Closer To The Truth

Luca stared at Cara in shock.

The Spanish mafia was the strongest of all the mafia families. Even the Bernardis couldn't compare. They'd been in existence long before the Italian mafia found its feet.

But that was until a few years back.

No one had heard from them in a long time. From what he could recollect, what was left of them had gone into hiding shortly after the attack that almost destroyed their family. 

Even he didn't know the whole truth exactly, as he was still a child, so he didn't witness their reign or when the attack happened. All he knew from the stories they were told was that the Spanish mafia was not to be messed with, and there was very little of them remaining.

It was like they decided to step back after it happened and kept their hands off everything that had to do with the mafia world.

Now Adonis was missing, with only their emblem as a clue, and Cara claims to know them?

Taking his eyes off her for a minute, he announced.

"Call back all the men. Tell them we have a lead and need to re-strategize. I want the entire mansion cleaned up with no traces of recent events while you wait for your next orders. Cara?"

She hummed.

"Let's go into Adonis's study. I want to know more about your father's tattoo."

As soon as they stepped into the study, he began throwing questions at her.

"Are you sure the tattoo is the same as the emblem? Do you want to take a closer look? Have you seen it elsewhere or only on his arm? Did your father say anything about it to you?"

Cara gaped at him. "Is the emblem that significant?"

"It is. It belongs to a powerful family that hadn't been heard from or seen in years. And the ancestral ring was stolen by Antonio, so it's suspicious that they have it."

'Do you know where to find them?" She asked with her heart in her throat. 

"Not really, but it's not impossible."

Relief flooded her mind, and she exhaled deeply. It meant they were one step closer to finding Adonis, and that was all that mattered.

"My father had a tattoo on his left arm. It's identical to the emblem; I remember asking why he got it, and he said, Family."

Luca was taken aback.

Family?

From the investigation that was carried out by Adonis, they knew he was close to the Grecos but why would a member of the Spanish mafia accomodate them?

In their world, loyalty meant a lot, and the moment a person is kicked out for being disloyal, words spread fast, resulting in less association with the fellow.

Surely he knew the Grecos were kicked out of the Italian mafia. It didn't add up.

"How much did Adonis tell you about your father?"

"That he was just a regularly paid caretaker?" Cara answered with her lips flattened in a thin line.

It was a memory she wished she didn't have, a memory she didn't like to think about.

Where was he going with this?

"We don't know who made the regular payments. There's no trace of the money being wired or anything, and now that you claim that he has the tattoo—

"I do not claim, I know." She interrupted, and Luca nodded in surrender.

"—since he has the tattoo, I think it's someone from the Spanish mafia."

She raised her brow, dubious.

"How do you know?"

"Only members of their mafia are allowed to tattoo the emblem—it seems your father is one of them, and Antonio knew about this; I'm guessing that was why he approached him, using gambling as a facade." He concluded.

Things may be sketchy at the moment, but one thing was sure: there's a connection between the Grecos and the Spanish mafia, and Cara was at the centre of it all.

Although she didn't know yet.

He studied the small woman who looked like she was about to pass out any minute.

He couldn't blame her; things had taken an unexpected turn yet she coped well.

Luca felt a sense of respect towards Cara for her smart and quick-thinking reflexes.

He would never think in a million years that she'd stay back just to get revenge for Adonis or even kill Natasha. He'd been studying her discretely—even though she was presently fine, he knew it was just her worry about Adonis taking a predominant seat in her mind.

In the end, she was going to have a hard time coming to terms with her actions.

They all did. 

But in a dog-eat-dog world where being good wasn't always the right choice, one had to learn to live with it.

"So what do we do now? We can go after him, right?"

Luca clocked his tongue, passing the note in his hand over to her.

Cara scanned through it.

'I guess silence isn't always the best answer for a fool. You have seventy-two hours to return the shipments, or all your men, including your capo, dies.'

"What shipment are they talking about?"

Luca shook his head. "I have no idea, wait—

He jumped to his feet, heading towards Adonis's safe, putting in the supposed code, but it was rejected. 

He tried again, but it ended up the same.

Looking over his shoulder, he eyed Cara.

"You don't somehow happen to know his password, do you? I think I might have an idea of the shipment mentioned." 

Her face turned the colour of an overripe tomato as she hurriedly mumbled.

"Bellissima661"

Luca's mouth unattractively fell open as he tried to contain his laughter. The mood wasn't right, so laughing would be disrespectful—still,

Who knew his friend had a bit of clicked in him?

Deciding it was better not to ask, he inputted the words, and the safe clicked open. Frantically rummaging through the files, his digging around proved useless, and he gave up.

"It's not there. My suspicions are confirmed then." 

Cara peered at him in question.

"Antonio left a mess for us to clean up."

"I don't understand."

"Adonis has been working on poaching some of the Spanish mafia suppliers since they're no longer in business so he had a file on their previous list of shipments and the countries they were from. It's missing. What I do not understand is why he gave them the ring." He explained.

"So Antonio caused this? And they couldn't wait to confirm instead, they kidnapped a dying man? Cara spat out angrily.

"The Spanish mafia is brutal and does not give second chances, Cara." 

"That's good! We would go to them then! When do we leave?" She rose to her feet, and a sudden wave of dizziness hit her.

Luca snorted.

"Right after you get some rest."