Tobias was more than grateful his ringing phone interrupted the argument between Eniola and Luca. The boy did not think blowing up the one of a kind safe was an ingenious idea and Eniola on the other hand did not give a damn.
However, he was less than grateful when he read the Caller ID.
“It’s Alvaro.” He quietly answered after realising the group’s attention was on him.
He sighed before excusing himself from them. The stench of congealed blood was getting stronger.
“Hello, Varo.” He greeted as he climbed down the stairs, casually mirroring the bloody footsteps. He would need to have the entire house cleaned.
“Hello gorgeous.” Varo replied flirtatiously. Tobias could not help but think he sounded high. He listened to the clattering of chinaware in the background.
“Is there a problem?” He asked, his eyes lingering on a framed portrait of an infant Eniola. She would be pissed to see the small specks of blood on it.
“Not really. I just wanted to know what’s up and to say sorry for pissing you off earlier.” The man’s voice lowered a bit at the end and Tobias could easily picture him nervously pulling his hair.
“Well, I would rather discuss the recent developments with you in person.” He answered. He knew how easy it was for his calls to be monitored with the entire Berlusconi issue and now, the detective knowing who he was.
“Of course.” He was glad Alvaro easily understood what he meant. “So…” The man started again making Tobias roll his eyes. He thought he was done with the conversation.
“Que pasa, Alvaro?” What's up? He asked hearing a bit of murmuring. He could faintly hear Alvaro briefly lash out on someone.
"Do I look like I would give a fuck if he fucking dies?" Varo harshly whispered before hissing and returning back to the call.
The man had serious anger problems.
“What’s the deal with the Gillian and Lothario shit I have been hearing about?” Varo questioned making him frown again. He had guessed that the weird thing going on between the two was not necessarily secretive but it still stung to hear it firsthand. “I thought you liked her.” The lawyer added and Tobias sighed as he played around with a caution tape. The investigation crew had left it behind.
“And why would you think that?” He asked and Alvaro scoffed.
“Why would you think that?” He imitated Tobias's deep voice in an exaggerated way. “Listen here, batman, I have known you since you were what? 9? Yes, thirteen, and you haven’t touched a woman. I was beginning to think we played for the same team back then—”
“Can you go straight to the point?” Tobias cut him off, slightly embarrassed. He could not easily forget the relentless pick up lines Varo had teased him with when they were a lot younger.
"Straight?" Varo's voice was humourous and Tobias' dulled.
"Alvaro..."
"Aww, why so serious?" Varo cooed and continued after Tobias said nothing. "Well, seeing you make out with a woman well, another human, was rather surprising. I was actually rooting for you two. Clara and I even came up with Tobiola."
"That's a horrible name." He replied making Alvaro laugh. The echoing of his laughter made Tobias realise he was now alone.
"Toniola?"
"Definitely not—"
"Eniobias?" Tobias rolled his eyes at his friend's silliness.
"I'm done with this conversation."
"No you're not. Especially not when Vittore is overstepping his boundaries." Tobias mentally groaned.
He was obviously jealous of Vittore's recent fondness with Eniola but he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
"I think he has the right to do whatever suits him." He forced out and Varo let out a sarcastic laugh.
"Bullshit. I could see you shooting daggers at him with your eyes during the meeting. Right to do whatever suits him mi culo." My ass. There was no giving up with Alvaro. "Would you like me to threaten him a bit? Scare off the bastard for you?"
"Just leave him alone. I have enough to deal with—"
"And that's exactly why I'm volunteering to help. You have a lot going on and a love triangle is the last thing that needs to be added to the fucking mess." He shook his head in defeat.
"But I was the one that asked for space." He replied, making Varo scoff again.
"That does not mean an ordinary member of the family can just swoop in like he's fucking Superman. Mateo, understandable, but Vittore? Who the fuck does he think he is?" Eniola's current love interest.
"Varo, just let the both of them be."
"Then you'd be single for the rest of your life? Fuck no."
"There are other women."
"I know you. There is no other woman."
"Alvaro..." He drawled tiredly as he sat on the patio.
"Gatito..." Alvaro literally purred.
"You're a child."
"A bit rich coming from a kitten."
"You did not just—"
"Oh I did." Tobias huffed loudly but decided to say nothing. He unfortunately understood the double entendre from Varo. "I'll have a little chat with the bastard then, si?"
"No."
"Oh come on!" Varo whined.
"Seriously, I'm done with this topic. Why are you even on the phone with me? I thought you had an assignment?" Tobias asked, remembering he had given Varo some work to do.
"Uh, I love you?"
"Varo..."
"Fine. I was hungry so I decided to take a break and also call to apologise. Riccardo has it covered and Xavier and Felipe are done with the gym and your office too."
"Oh? Alright." Tobias was relieved he now had his own space. It seemed Enny was planning to stay with him for a bit longer and not that he minded, but he was a very private person and at times, he needed some time alone to collect his thoughts.
"Alright?! Riccardo is going to try to murder me with his training sessions." Varo complained with Tobias silently agreeing.
