❝ 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 ❞
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After we finished eating breakfast, Elijah reminded all of us that we'll be having a meeting. I made sure someone was watching Alessandra before I went upstairs to take a shower.
During the duration of my shower, all I kept thinking about is the last thing I told Elijah before we were called down to eat. I believe the reason why we haven't been able to find the now new leader of the Albanian Mafia is because we ourselves need to travel to the country itself and look for clues.
And when I say we, I mean I myself have also been looking for Roman's other son since Elijah and I separated. Especially the first week after it all happened. When I locked myself in the spare room of Odette's apartment, I actually was going through dozens and dozens of files on my computer and hacking into databases, trying to find any small hint that could lead to the identity of the hidden son.
I did need some time alone during that week but trying to find anything that leads to the hidden son was sort of the only thing that kept me from drying my eyes out. The annoying thing was that during the two years that we've separated, I could not find a single thing. I'm willing to bet that Roman did the same thing my parents did without even knowing.
When the other son was born, he was obviously given his real name but he was also given a cover name to go by in public. He was kept secret yet he can also be in the public eye and be seen as any ordinary person.
Just like how I am. Nobody knows I'm La Diabla because I use my cover story as Bianca.
I changed into a black long sleeved shirt, ripped jeans and a belt to go along with it. I finish off my look with some heels and apply my red lipstick.
"Children! It's time for a meeting! Wait, not you three, you three can go play."
I chuckle to myself, hearing what Natalie just said. I think her sons and Alessandra thought she was talking to them so they went up to her.
I grab the nine files filled with documents I gathered over the last two years along with a few flash drives that have information as well before I go downstairs to the meeting room to join everyone else.
"I'm late to the party, aren't I?" I say as I make my way to an empty chair, being careful that none of the papers in the files drop onto the floor.
"And what do you have in there?" Grayson asks.
"I don't know whether to call it helpful or useless information." I respond as I push over the files to Elijah. He gives me a confused look before picking one up and examining what's inside.
"This is all of the information about the Castillo Mafia. Down to the federal agents that are working for us undercover." Elijah responds and hands over the file to Grayson.
"What the hell?" Grayson adds. "How were you able to find out that he works for us? Oh my god, does Odette know you can do this?"
"If she were here, she wouldn't be surprised. It's like any other day for her when I tell her about this stuff. Plus Cassandra and Ryan were a big help in finding all this information on mafia's all over the globe." Grayson then passes the file to Natalie who's sitting next to him and so on. "Don't get me wrong, it was so freaking hard hacking into each mafia's database to find all this information because they are so secure but-"
"Serenity, the Albanian file only has like three pieces of paper whereas all the others are like a damn book." Elijah says, cutting me off.
"I was just getting to that. The weird thing is that the Albanians don't store their information on computers like everyone else does. The most Cass, Ryan and I could find is the woman Roman married, who is the mother of his sons. Both the dead one and alive. Yet the last time she was seen by anyone other than Roman was around thirty years ago."
"Do you think she's being held captive?" Aria asks, scanning the Russian Mafia file, while doing a spin in her chair. I can tell the habit of hers hasn't changed.
"If she were, wouldn't the other son have freed her once he took over after Roman died?" Jayden adds.
"Who knows." I say. "For all we know, she could have died shortly after giving birth to the second son, she could still be alive . . . yet held captive which doesn't make sense, she could be alive and away from everything or-" I cut myself off knowing what I said is making me confused.
"Or what?"
"Luciano, when the Castillo Mafia used to be allies with the Albanians, do you remember if he brought up anything about his wife? That seemed unusual?"
"Everything was always unusual with him." Luciano responds. "But when his first son was around fifteen, he and Roman came here to talk business. Specifically about buying part of our guns in the next shipment. In that meeting he also brought up his wife who apparently abandoned them."
"Roman probably kept her locked up shortly after the second son was born." Natalie adds.
"Meaning the second son doesn't know that his mother may possibly be alive but it doesn't add up though." Estrella adds.
"Someone must have known that Roman had a second son other than himself and the first born and the mother." Grayson says.
Now that I'm thinking about it . . . Grayson has a point. Because Roman must have had help on hiding the second son away from the underworld. It's possible to hide it by yourself but it's hard and one needs help to get it done better. Someone must've always kept contact with the second son to let him know what was going on with the Albanian Mafia.
Which also means that certain someone knows what happened to Roman's wife and is keeping it a secret from his- well I guess new boss.
"So do the Albanians do it like the stone age and write everything down in journals and send letters?" Samuel adds.
"It makes sense. It's smart too. As soon as they receive a letter, they can easily burn it into ash. If they think their base is being invaded, the leader can just order his men to throw the journals into a pit of fire and call it a day. I mean it's that damn simple." Natalie replies.
"Okay, so we're coming to the conclusion that the Albanians hand write all their information in journals, the mother may or may not be alive and there may also be someone else who's helped Roman hide the second son away and who also knows what happened to the mother." Elijah says.
A moment later I bring up what's in the flash drives and Samuel connects them to the screen in the meeting room for us to watch. Both flash drives have any and all video clips I was able to obtain while hacking into the Albanian's cameras. Cass, Ryan and I think that ever since the death of Roman Miles, the new leader decided to put any footage from security cameras onto his own flash drives for safe keeping.
I also told everyone else that it seems any current footage that's available to be seen by anyone, even from hacking, it only shows for a short period of time before it's deleted. Oh and to add onto that, the new leader masks his entire lower face so not even his men know what he looks like. "That's not normal." Elijah says once the video of the second flash drive comes to an end. "Did y'all catch that split second of the second to last clip?"
We all shake our heads no.
He then asks Samuel to rewind the video and pause it at the part he was talking about. "Look." Elijah points to a dark figured person who's standing next to another dark figured person. "In this clip, the second son definitely has his face uncovered and this other person appears to be a woman, smiling."
"Girlfriend?" I ask.
"Possibly." He responds. "Maybe she's the key to finding the identity of this new leader."
"Question is . . . is this woman living with him in Albania, in another country or the states?" Graysons asks.
"How do some of you feel about a small trip to Albania?"
· • —– · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– • ·
I finished watching season 3 of Lost in Space in Netflix and it was really good, I may have cried too. Now I'm going to go watch the Ice Age movies while I finish doing some work for my English class. 🙃
Two more weeks/ten school days left until my second to last semester of school is over then afterwards, only five months left until I graduate. Not to mention this is my last official month before I turn the age of a legal adult. 😭
— cristal g.