This one is a bit shorter but don't worry, the chapters will start to get longer. I was being so careful that I hadn't skipped a scene throughout the beginning so I could post it fast and I forgot about a small part in this one so I had to add it in. I may rewrite this chapter eventually but if anything, I'll only add things in.

Oye, te dije que te iba escupir en tu comida la próxima vez que aparezcas este semana.= Hey, I told you that I'd spit in your food the next time you appeared here this week.

"¡Mi corazon! Por qué no me quieres?= My heart! Why don't you like/love/want me?

Vas a Ver= You'll see.

"Tonio—we're back!" A raspy voice rang throughout the back room. "It was a total bust, I tell you—oh, didn't know you had company." Turning to the doorway, I noticed an albino in a graphic tee paired with ripped jeans and a long haired blond with a partial ponytail in white pants and a purple dress shirt.

Are these two his partners?

They all look like polar opposites.

The blond raised his eyebrows and spoke in a smooth French accent. Oh Dio, not a French man! "What is this about? I don't remember having anything scheduled."

Tonio stood up and made his way towards them. "This is Ms. Vargas and she needs help with a pretty serious problem that I'd like your opinion on." Something in the waking snow-storm's eyes flickered before they narrowed. "Chiara, this is Gilbert Beilschmidt and Francis Bonnefoy."

"This must be pretty serious if you're asking us for help. Usually, you only take serious cases from Tino." Francis—how fitting—inquired curiously.

Inquired curiously; ugh, I sound like some sort of posh Victorian Era British person.

Mr. Fernandez bit the corner of his lower lip and rubbed his neck, his face contorted into a hesitant look. "Let's go to my office and I'll explain everything." I made a face. Does he think I'm stupid? He'll try to convince them it's a bad idea! He shot me an earnest look. "We'll be right back, I can't make any promises but I'll try."

I don't know why, but in that moment something in my heart told me to trust him.

Swallowing, I nodded before sitting back down. Maybe he's not like the rest.

The next few minutes were agonizing, I was too anxious to even pull out my phone and do anything more than open and close the apps. I even prayed several times for things to turn out in my favor. Despite how I didn't want any of them to catch me, I ended up humming a tune to try and calm my nerves.

Before I even knew what happened, the door to the office had slammed open to shouting. There was one particularly angry voice-Gilbert Beilschmidt, I think. It sounded as if the others were trying to calm him down.

I stood up to face them as the albino stormed in. I could feel a pit of dread form in my heart.

"Out; I want you out of here!" He shouted, pointing at me as he came closer.

I blinked as Francis Bonnefoy hurried in and grabbed him. "Mon ami, calm down!"

"Gil! Stop it." Mr. Fernandez ran in, and grabbed his other arm.

"Are you trying to get us all killed? If any of this is even true, what makes you think we would help you?" Gilbert shouted.

"It is true! I-"

"Don't you say another word. I want you out of here before I call the cops. The mafia's no joke. They destroy lives with a snap of their finger and I don't want you to drag us into whatever mess you're in."

"Gilbert, you are out of line_" Francis starts only to be interrupted by me slapping the albino.

"Go rot in a ditch!" I shouted in his face before running past them and through the building.

Shoving the door open, I burst out onto the nearly empty street and let out a frustrated growl/scream. My heart felt like it's on fire. What kind of a so called inspector harasses their clients like that?! It's their fault if my brother never comes back! Any chance I just had of convincing that idiot is gone all because of that stupid German! I swear if I ever see him again I'll punch him in the throat just like Alfred taught me. I'll punch them all in the throat for treating me like that and then I'll—I'll…

I sucked in a breath of air and leaned on the brick wall of the building. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to stop the tears that had began to flow. It hurts, oh God, it hurts. It feels like I've lost him all over again except this time there's nothing I can do about it! Those stupid cops are just going to let whoever took my fratello get away with this and no one will do a thing about it.

If papa had never bothered with the mafia then things wouldn't be like this! If mamma had any sense of responsibility, she wouldn't have left us like we were nothing! None of this ever would have happened if they hadn't of been so selfish!

Rubbing my eyes with my wrist, I choked out a sob. "D**! This is their fault!" I stomped my foot.

How dare they?

How could they?

Dio, maybe I should have just—just…

I don't know what to do!

"Chiarina?" I smothered the sobbing with one hand and furiously rubbed at my eyes with the other.

"Just go away!"

"Look, I am truly so very sorry for what my friend in there said. He had no right." Antonio inched toward me slowly, with his hands out stretched.

"Apologizing isn't going to get my brother back!"

"I know," He said quietly, putting a hand on the small of my back. "But I'm sorry for what he did and for him not wanting to help you. You have to believe me though, Gilbert is honestly a good guy. I don't know what's gotten into him."

"Then you're either blind or stupid." I hiccuped. "All he had to do was say no! Feli's probably so scared and no one will find him!"

"Come here." He pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around me as I started to cry harder.

He was a complete stranger but at that moment, I couldn't resist. I didn't have any energy left to do anything else but cry so I just stood there with my arms pressing against his chest. Almost as if to push him way. We stayed there like that long enough for me to regain composure.

"Sorry." I hiccuped.

He leaned away to look at me. "It's alright. You're going through a lot. I do have an idea though. I'd like you to follow me to this little restaurant I know. It has great Cuban food. While we're there, you can tell me more of what's going on."

