"Lea, you have to be sure in order to call that type of meeting. That will rise panic in our people." Damiano tries to reason with me, but I just stare at him with the same stern gaze.
"I want everyone there in an hour. Wrap up the gala." I command Damiano, giving him no room for discussion.
Once I said those words I step back from him. I have so much rage inside me that if I stay here with Max and Damiano I will snap at them without hesitation if they say the wrong thing.
I look back at Enzo who is standing by the sink looking intimidated by the way I spoke to Damiano, we make eye contact and my eyes unconsciously grow softer at the sight of him, "Let's go" I say to him.
He follows my lead and both of us get out of the bathroom, leaving Max and Damiano behind.
There is an exit through the kitchen of the ballroom and I am planning on using it, that way I don't make an scene with the guest of the gala and ruin their night, but most importantly I don't want the media to grow suspicious of my attitude and create false rumors.
We pass through the kitchen, the head chef bows his head at me politely when he sees me, but I just nod my head at him in acknowledgement. Enzo opens the back door of the kitchen for me and a gust of wind slaps my face as soon as the door opens, the chilly air calms me a little bit from the rage that I am feeling inside me.
The exit of the kitchen is located at the back of the hotel, that means Enzo and I have to walk for a bit to reach the parking lot.
I get goosebumps on my skin due to the wind, it doesn't seem like it is going to rain, but it is quite cold and the dress I am wearing it is not exactly warm for this weather. Suddenly, I feel something warm being placed on my shoulders, I look to my side and see that Enzo took his suit blazer and put it on me, his cologne fills my nostrils, bringing some kind of comfort to me.
My frown disappears and instead a small smile takes place on my face, "Thank you" I say to him with a soft voice.
I should be wary of him, considering that he just became my personal bodyguard and I know absolutely nothing about him other than he has amazing skills in the field. And considering the fact that there is definitely a mole in our organization, he should be the first one I should suspect, but surprisingly, my instinct is telling me that he means no harm. Plus, he took a beating for me and now his handsome face has a bruise forming on his cheek and a cut on his eyebrow, so unless he is a good actor, I doubt that he is the mole.
I notice that Enzo kept looking over at me, so I look back at him and we make eye contact for a second until he looks away and says, "Ms. Cattani, we will find your necklace, I promise".
"I am not that mad that they stole my necklace," I say frowning once more, "I am furious at the fact that I have a freaking army to protect me, but as soon as I need protection they don't do the one thing that we paid them for." I sigh, Enzo seems to be in deep thought at my words and part of me wants to know what he is thinking about, but I refrain myself from asking him.
We make a turn were there are several people hanging around, Enzo grabs my waist and passes me to his left side so the people are close to him and not me, making my heart warm at his thoughtfulness.
Once we finally reach the car, Enzo opens the backseat door for me and I get inside. I take off my high heels and I take Enzo's blazer from my shoulders putting it beside me, I close my eyes and massage my temples with my hands since a headache is starting to form from the anger I feel. Enzo is already in the driver seat and for some reason he hasn't started the car, he is staring at me instead.
"I can feel your gaze on me, is there something you want to tell me?" I ask him without opening my eyes.
"Do you really think that there is a mole in the organization?" Enzo asks me, as if he is afraid that I will snap at him from the question.
I hum at his question in agreement, "I do think so, yeah..." I say in a soft voice.
I try not to think about who is the mole that is sabotaging all of our mission and putting in danger my life and the ones in our organization, because that would mean that I have to suspect one of the guys in our inner circle and I honestly don't want to do that.
Enzo drops the topic after that and starts the car, "Are we going to the second headquarter?" he asks me.
"Yes, we have to be there before anyone else." I tell him.
Eighteen minutes later we arrived at the second headquarter. Since our main headquarter is still under construction due to the explosion in the lobby, we have a headquarter as a backup, this one is smaller than our main headquarter but it still has everything that we need.
I put on my high heels and get out of the car as soon as Enzo parks it, not waiting for him to open the door for me. Enzo follows after me as I walk up to the entrance of the building and as soon as the security man opens the door for me, everyone starts bowing to me in respect, in other circumstance I would acknowledge them, but at this moment I am seeing red so the last thing in my mind is to be polite.
I walk up to the desk of the receptionist, she starts to greet me politely but I cut her off and order her coldly, "We are having a meeting in an hour, prepare the Podium Room".
"How many people will be attending the meeting?" she asks me politely.
