The Mafia's Heir

Chapter 2

The Cooper twins had just entered Luiss Guido Carli a couple of years ago, in Italy, going for the Executive MBA program. They were definitely ready to start their own rival businesses. Ready to compete in life to see who the better twin was. That's how they were, competing to see what twin everyone liked the best. Who was the first to get a girlfriend? Who would get a good job first? It was nice that they could be normal for once in their lives.

Until they weren't.

A couple months after college started, an "anonymous" phone call came for the twins.

"You pick up, Elias."

"No, you pick up, Mariano."

The twins stared at their maid, mentally urging her to just say that they weren't home. It was their first break and they wanted to waste it on being better than the other. Typical twin stuff. That's what their mother told them all the time.

"Sir, they told me to tell you that if no one answered that they would come to the house. We all know what happened last time someone came to the house," she reminded them.

Mariano looked at his brother and sighed. They didn't want another maniac coming into their house swinging butcher knives.

"We'll get it," Elias said. He leaned over and transferred the call to the main line. It was a way anyone on the property could listen in on the conversation and be ready to report a problem. Their mother had warned that they should start being cautious about things like that. "Ciao?"

"Questa è la tenuta Cooper?" The voice seemed oddly familiar. Elias glanced at his brother. Is this the Cooper estate?

"Sì. C'è un problema?" Elias wondered Yes. Is there a problem?

"Sali sulla linea privata. Abbiamo affari da risolvere." Get on the private line. We have business to settle.

"Ora, quale idiota ci crederebbe?" Elias asked. "Mr. Russo, it's pretty nice to know you care for us." Now, what idiot would believe that?

"I say, Mr. Russo, il tuo phishing vocale è un po 'fuori oggi." Mariano laughed. "I think you...need practice more, yeah?" Your voice phishing is a little off today.

"You think that's funny?!" David yelled through the speaker. "Ora aspetta di mettere le mani su entrambi. Ti voglio al cancello nei prossimi cinquanta minuti." Now wait till I get my hands on both of you. I want you at the gate in the next fifty minutes.

Mariano and Elias shook their heads.

"È a un'ora intera di distanza! Non saremo mai in grado di arrivare in tempo!" Elias exclaimed. That's a whole hour and a half away! We'll never be able to make it in time.

"Si. Saremmo in ritardo di almeno quindici minuti!" Mariano said. "It's not like you can change how early we show up. We've never been over to your house in so long that I forgot what it looks like." Yeah. We'd be at least a whole fifteen minutes late!

"Beh...fallo funzionare o posso aiutarti a sapere cosa significa essere..." The sound of knives scraping against each other gave off a chilling air. Mariano cringed and called for the butler. Well...make it work or I can help you know what it means to be...

Elias hung up. His face got so contorted. Mariano rolled his eyes and turned to the butler.

"I want our fastest jet ready in five minutes. We have no time to be slow. Call me or Elias when you're ready. We will be packing."

"What do I tell your mother?"

"That we were called to the Russo Estate. If she wants to know more just tell her that Elias said to suck it."

"And you wonder why I'm the better twin." Elias shook his head and headed to the staircase. "If she wants to know more, tell her to come to the Estate."

"Ok. I'll be going now."

The boys bounded upstairs like puppies, rushing to their rooms. They both one how serious David was. He was true to his word.

They arrived at the Estate in record time. With at least ten minutes to spare. The guard at the gate let them in without question. His lips were twisted into a smirk and he didn't try to hide it. Did he know something the boys didn't?

Once their driver pulled around the cul-de-sac, they hopped out the car and rushed up the front steps.

"I hope you guys really didn't believe me," David said with a light smile on his face when he opened the door. "I wouldn't dare hurt either you or your family."

"I hate you," Elias growled.

"...He kind of got us back for laughing at his voice phishing," Mariano said. David grimaced and motioned for the boys to follow him. "Where are we going? I need to be somewhere in two hours and you know it takes you a long time to talk."

"Mariano...it would do you some good to stop talking," David warned.

Mariano smiled and elbowed his brother. In return, Elias pushed a vase off its stand. The glass crashed to the floor, setting off a small alarm. They grinned, high-fived, and continued walking as if nothing happened.

David grimaced and let the incident go. He had other things to be dealing with. He led them to his office and had them sit in front of his desk. He sat down and his hands glided across his keyboard. The boys tried to be serious for once.

"There are times to be serious and times to play. This situation isn't one of those times. I need you both to do a small favor for me." David glanced up from his computer.

"...I thought you fired us," Elias said.

"It was temporary. It was nice being normal for a while, wasn't it?"

"Now that's just mean," Mariano muttered.

"It just be like that sometimes."

The typing stopped and David pushed back from his desk. His eyes focused on a project that was just above the twins' heads. He was thinking about how to break it to the boys.

"...You won't be able to go to college anymore," he said. "Before you try to protest, it's for a good cause. My son needs help in America. I want to send you guys over there to keep an eye on him."

"He can handle himself. He's a grown man."

"Josiah is meddling in places he shouldn't."

"J-Josiah?"

Mariano bit his lip and crossed his legs. He hadn't heard that name since the man had left Italy to pursue the "American dream". He was a bit of an extremist. Doing things that no one in the mafia would dare to do. Like purposely making the police be after them. Starting fires to important monuments. He was what the Americans called a psicopatico.

"Yes. He recently moved to New York to finish some business for me. Turns out he hacked into the system and put everything in his name. Then, he married my daughter-in-law and moved again."

"How is she your daughter-in-law?"

"No. He "married" her." David sighed. "You guys are the only ones he trusts to be around. Probably because you both act too stupid to care about what he does."

"That's not true!" Mariano exclaimed. "I do care...Just not recently."

David rolled his eyes and looked back at his computers. "Do you want to keep your names or not? I'm just a few hours, you both will be heading to the United States. Many people will be looking for you. Trust and believe they will want to kill you."

"Ha! Who would want to kill us? We're nobodies. There's nothing we've done that has brought attention to ourselves."

"...My gosh, there's a lot you don't know."

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