♢Location: LaVerè's office, Gangnam, South Korea.

1 Day ago...

LaVerè goggled at her little compact mirror, scanning for any diffects in her heavily powdered face. Her lips were the colour of bloody crimson, carefully tattooed into place by a most renowned beauty tattooist in the country, but she applied another thick layer of the same coloured lipstick. She hated the sight of faded lips... Her pearl embroidered purse and matching cell phone lay on top of her freakishly clean desk, waiting to be put inside her fancy hand bag.

Today was an important day for her; one of the most important, she would say, since the most important day would be the day that she kills Maranzano. She sighed and went back to studying her face from the mirror, her white painted talons clicking on the cover in broken rythems. Her ordered car would be here any moment now, and she was just about to get her coat from the hanging pegs when the tall double doors opened.

LaVerè glanced up, expecting to see one of her guards scuttling infront of her to inform the arrival of the vehicle, but what she saw made her blood run cold for a second.

Luca smiled at her pleasantly, although it sent ice cold chills running down her spine at the sight of Maranzano's most brutaly loyal bodyguard.

She hastily placed a smile on her face, sitting back down on her oxblood chair while Luca snorted at her general direction.

"Don't force it Lav" he said, casually walking inside the room, "I know how you hate interruptions at your work"

LaVerè gave a smothered laugh as she regarded him with mild interest and curiosity. Now why is he here?

"I'm sure you are not here to talk about past pleasantries?" She drawled, delicately raising one sharply lined eyebrow, as she slightly leaned forward, displaying much of her fashionably half covered chest, "or it it the exact reason why you came to me?"

Luca rested his hands on the leather back of one of the chairs infront of LaVerè's enormous work desk; his tanned muscles standing out; his expression unreadable and calmly tense. LaVerè could very much see Jake in him, since the child had practically grown up learning to copy Luca's every move.

Luca glanced at the handbag that was lying on the table, his mouth pulling into a rueful smile,

"I see that I've caught you on a bad moment"

"Oh surely not" faked Laverè, "I was just getting ready-"

"For what?" smirked Luca, eyeing her chest openly, "going on a middle aged date?"

Laverè looked at him, her pansy eyes admiring Luca's strong, tall frame, his high angular cheekbones, and charcoal dark eyes... he was awfully handsome... but she had enough wisdom to know that he was not someone to play games with; because with Luca, a simple game can turn into a dangerous disaster.

"Think what you want Luca" said Laverè in a breezy voice, glancing at her iphone, "if you aren't here for pleasantries, then you are here for a reason"

"I merely came to give some advice" said Luca, running his fingers along the edge, finally resting lightly on the gun straped on his waist. Laverè eyed it warily, and she shifted uneasily on her chair...

"Advice?" She asked, with a dismissive little laugh, feeling her chest contract with nerves, "what sort of advice?"

Luca suddenly started walking towards her, brushing his hand briefly on her white faux feathered coat which was hagging from the peg. He whirled her chair towards him, stopping Laverè's shocked face at a heartbeat away from his.

Luca studied her, her faked eyelashes and her expensively cheap smelling scent which wafed strongly of burnt tar. Her breathing was labouriously quick under him.

"You know the saddest thing about betrayal Lav?" he whispered against her cheek, bringing up his gun and tracing a light path against her jawline. Laverè looked up at him, her eyes looking stricken with a tinge of absolute raw fear, "it rarely comes from the enemy"

***********

The non descriptive black car was parked a good measured distance away from the building where Laverè's office was located. The Falcon guard on the driver's seat was just looking at the red dot that appeared on the mapped screen of his laptop when the opposite door opened and Luca got in. He bowed in greeting an noded once at the pulsing red dot which was labelled as Laverè.

"Sir" he grunted while Luca studied the screen

"Great we have eyes and ears" smiled Luca as he remembered the white faux feathered coat of Laverè's which was now carrying a nano audio and video tracker.

"Will she notice it sir?" Asked the Falcon cautiously as he browsed the location details.

Luca smirked, "I dont think she'll have a chance to take a good look at her coat" he said, looking out through the shady tinted window,

"I think I scared her a bit too much"

After a few minutes of waiting patiently while sipping on a diet coke, Luca saw a white BMW slide smootly out from the underground parking entrance. Simultaneously, the red dot on their screen began moving. The falcon started the engine and Luca felt a soft vibration go through the entire vehicle. His companion respectfully glanced at him, waiting for the comand.