"Every single person that was involved to prepare for the gala. And call Isabella Marcozzi, tell her that Lea Cattani called a Code BION Meeting" I say with authority in my voice, the receptionists eyes widen at the mention of the meeting name.
You see, in our line of business it is common for us to have meetings, sometimes we have several in just a week. But a Code BION Meeting is very rare for us to have, if I recall we haven't had one in years. A Code BION Meeting can only be schedule by my dad and I, since both of us are the head of this organization, this type of meeting means Breach In Our Organization.
I know that Damiano said that this meeting will rise panic in our people, which it will, but he should know I am smarter than that. I will hold this meeting only with the knowledge that my necklace was stolen, and that is the reason for the breach in our security, but I won't mention that we have a mole in our organization, since that person might be in that room.
I don't wait for the receptionist's response and head towards the elevator. I press the number 8 on the keypad, Enzo always staying by my side. Once I reach the empty floor I head towards my office.
"Sit down," I order Enzo when we enter my office, I head towards my desk and take out a first aid kit.
Enzo just stands in front of my desk since I forgot that I don't have a chair in my office, yet.
I walk up to him and put the opened first aid kit beside him on the desk, then I put my hands on his shoulders and motion for him to sit on the desk, he complies with my request without hesitation. Enzo is taller than me, but thanks to the high heels that I am wearing I stand almost at the same height as him.
I stand between his legs, but I still keep a distance between us. Then I grab his cheek carefully to take a closer look at the cut he has on his eyebrow, not wanting to touch his bruise. His eyes make eye contact with mine and we stare at each other for a second too long than we should have, my breath hitches for a second before I recover myself and step back breaking our eye contact to grab some disinfectant from the first aid kit.
"Your cut is not deep, but you still have blood on it, I will clean it so it doesn't get infected." I tell him, standing between his legs once again, I raise the cotton filled with disinfectant to his eyebrow and clean it. To my surprise he doesn't flinch at the contact.
"It doesn't hurt?" I ask him curiously, "Barely," he says, his eyes never leaving my face, his hands are resting on the desk and I notice that he is grabbing it a little bit too hard than necessary, but I decided not to pay any mind to it.
I applied a little bit of antibacterial cream on his little cut and put the mini gauze on top of it. Which turned out to be a tiny cut now that I cleaned it up, in two weeks or less it will definitely heal.
"All done," I say stepping back from him, "Thank you, Ms. Cattani." he says with a raspy voice.
I throw out the trash and I put the first aid kit inside the drawer in my desk.
Then I walk up to the closet on my office that has different types of outfits ready for me. "I will change this dress to a more comfortable one. Wait for me outside, please." I instruct Enzo and he excuses himself, walking out of the office and closing the door on his way out.
I slip out of my dress and change into a Black Embroidered Mini Dress by Zuhair Murad, my current shoes matching with the dress.
Once I am in my new outfit I walk out of the office.
"Let's head downstairs." I say to Enzo whom was standing beside the office door.
We walk once again to the elevator and head to the lobby, once there we head to the Podium Room, where everyone is waiting for me.
I enter the room, my face void of any emotion; everyone immediately stays silence as I walk up to the podium. I look around the room and notice that everyone is here.
I stand at the podium and everyone takes a seat at the chairs that this room has.
"Did I said that you could take a seat?" I ask sternly, all of them immediately stand up, apologizing to me.
"Is Isabella Marcozzi here?" I ask, ignoring their apologies.
"I'm here, Lea!" she says raising her hand for me to be able to see her.
"Great, we can start the meeting" I say to no one in particular.
"Who was on duty to guard me at the gala? Aside from Enzo," I ask them, I see the bodyguards hesitate, "I am not going to ask twice and I don't have all night." I say coldly.
The ones that were suppose to protect me raise their hands, "Come and stand beside Enzo." I order them. Enzo is standing at the bottom stairs of the podium.
"Who was on surveillance duty?" I ask, this time they don't waste my time and they raise their hands without hesitation, "Isabella, come to the front," I order her, once she is at the front I look at the them and say "Come stand beside Isabella". They move beside her quickly.
"Who is the one in charge of the earpieces and communication of the bodyguards?" I ask, the one in charge raises his hand, "Do you have someone helping you with that?" I ask him, my voice calm but cold, "Yes, ma'am." he answers. "Okay, you and the ones that helped you come to the front," I command them, "Damiano, stand beside them." I order him.
