Chapter 4

Magnus' POV

After wrapping up the short date, I had to excuse myself for a while as I dropped Vanna off at her place. There was an urgent matter at the pier that required my attention. My staff needed me there due to an unexpected event that seemed serious.

Hurriedly driving to the location, a sense of foreboding surrounded me. I needed to address this issue promptly to avoid any conflict with the Shaw family, whom I aimed to connect with. I had planned meticulously for the past ten years, setting up everything, making deals, establishing connections, and even figuring out how Vittos Shaw, my way into their family, fit into the picture.

A decade of preparations was at stake, and I couldn't allow it to be jeopardized by a single failed shipment.

Upon reaching the pier, I headed straight to my front man, Jay. Stepping into the vast building, I saw them surrounding a man with covered eyes. Jay had his gun aimed at him, awaiting my command.

"Drop it, Jay. What's going on here?" I inquired as I approached my group of men.

"He's the mole, Magnus. He's the spy within the group, the eyes of the Shaw family," Jay asserted, with a gun in his hand.

I clenched my jaw, staring at this damn bastard, I knew it, he's the one leaking information about our cross-over shipments. The Shaws are unaware that we have a group opposed to their company.

Our objective is to merge their business with ours, to gain control of all the locations they have, they have no connections, they need my company, and they don't know that like me, all they want is my contacts about the cartel, never realizing what I am capable of.

Our families are rivals, they don't know that I am the heir to the one they betrayed in the past, my uncle Lucio, who took me in, and taught me how to run a company, how to be cold, cunning, and vengeful.

They committed a grave sin against my uncle, and because of them, we roamed around Italy, I can't believe we ended up like that, so we returned to the Philippines and made a big plan, to bring down the Shaws.

But my regret is letting my uncle die without fulfilling his wish, he died of illness, and without leaving any family, I became the heir to everything.

The family background I have is just a credit, I only paid those who acted as my parents growing up, for appearances. I don't want them to see me as a suspicious reason to go back on our agreement, an arranged marriage with their daughter, Vanna.

"The hell is going on?"

“We got this." He handed over a flash drive.

"What's this?"

"These are all the records of our past transactions, Magnus. He's a lich, draining all our information from us. That explains why our sales dropped about a month ago, he's manipulating our transactions." Jay said angrily, holding his gun.

I needed to calm myself down. I approached that bastard and unfolded the file.

"Believe me, Magnus, I'm not the traitor here. That's not mine!" Joe said.

"Any last words?" I said sternly.

"I'm innocent."

"You know what?" I forcefully pulled his hair towards me. I looked into his eyes, trying to discern the truth.

"Magnus."

"Liars go to hell."

In my rage, I snatched Jay's gun and pulled the trigger.

Blood splattered on my face. Even Jay was taken aback by what I did.

I turned my back, showing my anger. "If you don't want to end up like him, don't mess with me." I firmly said to them.

I hoped it would be the last time my hands were stained. I felt guilt inside me, I couldn't control myself from what I did. Besides hating being betrayed, I also didn't want to appear weak in the eyes of others.

Jay walked with me, handing me a towel. "Clean yourself, Magnus."

I took it and wiped my face. If there was one person I trusted, it was Jay. He's like a brother to me, I brought him from the Philippines, his uncle sponsored his education, and he's been by my side ever since.

"Any updates?" I asked while cleaning up.

We are running out of stock of Marijuana in Somalia, they are demanding more shares, we must be careful in placing them," she said, making me more annoyed.

"Fuck them! What do they want us to do? Isn't 70-30 enough? We're the ones handling the shipment, the audacity of them! Tell them, I need quotations of production bills," I roll up my sleeves. Uncovering my wristwatch stained with blood.

"Magnus, there is another bad news," I heard him clear his throat.

"What now?"

I looked at Jay. "The boat has been hijacked. They are demanding twenty grand from us."

"What?" my forehead furrowed more.

"Dollars or Shillings?"

"Dollars." I cursed again; this is the third shipment involved in such transactions.

"I need to talk to Jeb, I need his reports."

"But, he's not here this time, let me handle it."

"Okay, keep me informed."

"Sure, bro." Jay smiled and left for a moment.

I headed towards the car, still holding the flash drive from Joe. I wanted to go through all of it, how did it acquire information about our group even though it's not involved in the shipments, I only trust three people with the shipments, either Jeb, Jill, or June. The three are the ones who report to Jay, who then reports directly to me.

When I arrived home at my flat, I immediately grabbed my laptop and plugged in the flash drive where the records from our past three months are stored. They are organized into folders along with some pictures.

The files are denoted by codes:

L for London

U for Ukraine

N for Netherlands

A for America

However, my attention was caught by a specific folder labeled DISMISSAL. This folder required a four-letter code to access it.

With my mind racing, I struggled to decipher the four folders with initials.

"Damn it!" I muttered, attempting to open them using the letters L-U-N and A. To my surprise, what I found was unexpected.

It was my birth certificate and photos with my uncle Lucio. I also noticed a picture with Jay, Jeb, Jill, June, and Joe. A suspicion crossed my mind that one of the four might be a traitor, although uncertain, I needed to delve into their backgrounds to ensure I wasn't nurturing a snake within my circle.

"Damn it!" I cursed under my breath. Being a leader of a syndicate is no simple task; being a Mafia Boss certainly isn't easy.