Chapter 7: Miss me, dear cousin?

One thing I learned from my family business when closing a deal was to cover all exits, in other words, I had to protect all of my vulnerabilities known or unknown. My father was not mine to protect or my sick grandfather, it was Isabelle. 

"Hey, I have to ask."

[Damn, couz, it's 7 am… make sure you have someone at gunpoint.]

"Good morning to you too, Emily," I could hear her eyes rolling and hearing the ruckus on the next line she must have just awakened, "Can you check on Isabelle, today?"

[Are you guards that incompetent to check on a powerless woman?]

"Just do the favor and I'll grant you a favor no matter what it is."

[Any favor?]

"Yes, any favor," But with Aunt Erin's blessing and approval 

[Fine, I will check on her. What are you up to anyway?]

"My funeral, the family, and Antonio."

There was a hard silence from the other line and Emily wanted to say something but did not choose to say it anyway. Her identity was never known to the family it was just that there was another name to the heir line of the Rossi if something happened to me. 

Dominic Rossi as the current heir, Unknown as the second in line, then Edward as the third, and then there was Em. 

[I'll make sure she's safe.]

"Mmm…" 

Dressing up for my own funeral never hit my bucket list or my to-do's but wearing black and tie for this event was exciting as hell. Having my cousin lose his own game was a real pleasure to behold. It was like seeing that meme I once saw on Tiktok - a crayfish voluntarily jumps into a boiling oil; let's how this one changes his shade. 

"So how do you want to do this, boss?"

I looked at Code X who was in his usual attire except for the expensive coat he had stolen from my wardrobe.

"That's a Cesare Attolini dress coat and you're wearing it with cheap pants, who dressed you?"

"Boss, a good hacker does not need fashion advice."

"Why the hell are you wearing my clothes?"

"Richard didn't say anything when I grabbed this plus I can't be underdressed attending a high-profile mafia leader's funeral, can I?"

"You'll be wearing that at your funeral." 

He smirked and continued playing with his laptop before he opened another lollipop to suck on. 

We arrived at the back door of Bella Anima, one thing that was unknown to outsiders was that Bella Anima was secretly connected to a compound I owned under a borrowed name. When I came back from abroad 4 years ago, I fell in love with the hotel and immediately purchased the whole building and started my hotel business. 

Unlike most of the companies I ran, Bella Anima was not as successful as I planned it to be. We had experienced setbacks from running a run-down hotel in a remote place in the city, not all tourists would discover the hotel which was the real purpose of the hotel, it was not for profit. 

Two years later, I had the hotel running and we started to gain profit, we hit our revenue for the next year and I was able to purchase a compound that I used for security and a passage to my hotel. 

"Woah, this place is awesome!" Code X complimented, I would not know if that was sarcasm or a real compliment, not that I care. 

I had spruced that place to something vintage and minimalistic. Honestly, there was only a couch and a bed until I decided to make the place as my home office and other purpose… a hub for surveillance, call it petty and over the top but I had set up my own surveillance room to check on the lives of everyone. 

"They have arrived, sir." Richard opened the door connecting the back of the hotel without being seen. 

Whoever had the idea of having my funeral in my hotel was astoundingly stupid. They all knew I was not dead, but they never took desperate measures to make sure I was alive. I settled in the next room as I watched the camera feed from that room. 

"Shall we begin?" Antonio asked confidently as he walked around the room, 

Secretary Han (my grandfather's secretary) cleared his throat and tapped the floor with his walking stick. [He was not disabled whatsoever, he had gotten used to using it plus it was a gift from my grandmother.]

"We should wait for the chairman." His voice was deep and so commanding that even Antonio who was in full confidence a while ago was tamed when Secretary Han looked in his direction. 

"Respect begets respect, young laddie. You are too desperate to replace your dead cousin."

"Dominic was my leader and will always be, uncle. I loved him as my cousin despite our differences." Antonio began his endless and pointless soliloquy to win the elders' votes. 

"Enough!" My father always had a talent for dramatic entrance and his entrance today was definitely staged. "What do you want the council to vote on this time?"

His voice sounded dejected, it was as if he aged another 10 years from his original age. He looked more stressed and overworked than usual. 

"I want the council to elect a new head of the family."

There was a loud gasp in the room, some began to stand and some began to discuss in hush tones. Loyalty was after all the strongest trait of a Rossi, choosing a new head meant that Dominic was dead. 

Well wasn't it the thought, was it?

"My cousin, Dominic, unfortunately, died on the shoot-out a month ago. The news of his death was suppressed from the media and communication channels of Rossi because of the hope that he was still alive. But after searching from the bodies on the pier, his body was found near the ditch and lifeless."