"Who was the head chef at the gala?" I ask, the head chef raises his hand and I see fear in his eyes, "You and the rest of the chefs come at the front." I order them, "Francesco, come and stand beside them." I command him.
"Who was in charge of securing the front doors and all of the exits?" I ask, they raise their hands, "Come to the front," I command them "Max, come and stay beside them." I order him.
"The rest of you are dismissed. You can go home." I order them, they sigh in relief and leave the room. I wait until the last person leaves to continue the meeting. I put them in groups so it is easier for me to recognize what positions they held at the gala.
"Tonight at the gala the Morozov's enter the girl's bathroom were I was. They stole my necklace, my family heirloom." I glare at them with a cold gaze, "Luckily, Enzo, my personal bodyguard, was there to protect me, so no major damage was done to me. But he got beaten up and I got stolen." I start the meeting, giving them a brief introduction so they know what the meeting is about.
"I want to know what each of you were doing while your leader was fighting for her life. Let's start with my bodyguards," I turn my head to were they stand beside Enzo, "What the hell were you guys doing?" I ask them with a firm and stern tone in my voice.
"We received the signal that you were safe with Enzo, Ms. Cattani. So, we stayed at the main room guarding the gala." two of them answer, "Were you the ones that I ordered at the gala to chase after the Morozov's?" I ask them sternly, knowing damn well that they are, but giving them a chance to say the truth or lie. "Yes, Ms. Cattani." they answer, they get bonus points for being honest. "So, you are the ones that let the Morozov's escape?" I ask them rhetorically, "One of them was injured, and you guys still managed to let them escape." I say with a chuckle, but my attitude is far from amused at the moment.
I turned to the other bodyguard and ask him "What were you doing?"
"I received the signal from Enzo that everything was okay with you, Ms. Cattani. So, I told the rest that were on duty to be with you, that you were safe. And a few minutes later I got the signal that the Morozov's were getting out of the girl's bathroom and that is when I reported it to Damiano." he says and I recognize him as Alonzo, one of the new members.
"That makes sense." I nod my head at him.
"Now, I am curious as to what the hell happened with the earpiece communication? May I add and as previously mentioned; seconds before that device stopped working, Enzo communicated with Alonzo without a problem." I ask the group that is standing with Damiano. I am no longer on the podium but in front of them staring at them with a cold gaze.
They don't answer me, which makes me more irritated by the second, "Enzo, come here." I say with a loud voice so he could hear me, in seconds he was by my side. "Check his earpiece device and talk to me about it." I say to the one in charge of these devices.
He hesitates, "He doesn't bite, so go ahead and check his earpiece. Don't test my patience." I say through gritted teeth. The man takes a step towards Enzo and I observe his every move. Enzo helps him to take it out, once the whole device is on the man's hand he inspects it and whispers, "The intercom doesn't appear to be damage".
"Then why the fuck did no one heard when Enzo was calling for help?" I ask him harshly, he flinches at my tone of voice and gulps before speaking, "T-the only way t-that the communication didn't pass through is if the device is muted." I just stare at him waiting for a further explanation, he gulps again and says, "This device is one of a kind, the best in technology, the only way that it can be muted is if the bodyguard mutes himself and also through our system." I take a step towards him and say, "Now we are talking. You guys monitor these devices on this building, right?" I ask him. "We do, ma'am. All of our equipment is here." he says, "Perfect, I will look into that later on." I tell him.
I move to Isabella's group and get close to the boys that were suppose to be doing surveillance, "Now, let's give the Communication Team the benefit of the doubt and say that Enzo, for some odd reason, forgot to unmute himself." I say with sarcasm, because I know for sure that he was definitely not on mute.
"Can you guys enlighten me and explain how the fuck did you guys not see the Morozov's entering the girl's bathroom through the cameras?" I ask them harshly, one of them stutters trying to explain, but no coherent words come out of his mouth. "So, we pay you a lot of money to watch the cameras and the one job that you guys are suppose to be doing, you don't do it." I say to them sternly. "Fucking unbelievable! We are going back to the hotel and check every second of footage of those cameras. And you guys better start praying for your sake that there is no footage of the Morozov's entering the girl's bathroom." I threaten them.
I head to Francesco's group and ask the head chef, "Did you see someone pass through the kitchen?" he answers me with confidence, "No, Ms. Cattani. The only ones that passed through were you and your bodyguard." I nod my head to him in understanding.
