| -Ancient tradition of paper scrolls in Japan|

Donghae silently entered Jake's room, opening the big Mahogany double doors as cautiously as he could. The dim room was instantly flooded with warm yellow lights, while the air conditioning slowly came to life behind the massive four poster bed. The large chandelier clicked and flickered once before adding another bright layer of light into the room.

The room was silent, the hall outside was equally silent. Donghae pushed his hands into his pockets and strolled around Jake's room. With every step he took, Donghae's heart increased it's pace...

The Jade pendant... he had to find it somehow or die trying. He couldn't forget LaVéré's last words, they slowly revolved around his head like a never ending record.

And look who wants to become the leader of Cosa Nostra.. if you don't, then I will Aiden...

Donghae's hands curled into fists, 'you're right' he thought savagely; 'I'll become the leader of CN and make you regret your motherfucking existence LaVéré!'

He stopped in front of a luxurious stand filled with old worn out books. Donghae ran his fingers through them, reading their names one by one,

'Tale of two Cities?' thought Donghae with a slight smirk; Jake definitely didn't look like the 'reading type' to him.

Pushing the book gently back into its place; Donghae let out a sigh... he had searched everywhere he could think of in the Maranzano Family manor, he'd checked the weapons room, the library... even the kitchen as far as the head maid would let him. But there was no sign of the the Luciano family crest being hidden anywhere in the house.

He carefully walked toward Jake's table, there were various different files staring blankly at him from the desk. Most of the titles were from the different Maranzano income chains which Donghae ignored, he carefully walked back around the table to see 4 drawers which were installed to the desk.

Just out of curiosity and knowing that it wouldn't work, Donghae tried to open the drawers but they didn't budge until he tried the 4th one. It slid out smoothly, revealing a bunch of documents named 'Luciano'. But the most weirdest thing he saw was a tape recorder lying on top the pile of papers.

Donghae felt that his heart was hammering inside his chest, taking a deep breath, he bent down to take the tape out when suddenly he heard footsteps coming near the room. Out of pure panic, he kicked out at the drawer making it clang shut. Donghae flew from the side of the table to the door, but to his utter dismay, both Jake and Luca was coming... if he made a dash for it, he'd be definitely caught by Luca's massive revolver. Having no alternative, he took the last sane option available that he could think of.

Before Luca walked inside the room, the first thing he saw was the doors being open.

"Stay here" said Luca quietly to Jake who was busily tapping away in his phone. Jake looked up an immediately saw what Luca was trying to tell him. He just gave a silent nod at Luca who took out his revolver and entered the room at alarming pace.

"YOU?!" yelled Luca outraged, "what in the name of fucking heavens are you doing here!?"

"Hi" said Donghae in a small voice while Jake walked into the room. He took one look at Donghae and smiled devilishly from behind Luca; which made Donghae instantly regret his decision to hope that Jake would actually help him... bloody Falcons!

"Deal with him Luca" Jake drawled lightly while walking towards his desk.

"With pleasure" said Luca with a menacing smile; advancing towards Donghae with his gun pointing on the ground

"I missed you!" Donghae screamed suddenly while backing away, "honestly Luca!"

"Think I believe that shit!?"

"That's enough" said Jake's voice, "don't scare him"

Luca growled at Donghae, "Don't. Ever. Let me catch you in the wrong place at the wrong time"

Donghae nodded vigorously, feeling vomitish to the core

After giving Donghae a head-to-toe piercing glare of dislike, Luca walked out of the room. When the door closed after him, Donghae glanced across to Jake; only to see him staring back at him with a little smirk

"Missed me that much?" asked Jake Maranzano; walking closer towards him. His gunmetal eyes shown playfully...

"You always leave me" pouted Donghae, "I don't even know where you disappear off to!"

"Well" said Jake, their bodies were so close that Donghae felt Jake's warmth seducing him; "I just thought that you'd be bored celebrating the death anniversary of my grandfather"

"Grandfather?" asked Donghae; his stomach dropping down to his feet, Rafëal Maranzano... it should be him!

"Yeah" said Jake brushing his lips against Donghae's thin ones, immediately making Donghae's body burn with dangerous feelings. But suddenly Jake stopped when he heard his phone ring.

He took hold of Donghae's hand; not wanting to let go of him. When he looked at the caller ID, it was Luca through the urgent line.

Jake sighed and pressed the accept symbol,

"Yeah why?" asked Jake and Donghae saw his expressions become suddenly serious. Jake ended the call and looked at Donghae.

"C'mon" he said and walked out of the bedroom, dragging Donghae along with him.

♤♧♤

Luca was standing grimly in the weapons room, hands folded in front of his chest. Donghae noticed two guards holding a barely unconscious man who must've been in his late 40's or early 50's. As Donghae stared at him curiously, the man appeared to be Japanese, wearing a simple shirt with trousers and muddy boots... but that was the only thing he could say about him at the moment.

Jake was looking at the unconscious figure thoughtfully, he was normally dressed for one thing...

He glanced at the two guards and Luca stepped forward,

"Talk" said Jake quietly to the guards

"We caught him near the southern gates sir, he claimed that he wanted to meet the leader of Flacons imidiately"

Jake snorted in amusement, "is he identified?"

"We found his passport signore, Hideki Tanaka from Takarazuka,Japan; it says here that he is a craftsman of Kakejiku"

Jake raised an eyebrow at Luca, who looked equally amused. Jake took out his pistol and slowly turned the man's head to face him.

