Days passed. Reyna busied herself with rebuilding her firewall to something stronger—stronger than anything Viktor could ever get through. While she did that, I focused on my work. Everything from my drug shipments to my cover-up businesses were running smoothly. Due to the amount of time I spent, I barely spent any time at home. It didn't matter, though, Reyna never took a break from her computer

Savannah sat across from me. She was wearing a very big black hat that was tilted to the side to match her black lace. I watched her grab her glass of wine and bring it up to her dark red lips where she took a sip.

The restaurant was buzzing with a light sound of classical music playing around us. To everyone else, it looked like we were on a date. However, both Savannah and I knew that was far from reality.

"I've missed you Saint dear," she said, placing her glass back down onto the table.

"How have you been?" I asked. She smiled, showing off her white teeth.

The reason why she was so successful as a spy was because of the way she could wrap almost any man or woman around her finger. When I first came across her, she was a con artist, robbing from some of the richest people and politicians. She tried to slide into my bed and my wallet but failed because I could see right through her. What began as her mission to steal from me sprouted into a job where she makes millions of dollars working for me. For years Savannah had been my favorite person to call when I needed details on someone who I couldn't exactly kill. She not only helped me obtain information from my enemies but blackmail and extort them. It made the game so much more fun.

"I'm perfect," she said.

Just then, a waiter walked up to us. "Good evening ma'am. Good evening sir. What can I get you both to eat?" he asked, pulling out his notepad and a pen.

After we told him our orders, he gathered our menus and walked away after telling us he will return with our food shortly.

"How is Reyna?" Savannah smirked. She folded her gloved hands under her chin and rested her head on them.

Savannah loved women just as much as she loved men. It was the only reason I wasn't too quick on getting Savannah to watch over Reyna when I had to deal with Adriano. If she wasn't as loyal as I knew her to be, I wouldn't have even thought about it. However, she was my best.

I could see it in her icy gaze that there was nothing more she wanted than Reyna. The smirk didn't exactly help her case.

"She's mine, you know this," I told her, leaning back in my chair.

Savannah hummed. "I've never seen you so possessive over a girl before."

"Tell me about what's happening with Dante and Tino," I demanded. She grabbed her wine glass again and brought it up to her lips where she kept tilting the glass back until it was empty.

"It was easy just like I expected it to. Dante had been shot, I'm assuming by you. Therefore, he hired a nurse to take care of his wound from home. I took Dante's nurse out on a date. She quickly fell in love with me. I showed up at Dante's house, pretending I was looking for my nurse girlfriend, and immediately... he was consumed with lust. I wish I could explain just how easy it was for him to fall head over heels in love with me. Anyways, he ended up firing his nurse because he began to get better and could handle everything on his own. He called me over, took me out on a date, and wasn't shy about telling me his whole little sob story," Savannah explained, chuckling.

I watched her stick her bottom lip out in a sarcastic pout. "All I want is daddy to be proud of me," she mocked, laughing hysterically. "He's a fucking loser!" she exclaimed, gaining the attention of the couples surrounding us.

"Mind your business," she ordered them. They quickly turned back to their dinner, too stunned to respond to her.

"Keep going..." I said.

She sighed. Suddenly, the smirk and smug look quickly disappeared from her face. Now, she was serious and she was ready to get down to business.

"Right. After I pretended to be there for him and held the poor child while he cried, he began to open up more about his father. Apparently, Tino was one of the men who worked for Viktor. He was one of the only people to have ever seen his face. However, here's the crazy part... Dante told me that Tino knows who Viktor is. In fact, Tino worked very closely with him for many many years up until Viktor's death eight years ago," she said.

My brow rose as I stared at her. That was impossible. If Viktor was dead, then who contacted Reyna? Who was taking over as Viktor, one of the most hidden and elite criminals?

"I know. It just doesn't make sense. Dante believes that Viktor isn't a person, it's either two people or an entire group," she explained.

That would make sense as to why it was so difficult to find Viktor. However, we were getting so close. There was that sighting of the both of them that led to a small house in the middle of nowhere. We even found a picture of Lucille, the father, the mother, and her brother.

Maybe it wasn't a group. Maybe it was a father-son duo. Viktor Popov Sr. was training Viktor Popov Jr. to one day take over and rule over all the crime in Chicago.

"What else did you find out?" I asked.

Before she could answer, the waiter returned to our table and set our food directly in front of us. Savannah smiled at him appreciatively to which he returned before walking away.

"I was listening in on a conversation Dante had with his father. They know you have Red because Viktor told them you do. He also ordered Tino to tell every crime family that you have Red..." she said.

But why? I knew Viktor had a goal—Reyna. He wanted her and clearly didn't care about how he would get her. The only puzzling thing was how would telling every mafia family that I have Reyna, get him to reach his goal? However, he only told Viktor that I had Red not that Red was Reyna which he could have done if he really wanted to. Maybe he wanted everyone to go after me so there would be no one to protect Reyna, making it easier for him to come in and swoop her up.