It was true gym workouts were a bit intense once Riccardo came into the mix but it had never been something he was not able to handle but he had not lifted a single pushup since he arrived in New York.
"You're just lazy, Varo." He noted and the lawyer gasped.
"How dare you?"
"You called me a coño a moment ago. Now go back to work."
"Did I hit a nerve, mi amor?" Varo asked.
"Have a good day."
"I love you, gato." The clown just had to purr again.
"Suenas como un gato." You sound like a cat.
"Tienes la capacidad de atención de uno." You have the attention span of one.
"It has been over five minutes and I'm still wasting my limited attention span on this phone call."
"It's because you love me."
"I do not recall saying that."
"Your actions speak louder."
"Goodbye, Alvaro." He sighed and tapped the 'end call' button before Varo could say something else. The phone began to ring again before he could put it in his pocket.
"What do you want?" He asked politely.
"Calm your balls. You're going to enjoy what I'm about to tell you." Varo said excitedly and Tobias rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time.
"And if I don't?"
"Trust me, you will." Varo quickly replied making him sigh exasperatedly.
"Then talk." It better be good.
"I'll tell you when you get back." The lawyer quickly hung up with Tobias listening to the dead line in disbelief. That idiot.
He knew Alvaro was a massive pain in the ass most times and refrained from hopping into the car and going to give him a smack across the face. That can wait.
He stood up and entered the house again after sending a quick message to Clara regarding the messy situation in the house. She had contacts for these kinds of cleaning.
He carefully walked around the footprints in the kitchen to help himself with a bottle of water while spying for cameras. He knew something did not feel right. And he was hardly ever wrong.
He sighted an obviously placed mini-camera in between some artificial flowers and waved at it before crushing it to pieces with the bottle. Amateurs.
By the time he joined the group, the argument had died completely and all that could be heard was the loud buzz from the vault every time Eniola inserted her print.
"No luck yet?" He asked drawing their attention. Miguel was lazily making a paper airplane with the pieces of the shredded portrait while Luis was him and pointed out every single error he made. Vittore was standing next to Eniola, being useless as usual and Luca was sitting on the floor, petting a cat- A cat?
Tobias reached down to study the beautiful furrball. It had the shiniest dark fur and grey eyes that pierced into his, watching his every move.
"You didn't tell me you had a cat." He said, running his fingers behind the creature's ear. It purred as it pressed into his palm. He grinned.
I'm adopting you.
"I guess it didn't come up and came down to look for you a while ago." Eniola said before pressing her finger into the pad and letting out a frustrated groan when the buzzer went off again.
"Do you need anything?" He asked and she nodded, turning to face him.
"Yes, I was wondering if your fingerprint is still registered." He went quiet for a moment and stood to his feet. It did cross his mind once but he settled with the belief that she had made some changes.
"Did you make changes to the settings?" He asked and she shook her head, watching as he walked up to she and Vittore.
He stood a few inches away from Vittore and waited until he got the message that his presence there was unneeded. The Italian, however, maintained eye contact with him for a moment before going to join the rest.
"I didn't. So yours might work." He just shrugged and tapped on the pad.
If it worked, then she had truly made no changes.
The blank screen booted for a few moments before showing an 'ACCESS PERMITTED'.
"That was easy." He noted, turning to face the surprised group.
"I knew it would work." Eniola said proudly, reaching out to the handle and pulling the safe open.
He couldn't see her reaction as she hastily searched inside the box.
"Oh thank you Jesus." She sighed in relief, her eyes closing for a moment as she held some files to her chest.
"Are those the documents?" Vittore asked and she nodded happily before smiling at Tobias who found it difficult to return the smile. The gears in his head were turning again.
"Can we head out now? The stench here is nauseating." Luis said but the boss shook his head.
They couldn't leave just yet. He wanted to know why her fingerprint did not work and why his, after so many years still did.
"Why?" She asked curiously eyeing the serious look on his face.
"Are you not wondering why your print did not work?" He asked, making her pause.
"I don't know, maybe I messed around with the settings?"
"Did you?" He asked again and she just sighed.
"Look, I don't know. I'm just happy that the documents are here. That's literally the most important thing right now."
"I think the boss is right." Tobias almost rolled his eyes at the unneeded support and how annoying the voice giving the support was. "It's a bit weird that his prints worked and yours did not." Vittore added.
Eniola looked at the safe for a moment and back at Tobias.
"What are you guys trying to say?" She asked just as the door bell sounded.
"Are you expecting someone?" Vittore asked and she shook her head.
"Vittore can you go and see who it is? I called a cleaning service earlier." Tobias said, watching rather smugly as Vittore nodded and left them.
Finally.
"Would it be fine if I call Franco and have him check out the safe?" Miguel asked Eniola and Tobias who both agreed. Franco would have more knowledge about the safe.
"Can we go now?" She asked again and Tobias sighed.
"Of course." They had nothing else to do there and he wanted to know what Varo was raving about.
~~~
"So you're saying your let your own company run on autopilot?" Luis asked in disbelief after Eniola had explained her textile business to them.
