Shielding You ("The Shadows" Series: Book II)

7.

Mancini stood up from his seat, shaking his head. The smile on his face had everyone feeling everything except happiness. They felt sweat dripping down their forehead, but couldn't dare to make even a single move to wipe it off. It was better to stay as still as a statue...that would at least keep his attention away from them.

The man who had brought the news of Amadeo's death had his head down, looking a bit pale for a healthy man. Everyone in the room knew it wasn't his skin colour.

'Its a shame that you had to bring the news. I had really liked how hardworking you were...'

The man gulped knowing what was coming and he knew that it was his fate. If he made a single noise in protest...his end would be much more painful. So he stayed ready, feeling a bit better knowing he won't have to serve the devil anymore...his conscience was already in burden for doing his bidding.

In a blink of an eye, Mancini had taken the fork off the table and plunged it deep into the man's ear before pulling it out and plunging it again into his eye. The scream that came out of the man's mouth felt as if it was coming from his soul as he fell down and writhed on the floor. But Mancini wasn't done.

He let the man stay in his hell for a few more seconds before pulling out his gun and shooting him dead on the forehead, ending his torment. Two guards appeared out of the shadows of the room and carried the body without making so much as a peep. Mancini turned around and walked back to his seat and sat down as gracefully as a peacock.

The men around the table stayed frozen until they heard Mancini coughing and reaching for his glass of water. He gulped a bit of water before placing it back on the table, which was the only sound heard in the room filled with six men and a few hidden guards.

'So where were we?' Mancini asked with nonchalance.

•••

'How is that possible? Who even thought of going through with this murder?' Matteo chewed on his french fries while questioning the two...although it was rhetorical. No one knew how it had happened.

A few minutes ago, they had gotten off the phone with the official and he had said that a woman had informed them of the happenings in the house from a number that belonged to one of the deceased guards in the house. There was no footage of what had happened inside. About twenty minutes of the recording from the CCTV inside the house was missing. It was bizarre and unthinkable for anyone to kill not just anyone from Mancini's gang, but one of the most important members of his inner circle.

Someone definitely had a death wish...or simply didn't care about the life they had...to murder the guy.

Lorenzo was sipping his coffee while Angelo and Matteo kept talking about the murder, until he put down his coffee and turned to face the two.

'Can we get access to those footages from his house?' he asked Matteo.

Matteo glanced at Angelo before leaning towards Lorenzo. He scratched his chin, thinking about his proposal.

'I don't know...I'll have to get something into the server to even find if there is any footage left. And before that, I'll have to get to the server which might be under Mancini's nose...since...you know...' was his reply.

'What about the police? Will they be able to get you access?'

'I'll try with that official...or pull in some strings...I mean, even they weren't able to find anything...it might be a lost cause...but I'll see what I can do.' Matteo concluded.

Angelo shook his head before looking at Lorenzo.

'Why the sudden interest? You've never cared about what Mancini did before, as long as he didn't meddle in our work. And we had never meddled with Mancini's works. You never paid attention to any other gang unless they asked for it...and that had only happened once...with Ryan Martinez's gang. So why now?' Angelo wanted to know. Lorenzo tilted his head while looking at his empty cup. He clicked a buzzer below the table to get the owner's attention who was already making her way to give them another round of refills. After she left, Lorenzo took a sip and nodded at Angelo.