A/N: Heir's turn again :)
CHAPTER FIVE
"Victoria! Oħroġ minn hemm!" a voice called, breaking the silence in the room. Vicky got up and closed the notebook, putting it in her back pocket. "I have to get back out there. Mr Delia's a nice guy, but he expects us all to work pretty hard."
She opened the door to the front of the shop and exited. A tall man with salt-and-pepper hair and a slight frown pointed at the cashier. "I pay you to work here."
"Sorry!" Vicky sighed. "I'm helping some friends out. Can't I have the afternoon off? I took Jerry's shift last week?"
"Orajt! Imma għada trid taħdem!"
She nodded and walked out, waving to him as she exited.
"You actually work for that guy?!" Jackson asked, staring back at him. "He's worse than Rico!"
"Mr Delia means well. He's very strict with us teenage employees. He pays us all minimum and, if I calculated right, I'll have enough money to buy a second-hand Fiat by the time I'm nineteen."
Jackson stopped in his tracks for a moment and shook his head hard. "Wait, nineteen?! How old do you have to be to drive here?"
"Eighteen," Vicky smiled matter-of-factly. "I've got three years to go." She dug her hands in her pockets and turned around, pointing to the road behind her. "So you wanna take some tours?"
Maximilian tapped his foot impatiently. "Where is that man?!"
"Relax. He'll be here soon," Melita said, trying her best to calm the man. She knew just how dangerous he could be if he lost his temper.
"I hope for his sake that he has those children with him!" He leaned against the wall, watching every person pass by him with a cold glare. "I will not allow failure on this mission."
A few moments later, the desired man came forward, fumbling with his fingers.
"You didn't get them, did you?" Maximilian said, his voice dangerously low. The man shook his head.
"Very well," Maximilian muttered. "I will try again; with a different approach, of course." He tilted his neck to one side, cracking it.
"In the mean time, Melita, let's go. We have quite a while to get to Mdina."
"Are there any places around here like Valletta?" Lilly asked, laden with bags filled with clothes, maps, brochures and games. She sipped from the orange granita, once again at the Café Cordina.
"Yeah. There's Mdina, the old capital before the Knights built up Valletta. There's also Birgu, the Knight's camp. Both are fortresses." Vicky's eyes were on the road to their left, watching the people walk by. "My maternal grandparents live in Birgu. I know the place well." She sipped her own bitter orange drink and sighed contently.
"This place really is nice…" Oliver murmured pleasantly, catching a glimpse of the Court not far off. "Bet it's spooky at night."
"Nobody goes out after nine here. But if you love scary stuff, Ghost Hunts in Mdina take place every full moon. I suggest you go to one!" Vicky brought out her trusty notepad and pen and flipped onto a page.
"I've gotta go soon though. I have an Italian oral on Monday and I can't afford to fail."
"Don't they teach Spanish here?" Miley asked as she looked at the new high heels she bought.
"No, not in schools, but I learnt it privately." Vicky looked up at the shoes and smiled. "I would have gone for the green ones though; red doesn't look so good on you, Miley."
"Oh, it's not for me!" It's for Hannah, but you can't know that…
"So do you have any plans for tomorrow? If not, I can always ask my cousin to give us a ride on his yacht. He can take us up to Sliema, then we can catch the bus to Mdina from there."
"You'd really do that?" Jackson asked, amazed at her hospitality to them.
"What are friends for?" she asked him with a knowing smile. "Besides, we Maltese are known to be a generally hospitable people, if that's what you're thinking." She closed her notebook and looked at her watch. "I'd better get going. My brother's picking me up in a few minutes. Call me about tomorrow, kay?"
"Kay! See ya."
"Later!" She got up and ran off, dropping a piece of paper on the way. A hand shot out and grabbed it, seeing the writing scrawled on it in a hurried hand.
Miley's number
"Udo, you have surprised me." Maximilian took the number and nodded, smiling slightly. "This is very good work for you."
"Thank you," Udo smiled, pleased that he was back on his boss' good side.
"Now we can easily threaten them once we kidnap the girl." Maximilian put the paper in his pocket and looked up at the large fortress city coming towards them as the sleek black car drove to it. "And soon Mdina will be prepared for her."
"We've been to every store, every museum, every bar and every food place and you still want more?!" Jackson asked his three younger companions, hands on his head ready to tear out his hair.
"Well, we aren't leaving this place 'till the Hannah Concert the day after tomorrow. We might as well study every nook, every crook, and every cranny in this place!" Miley shrugged matter-of-factly. "Besides, I want to know Valletta inside out for our next visit!"
They were sitting in the lobby of the Queen Victoria and it was well past lunch. Lilly and Oliver were checking out some brochures, looking for places they had not been to yet.
"Hey guys, there's the Bibliotheca! We could go there!" Oliver pointed out on a map of the capital, showing them a place right behind the Café Cordina. "We could go to the museum next door to it after too. We haven't been there yet."
Miley and Jackson peered at the map. "It's not very far from here. I guess we could go later."
"Why not now?" Lilly asked, feigning being energetic, though she really was tired after all their frantic shopping.
"Because they have a siesta here after lunch. We can't afford to disturb people's sleep, Ms Einstein! If they're anything like Miley, they'd need all the beauty sleep they can get!" Jackson laughed, getting a light punch from Miley in return.
"So you're saying we make like a Maltese and take a nap?" Oliver asked, yawning.
"Precisely. Let's go!"
Maximilian stared up at the Cathedral in the ancient fortress city of Mdina. He looked at the sundial on the right bell tower and nodded. "Right on time."
"Why did you choose this place, Boss?" Ugo asked, followed by a nod from the cabbie behind him.
"This is the Silent City. It holds many hide-outs and defenses." He gestured to the Cathedral in front of him. "The Cathedral is one of them, with various hide-outs below ground, underneath the tombs." He turned swiftly to his accomplices and smirked. "Besides, in a city like this, and underground, no-one can hear your screams."
Nicholas de Piro turned to his brother, Father Adrian. "Adrian, are you sure about this?"
"Yes, Nicholas. Quite sure. That is why I took the earrings. I will not allow the death or harm of an innocent if I can help it!"
"Always the honorable one." Nicholas rubbed his temples and set his glasses aside. He was growing old, too old for his liking. He had plenty of grandchildren to pass his fortune and house onto when he grew too old to manage it himself, but he knew a day like this would come, that someone would put their family in terrible danger.
"The house is no longer safe. You are lucky she lives far from here, on the other side of the island, in Mellieħa."
"I thank my lucky stars for that, Adrian." Nicholas rose, closing his book and setting his glasses in their case. "And I do hope you are right and that this will save our bloodline. My granddaughter…"
"I cannot believe you are passing on the family fortune immediately to her. She is only sixteen, Nicholas!" Adrian reasoned, following his younger brother to the dining hall beside the library.
"I am well aware of that, but her father is already too busy with his own work for me to pass on the care of the house to him. Besides, she is my eldest grandchild without commitment and work. She is very responsible for her age, she will do a magnificent job."
"For your sake, I sincerely hope you are right."
"Won't you stay for tea, Adrian?"
"Le, grazzi. I must be off now. I have to prepare the five-thirty sermon for tomorrow. And I also have to keep a closer eye on those four children. Good-bye, brother."
"Good-bye, brother."
Adrian exited his old home, making his way slowly back to the Co-Cathedral. He looked at the Queen Victoria as he passed and sighed. If only you knew, young de Piro, what danger you are in. If only you knew.