Run or die

It was a good morning for me even if I had had barely five hours of sleep. The sun was shining, flowers were blooming, the doctor was freaking out.. ah perfect!

My phone call with Miraj might have been a bit irritating but I made sure he knew the danger Tatiana's presence could bring. Now we had to make sure she left just as she had planned and we had to do it without making her suspicious. Because we still had to keep up the front as if we know nothing about her activities in America. Annoying but necessary.

After breakfast, I did some work and prepared for mine and Ari's trip to London. As a couple days passed, the arms came in, the training sessions for our men got stricter and plans were slowly being put into action as we infiltrated the Moretti businesses one by one.

Hans, one of my men, a young boy who was quite gifted when it came to cons started working as a dealer at the downtown casino. 4 others joined several other businesses but Hans was my hidden card that I was absolutely proud of.

For a young boy of 20, he was too skilled but not too surprising when you realised he grew up in that life and had been scamming people since he was 9. I found him when I was running away after killing one of my father's footmen.

He was 15 then but his build had already matured and made him look around 18-19. I remember jumping off a wall and into an alley only to stumble into a boy about to light a cigarette. I didn't have much time but I knew if he stayed he might catch their eye. And might tell them who he saw. Which couldn't happen. Even if he didn't know me by name my gender or my description could lead to my father connecting the dots before I wanted him to.

I did what anyone in my situation would do. Pulled out my knife and said, "Run with me right now or die. Your choice."

He thought I was insane(probably right). He tried to wrestle me in order to run away and obviously failed. I didn't have time for it and put him in a choke hold with the knife around his neck and said, "Look, I have people after me and dinner or later they are gonna come by here. If you stay, they will assume first you were the one who did what I did and kill you. Or, they will ask you, you are gonna tell them what you saw and then they will kill you. Leaving you is dangerous for me but I don't wanna kill you, so may be trust your luck and run with me and save both our lives?"

He didn't say anything so I just jerked him a bit and he replied, "Okay." And we ran. We weren't in Tampa then but in Maniba.

Maniba was known as the city of dreams because the artists from around the country made their way here to pursue their passions. It was the centre for arts in our country. From dance, music, art, photography, cinema and literature.. you could take your pick.

The thing is I wasn't familiar with the city but Hans was and so were the people looking for me. Hans figures it out in the first 10 minutes that I wasn't from the place because I kept running more into the area I needed to get out of, which was stupid. So he lead us out through a circuit of alleys and even though I had promised to let the boy go later, I knew he had skills and since I was recruiting anyway.. maybe taking the boy from Maniba back home as a souvenir wasn't a bad idea.

And Hans might have resented me for kidnapping him at first but I knew the boy didn't have much to stay in Maniba for. In no time, he was a learning trainee and soon an active member of my team. I had built it all from the ground up because I needed people I could trust and I was proud of my choices.