Aziz wasn’t even surprised when he was summoned into Lance’s office. After that fight, he knew it was only a matter of fact till he got recognized – and not for his real identity.
“You called me?” He said as soon as he came into his office.
“Oh, yes,” The man was looking out through the windowpane, a steaming cup of coffee in hand, “Have a seat,”
Aziz sat down on the couch in the middle of the room as Lance came to join him. He sat across from him and Elijah was grateful for that space because he knew Lance was attracted to him.
It was not his fault that he was too damn attractive and he was not going to lie, he – Elijah – intentionally sent some signals.
Lance was attracted to males although his father Robert has no idea of that. For unknown reasons, the Mafia is against bent sexual orientation and the crime is punishable by death. Hence the man has no choice but to cover up his secret for fear of being discovered.
But Elijah had done his research well and was a keen observer most of all. Hence, he was able to find out Lance’s sexual identity at their first meeting and intentionally got close to him. If he was going to fulfill his mission here, he needed to have someone on his side – even if it means messing with the man’s emotions. A teeny bit. He hoped.
Lance must understand the consequences of acting on his emotions as well because he hasn’t made any advances on him – and Elijah was thankful for that. His body was reserved for Arianna alone and he didn’t know how to draw the line on acting gay without drawing suspicion.
“How was your night?” He asked, staring at him expectantly.
.....
“Fine,” Elijah answered without meeting those tender gray eyes of his.
While gray eyes were a rare color in the world, it was so abundant in the family that it became a culture to identify a Luciano by the color of their eye. The ratio of Lucianos with such genes was nine to one.
And right now Lance looking at him that way was beginning to make him uncomfortable; he didn’t realize Lance would fall for him this quickly and easily. Apparently, since he wasn’t a “woman”, Lance must think he didn’t approach him with ulterior motives like his riches or something. If only he knew.
Elijah didn’t need his money since he had enough of that – and a shipment of weapons that would give him billions if he sold that. He only needed Lance to boost him to the top – next to Marcel – without drawing suspicion.
“You called me,” Elijah intentionally drew his attention to the reason for his coming. He needed to get this over with and he couldn’t encourage Lance’s feelings.
He needed Lance – because he was the easiest to manipulate amongst the others – but he needed to be careful at the same time so he doesn’t get scalded in the process.
“Urm.. yes,” He cleared his throat, readjusting in his seat, “About your fight the other day, I have to say that it drew quite an attention, and thanks to that, we think your skills need to be utilized instead of wasting away with the newbies. And thankfully, an opening came up today,” He said.
Elijah knew he was supposed to be happy by that announcement so he quickly released a joyful expression. He wiped his face with his palm as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His acting was top-notch that Lance didn’t suspect a thing.
Lance handed a file to him and upon opening it and going through it, Elijah realized he was supposed to be on the security details for Cindy Luciano. His brow raised, another of the Luciano family.
“She’s my cousin and honestly, a handful to deal with. I’m giving you a heads up,” Lance confessed.
“Thank you for the information,” but I’ve handled worse brats than her. Elijah didn’t add that one. Right now, he wasn’t supposed to sound cocky but appreciative.
“When do I start?” Elijah couldn’t wait to get started. Each time he wasted was the same amount of time Arianna had to spend with Marcel and it unsettled him.
Had Elijah known, he would have simply gotten her out during the wedding than going through this longer route. But he had been too prideful, and overconfident and wanted to teach Marcel a lesson.
The greatest kick to Marcel’s pride would be snatching Arianna right under his nose. And that was what he intended to do except that he was beginning to run out of time.
He already found out that that woman was back home which meant it was only a matter of time before his brother stopped sending his assistant and came for him instead. That would be game over.
Aside from that, Elijah was getting uncomfortable with Marcel’s silence. Marcel should already be making demands for his shipments with Arianna’s life, but there was nothing like that which was impossible – unless he was already taken by Arianna.
That thought only made Elijah curl his fist. He trusts Arianna not to give in, he has studied the girl well enough and she has an undying royalty for the people she loves. It was Marcel he didn’t trust.
People like them hardly receive what they want, so when they see one, they pursue it with everything they gave till they conquered. In one word, If Marcel had begun to fancy Arianna, then he was in trouble. He had to step up his game real quick.
“Immediately,” Lance replied, “You should meet Tim, my second in command, he’d give you further instructions.”
“Sure, thank you,” Elijah said, standing to his feet. He had to get started.
“Also, Aziz,” Lance called his attention when he was about to leave, “Be careful,”
“I will. Thank you,”
Who was he kidding? They should be the careful ones considering he has infiltrated their organization, lest he crumbles it to dust by taking them out one after the other.