Chapter 26 #2
“I don’t intend on hurting him. Camilla misses him too, she asked him to give her a call. That’s her number in case he lost it,” he hands me a small card, “Make sure he calls,” Camilla, Aiden’s sister, the one he left behind to help us with Liot.
“Drop the bomb, not literally please,” I request and he laughs.
“You’re funny, Love. I see what Aiden saw in you.
Here’s everything I got. Liot changed home to the address on the other side of Camilla’s number card.
I have insiders that report to me every day and Liot is at a loss, he was planning to deal with just Dominik, Kane’s and Denfell’s, he didn’t expect Aiden, much less me. -”
“You’re allying?-”
“Do your part of the deal and we’ll see,” Thomas says his silver eyes look for one moment towards Aiden’s number and I can see something on them, an emotion I can’t name he masks it too fast. “As I was saying, he isn’t expecting it.
No Mitkus was. And they’re doubting his authority and the relevance of this vengeance for them, to endanger themselves.
If you strike now, in a few days to two weeks everything will be resolved.
If Aiden calls me I already have a plan.
You can background check me and the address, you’ll see it all adds up.
I’ll only help you on the pretext that Aiden is the one to call me.
If that call doesn’t happen. Good luck on getting Mitkus to trust any non-Mitkian leader. ”
“So that’s what you gain with this alliance? Power over Mitkus mafia?” I ask him and he makes a “So so” head gesture.
“Partly, but you don’t have to worry about that.-”
“It’s Aiden isn’t it?” I ask and Thomas checks the cat's eyes.
“It seems to be the same bacteria, here’s the medicine.
Two times a day, don’t let them clean the cream right away, make sure it stays for some minutes,” Thomas says purposely avoiding the question, “Listen, Love, I sympathise with you so I’ll say this once before I cross you from existence, Aiden is a big boy, let this go, he can take care of himself,” I don’t like Thomas Alakai a bit.
“Is that everything?” I ask Thomas and he nods.
“I’ll be waiting for the call,” Alakai turns to leave opening the door but Camilla, Aiden’s sister is standing in the waiting room. “What are you doing here Camilla?” he asks in Mitkian, “It’s not safe,” he adds, and Camilla turns to me.
“Hi, Love, haven’t seen you in years how are you?” Camilla asks, she’s such a sweet girl, it used to hurt me deeply that she’s in this world. She seems tougher, though. She grew into a beautiful brunette.
“Are you ignoring me, Camilla?” Aiden asks now in English.
“I am, and will continue, I’m done standing behind the scenes. You can’t protect me, Alakai,” so keeping her away wasn’t Aiden’s idea? Was it Thomas’? “I’m sorry for being so straightforward but I need this prick to leave me the fuck alone.”
“Watch your mouth-”
“Can I stay with you I want to help,” Camilla says and Thomas looks desperate and pinches himself, does he hope this is a dream? Maybe a nightmare for him.
“Aiden wouldn’t want you hurt,” I respond to Camilla, and she looks at Thomas threateningly when he says “You’re not ready” in Mitkian.
“That’s not up to you to decide,” I say in Mitkian it might not have been proper grammar yet his face shows he understood every single word. “Tell me, Camilla, what does Aiden think about this?”
“What do you think? You have an overprotective brother, you know what it’s like. But when I tell you I fight as good as any man, I mean it,” she says and I highly doubt it. But Aiden has been down lately and with Thomas’ news, Camilla may be a good help.
“Stay. You’re one of us,” I say and Thomas storms out.
“He’s a drama king, sorry,” Camilla informs but I already knew that from Aiden, I still laugh.
“He’s going to try to kill me one day, right?” I ask her slightly concerned. She shakes her head.
“He would if he could, but he can’t, so he shan’t,” Camilla says and Maya joins us.
“Camilla you came, you look stunning. nineteen years looks good on you,” Maya says hugging her. Did Maya already know? “Sorry, Love, I couldn’t tell you, I’ve been talking to Camilla, yet I couldn’t let you in on our plan. You could lead Thomas on it. He’s been watching the guys’ house-”
“He has bugs on the balconies and knows more than I’d like. We need to get Aiden to talk to him. I know it feels like an impossible mission but we’ll make it work,” Camilla says in her unique fully positive thinking. I smile and nod.
“Yeah, we’ll make it work-”
“Hi, Lov- Who’s this?” Sammy asks pursing her lips, oh no. Camilla is going to ruin this party. How did Maya not see it?
“Camilla, Aiden’s sister,” Maya responds and I know Sammy is losing it.
“The one and only,” Camilla says and Sammy rolls her eyes.
“The one obsessed with Josh?” Sammy asks and I can see she’s beyond frustrated.
“I take that as him not being up in the market,” Camilla responds I can see a glimpse of hope disappear from her eyes.
“No, all yours,” Sammy says drops her things on her locker, “Excuse me, I have cat litter to take care of,” Sammy says and storms to the cat's room.
“I need to go after Sammy-”
“Go, I didn’t come here to ruin anything. Josh is still off the market for me,” I whisper “thank you” to Camilla and look at Maya as if to ask if she’s got Camilla, she assents and smiles at me. When I pass by her she whispers, “Take care of our girl”.
I respond “I will” and enter the cats’ room to find Sammy in a corner crying hugging Toby, our most loving cat, he’s blind, but the cutest of all others. Toby loves being held and petted, so he’s in heaven. When I get nearer I can hear his purr.
“Hi, Toby,” I say announcing myself before sitting next to Sammy. “So you and Josh?-”
“Josh and I nothing, Love. We’re nothing,” Sammy interrupts but I’m only left with more questions.
“So you were something? You know I can punch him for you, right?” I ask and she laughs through the tears.
“I already did that,” Sammy says and I hug her from the side.
“What do you say we adopt Toby?” I ask Sammy and she looks at me with hopeful eyes.
“Your father said no pets,” she says and I smile, for the first time I feel comfort when someone mentions him.
“Is he here? I say you take him home,” I say and change topics, “Camilla is not the enemy Sammy, she’s not interested in confusion, she’ll back off from Josh.
Give her a chance for me. She’s actually kind of nice,” I say not wanting to give her a bigger compliment in case she takes it the wrong way.
“I’ll do that, if she doesn’t get on my way,” Sammy says and I nod, she’s worried about Josh, I didn’t think she’d be so open about it. But here it is, a sort of interest confession.
“Yes, sir,” I joke kissing her forehead.
Her attention shifts from Toby to me and he starts licking her hand, for more head rubs, it’s actually so good to see them bound.
Toby is a 2-year-old cat who’s been under Sammy’s care since he was 2 months old.
Sammy always had hope someone would adopt him, and against everyone, kept him alive.
She would not euthanise him while he had a quality of life.
That’s one of the reasons we don’t take any cats over 6 years here.
This is a nonprofit organisation. And Sammy refuses euthanising any being.
We take older cats but not many, it’s more difficult to find them a house, and that’s our purpose.
Finding a forever home for every single one of them.
The rest of the day is sunnier, the girls hover around the cats, and Camilla plays with all of them excited to be away from Mitkus. Despite all that happiness, I must leave to tell Dominik and Josh about Thomas’ deal.
I grab Toby, the most beautiful black and white cat, he’s actually all black except for his white paws. I already sent our team what we need for Toby and it should be waiting at our place. I put Toby’s carrier on the back of my car and sit in the driver’s spot.