Chapter 49

Jessica's POV

As usual, I was in my office, going through piles of files from early in the morning. I was made sure to be at my office by eight. I hold meetings every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with capos and other leathers assigned to different departments at 9 am.

Today happened to be Tuesday so I had to wake up extra early to evaluate the overall work from Friday. I was yet to thank and reward everyone for their hardwork. I was planning on giving them a day off as a reward.

A frantic knock was heard and I let the person in. Xavier walked inside, with a file in his hands, looking anxious behind his mask. Let me tell ya, throughout the years of me working and training under him, I've never seen any emotion on his face. So, just by looking at him getting all anxious, I knew that I would have another headache to worry about.

"Boss, we've got a problem." He handed me the file he was holding and continued.

"Our warehouse was attacked by American mafias yesterday." I widened my eyes because I certainly didn't expect it to be the trifle I would work on today.

"WHAT?!" I flipped the pages and there were the pictures of some of the warehouses that stored all the necessities we needed. Thankfully, the main warehouse wasn't on the list but more than seven warehouses were blown with explosives, leaving them black and ashes covering them.

"How fucking dare he!" I was fuming by now and I so fucking badly wanted to strangle the bitch to death. Damn, he didn't even deserve it, he deserves much more painful torture before he dies. How dare he ruin everything I've been working so hard on these days?

And just as I was flipping the pages to go through all the damage caused in warehouses, my assistant walked in after knocking on the already open door.

"Ms. Knight, Mr. Ivanov is on the phone. He would like to have a word with you." I wanted to shout at all of them to fuck off but instead, I just took a deep breath to calm down and took the phone from my assistant who soon walked out of the room.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Knight. It's very bold of William to declare war on us, don't you think?" I creased my eyebrows when he told 'us' and when I flipped the page, there were the pictures of Russian warehouses, engulfed in flames.

"What's your point?" After reading the page, it said about ten Russian warehouses were attacked by American mafias. Looks like his loss is more than mine.

"Why don't we meet to talk about this matter today? I am around your office, why don't we meet in an hour?" I was beyond pissed by the news but Luciano on the other hand, was relatively calm about his loss.

"Alright. Talk to you in an hour." I said reluctantly and hung up.

"We're expecting a guest. Ask them to get ready." I ordered and Xavier walked out after bowing. Looks like no more vacation, might as well give them some bonus for the monthly salary. I sighed as I went through the file again, which made my blood boil from anger.

I will let everyone know what happens to those who question my existence and the empire my parents built.

I soon called in Rob and asked him to recruit more members, train them harder, get more weapons, strengthen the overall security of the mafia and all the other precautions that needed to be taken care of.

And just like that, an hour has passed and I have postponed the meeting because Luciano will be here soon. Xavier was told to welcome and escort Luciano to my room and I waited impatiently at my room.

I stood up from my seat when I heard the clicking of heels of the show that belonged to neither of the people working for me. Realizing that Luciano was near, I went to my washroom to tidy up.

When I came out of the washroom, there he was, already sitting in one of the seats, sipping the tea my assistant most probably offered. He was wearing a grey V-neck shirt and black jeans. I was wearing a black turtle neck and blue jeans. Upon seeing Luciano in his casual attire, I subconsciously rolled up my top as I took a seat opposite him.

"Good morning." It was awkward between us as we shook hands.

"I am sure you've heard about the warehouse attack of both Russian and Italian mafia by William Johnson. Today, I am here to propose an offer." I raised my eyebrows and he pushed a file towards me.

I looked at him skeptically but broke my eye contact when I flipped the pages over to see ass long paragraphs and points that listed the conditions of a contract. Reading further, I realized he wanted us to join hands to bring down William Johnson.

The offer was so tempting but I couldn't afford myself to agree because I kinda felt guilty for even letting him set his foot onto the building my parents built and was killed by Russina mafia. It didn't matter to me he was a kid back then and never took part in the murder but his father most probably did.

I've gathered some of the elites of the empire to investigate about my parent's death and they were still working on it. I wasn't even sure who killed my parents back then but I have a feeling that Luciano's father did.

So, no matter how alluring the offer sounded, I shook my head and pushed the file back to Luciano. He looked at me with a subtle frown, probably because he thought I would have accepted his offer to join hands without a second thought. But oh boy, did he know it would take so much more than a few pieces of paper to persuade me.