They had left the house after the cleaning service had done their work. Thankfully, the cleaners had not questioned the messiness and had just cleaned, rearranged the furniture and left. They did not have to ask questions, A thousand dollars was more than enough to seal their lips. And they were friends of Clara's.
"Well, Anthony sends daily reports and some bills. So it's not completely on autopilot." She answered, taking a sip from Pepsi.
She had made sure they stopped at a drive through for food. Aside from the endless chatter, the loud chewing from the men were driving him crazy.
"You really trust that guy to do all the work?" Vittore chipped in and she shrugged.
"Tobias trusts him so I don't see why I shouldn't as well." Eniola replied, sharing eye contact with Tobias.
"And his hasn't been reachable for how long now?" Miguel asked from the front seat.
Tobias zoned out of the conversation for a moment, mainly because of the side glances he was receiving from their driver. He was acting stranger than usual.
"Is there a problem, Robert?" He finally asked, the car turning very quiet for a moment as he spoke.
"Of course not, Sir." The man answered with what Tobias would call a nervous laugh and he narrowed his eyes before looking outside the window.
With the group's unrelenting conversation at the back of his mind, he began to piece together the information he had. He did not trust the driver one bit and Luca was being a bit weird with the way he peeked at his phone every five minutes. Perhaps the boy had a love interest? He shook his head at the thought. Luca was an adult and what he did was none of his business.
Except his professional life. Tobias still waited on his report on why he was in Dubai instead of London the last weekend.
What about the safe?
He did not believe that it would be so easy for him to open it. Especially after eight years. Surely there had to be an issue with it.
Miguel had supplied Franco with some information he needed to detect what the problem was and they still awaited whatever he had to say.
His body grew stiff as Eniola's hand rested on his knee. He had thought it was a mistake and was mildly surprised when her hand stayed put.
He watched her discuss with Luis and Vittore. It seemed like she did not know she was touching him, while he on the other hand was almost panicking.
Her fingers drummed on his leg for a moment then stopped then started again. It seemed like she wanted something.
She spared him a pout for a moment before grabbing his free hand and intertwining their fingers.
He was too oblivious to understand what she meant. He decided to just enjoy the contact and caught Vittore's gaze when it on their connected hands.
He smirked.
~~~
"Finally!" Varo exclaimed as soon as Tobias stepped foot in the living room with Eniola by his side.
He took a while to look at the grease-blackened apron the lawyer was wearing before spotting Sergei quietly eating a bowl of soup.
The man's broken and battered face did not seem as horrible as it was the previous day and he looked content with the plain food he was given.
"I am not even going to ask." Eniola repeated the exact thing he had in mind after examining the scenario before them.
"What did you so badly need to tell me, Alvaro?" He asked almost impatiently and watched as Alvaro's smile dimmed. The reason was obvious —he had seen Vittore walk in as well.
"Thought you might have mistakenly shot the fucker." He said crudely, not bothering to hide his distaste in the dark Italian's presence.
"Varo..." Tobias warned and the Cuban rolled his eyes.
"Sure, it's not like it's my fucking business or something." Tobias could only hope that the rest did not understand what was going on.
Especially Eniola.
He did not think he had it in him to explain anything to her.
"Go ahead, Hitler, tell him what you told me." Varo finally sighed, ripping the filthy apron off his suit. Tobias could only wonder what he had done.
"Well..." Sergei started reluctantly, pushing his food away as Tobias took his seat, crossing one leg over the other.
He had had a long day... And it was just past noon.
"I-I was recruited into t-this thing. They called it the inner circle..." Tobias was pleasantly surprised as Eniola sat right next to him. "They said I h-had been a good officer and showed potential and I was grateful they noticed me. I was called upon by Christopher Davis." The man paused, quietly concealing a burp.
"Go on..." Varo instructed impatiently and Sergei nodded.
"It was all good until he started giving these strange assignments..."
"Strange assignments like?" Tobias asked.
"Like going to survey Miss Gillian's house, keeping an eye on il creatore di chiavi..."
"The key maker?" Tobias asked and the German nodded again.
"It's some Matrix shit, I know." Varo noted.
"And who's this key maker?" Eniola took the question right out of his mouth again.
"Honestly, I did not know in the first place, ma'am. He turned out to be Anthony Baragas." Sergei replied. The fact was not surprising. Tobias was yet to hear something he did not at least, have an idea about.
"Varo, of what use is this information?" He asked and Varo grinned.
"Hitler, tell him the good part." He painfully/playfully slapped Sergei on his back.
"I-it was during one of the assignments I met him."
"Who?"
"Your driver. He was part of the inner circle too. I only recognized him yesterday, at the court." He answered and Tobias just blinked.
"Are you talking about Bob?" Enny asked quietly and Sergei nodded.
"That sly motherfucker." Luis commented.
"Exactly." Varo agreed.
"Get me Robert." Tobias spoke calmly getting up from his seat. "We should probably have a little discussion."
~~~
Chile, I didn't edit this.