Having fake tears running down his left cheek, even breaking down for a great show, my eccentric cousin, Edward, gave the loudest clap in the crowd. 

"Bravo!" He continued clapping until he reached the podium and grabbed Antonio's mic, "My god, you are tall." 

Like I said, eccentric. Edward was tall but it was not a lie that Antonio was a lot taller than he was. 

"My dearest cousin, from the outside world, and the line of the normies. If my cousin is really dead, where the hell is Richard?"

The crowd began to wonder, Antonio who noticed the big blot of his plans became more self-aware that he fucked up big time. If one thing Dominic Rossi would never lose was his assistant, Richard. 

"Richard was a loyal man to my brother and he will always be. So he decided to take his life—" BOOM! 

A blast from the confetti machine was heard and everyone's attention was focused on the front door, I smiled as it was Richard's turn to open the door and make his dramatic entrance, or so I thought. 

I had a separate preparation for Richard's' entrance. I had a confetti machine booked for him because that man needs a little fun in his stoic and boring life. Richard was all work and straight face for this exciting mission which honestly destroyed my "creative" plans. Richard is not the typical "fun" player but instead, he destroys everything with his killjoy spirit. 

'This man needs to chill.' 

I initially planned to have him enter the hall using the front door, when it opened there would be a blast of confetti the moment he stepped in but just like I said the kill-joy one, I did not notice he was already in the crowd, blended in and no one noticed not even my noisy cousin who liked him. 

"One day, I'll serve him to Eddie with a cherry on top."

"Woah, boss, Richard certainly had no talent for surprises."

"You should teach him a trick or two. No, you need to coach him how to be fun."

Code X and I were not the best "alliance" on a lot of things, the reason was he defeated me once on an illegal hacking tournament back in Solar City, and up until now I still long for the day to fully defeat and crush him into pieces. 

Just kidding, well, Code X and I would never be on the same page but we worked together on this mission and he was a good hacker - a genius one to be exact. Hence, my reservations with him would always be there, and just like I do, he would have the same opinion of me. 

"Can you type in the monitor, 'Richard Allen, boring!'?" Code X laughed and typed in the message and added emoticons and followed it with a gif. 

Richard's stoic face became stiffer and he then cleared his throat and said, 

"I shall begin…"

Richard grabbed a tiny remote from his dress coat and flashed a video on the huge screen. It was recordings of Antonio's ploy of buying a fake body and planting proof that it was Dominic's body. 

The next slide showed a video of confession from the 'missing' executives of Bella Anima, they had colluded with Antonio and controlled the stocks for the hotel to put pressure on Dominic to resurface. 

Then the money trail evidence, Marcus shared when Lt. Vargas was caught for doing illegal policing. 

And lastly, Richard showed a list of members and police officers who died on the day of the shoot-out. 

"Antonio Rossi plotted the incident to take out young master Dominic and pin it to the police department of Porta Sole. We have no ruse with the department we had been cooperating with them for peace but he was deliberate and desperate to destroy the peace, the master started."

"THAT'S A LIE! HE IS LYING!!!" Antonio's outburst was fun to watch after all. 

Code X who was busy with whatever he was doing, laughed at the big screen I set up on the room I prepared for us. 

"It's like pay-per-view if only we could zoom in those veins," I commented as I took a sip of my wine. 

Hearing my comment, Code X zoomed on those veins and shared it with the screen next door with a pop-up "About to explode" pointing at the veins. 

"Enough, Richard. You and your master had created enough trouble for all of us, where is he?" My father asked as he stopped the brewing fight. 

"Dominic died on the shoot-out. A lot of witnesses could attest—"

"Ghad, cousin, are you that desperate to kill me?"

And now it was my turn to shine, this time there was no confetti, just me and a microphone I picked up during their discussion. 

One thing about a mafia meeting like this everyone was busy with one issue to another. The main crowd was busy debating about the truth, the second circle was busy discussing business ventures and had no interest in joining the argument of the main group and there was the dejected circle. They were in the room to mainly vote, and they had no energy or desire to be part of that group. 

"Hey dad," I hugged the old man and he looked at me in surprise, "Hi cousin, bon jour Eddie!" 

I began to greet everyone and left Antonio speechless and stunned, 

"Let's give my cousin, Antonio time to process how I am here and not on the deathbed he ingenuously plotted."

I drew closer to him, swiftly grabbed my gun, and pointed it at his abdomen where I was fatally shot. 

"Your creativity amuses me these days, dear cousin."

Seeing the Glock on his abdomen, he immediately reacted and wanted to draw his own gun when my loyal assistant resisted both of his hands, 

"Miss me?" Asking the man who was at the mercy of my gunpoint and looked at my father who was not surprised at all, "I can't miss my own funeral, can I?"