I head to were Max's group is, "So, that means that one of you saw the Morozov's leave. Through which exit did they left?" I ask them. "Through the back door, ma'am." one of them says, I laugh at that, a humorless laugh may I add. "Answer me this, what instructions did Damiano Accardi gave you for tonight?" I ask him, one of my eyebrow's raising in wonder, "He said to be aware of the Morozov's, he gave us a picture of what they look like so that way we coul---" I interrupt him and say "Okay. And you just opened the door for them so they could leave after they beat up my bodyguard and your boss?!" I raise my voice, this time not controlling my anger at any of them.
"All of you are fucking telling me that you didn't do shit to protect your leader?!" I pace around the room, my voice raised filled with rage. "There is only one fucking job that all of you have!" I stand at the center, my high heels giving me the stature to be able to look at all of them, even the ones at the back. "It is unbelievable, how fucking useless all of you were today!" I state, my voice still raised.
"This is not about the fucking necklace, this is about you protecting your leader!" at this point I am not holding back my thoughts, "And what a wonderful job all of you did at protecting me." my sarcasm is filled with venom, "If it wasn't for Enzo, I would be beaten up right now. Or worst, I could be dead, because all of you let them get close to me!" none of them dare to look me in the eyes.
"Do any of you value your life?!" I ask them. I get close to Max, I take his gun from his waistband, but he doesn't say anything nor does he question my actions.
I check the charger of the gun and find it full of bullets, I put the charge back on the gun and take off the safety.
"Do you like being held at gunpoint?" I aim the gun at the guard that let the Morozov's escape and he trembles in fear when he sees the gun pointed at his forehead, he shakes his head at my question.
"Neither do I" I respond.
BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG!
Everyone gasp in fear at the sound of the bullets being fired.
But I don't shot anyone with those bullets, at the last second I changed my aim and direct it to back seats of the podium, where no one was standing.
The guard sighed in relief when I gave back the gun to Max and he was unharmed.
"This is the only warning that I am giving to all of you. I will spare your life, nothing will happen to any of you. But believe me when I say that if this happens one more time, all of you will meet your Creator." I threaten them with a low voice.
"Is that understood?" I ask them, only a few of them answer so I repeat myself with a loud voice, "I asked, is that understood?!"
"Yes, boss!!" all of them say at the same time, their voice sounding throughout the room.
"Good. The Communication Team and the Surveillance Team, stay here with me. The rest of you are dismissed." I order them.
All of them bow their head at me on the way out, thanking me. I just curtly nod at them. The only ones behind are The Communication Team, The Surveillance Team, The Cattani Clan and the bodyguards.
"Luca, Niccolo and Francesco, you guys can go home." I say to them. Luca and Francesco walk up to me, each one giving me a hug before leaving. Once Niccolo reaches me, he kisses my temple and whispers "I am glad you are okay" I give him a small smile in response and he also leaves.
"The Communication Team and Damiano, go ahead and wait for me at the Communication Room. The rest of you wait for me at the lobby." I order them, all of them follow my instructions.
My dad approaches me, giving me a tight hug, once he releases me he turns to Enzo who is by my side and says "Thank you for protecting my daughter. I will make sure you receive a great reward for that." Enzo politely bows to him.
"May I have a word with you?" my dad says to me, I nod and we walk to the corner of the room, Enzo leaves the room to give us privacy.
"Damiano told me what happened, you did the right thing about calling this meeting," my dad says praising me, "Do you really think that we have a mole?" he whispers to me in case someone was eavesdropping our conversation.
"I do" I whisper back.
"You didn't say anything about that in the meeting," he says curiously, "Because, I have no idea who that person is, and I didn't want that person to suspect anything. That is why only Damiano, Max, Enzo and you know about it, you are the ones that I trust the most." I explain to him.
"You are growing into a wise woman and an amazing leader. I admire you and I am proud of you, princess." my dad says hugging me, I hug him back, sighing into his embrace, relieving a bit of stress.
"You should go home, dad." I say releasing him from the hug, "You need to rest, I will take care of this. And first thing in the morning you, Damiano and I will have a meeting regarding the situation of the necklace. I'm sorry I was not able to protect it" I apologize to him.
"There is something I have to tell you about that" he says, his face turning serious.
"The necklace was a replica, it was not the family heirloom. So, that means that the Morozov's stole a fake one, a GPS was installed on that necklace so that way we could track them and I have a team that is doing that as we speak." he explains to me.
I smirk at his words and I sigh in relief.
Dad, you are a genius. That's why you are the mastermind in our organization.