𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 ⚔︎

30

"oh, benjamin," eva ricci said, coming into the kitchen. she came up behind her husband and put her hands on his shoulders. looking down at the mess of calculators, paper, and pencils on their dining table, she sighed. "you've been sat here since seven in the morning. please give yourself a rest."

benny ignored her and remained focused on his work. he was sat flicking through the pages upon pages he kept of the lavigne's' bank statements and financial records, and his fingers beginning to cramp up. a cup of hot coffee was in front of him, of which he took careful sips from every minute, the steam fogging up his glasses. beside him, the money counting machine was working nonstop, its mechanical whir sounding throughout the entire room.

"i can't, honey, i can't," he answered, rubbing his forehead. "it's nearly the end of the month and i have to get everything sorted for ed."

eva moved so that she stood beside him. she tucked some of her curly, grey-streaked hair behind her ear. "what's all this, anyway? you don't usually have this much to do."

"yeah, i know. it's hugo and the boys," benny said, taking the wad of cash out of the counting machine. "he said they've got some shipments coming in...? but he says that almost every damn week."

eva frowned. "oh? what of?"

"i don't know," benny sighed. "he never tells me, sweetheart. i still need to check the papers."

"alright, ben..." she hummed, heading into the living room. "don't tire yourself out."

benny began rummaging through the piles of paper, taking glimpses at each one and putting them back down with a grunt. when he picked up one that he had already looked at, he threw it onto the floor in an act of immense impatience. hugo and some of the other lavigne captains had been doing this for months now — constantly giving him documents to skim over, presenting him with mile-long contracts to sign off, coming to the house and dropping sports bags full of cash at the front door with no explanations as to why or where they came from — but what was he supposed to do about it? he was just the accountant. he had no interest in their dirty business.

narrowing his eyes, he pinched a single page between his fingers and dragged it out from under a pile. as he read along the lines, his heart dropped.

sanchez... south beach... colombia... mexico. $27,000,000...

"oh... my god..." he whispered, one hand over his mouth. "sanchez...?" he suddenly stood up and marched through the kitchen, bursting into the living room. "fernando sanchez!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

watching tv on the sofa, eva jumped in surprise. "what?"

benny sprinted past her, the document still firmly in his grasp. "nothing, honey, i— i gotta go. i gotta go to edward's house. something's wrong. something has gone seriously, terribly wrong—"

"benjamin! what the—"

he slammed the front door and raced across the lawn like a madman, accidentally trampling his wife's precious petunias. he got into his car as fast as he could possibly manage and drove straight to eddie's house, leaving a scorch of black tire tracks on the driveway.

when he arrived at the mansion in queens, despite the coldness of the day he could feel sweat actually dripping down the back of his neck. his heart was beating so hard that he thought it might leap out of his rib cage and splatter onto eddie's porch at any moment.

benny pounded on the front door with his fists. "eddie? eddie! are you home?" he shouted, his hot breath fogging up the stained glass window. "it's urgent!"

the door opened. it was jesse. "hey, what's go—"

"jesse! oh, thank god," benny panted, barging past the clueless young man and into the grand foyer. "where's your father?"