"Rafael, such a pleasure." I say whilst keeping my knife against his throat, both of us holding strong eye contact as he waits for me to lower the blade. I step back after a minute and straighten my jacket before putting my blade away, his blue eyes watching my every move.
"I have been trying to contact you, I have some news on the missing shipments. Can we go inside and talk?" He questions as we stand across from each other, his muscular body still close against the wall.
Nodding my head in agreement, he straightens and begins to lead the way to the cafe before quickly opening the door and holding it open for me to enter first, I send him a nod in gratitude as he observes the cafe steadily whilst a young, energetic waitress welcomes us both and leads us over to a closed off area where only a few booths are placed.
She places two menus down before taking her leave, allowing both Rafael and I to take our seats across from one another before he begins to glance through the menu. He looks up, promptly meeting my gaze and addresses the problem, "There have been some rumours of a small organisation aiming to get revenge on you and whoever partners with you."
The waitress returns, politely asking for our orders as she aims to keep the interaction short, we both only order a coffee so she nods and simply leaves. "Where did you hear these rumours?" Questioning him whilst watching as his gaze wonders across my face and neck, before answering. "I have some informants in the new organisations and got word back on their aims, but this one only has a target and it seems to be you and your business."
Our coffees are placed on the table with sugar and milk before the waitress leaves, which prompts Rafael to push them both over to me for my use before using them for himself.
"Where did this organisation come from?" I ask after drinking some much needed caffeine, he leans forward in interest before lowering his tone, "I have reason to believe that they were involved with one of the original take downs so they went underground before making their own organisation to plan the revenge."
Nodding in consideration whilst thinking of some ideas on who could have started this, I subtly take notice of the way his throat looks when he swallows his coffee, noting the way his veins appear more prominent.
"Does anyone else know?" He shakes his head in denial as his foot softly nudges mine, "Keep it that way, just double your security and quietly inform your friends and family to keep their eyes open." He nods his head in agreement which makes some of his smaller curls drop onto his forehead and I observe as he pushes them back whilst keeping his gaze locked on mine.
Rafael begins to tap his fingers against the table before meeting my gaze, tilting his head "Is there a chance that you will be available to help improve my soldiers training soon?" I contemplate before nodding, "They do need improvement, so yes." He shakes his head with a small smile as we keep eye contact, whilst nodding his head in thanks.
My phone rings just as I glance up and notice some tinted, black vans pull up outside and many people covered head to toe in black rush out. Making eye contact with one of the men, I quietly speak to Rafael whilst keeping the mans gaze, "There are men outside, get down."
Just as he ducks and I flip the table for cover, the first gunshot is fired in our direction and many screams of horror are heard. I quickly pull out my gun, just as Rafael does the same and we both begin to take turns firing towards the loud gunfire before covering each other. I curse heavily when one stray bullet gets too close but a loud grunt snaps me out of it.
Rafael murmurs a quiet fuck as the bullet goes into his upper arm so he ducks and I quickly follow, taking off my suit jacket before wrapping it tightly around his upper arm.
"Do you need some training too, Mr González?" I question whilst reloading which makes his lips twitch as he shakes his head in denial.
His eyes slowly rake over my half unbuttoned blouse as we continue to take cover, "Let us focus on one thing at a time, hmm?" I question just as his eyes meet mine again.
He sends me a cheeky smile before I step back up and pull out my other handgun from my holster and continue firing with Rafael promptly covering my back when getting back up.
The last man goes down just before some of my men pull up with other cars, confirming that they are apart of the Spanish. I place my guns away whilst approaching my men, "Clear the area and make sure any injured get medical attention." They all nod before teaming up and heading in different directions "Yes boss."
I make a quick phone call whilst watching Rafael confidently command his men and observe as they obediently follow his orders with respect just as he approaches me, "This is not how I thought our first date would go."
I blink up at him in confusion before tilting my head "Date? This was definitely not a date."
He nods, adamantly "Talking, getting to know each other and then ending in a shoot out, sounds like a date to me." I shake my head when unlocking my car, "No, wasn't a date. This was a business meeting of sorts."
Rafael furrows his brows in confusion adorably before taking a step closer, "So, are you saying I can organise a first date?"
He opens my door for me just as I enter the car, placing my sunglasses on before lowering them a little "We will see, Mr González. Get that arm checked out" He runs a hand through his curls before shaking his head with a small smile, nodding towards me before I start the journey to the Russo house.
Entering the house and immediately heading towards the kitchen for a drink, I notice a few more people in the residence when retrieving a glass from the nearest cupboard and filling it with whiskey. I take a generous sip whilst making eye contact with Marco, who is sitting at the kitchen island with someone new.
Marco eyes my glass and then follows down to my gun holsters as my suit jacket is still wrapped around Rafael's arm. His head tilts whilst questioning "Why do you have guns? Why are you drinking whiskey?" His questions stay unanswered as the rest of the Russo family enter - minus Alessandro and Luca.
Adriano steps close whilst eyeing my face before making a face, "Why is there blood on your face El?" He also eyes the guns as I answer "I was ambushed at a cafe today."
Everyone in the room tenses as I finish my drink, before chaos erupts. "Ambushed?!" "Who were you with?" "Why didn't you call?"
Questions are rambled out and shouted over each other so I immediately put a stop to it because they will give me a headache, "Enough." They all quiten down so I refill my glass before replying, "Rafael was with me and we had it handled."
"Rafael? Why was he with you?" Giovanni inquires as he steps closer eyeing my glass, "We were catching up." They all share a meaningful look before facing me again, "You're not hurt are you?" Lorenzo asks, "No, the cafe is being cleared up and the nearby civilians were all fine."
I make eye contact with the new face sitting by Marco as he reminds me of someone, he sends me a smile just as everyone else follows my line of vision. "This is Sebastian, one of our cousins on dads side. Do you remember him?" I finish the rest of my drink, disregarding all of the stares before nodding my head and walking towards the kitchen exit.
"Of course, he was the one who killed my bunny when I was four."