Take The Offer

Gemma's mother couldn't be consoled, she has been crying and wailing over her kidnapped daughter.

"Mama, you need to calm down," Bernal said to his mother whose eyes were now puffy and her nose runny because of all the tears that she had shed.

It broke Bernal's heart to see his mother this way. The more she cried, the more he wanted to kill Greco and his son.

"Gemma is fine, and she will be back home soon," Mateo who was sitting beside Bernal, said.

"Lies!" Their mother screamed at them. "If she is still alive why haven't I been able to speak with her? Has anyone of you been able to speak to her? How are you so sure that she is still alive? Oh, my poor baby girl." Their mother started wailing afresh.

Bernal stood up and came to stand beside his mother. "Mama, please stop crying. I promise to bring Gemma back to you, alive. I give you my word."

His mother turned to look at him with tear-filled eyes.

"You had better bring my daughter back to me. If anything ever happens to my daughter, I will never forgive you and your father!" With that said, their mother stormed off to her bedroom.

"I need to speak with dad," Bernal said to Mateo as he stormed off in the direction of his father's study.

Carlos was hunched over a bundle of papers spread in front of him on his desk.

Bernal stood at the door observing his father, he seemed to have aged a decade in the past two days. Ever since Gemma was kidnapped, his father had been barely getting any rest or eating anything. None of them has.

"I need to have a word with you," Bernal said.

"Take a seat," Carlos replied without looking up from the papers that were in front of him.

"You need to talk to the east distributors, they are beginning to slack," Carlos said to his son, still looking at the papers.

"I will do that," Bernal responded.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Carlos asked, looking up this time.

"I need you to call a meeting with the made men," Bernal said.

"What if we offer to give Greci another of our trade lines? Instead of the North trade line?"

Carlos chuckled, "Greco isn't going to accept another trade line. He knows the north trade line is our most lucrative trade line that's why he wants it."

"How about we offer Greco half of the North trade line instead? They have half and we keep the other half. That way it will be easier to get it back from them later on."

"Greco is a greedy bastard, he would want the whole trade line or nothing."

"I think we should try it, we will have to convince them to take the offer, maybe throw in a few other offers here and there."

Carlos was silent as he mulled over his son's idea. And then he said, "set up a meeting with the made men. Let's all meet in an hour. I will discuss this with them."

******

Miguel, his father and Pablo his cousin were all seated in the kitchen watching the time, and it immediately the clock struck 11 pm. Miguel picked up the phone that was on the table and dialled Carlos' number.

Carlos answered on the first ring. He must have been sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring.

"Hello," came Carlos' gruff voice.

"My dear friend Carlos. Have you made up your mind now?" Miguel's father asked with a chuckle.

"We have an offer to make," Gemma's father said.

"Let's hear your offer Carlos," Miguel's father said.

"We are offering you half of the North trade line. Take half and we have the remaining half."

Miguel's father burst into laughter this time. "You must be a joker!"

"That is the best that we can offer, you don't expect us to give up our biggest trade line just like that."

"Need I remind you that I have your daughter? We have the upper hand here," Miguel's father warned.

There was a beat of silence before Gemma's father said, "don't you dare harm my daughter."

"You must think so highly of yourself if you think you can give me orders in my cartel."

"Think about it Sanchos, this is a good deal."

Miguel's father wanted to tell him to go fuck himself but Miguel stopped him from saying that.

"We will think about it and then get back to you," Miguel said and quickly ended the call before his father got the chance to say something else.

"What did you do that for?" Sanchos demanded from his son in an angry tone.

"Why did you tell him that we are going to get back to him?" Pablo asked.

"Because that is what we are going to do," Miguel replied, looking at his cousin like he was daft.

"No, we are not. We want the whole north trade line or nothing else," Miguel's father said.

"Yes, we will. The offer they are making is a good one, and I suggest that we take it."

"No! We won't do that, the offer is not good enough," Pablo said.

Miguel turned to look at him like he was a dirty spot on his white shirt. "No offence, but no one asked for your opinion, so shut it!"

Pablo knew better than to argue with Miguel, so he shut his mouth.

"We will appear weak if take what they are offering," Miguel's father said.

"And we are going to appear even weaker if they take the offer off the table and decide to declare war on us."

"If they declare war then we will gladly oblige them," Miguel's father said.

"Going to war now won't be wise. We are yet to recover from the war we just finished with the Alandro cartel, we lost so many of our men. It will be wise that we refrain from getting into any war for now, especially not with Russo."

There was silence in the room as Pablo and Miguel's father thought about what he just said.

"Let's take the half that they are offering, and later on we will find a way to take the other half from them," Miguel advised.

Miguel watched his father as he sipped his drink. Even though he was yet to speak, Miguel could see that he was considering his suggestion.

"I don't think you should consider it," Pablo said.

"Again, no one asked for your opinion!" Miguel gritted, resisting the urge to shut his cousin up with a slap.

"Give them a callback, and tell them we have taken their offer," Miguel's father said to him.