Cassandra's P.O.V:
The drive back from the now blown up base if filled with a heavy morbid feeling which lingers in the air. I don't bat an eye towards Athena the entire time. I don't care whatever personal reason she has for not speaking but of all times she chooses to be silent, she chooses now.
This wasn't the plan. All she was supposed to do was hit all 11 soldiers and get out with the loot. But now I've just lost 11 soldiers. Some of my best too. Whatever she did, she has a lot of explaining to do.
Lucia is in the backseat and huddles up against the door of the car as she watches the cars drive by. My heart aches as I watch her take interest in a lady walking her dog.
"Cassandra Bianchi" I say to the guard in front of the entrance gates.
I don't know why I have to give them my I.D, I've been here enough times that they should know who I am.
Athena's face scrunches in confusion as she looks at the mansion before us. I drive up to the carpark on the side and park the car.
Still not talking to Athena, I exit the car to open the door for Lucia. Helping her out of the car, I hold her hand and take her to Athena's side. Knocking on the window, she finally steps out.
"Mateo's house. It's the only safe place I know of in this damned city" I say bluntly.
She gives me a small nod and follows me as I walk to the front door. Mateo opens the door with a huge smile but notices Lucia and turns his head to the side slightly.
"When did you have time to have a daughter?" He asks confusedly
"Is Marco home?" I ask
"It's his?" He panics
"No you fucking idiot I need to talk to him. Call the rest over here as well and tell Tess to bring her kit." I demand.
He nods finally understanding the urgency of all of this. I take Lucia to Mateo's room and put on some cartoons for her and give her a juice box and a bag of crisps.
The entire time Athena has been following me. As we walked through the house I watched as she observed the house and all its excessive details.
Talking her to a living room I sit down on the arm chair and she sits on the couch next to me.
"Talk" I glare at her
She shakes her head and bites her lip.
"This isn't the time to be acting like a fucking child. Tell me what you saw and what you did fucking wrong!" I yell
She closes her eyes but I watch as a tear rolls down her face.
Sighing, I leave and return with a notepad and pen.
"What happened" I hand her the stationary.
She grabs it nervously and writes down everything in a hurry. Athena hands me the paper and I scan through the writing, not noticing anything wrong at first but then seeing the part where she found Lucia.
"And you're sure you didn't touch anything?" I ask again
She shakes her head, in an instant I realise how harsh I'm being in her. She's never seen this sort of thing before, I have but just never in an area associated with the Italian mafia.
"Why won't you speak" I ask
"If I do, I'll be killed" She writes
I scoff and shake my head, "Stop with the bullshit." My patience begins to wear thin.
"You cannot tell anyone" She writes again
"If it threatens this mafia, then yes I will. But right now I'm more concerned about Lucia so I'm going to need you to tell me why you won't speak"
She closes her eyes again, this time more tears spill out.
For the 100th time I shake my head and get up to go and get myself a drink. I can't deal with her emotional-ness right now.
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"What happened?" Mateo asks as I sip on my shiraz on the balcony.
"She didn't do anything. Thank God I told her to go the other way otherwise we wouldn't of found Lucia. As she was running down the halls she saw something move and noticed Lucy next to the bomb. From there she just got the fuck out of there and all 11 soldiers in the building died with it." I explain in a rush.
"Shit, it's an inactive base, what's the point of someone blowing it up. Let alone starve a kid there" Mateo blow out a puff of smoke.
"That's why I've asked everyone to come. I don't know what's happening but there's daggers in men's smiles" I take another sip
He scoffs "I fucking hated Macbeth" He rolls his eyes
The sound of footsteps in the house grabs our attention and we both re-enter the house.
"What's happening Cass?" Tess asks
"There's someone in Mateo's room, I've got a maid in there with her. She's 8 years old and extremely malnourished. I'm glad to see you brought your med kit because she needs all the help she can get" I explain and immediately her face shuts down as it usually does when she deals with patients.
We all watch as she runs up the stairs and rounds the corner. Turning back to the boys, I bring them into the living room.
"Hey Athie" Alex smiles.
She sends him a small smile and returns her attention back to the unlit fireplace. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I gesture towards the chairs ready to re-explain what Athena just told me.
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We all turn our attention to Marco. He's been staring hard into the now-lit fireplace for the entire time I've been speaking and hasn't said a word.
"It couldn't have anything to do with our mafia" And so he finally speaks!
"Do you know anything about that base and what it used to store?" Diego asks
Marco winces as he tries to remember "Like fuck I know, we've got so many assets around the city that I couldn't tell you."
"It was a data and research building. Got shut down because the police were onto it and we couldn't risk getting caught" Alex reads off of his laptop.
We all turn our attention towards him.
"Research what?" I ask
"I can't access what, I'll have to ask Ryan if he can dig a little deeper to find out" He answers
"Did you see any files or research equipment when you were in the building?" Mateo asks
"All I was focused on was the task I was set. Not if there was a possibility that there was a dying kid next to a bomb in a mafia research facility" Athena slides the sheet towards us and I read it out loud.
Mateo makes a choking noise and Diego slaps him behind the head, quickly shutting him up.
"I've just sent a report to Ray, he'll look into it for us. In the meantime keep your ears pierced for any information that could be helpful" Alex instructs.
Tess makes her way downstairs with a sad look on her face. Everyone keeps their eyes on her but she doesn't let any information out.
"Athena, she wants to see you" Tess says and Athena nods and gets up to leave.
"So?" I prompt
"Usually I would take someone in her condition to the hospital" she pauses "but given the circumstances it's best if she stays in my care" She looks at us "I've taken a dna sample so hopefully she's in a system somewhere so we can trace her back. But from what she's told me, her parents were murdered by people with weird accents."
"Weird accents?" Diego asks
"Surely not the Spanish?" Alex wonders out loud
"No, they're too soft hearted to do this sort of thing" I answer
"Russians" Marco says bluntly
All eyes land on him but he doesn't look back, "They've always tried to compete with us but have never been successful. Maybe this time they've upped their ranks and are a little more ballsy with their stunts"
"But what does that have to do with Lucia?" I ask
"I don't know, but I'm going to do some research on any members of our mafia who had a daughter and are now deceased and see if it all links up." He stands up and leaves the room.
Simultaneously we all sigh and sink into our chairs. I watch as Tess leans her head on Diego and wraps his arm around her. Furrowing my brows I let my eyes look for too long because Alex raises his eyebrows at me to snap me out of my judgement.