Luca slowly took another swig from his drink. The white car had already disappeared down the road, and he put on his Armani Shades and smirked.

"Follow them" he grunted and the Falcon noded, easing his foot on the accelerator.

After 2 hours of constant trailing, they finally stopped near a narrowing down road. Luca had his eyes already glued to a pair of binoculars, following Laverè's slim figure walking inside The Ambassador Hotel in Inchion. He sighed and put them down, taking out his phone to look at Jake's number. He pondered for a few munites, deliberating whether he should make a call or not. In the end after carefull consideration, he picked the audio file of Alexi Luciano; the one he found from the police station. Jake will never have time to watch this when he comes home...Before he could start regretting, he clicked 'add to queue'. He would send both these clips together...

"Sir we are getting a signal" said the Falcon guard, and Luca glanced at the screen from which he could see a smothered but considerably clear visual feed of a luxurious hotel room, and a static sound that followed it.

"Start recording" commanded Luca, his face set, "when it's over, send the file directly to the me"

The falcon guard nodded and reached out to press the record button.

●●●●

◇Location: Kansai Airport, Osaka,Japan.

The plane was just starting to escalate to the clear blue sky of Toyonaka, beginning the journey of heading back to Seoul. Donghae had his eyes feverishly shut, because take-off was one of his most hated part of air travel. He saw Jake glance at him curiously, while sipping his scotch whisky in a deliberate slow motion to annoy the fuck out of him.

Donghae turned and glared back at him through half shut eyelids,

"Please don't do that" he pleaded, slapping a hand across his face to close his eyes, "It makes me vomitish"

"Still not cured I see" smirked Jake, picking up his phone which vibrated to his touch, indicating that he had unread messages. He vaguely remebered the notification sounds he'd heard early in the morning in his delirious state. Since the flight was taking off, he still had his phone on airplane mode, which meant that he had to wait for atleast for another good 15 minutes till they were out of interruption zone.

He raised his eyes to look back at Donghae who still had his eyeslids shut, his broad chest gently rising and falling; gradually slipping into a deep sleep; his head resting gently on Jake's shoulder. Finally he switched on his phone, glancing at the first two messages that appeared on his screen which had been sent early this morning. Both were video files sent from Luca. He sighed and switched on his airpods, clicking on Alexi Luciano's file.

The low quality camera had been directly faced a little away from Alexi Luciano's face. Jake paused the video, staring at the face he was seeing... it was tortured, with bloody gashes and sivery red blood spilling out of different mangled cuts; but the expression Alexi held were of a man who'd been tested beyond the extremes that he could handle, the absolute aura of a worrior defeated, hopelessness... helplessness and most of all... yearning etched his face. Yearning for his defeated life to end quickly..

Some part of Jake was fascinated at seeing Alexi Luciano; his family's worst enemy live for the first time. His fingers were frozen on top of the 'play' button, hovering uncertainly, unable to move his eyes away from this man's gaze... he had surely seen it before!... it was the look of a silent apology, a look that a man gives when he had failed to do his duty...Failed to protect his 6 year old son...

Suddenly; as if someone had kicked him in the gut, Jake remembered the way Donghae had looked up at him the first time they've met. That look had been really similar to the one Alexi Luciano was giving him now... helplessness interwoven with a silver of desperate hope..

Jake took a deep breath, should he really be watching this?, what he was beginning to feel for this man was unforgivable, he was a traitor! So Why?! Why was he feeling his heart constrict? As if someone was pulling a taunt string inside his chest?

He looked at Donghae who had his mouth hagging slightly open, snoring rather loudy next to him. Jake watched him in amusement and undisguised fondness...and he snorted loudly. Donghae looking like Alexi Luciano? Never!

He tore his eyes from Donghae and pressed 'play', silently looking at the happenings on the video, where Officer Ju Shin was slithering around Alexi like a poisonous cobra that was satisfied with it's latest prey...

"Such a waste you know, to kill your family... I heard that your son is not yet 6"

"P-please dont hurt them!"

