolm," I tell Bella before answering. "Hey man."

"Hey, are you alone?"

"No, Bella is here with me."

"You might want to walk away for a moment."

"Uh yeah sure man, I think I have it written down in the kitchen let me just check," I lie, not wanting to let to Bella know that anything is wrong and stand to my feet. I make my way into the kitchen quickly and begin looking through papers (or pretending to anyway). "Go."

"The fucking Cobras got into our database. I think one of the boys forgot to block our location and codes, when they were looking into who was opening the new club."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I whisper shout. "They had one job; find out for sure if it's them or not."

"I know, this could be bad for us; now that they know it we were behind it they're going to be after us."

"And that's the last thing I want right now," I make my way further into the kitchen. "The last thing I need is to start a war with them, I'm trying to keep my head down, not have a target on my back as Dad did."

"I know, and I knew you wouldn't be impressed, but I had to tell you man."

"I know, I appreciate you telling me," I sigh. "I'll grab my stuff and I'll head in. Do you happen to know how many files they were able to access?"

"No idea man, but the boys are looking into it now."

"Alright, I'll be there soon; tell the boys whoever fucked up better not be there when I turn up, or I swear to god he won't see the light of day again."

"Sure thing boss," he hangs up.

I make my way back into the living room and look toward Bella. She sits up looking at me, concern written all over her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just have to head into work for a few hours," I say in a pissed off tone, shaking my head.

She holds her hand out to me and gives me a small smile. Feeling guilty I take her hand and sit down next to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," I shake my head. "I just really, really hate being the boss sometimes."

I know that Bella has no idea what I'm actually talking about, she thinks I'm referring to owning a nightclub, but in reality, I'm talking about taking over as the leader of a Mafia organization left by my father in his will. This wasn't something I'd ever signed up for and it's not something I had ever planned on doing. But when you're chosen, you're chosen. Now it's time for me to stand up and do what Dad had always done, be a proper leader.

"I know that I don't fully understand, because I'm not a boss myself. I mean yes I work at the hotel and in management, but I handle all of the admin stuff; when it comes to phone calls and issues that's all on someone else," she strokes the outside of my hand with her thumb, as she keeps hold of my hand. "But my Dad is a manager of sorts, and he has to deal with crappy calls all the time. So I know where you're coming from, I can see how stressed out you are, you have the same look on your face as him after a bad phone call."

"How does your dad get through the stress?"

"Yells and breaks things?" She shrugs with a giggle. "No; he just tries to take some deep breaths and he talks to my Mum a lot, she always manages to calm him down."

"And that's what you're doing here huh?" I question, as I look down at our hands.

"I'm trying, yes," she nods.

"It's working," I lean down and press a kiss to her lips, she replies by placing her hand on my cheek and pulls me closer, deepening the kiss.

"Go and do what you need to do, I'll be here with you get back," she assures me, as she pulls back from the kiss.

...

I've been at the warehouse offices for the last hour. The Cobras have managed to get all of our files at once. I swear I'm going to kill whoever fucked up on my end. I know what this means, it means war, and that isn't something I was ready for this early in the game. However, I'll do it, because I'll be damned if I'm going to sit back and let the Cobras ruin everything my father built.

"What's the plan now?" Malcolm questions.

"They know all there is to know about us, I'm not going to indicate anything. But if they come for us, we'll go to war with them again."

"Last time that happened one of the Cobras ended up dead and so did your dad," he reminds.

"I know, but what's done is done. I'm sure as hell not going to make friends with them, I'm not coming to some kind of truce or joining forces; I'm not backing down. If they want to do this, we'll do this and I don't care how many of them we have to kill to prove a point, we'll do it."

"You're more like your father than I ever realized," Malcolm smirks softly and nods his head. "And what about Bella?"

"I'm going to have to tell her man and fast. As much as I want her by my side, I can't drag her into a mess if she doesn't want to be dragged into it. The choice will be hers."

"I think you're doing the right thing."

I stand to my feet and push my chair back under my desk. "I'm going to head off, Bella is waiting for me at home."

"Don't leave it too long to tell her man, we've no idea when this is going to blow up in our faces."

"I won't," I assure him, as I exit the room.

This chapter was edited and proof read by the amazing ElleRWrites