"...However, instead of doing that, Tino took the information and tried to go after Red himself by capturing Giovanni," she finished. "Apparently, it's because he never signed up to work for this second Viktor. He's tired of him and he wants to figure out who he is. So, he was going to get Red to do just that."

I hummed.

She grabbed her fork and began to dive into her food.

"Yeah, I know. That's all I have for you. Is that enough, or do you want me to find out more?" she asked.

"Your job is done," I informed her, grabbing her hand. As I brought it up to my lips, I placed an envelope full of money in her hands. She smiled.

It wouldn't hurt to keep her around Dante and Tino. However, Tino was much wiser than his bsurd son. The way her and Dante's relationship was moving, it wouldn't take long for Dante to try to show her off to his father as some trophy to gain Tino's respect. Tino would immediately connect the dots, and begin to suspect her as someone working for me. It was a risk I couldn't afford.

For now, she did well.

"I'm not sure if you'll be done with Dante. So, tell him you're going out of town for a few weeks. Don't lose complete contact with him until I let you know otherwise," I informed her. She nodded her head curtly just before returning to her food.

"Also, Tino wants to arrange a meeting with every crime family in Chicago. You should be expecting a call soon," she said.

***

After dinner, I drove back to my house. There was a lot I needed to update Reyna on.

Just as I stepped out of my vehicle, my phone began to ring. As Savannah promised, it was from Tino. I answered the call and pressed my phone against my ear.

"Saint! My dear friend!" Tino chuckled. "I hope you enjoyed that present I sent you. Consider it an early Christmas gift!" he said. I chuckled, knowing the true reason why he sent that money.

"Why have you called?" I asked.

"Getting straight to the point, I see. Don't you remember when I took you in when you were just a small boy? You and Dante practically grew up together! I introduced you to this new way of life, and I know I have never said it before, but I wish you were my son. I'm proud of how far you've come, my boy," he said. My eyes narrowed as he forced memories back up that I really preferred locked away.

Tino did take me and Adriano in. I always wondered how he found me sitting on that quiet street, but now it made sense—he worked for Viktor. He knew what I had done.

That day, both Adriano and I were glued to eachother's side as Tino showed us the world of organized crime. He taught me how to shoot my first gun. He taught me how to stay clean and professional. He showed me how to get away with almost anything. Tino wasn't the reason I became who I am today, he just showed me how to get there.

If only I didn't consider him such a bastard, I probably would be working under him, hoping to one day take over his organization. Instead, I built my own and created my own legacy where Adriano later joined me, and a couple years after that, Giovanni came along. I never needed Tino or Dante. I only needed me.

So, to hear Tino spew out such idiotic words almost made me want to kill him. However, I only chuckled on the phone. "I'm glad to hear that," I said.

"I've already gathered Rubino and Santoro, the other crime families, all we need now is you. We are going to have a meeting to discuss this Red business. Unless, of course, you have a problem with that," Tino said.

He didn't give me much of a choice. I didn't want to go to a meeting to talk about my woman, but if I disagreed, he would know that Viktor was right about me—I had Red.

"I will be there. When is this meeting taking place?" I asked.

"Tomorrow at my place at noon," he said.

"I will see you then," I stated. Removing the phone from my ear, I ended the call.

I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and strolled in my house. Rosalinda was sitting on the couch, knitting to her heart's desire. She smiled welcomingly at me. If only the old hag knew just how much I wanted to grab the knitting needles and eye-fuck her sockets with them.

"You and Reyna seem to be getting along quite nicely, hmm?" she wondered.

Completely ignoring her, I made my way to my bedroom where Reyna was still occupied with her computer. All I saw was a bunch of 1's and 0's. However, it seemed to be the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

Her hair was a mess and she was still wearing the same clothes she had on the day before. When I walked in, she didn't even bother to look up at me. All she did was push her glasses further up her nose and continue typing away on her keyboard.

I stood upright behind her and softly caressed her shoulder, finally grasping her attention. She jumped and turned to face me, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Take a break," I ordered.

"I'm almost done with rebuilding my firewall. This is the best I've ever done. No one will be able to find me." She smiled mischievously, a glint of darkness coating her eyes.

"Finish it tomorrow," I said, leaning down to kiss her skin. My lips wandered up her neck. "We have a lot to discuss."

—

Happy fortieth chapter! I always celebrate milestones like this because writing a book is actually so hard and I feel like many people often forget the difficulties. There's so much going on, a lot to remember, having to always think of the perfect play of words, trying to be all characters at once, having to make sure the plot flows, having to make sure the story stays interesting. Not only that, but also juggling with motivation and writers block, hating our work and giving up, never feeling like we will be good enough and all this work we are putting into our story will all be for nothing, and facing a lot of criticism and negative comments that make it even harder. If being a writer was as easy as it looked, everyone would be doing it. Not only that, but also don't fail to realize writers have lives outside of writing.

So, be kind to your favorite writers. Understand when your favorite writers decide to stop writing a book, taking long to update, or if they do the opposite like publish their hard work or take it down so they can make money. It's not easy. It's their hardwork. It's their dream. If you're a writer reading this right now, keep up the good work. You are doing amazing.

Question: if I were to change the title of The Prodigy, what is something you'd suggest?