Mobster Boy

13

At a remote location, not too far from the office, Ash kills the lights. Chance tests the door handle and it gives without an alarm. Breathing a sigh of relief, but still not completely secure in our safety, I slip in after him into Giovanni's office. 'How did I end up getting myself into this?' "I...can't see anything..." I whisper, sensing Chance next to me, I look over at him even though I can't really see him.

"Don't worry, I know this place like the back of my hand." As if to demonstrate what he means, Chance takes my hand and squeezes it. "This way." I keep my eyes peeled as they slowly adjust to the darkness of the room. The only illumination is from Chance's smartphone, flickering to life as he searches through cabinets and files. He hands something to me and I scan over unfamiliar words and legal terms in an instant.

Every idle noise makes me flinch and jump, holding onto Chance for dear life. "W-what if your dad finds us here?" I stammered, pursing my lips.

"That won't happen." 'How the hell do you know that for sure? Do you know his schedule like the back of your hand to?!'

"We need a backup plan, don't we?" I leave out the panicked irritation from my tone.

"Leave that part to me." I frown at him.

"Can you at least tell me what the backup plan is?" I tense up, listening for footsteps, for Giovanni's men to kick the door in and gun us down on the spot.

"Nice. If only you were this quiet all the time." I slap his back, hard, but keep my silence for now. "Listen, we want to pay extra attention to anything that has Giovanni's signature on it." He uttered.

"Would it really be that easy?" I ask him, raising my brows in surprise.

"Possibly. When you're as powerful as Giovanni, you tend to get sloppy about your paper trails." He picks up a sheaf of papers and rifles through them before scanning the ones he needs. "The Governor isn't there yet. Not quite. Maybe in name, but not in action. Having someone like him makes Giovanni more formidable an opponent, though, for sure." I nod, but break my silence to ask something that's been buzzing around my mind for a while now.

"Chance, how risky is what we're doing? Would your father really kill you?" Standing up straighter, Chance looks me dead in the eye.

"Did you already forget the guys chasing us in that car?" I flinch.

"No but...if they had caught us, they..." I trail off at all the possible outcomes of what could of happened. I grimace at all of them.

"Being a part of this world means playing by a different set of rules than the ones you're used to. You have to be willing to make sacrifices. It's like chess. You don't win by protecting your pawns. All that matters is you keep the king safe." Though I'm sure he doesn't mean for it to happen, his voice cracks once on the word 'king.'

'...What kind of parent raises their kid like this?' I shake my head. 'The mafia kind, Adrian. Stop being so surprised. It's not like you got off any better or know what a loving family is like either.' Except I can't help it. Sometimes Chance and his gang just feel like a group of friends who all live together, which is what they are, but not anyone involved in anything dangerous or illegal. "...Oh!" After continuing the search on my own, I lift up a folder that has signatures sort of like what we're looking for. "Hey, does this help?" I ask, tilting my head.

"Hand it over." He scans the documents a few times before a smile breaks through his serious expression.

"Oh yeah. This will definitely help. Memorize it." He instructs, but I'm already a step ahead of him...for once.