Chapter Thirteen- Buddha #2
After he was done greeting Tomasso, Francesco looked over at me, the smile erasing from his face. He gave me a cordial nod, a greeting I did not return.
A Black SUV entered the compound and parked next to our bulletproof Hummer. Ivan Petrov emerged first, and then two other acquaintances of his exited from the backseat.
In Ivan’s hand was a small black suitcase. He walked over to where we were standing, and I approached him. This was my time to officially conduct a deal without my father’s input. I smiled as I held my hand out to Ivan.
“Mr. Petrov, so nice to see you again,” I gave him a healthy, manly handshake before I turned to his acquaintances.
“So nice to see you, Phillipe. How is your lovely wife doing?” Ivan asked in his thick Russian accent.
“She’s wonderful, trying her best to turn my entire head of hair grey,” I said, telling nothing but the truth about Dior.
“Welcome to marriage, my friend,” Ivan joked. “Please, let me introduce you to Vladimir and Dmitry. Their English is very limited,” he pointed out to the two men. I didn’t hesitate to greet them with a handshake as well.
“Shall we?” I said, allowing Ivan to lead the way.
This was his warehouse, so he had to be the one to open the garage-type door.
As we all walked forward, I slowed my steps a bit so I could look at my brother.
We both locked eyes, and I gave him a quick nod so he would know to keep his eyes open.
He nodded back to let me know he understood what had to be done.
Tomasso was the only one of the three of us who had no clue we had to keep a sharp eye out. I planned to fill him in after everything was over. For now, I just wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible.
“These diamonds are the rarest black diamonds, very hard to come by,” Ivan said as I inspected the diamonds through a special lens. I was satisfied that this cut was good enough, so I handed it to Tomasso to have a look.
I looked over at Snow and then Francesco and Luca, who were talking softly with each other. I narrowed my eyes when Francesco took his phone and appeared to send a text message.
“Well, this looks good to me. What do you say, Buddha? The call is yours,” Tomasso asked, handing the diamond back to Ivan, him and his associates waiting for my verdict.
“I say let’s do it,” I rubbed my palms together as I took my phone out of my pocket.
“So two million with a street value that’s going to be more than triple the amount.
Can’t get much better than that.” I said, logging into my online banking.
My account was set up in a special way so that direct deposits of any amount can be transferred.
A service I paid a very hefty under-the-table monthly fee to have.
“Let me go ahead and do this transfer, and we have a deal, our first deal with many more to come,” I said to Ivan as I stretched my hand out to him. He shook my hand, and I did the same with his acquaintances.
Standing next to Tomasso and Snow, I did the online transfer to Ivan’s account. Tomasso gave me a smile of fatherly approval before he slapped me on my shoulder.
“I take it the deal is complete, brother?” Francesco asked, making his way to where we were standing.
“It is; we will see about you and Luca’s cut in the next few days,” Tomasso said, shaking Francesco’s hand.
I ground my jaw as I stood back in silence, hating that he would be getting a couple of million from this deal.
If it were up to me, he wouldn’t have gotten a fucking thing.
I realized that Luca was not where he was standing a few moments ago.
I frowned as I looked around, wondering where the fuck he had gone.
“Where’s Luca?” I asked, looking around again. Francesco made a face as he looked over his shoulder.
“I think I did hear him mumble about needing to find a toilet,” Francesco answered, with a shrug.
“Toilet, well, he’s short on luck; there’s no facilities in here,” Ivan said, eyeing Francesco suspiciously. A loud noise suddenly interrupted our transaction, drawing everyone’s attention. It was the door to the warehouse being opened.
“Who the fuck is that?” Ivan asked as about five men dressed in black, their faces covered with all-black motorcycle helmets, appeared with semi-automatic weapons.
“Oh fuck, it’s an ambush!” I shouted, reaching for my gun at my waist. By the time I drew my weapon, a hail of gunfire erupted.
The sounds of bullets flying were deafening.
There was absolutely nowhere to run for cover; we were sitting ducks.
As I fired back, I looked at Snow, who also had his weapon drawn.
“Snow, cover Tomasso! Stay with Tomasso,” I shouted at my brother to protect our father. Ivan and his men fired back at the five armed intruders as though it was a mothafucking western. They were standing upright, guns blazing, like they were Clint Eastwood or some shit.
“Ivan, focus on that side!” I shouted at him, pointing to where he should shoot. Doing as I said, he began firing at two of the men. The sounds of men groaning made me shift focus for a split second, only to realize that Ivan’s men had been shot.
“Mothafucka,” I muttered. We were down two men; meanwhile, the five men were still going strong.
“Tomasso, stay low! Snow, shoot that way!” I pointed in the direction.
Nodding his head at me, Snow began rapidly squeezing his trigger.
I was focused on one side, and Ivan was focused on another.
Francesco and Luca were nowhere in sight.
Ivan, Snow, and I did the best we could. We held our own and somehow managed to shoot four of the five men. I knew I would be out of bullets soon, as would my brother. Ivan fired two shots, hitting one of the men before he himself went down.
“I think Daddy’s hit!” Snow yelled. I felt all the blood drain from my body at the sight of Tomasso on the floor.
“Shit,” I cursed, feeling as though we weren’t about to make it out alive. Snow fired the last of his bullets just as the other man returned fire; both of them were hit. Snow fell to the ground, face-first. Without thinking and not paying full attention, I began running toward my brother.
One of the men whom I believed was dead on the ground grabbed his weapon as I ran to Snow, firing multiple shots at me. I felt every bullet, the last piercing through my shoulder, and one hitting me in my calf.
“Arrggghhh!” I cried out in excruciating pain as I fell to the floor a few feet away from both my brother and father. I couldn’t move an inch. I lay on my stomach as my breathing became labored and shallow. My body was numb in the areas I’d been shot.
I looked at my brother as he partially lay on top of our father, who wasn’t moving. Snow’s eyes were closed. From where I lay, I had no way of knowing if he was breathing or not. Just as I felt like I was about to lose consciousness, familiar voices forced me to stay awake.
“Grab the diamonds, grab the diamonds, Luca. We don’t have much time; we have to meet up with Edwardo.
” It was Francesco. I remained perfectly still as the sounds of his and Luca’s footsteps hurried around us.
They took the black diamonds, and I listened as their feet raced out of the warehouse.
The sound of tires screeching as they drove off made me realize that they were gone. They had set us up.
“Snow, Tomasso,” I managed to say, but I was way too weak. My voice was barely above a whisper. The last thing I looked at before my eyes closed was the wedding ring on my finger.