Elegant Butterflies

The afternoon sky spoke of a beautiful remainder of the day. The sun had finally pushed away the clouds in the last few hours before nightfall. The gentle breeze gliding through the trees whispered that spring would soon come. What a lovely day it had turned into for everyone except for a particular mafia boss.

The mafia boss let out a muted noise of discontentment. Didn't they have anything interesting to report? Traitors to be made examples of? No people playing in territory that didn't belong to them? Anything would've been better than the financial report his right-hand man continued to drone on about. David's head remained supported by a hand under his chin as he forced himself to continue listening.

 Emotionless eyes trailed after a swallowtail butterfly as it fluttered past the top-floor office window behind his subordinate's head. Butterflies had life so easy, didn't they? A pair of wings to take them wherever they wanted without a care in the world. They surely never had to listen to dull reports or correct the mistakes of stupid subordinates. Life as a butterfly wouldn't be so bad, would it?

Except…

One hand and two tiny plucks would quickly render such a beautiful creature helpless. Helpless against predators and the elements. Powerless against being crushed under the sole of a heavy boot. A boot that would undoubtedly belong to David. After all, such elegant creatures needed to be reminded exactly how fragile they were.

"Erhm, Don. We do need you to sign off on this." An uncertain cough broke the mafia boss from dark thoughts. His eyes narrowed as his gaze lingered on the butterfly for a moment longer. The Mafia boss returned his attention to the desk and the document atop it.  

"New drug route? When was this agreed upon." Rough hands crinkled the paper as the mafia boss tore through the document. His eyes scanned rapidly for anything that would bring the plan for the drug route to mind, but nothing stuck out.

"Don,  If you recall, it is part of the bigger project we are working on related to building an alliance with the Valentina family?" The tall blonde man on David's left side pulled out a second set of papers.

"This drug route was one of the conditions for moving forward with the alliance." The mafia boss ripped the papers from the other's hands before the man finished speaking. 

No, none of that sounded right. David had no recollection of agreeing to such a deal. Especially not such a risky and expensive one. If not him, then who decided if not for him?

"Boss. It isn't something that we need to agree on right now. We can-" A sharp look silenced the man, as the hand froze, hovering above the contract before it could be picked up. Even sitting, the mafia boss cut an intimidating figure with his dark expression, sharp facial features, and broad shoulders. Even standing, David rarely needed to raise to his full 6'4 height to remind people of exactly how dangerous a man he could be. The mafia boss's dark did a perfect job on its own. 

"Who was in charge of securing this deal?" The subordinates exchanged glances as uneasy feet shuffled on the floor. Uttering a name would be akin to giving out a potential death sentence. Yet, it would also save them from the dragon's slowly building ire. Besides, the responsible party would

"I do believe, if I'm correct, it was Sinclair. You asked personally for him to be put on the job." Sinclair? That's right… What would've made him think this choice had been the correct one? The mafia boss's aura further as he glared at the papers. He mustn't have been in his right mind.

"Get the report that Sinclair submitted. I want every inch of it gone over again before we agree. They can wait a few more days before an agreement is reached." If not, they weren't worth the time in the first place. Sinclair would also be getting a strict speaking to when the other returned. Maybe a few knocks to help remind him of where he'd left his common sense. 

"What else on that oversized list do we need to finish up?" David handed the papers back to the blonde as the other man hurried through the rest of the list for anything noteworthy.

"Tell me there is at least one thing in there that truly needs my attention." The mafia boss didn't even try to hide his annoyance. The itch to leave only grew with each passing second. What was the use of having men work for him if he did all the work at the end of the day anyway? Being a one-man army would've been more productive if the current evening had become the trend. 

"There is one piece here, Boss, that I believe you might find interesting. The police have gotten someone new in. A change in power that might impact our territory." The tension in the room rose to a new level that hardly seemed possible. The pen scribbling on the stack of contracts faltered. The white-knuckled grip snapped it in half effortlessly. Everyone except for the mafia boss glanced over at the office door. Would anyone make it if they bolted at that very second? Highly unlikely. The Boss always kept his favorite toy nearby.   

"Keith, repeat that again for me." The command came in a dangerously low tone. With each passing second, the evening only seemed to get worse. The mafia boss hadn't even gotten to dinner yet. Perhaps tonight would be the  night to skip dinner and move straight to drinks. The blonde didn't so much as blink as he stood stiffly in front of his Boss, sweat prickled on the back of his neck as he fought to maintain eye contact with the mafia boss.  

"Don David. I apologize if I was unclear in the way that I spoke earlier. I informed you that a power shift has occurred within the police force. They've brought in a new captain. With this change comes the potential for negative impact on some of our operations." A new police captain without any warning? What had happened to their man? 

"When did you hear about this? Weren't we supposed to be informed the moment that any change in power would be taking place?" Olive orbs stared daggers into the blameless second-hand man who physically wilted under the other's overbearing aura and piercing gaze. 

"What happened to the promise that we'd be the first to know well in advance if any changes were to be made?" This hadn't been the original deal they agreed to. Fuck Baron and his lies. Even with a fragile existence, maybe being a butterfly would be better than dealing with this shit.  

"Ahem, if I may speak of David." The bespectacled man cleared his throat to get his Boss's attention. His voice was far louder than necessary, as though he were attempting to speak over noisy clutter despite the deafening silence in the room. 

"You need not look too far to find out what happened. A little birdy recently told me that our man, Baron, may have been dipping his hands into one too many pies. Pies that ended up putting him in a rather sticky spot, not even we could pull him out of." Pie? Really… out of all the options of words in the universe, the pie was the idiom he decided to go with? Food was the last thing the man wanted to hear about after not having anything to eat since breakfast. The scowl didn't go unnoticed by David's men. 

"Who was he meddling with exactly?" Manuel made an uncertain noise. 

"That is something we are still looking into. No one from our side is certain. Some unsavory people. Maybe those across the river who wanted to slip into the drug routes and so. We should have it together by tomorrow." The mafia boss didn't even wait for Manuel to finish speaking before he shut the binder in front of him. 

"We will end things here tonight, then. I have no desire to waste any more of my time when more important matters need to be attended to. Unless someone is dead, I don't expect to hear anything else tonight, is that understood?" Manuel side-stepped to avoid hindering the tall, slender imposing man's departure from his desk. 

Considering how fussy their Boss seemed, the last thing anyone wanted to do was successfully light the fuss that would set the bomb off. Especially since no one remembered bringing their protective gear with them that morning, even minorly ticked off, David could be dangerous. Were he pissed off, his anger could raze a whole city without anyone else's help. 

Keith and Manuel stood at attention while waiting for their boss to depart. Neither one dared to turn and watch the Don leave, even as they heard the door creak open behind them. Silence followed, and for one brief second, they let out the breath they'd been holding at the sound of the door handling twisting. Except that breath came too soon when receding footsteps didn't the sound of the door creaking open. The room hallway light flooded into the room through the opened door around the imposing frame of the mafioso halted in the entrance, one hand resting on the door handle. 

"Manuel. I would recommend choosing a different analogy to go with in the future. These types of discussions are no place to be bringing food in. Pick Roger and Keith exchanged glances as the unspoken question lingered in the air as the door slammed behind them. 

Did their Boss have a problem with pie? If so, this would have to be put on the record and circulated among the men before anyone accidentally uttered the word in their Don's presence.