Main pov
'Why do I feel like I'm floating? ', 'where am I?', 'why is it so dark?', 'Did I leave the stove on?' several questions such as these permeated throughout my mind
"Oi, Vlad wake up." a calm monotonic tone woke me up before my thoughts ran rampant.
"Huh?, where am I?" I yawned as I rubbed my eyes and blinking frequently until my eye sight adjusted to the dim lighting.
"Did you not get enough sleep yesterday or something?" the voice asked with a subtle curiosity .
I turned to come face to face with a man with slick back blond hair and long bridged nose, wearing a purple scarf around his neck, with a white suit and matching pants.
" Oh, Walter it's just you. *yawn, it's nothing of that sort, it's just that this play is pretty mediocre that's all " I said as I gazed around me.
I was in a theater of sort where on a stage a man was acting out some scenes. The man was stumbling over his lines and trembled a bit.
'Poor guy, must be his first performance. I could probably do better than him though' I thought as I starred critically at him.
The man must have felt my gaze as he started stuttering over his lines.
'Oops, must have accidentally scared the kid' I thought before Walter broke my thoughts.
"Well I hope you are pretty attentive now as the mayor has arrived" he stated before moving aside to show an obese figure approaching me.
The figure came closer as I started to make out his features better under the dim light.
He had a bald head, a pug nose, wrinkles in the corner of his eyes, dry lips and a white mustache that reminds me of the monopoly man.
'Man, I'm hungry now', I thought as I stood up to show courtesy to the mayor,
'Respect everyone until you have a reason not to' that has been my philosophy for recent parts of my life.
The mayor acknowledged my gesture with a small smile and extend his hand for a firm handshake.
"Mayor, it's a pleasure to meet you this evening" I said with a nod.
"Haha, Vlad 'the enforcer' Guandagni, the pleasure is all mine really. I thank you for accepting my request to meet up", the mayor replied back with a warm hearted laughter.
"Well you did say the matter was urgent so you have all of my attention for the next hour" I replied with an authoritative tone,
' I'm willing to listen to other people but won't let anyone boss me around' .
The mayor's smile flickered at bit before he said, " Right, let's get straight to business shall we" he exclaimed before motioning for us to sit back down.
He clapped his hands over his head as a signal for one of his guards that were standing on the sidelines.
The man came over with a suitcase and handed it to me.
When I opened the suitcase, the contents shocked me to my core, in it was a picture of several girls and little children bounded by ropes being transported in metal crates over at the harbour.
I gripped the picture with full force as my veins threatened to pop.
The mayor continue " the cops managed to stop a cargo recently due to certain suspicions and managed to find people being smuggled".
My blood boiled as I was vehemently against, human trafficking and drugs. "Oi, mayor... i hope you are not insinuating that I'm behind this" I spoke through gritted teeth.
The mayor said calmly "I know you are not behind this as we had been in contact for several years now and you and your family have a policy of never harming civilians".
He sighed before continuing "We know no one else is likely to mess with this area because of you. We would not have any reason to suspect you but... we found this at the site",
he said before he reached over to one of the pockets in the suit and took out a familiar ring with a design of a hawk etched on it.
It was a ring that was to be worn by the members of my family, "... That's...", I stammered in shock.
"I know... now I'm not accusing you specifically but the evidence points towards one of your family members, I hope you know what you have to do now",the mayor said with a gloomy expression.
I stared at the ring in my palm for a moment before answering "Leave the rest to me, you'll have your culprit by the end of the week" I said as I clenched my fist.
The mayor sighed before relaxing his stiff body "I know you will" he said with a smirk.
"By the way, why did you choose this place to be our meeting place not that I'm complaining, it's just that I never thought you to be a man of theater arts" the mayor asked me.
At this my eyes softened as I smiled and just replied " I didn't want to miss her performance".
"Huh?" the mayor was confused as the curtains of the stage opened to reveal another performer, a beautiful blond lady in a white Victorian era dress that would have been worn by princesses, she bowed and smiled as people cheered for her.
After a while a sweet angelic voice filled the theater, my heart rate fastened with each second as the song entered my ears. The mayor was also mesmerized by the song and couldn't get his eyes off the stage.
The song permeated throughout the theater, with each pitch change my heart swayed, in my eyes the blond woman before me sparkled brighter than any star in the night sky and her voice more pleasing than any cry of a nightingale. She was the most beautiful, the most elegant, woman I had ever laid eyes on, she was my love, my life, my soon to be wife, Maria.
