The drive to the airport was quick, and the flight to Germany was even quicker. As I'd predicted it was morning already and the streets were busy as we drove on.
The moment we rounded the corner, I couldn't stop myself from gazing at the tall building in front of me.
Every single time I come here, I'm always amazed at its imposing structure.
The car stopped at the gate and we rolled down our windows to identify ourselves, only after the recognition device beeped in acceptance, was the gate opened as the car rolled in… stopping just in front of the fountain.
We both stepped out and walked towards the door. We stared into the camera at the door and just like the one at the gate, we waited till it beeped and the door swung open slowly.
"If it isn't my Erica…" Jacob said, smiling brightly with his arms open.
I walked into his warm embrace, "it's so good to see you Jacob" I said.
"Come, come, I have a wonderful gift for you, glad you dropped by honestly," he said, pulling me deeper into the house.
....
Forty minutes since we got here and Jacob had been talking non-stop about the supposed gift he got me. Which surprisingly was some creepy doll, which had been carved by a porter.
Apparently it was the most astonishing thing Jacob had seen.
"So… Erica my love, what is the problem?"
Finally,
Mitchell had long since excused us from the visitor room, we both sat down facing each other… a cup of tea on the table.
I exhaled slowly. "It's really serious Jacob," I started, eyes sincere.
His eyes softened. "How serious?"
"Don Constiano"
He exhaled heavily, brows furrowed in confusion. "What did you do Erica?"
And so I told him everything, I had asked Mitchell for their pictures.
Jacob's eyes squeezed in concern as he stared at them.
"I have to do something Jacob, you know I have to…"
"Erica…"
"Please Jacob,"
His brown eyes softened immensely, hands treading into his graying hair as he stared at me.
"How old are they?"
"The elder is sixteen…" I faltered. "He already touched her," I said, quietly.
Jacob's eyes clenched in sadness.
"I don't know how long, I haven't asked her many questions, the younger one should be about eight or so… she's still untouched but you know what he'll do when he finds them, Jacob."
He rubbed his palm over his face and stared at me again, eyes hard.
"You've been living fine for five years now Erica, you shouldn't throw that away. But sadly you're in a position where I can't ask you to back out. I also do feel sorry for those kids" he sighed.
"If you go forward with this, you can't go back again, you know that right Erica,"
I nodded.
"Don Constiano is a powerful man, and as you are he's also guarded by the four founding fathers, in this case you're in the wrong but as we all know wrong and right don't matter"
I nodded.
"To kill a demon, you need a demon on your side too," he said, picking up his phone. One ring and a man was coming in with a tablet in his hands.
He bowed swiftly and left, Jacob opened the tablet and tapped it wordlessly.
He passed it to me and I frowned slightly. All I saw was a cloaked figure and nothing else… although I could tell from his build that it was a man but that was all to it.
"Who's this?"
"In Japan, some call him the shadow of Japan, Mafia territories all around the world, they call him the ghost of the underworld. Here in Australia though, we call him… the faceless one. Fifteen years ago… all Mafia heads in Japan were annihilated in one night, a new alliance was made. Those who refused to follow him were slaughtered mercilessly. And those who chose to, crowned that person with the title of Mafia king in all of Japan."
I froze.
Cold seeped in my blood stream slowly.
"If you want to fight Don Constiano and you wish to win…" he paused. "Then you need this man Erica"
Stuck between a rock and a hard place was an understatement.
I was stuck on a fucking landmine and I had this sinking feeling that if I shook without caution… I'd blow up to bits.
I stared at the photo again.
Dread polled in my chest and sank to my belly.
"I can only get you an audience with him, that's as far as my standing as a founding father goes but that's all I can do for you Erica. If you want him to accept your deal, you'd have to be interestingly convincing" Jacob said, sighing heavily.
My grip around the tablet tightened with determination.
I had to.
"I should just tell you to give up, the only good thing about that man is his lack of interest in anything, which can also be a bad thing seeing as he's very likely to reject your proposal. In many ways, he's way worse than Don Erica, I must warn you."
I stared at the picture again, willing some kind of clue to drop onto my lap about the kind of man he is.
Who was this man?
"I'll take it Jacob, thank you" I said sincerely.
After all these years… I finally found an ace. Someone who could end the tyranny of Don Constiano.
"I'll text you the details tomorrow, you should spend the night here, I'm always so alone in this mansion" he whined.
I smiled, "do you think I was planning on going back home today?"
He grinned, "I had your room prepared already, I have to attend a meeting… so you can go on," he waved me away and opened his laptop.
"Thank you Jacob," I said, and walked away.
"And Erica," Jacob called.
My hand froze on the door knob and I turned around to stare at him in question.
"When making a deal with him, be sure to state the terms and have him accept them first" Jacob said, expression deadly serious.
I nodded in understanding.
"Don't just nod, Erica," his voice dropped. "I mean it… he's way worse than Don Constiano, you must be alert… you cannot trust him. Let this be at the front of your mind, deal first, let him accept the conditions before anything."
"You don't need to worry Jacob, I'll keep it at the back of my mind"
"I said the front," he mumbled, then turned back to his laptop.
I turned to open the door, then stopped again. "Jacob,"
He hummed. "What is it Erica?"
"What's his name?"
Jacob's gaze didn't stray to mine, they stayed fixed on his laptop then he finally raised his head.
"Akai Illumi"