Two

Luiz Sanchez was already on his way to Milan when he got the call from the hospital. Even with one leg gone in the accident that resulted to him losing his job, Luiz was still very much agile and devoted. He was very diligent in his work and that was what earned him Ricardo Alvarez's trust. The billionaire Mafia boss was a figure of fear in both the cartel world and the main world at large. The man held so much power and commanded a whole lot of respect.

The delivery to Milan was a very huge job and since Luiz had worked with Ricardo long enough, the contract was given to him and a date was fixed for the delivery. Milan wasn't much of a distance from Madrid so Luiz decided to leave early to be able to make the delivery on time and get back to give his boss report on time too.

Diane was very quiet that morning as Luiz was leaving, she wasn't a quiet one and he somehow felt something was wrong but she didn't want to bother her. Ever since his wife died a few years back, Diane started withdrawing slowly and with so much to do for Ricardo, Luiz didn't have any chance to talk to his daughter or find out why she had drifted.

As the Welcome to Milan signboard got visible, Luiz phone rang. The nurse had checked Diane's phone and called him with it. She had had an asthmatic attack and she was unconscious. Without thinking of the consequences of his actions, Luiz Sanchez turned the car around and drove back to Madrid. Upon getting to the hospital, the doctors had attended to Diane and she was sleeping but she was fine. Luiz was so relieved he wanted to cry, he couldn't bear to lose her.

Luiz couldn't forget the torment he went through for the one year Christina, his wife, battled with cancer. With the accident in the factory leading to the amputation of his left leg, Christina was too busy taking care of him to notice her health deteriorating and before they could go for a checkup, it was discovered she had leukemia and it was in the third stage. She fought bravely but ending up dying in his arms. Luiz couldn't lose Diane.

It took two hours of waiting for Diane to wake up and then two extra hours for them to settle everything at the hospital before they could leave. As Luiz got out of the hospital with the intention of taking Diane to his sister's house, it dawned on him that he had forgotten to make the delivery to Milan. It had never happened before and he didn't even want to think about what Ricardo Alvarez would do to him when he found out about it. Knowing how ruthless Ricardo could get whenever someone had defiled him, he feared for his life.

In all the five years Luiz had been working with Ricardo, he had never made any mistake. Not like any of that would matter, Ricardo Alvarez never ever made mistakes. Luiz knew he was good as dead. Diane waved him goodbye as he got into a taxi deciding on leaving his truck at his sister's place too, Luiz kept on chanting a word of prayer in his head.

Eric watched as the taxi pulled up in front of Luiz's house, he silently hoped Luiz's daughter was fine because it would have been sad to go through such lengths only for him to still lose her. Luiz got out of the taxi and walked towards the entrance with his head hanging low, Eric Eric felt he had an idea what was going through the man's mind. No one had defied Ricardo Alvarez and lived afterwards.

As Eric came into view, he could see the terror in Luiz eyes,

"Good evening, E-r-rri-c" Luiz Sanchez greeted with his hands trembling.

"It really isn't a good evening, Sanchez" Eric said, "What happened with Milan?"

Luiz shifted nervously on his good leg, "I'll go explain to the boss, an emergency came up. I'm so sorry"

"The boss has been searching for you all day" Eric said, "you're going to do more than explain to him" He turned and walked to his car expecting Luiz to follow and without a word, Luiz followed.

"How's your daughter?" Eric asked as he drove away from Luiz's house heading for upstate Madrid, where the boss's mansion was located. Upstate Madrid was a totally different area from the rest of Madrid, the houses there were surreal, the landscape was just glorious and Ricardo Alvarez happened to own 50% of the lands found there. With his mansion sitting on over 50 acres, Ricardo Alvarez held the record for biggest land owner in all of Madrid.

Luiz shot Eric a quick glance, "How did you know something happened to Diane?" He said.

Eric shrugged, "We have all the contacts in Madrid, Sanchez. You should know that by now"

Luiz most definitely knew that but he thought he had some time before Milan placed a call. The delivery was supposed to have been made by 16:00 that day and he had gotten to Milan at exactly 12:00, there would have still been time to return to Milan after the visit to the hospital but it completely skipped his mind and now he was going to pay with his life.

Eric was apprehensive as he drove into the driveway of the Alvarez mansion, the boss wouldn't be pleased with him for staying away for so long. Amongst the few things, Ricardo Alvarez absolutely hated, tardiness was one of them. He never went to any appointments late, he never showed up at a fight late only for that one time that his delay cost him the greatest price of all. Ricardo wasn't just a perfectionist in all aspects of his life, he never went back on his word, never condoned mistakes and most definitely would kill anyone that bruised his honor as Luiz Sanchez had just done.

Ricardo watched from the entrance of his house as the Corolla drove into the driveway, he had sent Eric to fetch Sanchez at midday and it was almost 10pm when Eric pulled up into the driveway. The meeting at the casino did not go as planned at all and Ricardo was at his wits end by the time it was over. A fight broken out and with a punch to the assailant's nose, Ricardo was able to settle the conflict. He was in a horrible mood and he hoped for Sanchez's sake that the man had his money.

Eric knew Ricardo was in a bad mood just by looking at his face from inside the car where he was. He had heard from Perez, Ricardo's personal henchman that the deal at the casino didn't go well and Ricardo had ended up getting into a fight. Eric glanced at Luiz Sanchez sitting at the passenger side of the black Corolla. Whoever knew anything about the multi billionaire Mafia boss, was sure to have taken note of his love for black.

Ricardo wore only black, black shirts, black jeans, black suits, black shades, almost everything that the Mafia boss wore was black and most people feared his heart was as dark as his outfits. His love for black wasn't just assigned to his clothes, his cars, guns, even members of his mafia group wore black.

Eric wasn't the only one who had caught up on the boss's mood that evening, Luiz saw the darkness in Ricardo's eyes as the car pulled to a stop not too far from him. He knew he had to face the boss sooner or later and one thing he had learned from being a part of the mob for five consecutive years, Luiz knew delay was deadly. Absolutely deadly and he dreaded the outcome of his meeting with the boss that night.

Eric parked the car quickly and got out, he walked slowly to where the boss was and Ricardo didn't do as much as glance his way. His sole attention was on Sanchez who was hesitating to get out of the car. Ricardo was losing his patience and Eric was growing more anxious by the meeting. Immediately the car door swinged open, a shot rang out and Luiz dropped to the floor.