The performance soon came to an end as the audience erupted in cheers, Maria gazed towards the crowd with a proud smile as sweat trickled down her throat.
Her eyes swept through the crowd before landing on me as her smile widened before making a hand gesture in the air that only I could interpret, ' behind the building in 10, I see' I thought and smirked.
"Well mayor i would like to entertain you longer but I have some important business to attend so see ya in a week" I exclaimed as I walked away as Walter followed me.
[Behind the theater]
"Well that was quite a performance I would say, simply enchanting" I praised as I made my way towards Maria.
"I thought you wouldn't make it, didn't you say that you had a meeting with the mayor??" Marie asked as she came forward and put her hands around my neck.
"Well, I just thought that the mayor could probably use some of your singing to lighten up his miserable life", I smirked as I gave her a quick peck on her lips.
"Look at you, always trying to seduce me with your refined words, if you were in medieval era you would certainly make it to the top spot in the court just by your skills at flattery" she said as she playfully slapped my cheeks.
"Well, we should probably head back as we still have to plan for the wedding" I said as I put my arm around her waist and made our way towards the place where the limo was parked.
"Yo, Walter how long do you think we'll have to wait for boss?" asked a man from the driver's seat.
He had a scar on his right eye running down till it met his jawline.
"Patience is a virtue desired by many, Jesse." replied Walter as he was done answering all of Jesse's dumb questions.
"You don't have to wait any longer Jesse, just start the car" I exclaimed as I came into their view.
Walter open the door in the middle for us as he himself went and sat beside Jesse.
The car started towards our villa as I offered a cool water bottle towards Maria and asked
"So, I saw that there was a new kid in the theater today, wanna tell me about him? ".
Maria finished gulping down the water before answering "Oh that's just James, he came from a country nearby to full fill his dreams, he's a pretty kind kid and kinda cute."
I smirked before pinching her face "Pedo" I muttered.
She slapped my hand playfully before saying " You know what I meant",
she pouted as she muttered " besides, you should be the one who's the pedophile as I was only 17 when we first met".
I chuckled before retorting " And I had just turned nineteen, so there was not much of a gap, and besides I am not a law abiding citizen anyway", she chuckled at this and nuzzled up closer to me resting her head on my chest.
'I wish that this moment could last forever', I thought as I closed my eyes.
"Oh yeah, why were you meeting up with the mayor anyway?" Maria asked as she faced me.
"It was something regarding my family but you don't have to worry yourself with it" I said as I smiled at her, I always tried to distance her away from this life.
She sighed as she replied "The same answer as usual, I just hope it won't affect our wedding in a few months"
"I know that what you do isn't good according to the law but you never harm any innocents so you shouldn't hide things from me" she said with watery eyes.
'Oh no! My weakness' I thought before answering,
"it's nothing of that sort, it was just a minor inconvenience. I didn't wanna involve you in it because I'm gonna leave this life after marrying you anyways" I smiled at her as I finally revealed the surprise I had planned for her.
" Really!!?, I love you Vlad", she said excitedly as she came closer and gave me deep kiss.
I knew Maria never minded my unlawful past as most of my wealth was accumulated through robbing other gangsters, but I also knew she always worried for me as this life was really dangerous. I didn't like to give her constant anxiety over my safety, thus I saw only one option before me, to retire.
I closed my eyes and lost myself in the moment as my hand held her small petite body before moving down trying to tear this dress off of her.
She slapped my hand away before saying " Hey! I still have to return this dress to the rental place tomorrow" she said with exaggerated anger.
"I could have just bought you the dress you know" I answered with raised eyebrows.
"I don't want to rely on my soon to be husband for dresses, you already support me enough by coming to all of my performances" she said shyly "and besides I can just rely on you after marriage, isn't that right my darling ~" she said seductively.
At her saying this nickname in that manner I could hold myself no longer and jumped on top of her before sealing her lips with mine.
"Hmpf!!" she stammered "No! The dress!",
"Vlad! No!", but I was already way past the point of return.
General pov
As the noises grew louder in the back seat Walter thanked God for the divider window separating the two compartments,
"Jesse I think you should turn up the music" Walter said with sweat forming on his forehead
"Already on it" Jesse replied as he turn up the music that was playing the Pokémon opening.
Walter just stared at Jesse, " What? It's catchy" Jesse replied in a nonchalant manner.
Walter just sighed and thought to himself ' it's been a long day'.