"I can Alexi... but you can change that situation...if you help me"

"B-but I'm honor bound-"

"What matters most to you? Your honor? or the lives of your wife and child?"

"I'm going to count to five Alexi; if you don't, then its bye bye to little Aiden"

Bye bye to little Aiden...

The soft words reverberated through his head as Jake watched in grim facination, when Alexi Luciano got shot two times after he'd given the details of the lacation of Maranzano Manor. His bloody corpse fell on to the hard concrete ground with a dull thud... and officer Kim triumphantly went out of the room... But Jake's eyes remained on the fallen man whose body had already stopped moving, a thin trail of blook trickling from the corner of his chaped blue black lips. The speakers were still switched on, catching his slow, frail breathing..

Suddenly Hyukjae heard a string of wheezing words which exhaled from Alexi's last dying breath:

"I'm sorry my little Aiden.. Daddy won't be coming home" he whispered and went still.

Jake slumped back on his seat. His body felt as if it's been buckled up in a particularly tight seat belt that chocked his throat...

An unmistakable pang of sympathy..

So Alexi hadn't given out the the information on Falcon compound just so that he could escape... he fucking knew he was dying... and he just wanted to protect his family to show his last act of loyalty for them, and he'd clearly been holding out for such a long time... going through all that tourture till his breaking point...

deep down Jake knew that his own father would've done the same thing..

Suddenly Jake found himself repeating the same question over and over again, would he really care for someone other than his own flesh and blood? And would he; Jake Maranzano, sacrifice his own son to protect something that'll only kill him at the end?

Jake lost focus on the video... because the answer was absurdly easy...

Jake closed his eyes and massaged his temples, aware of the slight snores that came from Donghae cuddling next to him. In a daze he clicked on the video named 'Laverè'.

The video feed was lagging with static interruptions, but it was able to clearly show a dull grainy image of a door opening. He guessed that Luca had planted the tracker on on the sleeve of Laverè's clothes. He ginned. Luca has that one amazing way of getting the job done somehow..

A face appeared at the doorway. The man had greying hair, and a bushy beard outlined his mouth. His eyes were intelligent behind the hexagonal shaped spectacles. And he wore the expression of a man that is not very happy to meet anybody.

Jake watched; his arms crossed, as Laverè walked inside the room. But suddenly the plane entered a turbulance zone and Jake completely missed the first bit of the video. He sighed, not bothering to rewined it..

"...Hello Professor" she said in a silky voice

Jake heard a gruff greeting in return. And his attention flew skywards when he heard the man's voice, immediately remembering the anonymous phone call telling him where to find the Jade pendant in Japan.

'Professor' he thought; exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding...

'He was a Professor at our university' he remebered Hisui telling him...

"Ventura!!" he chocked, almost waking Donghae; who sighed sofltly and cuddled back into sleep. What the fuck was Laverè doing with him!?

The audio quality was rapidly draining, the sentences cut off with solid static noises. But he heard enough to make his blood boil within him, filling his vision with a screen of anger...

"...Maranzano and Luciano are both looking for the pendant" said Laverè's voice

"Yes, Just as planned" answered Ventura.

"I just don't understand why they can't shoot eachother already!"

Jake saw Ventura taking out the familiar gold enveloped invitation of the annual Casino Event. And he felt furious. So this is the one who sent Gray to kill them all!.

Jake puched the power button of his phone, his eyes looking as if thunderstorms were passing right through them. His fingers were balled into tight fists and were white and shaking with anger. So Laverè had been working with Luciano all this damned time!

He suddenly felt a cold chill run through his body when he thought back to what she had said about Aiden... shoot eachother? But how? How close can Aiden be if he can communicate with Laverè and Ventura at the same time?

Donghae suddenly jerked awake, he opened his eyes to look at Jake..and stared... Jake's eyes were luminous, and dark blue shadows hung across his face; his mouth set to a permanent scowl, and he was gipping his phone as if he was going to crush through it.

"Hyukjae?" Donghae asked, looking cuatious, his eyebrows pulling together in concern, "what's wrong?"

Jake looked at him, his eyes seeming to stare into him and through him, as if he was constructed from nothing but pure glass,

"Oh everything Donghae" he growled, a devilish smilling blooming in his face, "I just can't wait to get back home"

~LustyShadows