In a world torn apart by criminal empires, Lily Black, the estranged daughter of a powerful mafia don, is on the brink of reclaiming her father's legacy. Determined to reshape the criminal underworld, she forms a precarious alliance with Kro, a loya...
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As Akita quietly steps through the door, she discovers Gabriel quietly waiting for her.
"Mrs Wang." He says to the girl and offers her his hand.
"Mr Beaumont." Akita replies quietly, moves to the man's side and accepts his handshake.
Gabriel glances at the people standing around him and places his card on the table. The young waiter leads her upstairs and Gabriel nods silently. The young girl walks away from them, her eyes downcast, and Akita settles back on the Renaissance sofa, gazing languidly over her shoulder at the city of Milan.
Gabriel steps closer to the girl and asks, "May I sit with you?"
Rani nods mutely and puts her ossified hand on the chair opposite him and says, "Please. It's just me, Mr Beaumont."
Gabriel mumbles something quietly, but then sits down awkwardly opposite the woman and gestures to the waiter: "Perhaps you'd like something?" and points to the waiter at the back of the room and says: "Two Prosecco, please."
The bartender nods silently and Gabriel quietly turns to Akita and orders her around: "I still don't understand why you invited me here?"
Akita grins confidently as she walks to the window, "Are you complaining, Mr Beaumont?"
Gabriel grins to himself, moves closer to the girl and says, "You know what I mean."
and waits for her to leave quietly.
"That's a dangerous game you're playing, Akita." The man admits and scrutinises the woman.
Akita nods quietly and says: "I have the feeling that there hasn't been too much joy and peace in the world recently..."
"And in turn, I've heard that you've been keeping Lily and her allies in check lately." Sees Gabriel, leaning his ploughshare on his knees.
But Akita only sharpens her gaze and shuffles her feet up on the couch, "In chaos, people often turn to those who show them they're willing to give and sacrifice everything."
"Yeah, maybe they do. But if I know Lily, she's also prepared to stab her allies in the back. And then she's fed up with them." Gabriel says sombrely, looking at the girl's sun-shaped ring, "That happened to me too."
Akita closes her eyes bitterly and says, "She's young, Gabriel. And she's already been through a lot."
"Nonetheless, she has proven herself to be a queen unwilling to devote herself to anyone but herself and the people who follow her politics." The poet Gabriel counters.
"She has spent her whole life in the shadow of her parents." Replies Akita.
"And you? Didn't you just run away because...?"
"I ran away because... I had no other choice. I was alone. A little island girl against a sea of islands." She closes her eyes and whispers, "Their applause... it still echoes in my ears when I run away, but... I have no regrets. Everything I've done for my tribe has ensured their safety. And now that I have Lily, I hope...", Akita says, her bottom lip trembling softly, "I know she'll see the same things I did. In their icy eyes lies the truth, which I only came to when I arrived in the criminal realm. And..."