"What would" he mused, "a mere craftsman want to talk with the leader of Falcons? How to make quality paper scrolls?"

All the other Falcons in the room grunted with amusement, except for Donghae, who remembered the first time he was in a situation like this... it was not nice

'Brat' thought Donghae looking dejectedly at Jake.

"Here are his belongings sir" said one bulky guard, pointing at the green raincoat and a tiny suitcase which was opened showing nothing but a few poor choices of clothing.

Jake's eyes travelled back to the unconscious man in front of him, the glasses he'd been wearing had gone askew. Suddenly the man gave a huge jerk and woke up, eyes flying open in utter terror as he took in various sharp edged weapons and chains that decorated the room.

"P-p-please do not kill me!!" he yelled hysterically in Japanese, "please I am innocent! I just wanted to talk to Maranzano!!"

From the corner of his eyes Jake saw Luca raising his gun, but Jake held out his fingers, stopping Luca in mid action. He leened closer to the whimpering man and placed his pistol under his chin; slowly raising the man's head so that he could gap at Jake's steel blue eyes...

"Innocent?" crooned Jake, gently tightening his finger on the trigger, "you can hardly be innocent if you had courage to deal with the Falcons huh?"

The man's breathing hitched, eyes fearfully fixing themselves on the silver pistol Jake held,

"So why are you here Mr. Tanaka? I don't believe you came here just to have a normal evening chat with me did you?"

The man looked at him as if he'd faint there on the spot again, sweat was pouring down from his forhead.

Suddenly Luca felt his phone vibrate. He gave Jake a quiet nod and slid his phone out of his leather jacket. The caller ID was restricted and the dial code was from the UK. Frowning, Luca clicked the answer sign and held the slim phone to his ear.

"Hello?" said Luca quietly, in a perfect British accent.

"Hi Maranzano?" said a raspy sinister voice from the other end, making Luca unconsciously grip his weapon tightly.

"No this is Luca, who the hell is this?" said Luca, glancing at Jake and giving his a certain look.

"I have some important news to tell Maranzano, is he there?"

"No, who's asking?" said Luca, now slightly annoyed

"Tell him it's Ventura and that I've got important news for him." said the raspy voice gleefully

"Ventura? We don't know any Ventura." snapped Luca. He was just about to cut the call when he heard the raspy voice again

"No, but I do know LaVéré"

Luca frowned, how the hell did this man find their mobile numbers?

"One second" he grunted and turned to Jake who was enjoying looking at the whimpering Tanaka.

"Boss?" said Luca cautiously, "some guy called Ventura on the phone wants to talk to you. He says he knows LaVéré"

Jake gave an impatient sigh and took the phone from Luca's hand

"This better be some good news to be fucking my time here. Yeah, who's this?" snaped Jake, twirling his pistol while looking straight at Tanaka

"Maranzano?, I know you are looking for something and I know where it is" said the voice from the other end which was full of static.

Jake snorted, "and how exactly do you know that I'm looking for something?"

"Don't you want to have your stolen Jade pendant back?"

Jake took a deep breath, the pistol stopping in his fingers in mid spin, Hyukjae's insides felt crammed all of a sudden.. who the fuck is this guy?

"Thank your gods that you are not close to me" said Jake closing his eyes in frustration, "or I'd swear I'd kill you my self! Who the fuck are you!?"

"Let's keep my details a little minimum shall we Maranzano?" said the voice smugly, "all I'm doing is tipping you off at the moment... so do you want to know where your family heirloom is? Or do you not?"

"Keep talking Ventura" said Jake grudgingly while immediately noticing that Tanaka had gone pale and sweaty, fidgeting all over the place until the 2 Falcons caught him in an iron like grip.

"The pendant is with a woman named Clara Brown who is staying with the Tanaka's" said Ventura who was clearly enjoying the superiority he felt, talking to Jake Maranzano. He gave a small satisfied smile as he cut the call.

'Farewell Hideki Tanaka' thought Ventura as he placed the phone back on his desk.

"The Jade Pendant" mused Jake giving the phone back to Luca, who was looking equally concerned. They both saw Tanaka vigorously shaking his head.

'What the actual fuck?' thought Donghae who was one step away from mental breakdown, his mind swirled with thousands of questions, he took a sharp glance at Jake... so the pendant is not with him! He is looking for it too!

Jake suddenly had enough of Tanaka's pitiful whimpering.

Standing up, he gave one nod at the guards who roughly pulled Tanaka the half standing; half-kneeling position.

"Looks like you have a lot to tell isn't it?" asked Jake with a murderous smile while grasping Tanaka by the neck. "Why don't you get started Tanaka?"

"Please, you need to believe me Mr. Maranzano, I do not have it!!" whimpered Tanaka.

Jake snorted, "of course you don't Tanaka, I can see that, so better start on where you have it back in Japan"

"You do not understand!" shouted the man desperately, "Even if I would have it, would you believe I would come here on my free will and risk my head??"

"Oh I think you would definitely risk your head to save Clara Brown. Am I correct?" countered Jake with a slight smile

"Clara..c-clara! h-how do you know her!?" stuttered Tanaka

Jake tutted,

"Let me be clear with you on something Mr. Tanaka. First, I'll be the one asking you the questions... after all, you're not only risking your own life now"

Tanaka looked at him, his breathing accelerated, he should save Clara and his son somehow!

"So what if I have it? The Pendant does not belong to you anyways!"

'No' thought Donghae who's whole body had been feeling like it was being tied with a rope since the moment he'd stepped inside the room, 'it belongs to me'

💛