Wait, what? My head shot up and I stopped scrubbing my eyes. "You're going to help me?"

He nodded, a kind look on his face. "It could be very dangerous but that doesn't mean that it will be. I'd like to take that risk if it means I can help find your brother."

I nodded vigorously. "Of course, yes! Grazie, Grazi mille!"

He nodded, his lips pursed in a kind manner. What's he supposed to say? You're welcome? Of course not! "It's a bit too far to walk but if you'd like I could drive you or if you've brought your car, you could follow me?"

"I'll follow. Just, thank you so much!"

"Here it is. Order whatever you like, it's on me. It's the least I can do after Gilbert treated you like that. Oh, but the coffee here is stronger than regular American coffee so you know." He opened the glass doors to the little eatery.

It was brightly colored inside-mainly white with bits of lighter blues and greens. I nodded quietly and looked to the menu above the tall dark skinned man behind the counter.

"Oye, te dije que te iba escupir en tu comida la próxima vez que aparezcas este semana." The rather large man with dreadlocks behind the counter called out to Antonio.

"¡Mi corazon! Por qué no me quieres?" Antonio grinned, slapping a hand to his heart.

Besides a word or two, I couldn't tell what they were saying.

The man Latin man just scowled and said. "Vas a ver."

I cleared my throat, not appreciating being left out of the conversation.

Antonio looked back at me apologetically. "This is Miguel, his grandfather started this place after he escaped from Cuba."

I nodded and eyed the man who was handing a wrapped up sandwich and drink on a tray to an older man. "You planning on telling everyone you bring here that or just her?"

"Ay, please. Every regular knows more than that. Your abuelo will talk to anyone who'll listen.

Miguel just scowled before looking to me. "What will you have?"

I looked to the menu briefly before deciding on the first appetizing thing I saw.

"I guess ropa vieja? With a lemonade." I glanced at Antonio again, feeling a bit unsure.

He nodded before motioning behind Miguel. "I'll just have some coffee, and por favor, don't do anything to it."

"That'll be $7. 40." He held his palm out as Antonio fiddled with his wallet.

Taking the money, Miguel grunted and turned to begin preparing their meal. Antonio waved his hand outward. "Go pick a seat and I'll be right over."

I walked over to a seat by the window and looked out to where my car was parked. He'd driven even though it was only a short distance away. I hadn't wanted to leave my car behind in case of a ticket. When I'd asked how he'd get back, he insisted that he'd just walk-he usually walks here anyway according to him.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a part of me had already calmed down and was grateful that the detective was cute. I startled when Antonio set down my food and our drinks.

"How much do I owe you?"

"For this nothing but to take on your case, we'll discuss that in a moment. For now I want to see what you think of the food."

I eyed his eager expression for a moment and looked to the man behind the counter who was looking at me too.

I picked up the fork and took a bite. "Mm!" My eyes widened. I really wasn't expecting it to be anything more than average. I didn't even have to put anymore salt in it.

Antonio laughed and Miguel boasted. "I cooked that just a moment ago, though it's my abuelo's recipe."

"Well it's very good." I swallowed.

I took a few more bites before sipped the lemonade and looked up at him through my lashes. "So, how much is it going to cost?"

He swallowed the coffee and set down the cup. "Well for starters, I always take a down payment up front. It's the only way I can the only way I can assure our customers won't skimp out on the payment and that we can get the job done, too. Usually we charge per hour with a max of six to eight hours depending on the case but since yours could take quite bit more time we'll have to work something else out."

I nodded. I didn't realize that so much went into determining the cost.

"Then there's also how in depth of an investigation you want me to do. I assume you want me to do more than just find his location, right? In that case I'll most likely also need a list of people he's close to and to visit where he was last known to be at. And if at the end there have been any sort of complications that will be tacked on too. If I can't find him then I keep the down payment and you don't have to pay anything else. Are we clear?"

He looked at me earnestly and unblinkingly. "I understand. How much is it?"

"Well $80. I know that might seem expensive but this particular case seems to be a bit more dangerous than catching a cheating ex and compensation is necessary."

I let out a deep breath and smiled. "I thought you were going to say something like $200 and clean me out. So $40 upfront? That I can do; anything for my brother."

He let out a small huff of laughter and nodded before taking another drink.

I reached into my purse and fished for my wallet.

"Viejo, you're making her pay you for the food?" Miguel tutted.

Antonio made a face before flipping him off. "This has nothing to do with that so stay out of it. It's for a case."

I handed him the money hesitantly, seeing as how there were now eyes on us. It seemed as if the two liked to mess with each other good naturedly.

"So what's the deal with you two?"

"Ah, I didn't used to be such a nice guy so we didn't always get along. Now though, we've both grown up and are friends if you could call it that."

I nodded, stuffing another huge bite into my mouth and then washing it down with the lemonade.

After finishing my meal, I gave Antonio a list of people he would need to talk to. I told him that I thought it would be better if I were with him for a few of them and he agreed reluctantly. He wanted to go see the house immediately but I wouldn't let him. I have to make sure it's on a day that nonno isn't home. I promised to call him when he could come over.

Hopefully nonno would be out at that auction to try and get something valuable for the museum he curates. It's supposedly something from the late Roman Empire.

After walking back to my car, I opened the door and waved at him slightly before getting in. Thankfully he waved back and I didn't look like an idiot. I don't know why I did that.

I started the car and pulled away. Now if I can keep this from nonno, maybe things will work out just fine.