Stephen’s POV
I went straight to the company I manage after dropping off Nathalia. When I arrived at the office, my assistant, Jeff, stood up immediately to greet me.
“Good morning, Sir Stephen. Sir Ashter and the others are already inside,” he politely informed me.
I nodded at him before heading inside. I couldn’t help but shake my head as I entered, greeted by my friends, who seemed like they were just hanging out in their respective mansions.
Someone was seated on my desk and in a chair, while others were playfully interacting on a long sofa off to the side.
I walked irritably towards my desk, pushing Ace away from it. I forcefully made Shantel stand from the swivel chair before forcefully tapping Ashter’s propped-up foot, who was seated in front of my desk.
I sat down properly before giving Ash a stern look. “I have to clean my desk again because of you. Do you know that you’re the reason it gets dirty?”
He placed his right hand on his left chest and acted as if he were hurt. “You’re so harsh on me, best friend! You always seem to pick on me, and all this time I even went to the trouble of visiting you. In the meantime, you can’t even spare a moment of your time in my office.”
“There’s nothing interesting in your company, Ash,” Shan said with a laugh.
Ash gave her a sharp look.
“What’s uninteresting? Just to remind you, I own one of the largest automobile companies here in the Philippines,” he proudly stated.
Ryza popped her bubble gum and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. My shipping line is still cooler than your cars.”
Riley smirked. “Don’t forget that I own an airline company and I am a pilot myself.”
I slammed my hand on the desk. “Shut the fuck up! We’re not here to show off!”
I was thankful when they fell silent.
I loosened my necktie and leaned back in the swivel chair. Once one of them started, the rest would follow suit, and before you knew it, they’d be teasing each other again.
I pressed the intercom button to talk to Jeff. I decided to hire a male assistant this time. I’ve had enough of hiring female assistants. They always end up just flirting around.
“Don’t let anyone in for now. We’re discussing something important.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I immediately turned off the intercom and looked at my friends seriously.
“Have you gathered any information about Dela Cruz’s whereabouts?”
Yawning, Oliver approached me and placed a white folder on the desk. I took it and read the information written inside.
“How many mafias are left?”
“There are only two left. But they’re quite elusive. Fortunately, I managed to track down Dela Cruz to some extent. As for Fuentebella, we’re still searching for him,” Rhyz replied.
I furrowed my brow as I read. The location mentioned in the report was familiar, but I didn’t personally know the owner.
“What is he doing in that place?”
Ash shrugged. “We need to find out about that matter.”
I closed the folder I was holding and toyed with the pen on the side.
“How about the other mafias? The entire organization will surely blame us again for what happened to them.”
Ace chuckled. “Don’t worry about that anymore, Anderson. Amelia has taken care of everything related to that. Besides, we’re no longer part of the organization since we broke away from them. Plus, Sarmiento is skilled and discreet in his work. He even said he could take care of all of them if needed.”
“Because that crazy guy enjoys being Nath’s cousin,” Riley quipped with a laugh. He and Rhyz exchanged a high-five.
“We can’t blame him, though. Among all of us, he’s the one who grew up with Nathalia.”
They fell silent again due to what I said.
After a moment, Ash cleared his throat and adjusted his seat. “To be honest, I don’t know how he manages to control and manipulate some of the organization’s members like obedient dogs, considering that our families were among the first to be a part of it and have been associated with them for a long time.”
I clenched my fist as I suddenly remembered something. “Because he possesses something important that belongs to Nathalia.”
They all looked at me with raised eyebrows. “What is it?”
I took a deep breath. Only I knew that he had that item because I was the only one who saw him take it.
But in the past months, I had mentioned it to Liam so he could help me search for it as well.
“You’ll know when you see it.”
They all grumbled.
“You’re so secretive, Anderson!” Ash exclaimed in frustration.
I turned my chair around and ignored their sentiments. I gazed at the towering buildings through the glass window of my office.
Aside from that man, there was another thing bothering my mind.
“Why do you think our transactions keep getting messed up? Our plans have been disrupted quite a few times in the past weeks,” I asked them with an annoyed tone.
“There’s only one answer to that, Anderson,” Ace quickly replied.
“What is it?” I heard Rhyz ask.
“There’s a snake that has managed to slither into our territory.”
I nodded. “Bingo.”
“Seriously? That’s some nerve he has, going against us,” Ryza said incredulously.
I stood up and adjusted my coat and tie.
“We’ll catch whoever that snake is eventually. Right now, we need to deal with the remaining two mafia clans,” I said.
“So, what’s the plan?” Ace asked.
I faced them. “Let’s meet at Dela Cruz’s hideout tonight. I need to attend to some matters in the company for now.”
***
I parked the car behind an empty warehouse. My men followed suit. As I got out, my friends were already waiting for me.
“Any sign of Dela Cruz?” I asked Ash as he approached.
He shook his head. “Not yet. But I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
I nodded before securing the gun at my waist. My friends also prepared their respective weapons.
The warehouse was hidden, and there were no lights around. It was here that we decided to keep an eye out.
“Are you sure this is their new hideout?” I confirmed with Rhyz.
“Yeah. I’ve been following him for a few nights now, and he’s been coming here regularly.”
We waited silently and patiently. Before long, three consecutive cars arrived from a distance.
I grinned when I saw Jonathan Dela Cruz exit the first car, followed by his pack of dog-like henchmen.
I watched them and noticed that they entered one of the yachts docked at the pier. As far as I knew, this pier was private. When we tried to find out who owned this place, the person wasn’t familiar to us. I was also sure that they weren’t members of the mafia organization.
Once they were all inside, we simultaneously emerged from our hiding spot. I signaled some of my men to surround the yacht from the outside. Others served as cover while we quickly, yet quietly, made our way towards and up the yacht. We communicated through hand signals.
Ash was the first to enter, checking if there were enemies at the entrance of the yacht. He didn’t take long before he came out and signaled us to follow.
We exchanged glances before entering one by one. We kept our eyes sharp while tightly holding onto our weapons. We inspected each room here, even delving into every corner.
We went through each floor of the yacht until we reached the lower part. But just like upstairs, it was completely empty.
I hate to admit it, but I suddenly felt anxious when we couldn’t find Jonathan or any of the men who were with him earlier.
“Where the hell did that motherfucker go?” I angrily exclaimed.
I couldn’t be mistaken. My two eyes clearly saw them enter here!
I quickly went to the window and looked outside. But I didn’t see any signs of them being here.
“Shit! They fooled us! It’s a trap!” Ryza shouted in frustration.
“What?” Riley asked.
“I think they went out this way,” I said.
We all glanced down at the floor that Ryza was pointing to. I couldn’t help but curse under my breath when I noticed what seemed to be a concealed door. If she hadn’t pushed a table aside, it wouldn’t have been noticeable at all. Besides that, she was holding a small carpet, probably meant to cover it.
The moment we opened that door, we would surely end up underwater.
“Let’s try to open it,” Oliver suggested.
“Why? There’s no use. They’ve most likely already left. We might as well go out and catch them there,” Shan countered.
“Wait. I think it will be better if we open this one,” Rhyz said, taking something out of his pocket.
“Fuck! We need to get out of here now!”
We all turned in Ash’s direction as he suddenly yelled. I was about to ask him what the problem was when I caught a glimpse of a running timer.
I could hear everyone gasping loudly. But before anyone could say anything, the entire yacht was filled with a loud explosion.