Mystery Life

9

"Is everything okay with Lydia?" Walter asks. Walter is painfully shy around females, but with Lydia he finds that he can talk to her.

"She's fine, Walter. Everyone please take your seats." Dave waits for them to sit and gives the nervous Walter a reassuring smile.

"Thank you. Lydia woke up before I came down here and she's fine. More than fine actually, she's regained her memories. Including the ones about her name." Dave is enjoying the looks he's getting from his men.

"Before I tell you her real name, she told me we won't have to search for Eve any further." At his words the men understood his tears.

"She's dead?" Reed dares inquire.

Dave shakes his head, "No, she escaped." Dave gives them all a genuine smile. "Well she did have a bit of help. Lydia's true name is Eve Saunders." The men stare at him incredulously then smile. They are thrilled, they all like Lydia and didn't want her to leave and knew she would if Dave married. Now she'll be their boss's wife. "We can cease those efforts and focus on other things now." 

Dave's happy face falls. "The only way the Italians found out Eve was here is because we have a traitor. It's the only way the bastards would have found and taken over the control room so easily."

Those words are expected but makes them all uneasy. Trust is essential among them and to know that one of them at least is a traitor makes them all sick.

"Walter, you'll be in charge of finding the rat." Walter nods once sharply. He might not be the highest ranking member but he's absolutely loyal to Dave and Eve. "When you find out who, you can't kill him, take him to the cells."

Walter looks mutinous at first with those orders but nods. He knows that the boss will want to interrogate the bastard and he just hopes that Dave will allow him the chance to help.

"Start at the top and work down. I need my top men cleared ASAP." Dave orders before moving on.

"Of course, Boss."

"I've let things with the Italians go too long hoping to rescue Eve. Well since she's here now, it's time to deal with those bastards. As soon as you are cleared you are to come to me and help set up the plans on taking those bastards down." Dave ends the meeting and pulls his second and third to him and gives them instructions that they are the only ones to hear. They nod and leave to do what Dave requests of them.

"I hope the traitor isn't someone close to us, I'd really hate to find that out," Reed says in an under voice to Zackary.

"I know what you mean. It would be horrible, everyone is so close to everyone else. It makes me sick at just how close they came to killing Lydia, I mean Eve."

"It's a good thing that they didn't. You haven't seen just how vicious the boss can be when it comes to Eve. When she was kidnapped years ago, he went near insane with anger. Not even his own people were safe from him. His father had to remind him to calm down. He really cares about Eve."

"Why? What's so special about her? I mean, Lydia is a wonderful person and all, I mean no disrespect."

"She is the only person that ever dared claim friendship with the boss. She's the only one that ever made him laugh. His father told us about it when they got home. He was playing and laughing with her. His father was fairly smug that the girl was able to do that and she'll be his wife."

"She made the boss laugh and play?" Zachary just doesn't see it. Dave has anger issues up the wazoo. There is no way he ever laughed and played.

"He was about sixteen at the time, I believe, but when Eve was taken he barely even smiles anymore. His anger shot up and he became very short tempered, far more so than before. In many ways it was good. He lost his father at such a young age. I think the anger made it so not many people challenged him on taking over not just this but the girl's mafia as well."

"Now, I'm confused, Reed. Lydia has a mafia?" Zachary feels lost and no little sick.

"Well, technically no, the mafia belonged to her father, and upon his death it came to the boss's father. When he died it came to our Boss. But if you ask the men they will tell you that their first loyalty will be to Eve even over the boss. Although they would never betray him. They are absolutely terrified of him when they failed by allowing her to be abducted.

"Those that betrayed her and her uncle that betrayed her, they had a long, long session with the boss and his father." Reed shivers not liking the memories these words are pulling up.

Zachary seeing this doesn't ask but Reed answers his unasked question. "Between the two they worked on the men for weeks, I think the uncle was still alive after a month, but from what I hear, he wasn't very recognizable by the time they were done.

"When the Boss finds the traitor this time, I don't think he'll get off with less than a month's worth of torture," Reed confides.

"Shit," Zachary is looking sick.

"Yeah, that about sums it up. Good thing we don't have to worry about it, huh?"

"Yeah, a very good thing," but his words are barely audible.

"Hey, don't be sick now. That party was awesome until it was crashed by those damned Italians. I don't think I've ever seen Lydia, I mean Eve so happy before."

Zachary smiles in remembrance, "You're right. She was happy, it's too bad the party ended the way it did."

"It could have been worse, far worse," Reed says giving Zachary a pat on the shoulder that nearly knocks him over.

"Oh, so true." The thought of the alternate ending makes his stomach twist. That night had gone horribly wrong on every way. Who knew that a blind girl would be the one to change everything?