Beyond What Meets The Eye

Chapter Nineteen

Mira winced as Leo pressed a ice pack against her cheek. She grabbed it and continued applying pressure as he walked over to the opposite side of the infirmary, leaning against the wall as he pulled a cigarette and lighter from his pocket. She watched as he lit it and placed the bud between his lips.

Despite her very obvious 'fuck off and leave me alone' attitude, Leo had insisted on taking her to the infirmary to treat the fat green and purple bruise on her cheek, which she admitted definitely needed an ice pack. Now, she was plopped on a cot, the kid who'd taken on Lorenzo before her laying knocked out on the one next to her, his wounds bandaged and treated.

"The infirmary doesn't seem like the best place for a smoke," she commented, eyeing the cigarette dangling from his lips. He rolled his eyes.

"As if anyone here doesn't smoke." He blew smoke into the air before him. "Anyways, you've got some nice reflexes, I'm impressed. Granted, Lorenzo surely isn't the best we have to offer, but he's a sturdy fighter. Sports I'm assuming?" He questioned and Mira felt a pang of regret in her chest as she thought about soccer. Playing D1 soccer had been a dream for her, yet she was letting that dream slip from her grasp with each day she spent involving herself with her father.

"I play soccer. I'm hoping to play in college." Mira replied, biting back a sigh. Leo cocked his head to the side, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hoping, huh? You still think you can go off to college after waltzing in here and becoming your dad's little mafia princess?" His tone was mocking, like he was holding back a laugh. Mira pressed her lips into a thin line.

"What makes you think I can't?" She pushed back. Bold of her to assume she could have a conversation with Leo without him ridiculing her for coming here. He couldn't seem to get the idea of her wanting to be by her father's side through his thick skull. Granted, that's not exactly what happened, but she would've ended up here either way, whether it was to confront her father, or to find a place she could fit in in this part of his life. Leo knew Joseph Bonnano's, the notorious mafia boss, but she knew a very different side of him. Yes, he was still one scary motherfucker, but she could tell he cared about her, enough so that if she decided she wanted nothing to do with this, he would respect that decision.

"Naive little Amira, the only reason you were able to live that life was because no one knew you existed. Your father cares about you, all of the higher ups can tell since you've arrived, which means your also a liability. People will always try to use you against him, even if they have to put a gun to your head. And even if you try to live a double life, you already have a criminal record just being here. There are a lot of people who want out of this life, but the reality is there isn't a way out. There's only survival. So you need to let this reality sink in; you either bring something to the table, or someone will get rid of you." His words were cold, not a lick of sympathy in his tone.

She didn't say anything, instead, letting his words sink in. The entire reason she was here was so that Adrian and his people could find her a way out... but maybe there never was a way out. What if Adrian had simply manipulated her into becoming the ideal little inside agent he needed?

"I swear every time I talk to you, you always find a way to ruin the mood." Mira groaned, leaning back onto the cot. "But there's one thing you got wrong: I'm not naive. I don't know if my father told you, but I've already had a gun pointed to my head. I realize that peoples lives depend on this organization. But that doesn't mean I have to accept my fate of being stuck here forever. I want my dad to be a part of my life, and this is how it has to be for now, so I'm going to do everything I can to be the best daughter I can for him." She tilted her head upwards to glance over at Leo, who studied her with a empty expression.

After a moment, he lets his arms fall to his sides and straightens himself out.

"As long as you realize what's at stake here, and what you are to this organization, then I guess that's all I can ask. We'll see if your thinking changes when you see what we really do. You might not be so determined to be the perfect daughter after all." With that, he walked out of the infirmary, his words lingering in the air.

After a moment, she pushed herself off the cot, tossing the ice pack to the side as she walked out and made her way back to her room, barely remembering to grab her hefty set of books resting on the counter.

She sprawled out onto her bed once she made it back into her room, burying her face in her pillow with a wince. This was exhausting, both physically and mentally. She just wanted to get the information Adrian needed, and get out, but now she wondered if that was even a option. It seemed she'd have to figure that one out on her own.

She rolled over and grabbed her phone. Now she could finally look over the files she'd sent herself from Erikson's computer. She clicked onto the first file that popped up, looking over its contents. Her eyes widened as she read through a detailed list of all of Lucchese's operations, mostly drugs, some bribes, and political affairs. Each description was incredibly detailed, listing everyone they did business with, and even future plans. If this was accurate, the Bonnano family knew all of their next moves. Next to one of the operations, she saw in bright red font, the word intercepted. She read through it, realizing it was a drug operation, the one Elliot had described during their last meeting.

She moved on to the next file, and then the next, her breaths shaky as she realized that the Lucchese wasn't the only family they had extensive information on. Everything on all the families regular operations were sitting in the palm of her hand. This information had to be heavily monitored, kept from people even within each respectful family. Her father was the last person who should've had this information, so how he got his hands on it was beyond her.

She tossed her phone onto the bed next to her, dragging her hands over her face. With this sort of information, her father was one step ahead of all of them. He really was planning on taking over the other four families, and at this rate, he would.

And one thing was for sure, her information exchange method she had going on with Adrian and the families was simply not going to work. She was fairly confident that her phone hadn't been tapped, especially since she just sent herself some of the Bonnano families most sensitive documents and she wasn't being hounded by her father's men.

She decided she'd leave her phone number in her next round of book returns. Hopefully Adrian was confident enough in her to actually use it.