Chapter 34: Chapter 34

~ RICHIE’S POV

"This is exactly what I mean. What happened yesterday cannot repeat itself." I say through the phone, standing up and walking to the balcony’s front guardrail. I am on call with the head of the Swat team. We are discussing the recent incident and I just found out that he has no idea about what happened. That is surprising because he is the head of the team.

"Is that so?" I inquire. I can’t believe what he just told me. It’s almost unbelievable that someone dares to do this to me. I guess people don’t fear me like I thought they do.

"Alright then, I think I know what to do next," I state. Whoever is behind this will bleed in pain. I might end up spearing the person but Papa, he will burn that person alive.

"Thank you for the information, officer O’Conner, I appreciate it," I say and then ended the call. I slip the phone into my pants pocket. This is the first time something like this has happened, I have never been humiliated by any force like I was yesterday. Whoever is doing this knows everything, maybe not about me but my business. He or she might have been present when I was dealing with my businesses, it only makes sense that way. And one thing I know for sure about this person is that the person is living either under the same roof as me or is one of my trustworthy workers.

A knock on the door pulls me out of my thoughts, I turn around and see Grace standing by the door. She doesn’t have to say anything before I know Papa sent her here.

"Sorry to bother you sir but Papa is asking for you." She says, her gaze facing the ground.

Just as I expected. I knew Papa would want to see me today. "Okay, I will be there in a minute," I say before she walks out of the room.

I sigh, thinking of how disappointed Papa is right now. I have been avoiding meeting him since yesterday. I don’t know how to face him, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I just have to meet him.

I head to where he is but I don’t enter the room until I prepare myself mentally. I take a deep breath and think of how I will explain myself to him without him angering him. Once I clear my mind, I walk into the study room.

"Buon pomeriggio papà, ho sentito che mi stai cercando. [Good afternoon papa, I heard you are looking for me.]" I say

"Sì, io sono. Mi sono imbattuto in alcuni articoli e diari su di te e sul business [Yes, I am. I came across some articles and journals about you and the business]"

"Sono solo voci, papà. Non significano niente [Those are just rumors, Papa. They don’t mean anything.]" I tell him

"Davvero, anche questa notizia? [Really, even this news?]" He questions turning on the news. The news is a clip from the Swat incident that happened yesterday.

"Perché non mi hai detto niente a riguardo? [Why didn’t you say anything to me about it?]" He asks

I knew I should have told him about it. I wack my brain thinking of an excuse but I got none.

"Mi dispiace papà. [I’m sorry Papa.]"

"Cosa stai facendo per fare al riguardo? [What are you doing to do about it?]" He inquires ignoring my apology

"Ho parlato con il capo della squadra Swat. Non accadrà più [I talked to the head of the Swat team. It won’t happen again]"

He scoffs "Pensi che mi importi di quello che dice?[Do you think I care about what he says?]" He rants at me. I keep quiet with my gaze facing the ground. Whenever Papa is angry about something, I shouldn’t look at him face to face.

"Non mi interessa e non ne parlo nemmeno. Parlo dell'articolo su tutti i giornali della città [I don’t care about that and I’m not even talking about it either. I’m talking about the article in every newspaper in town]" He grunts. He seems to be in a very bad mood today.

"Che notizie? Mi sono assicurato che nessun giornale pubblicasse un articolo a riguardo. [What news? I made sure no newspaper published an article about it.]

"Ohh, davvero, è così [Ohh, really, is that so]" He snorted pushing his chair back and making a loud scrape on the wooden floor as he stands up. He grabs the newspapers on his desk and threw them at my face.

"Cosa sono questi? Li ha stampati un fantasma o cosa! Ho detto che ti sei preso cura di tutto, ma non vedo niente che tu abbia fatto [What are these? Did a ghost print them or what! I said you took care of everything but I don’t see anything you did]"

"Hai idea di quante persone mi abbiano chiamato per questo. I nostri affari stanno andando giù. Il ministro, I senatori, nessuno di loro vuole più associarsi con noi. [Do you have any idea how many people called me because of these? Our business is going down. The ministers, the senators, none of them want to associate with us anymore.]

I sigh. This is exactly what I was afraid of; Papa is disappointed in me. "Mi dispiace papà [I’m sorry Papa.]" I can’t believe this news was published, I specifically mentioned it in every publication house. How the hell did they disobey me?

"Non ho bisogno delle tue scuse. Ho bisogno che tu lavori, lavori e recuperi la nostra integrità! [I don’t need your apology. I need you to work, work and get our integrity back!]"

"Lo farò papà ma per ora, penso che abbiamo una situazione più grande di quella. [I will Papa but as for now, I think we have a bigger situation than that.]" I say. He will be beyond surprised when I tell him what O’Connor said.

"Che cos'è? [What is it?]" He asks

"Il team Swat che è venuto a indagare sulla compagnia non è reale. Ho parlato proprio ora con il capo della squadra Swat e con tutte le prove dice che sono un falso. Nessuna squadra è stata inviata per indagare su di me [The Swat team that came to investigate the company aren’t real. I spoke to the head of the Swat team just now and with all evidence, he says that they are a fake. No team was sent to investigate me.]" I explain

"Sei sicuro di questo? [Are you sure about this?]"

"Sì, io sono [Yes I am]" I respond. Whoever is behind this knows what he’s doing. He is good at playing its card.

"Hai un'idea di chi c'è dietro tutto questo? [Do you have an idea who is behind all of this?]"

"Non ancora, ma lo farò papà. Tutto quello che so è che la persona mi è vicina. Conosce ogni mia mossa [Not yet but I will Papa. All I know is that the person is close to me. He knows my every move]"

"[Ohh]" Papa looks like he is thinking of something. He takes a moment before he speaks "Rachel sa dei tuoi affari illegali? Ha accesso ai nostri file e documenti? [Does Rachel knows about your illegal business? Does she have access to our files and documents?]

"Solo file di lavoro. Qualcosa di personale, Rachel non ne ha idea. Perchè hai chiesto? [Only work files. Anything personal, Rachel has no idea about it. Why did you ask?]" I inquire

Papa’s silence to my question wasn’t a surprise because he normally does that.

"Oh capisco [Ohh I see.]" He says. He looks like he’s thinking of something.

"Bene, in tal caso, dovremmo lasciarlo così. Non voglio che lei sappia niente di questo. [Well, in that case, we should leave it like that. I don’t want her knowing anything about this.]"

"Ok, papà. [Okay, Papa.]"

I know Papa doesn’t want anyone to know about our business but I don’t understand why he brought Rachel’s name up. Rachel is the last person to suspect right now, she wouldn’t do something like that to me. I’m not saying this because I trust her but because I know she isn’t capable of doing anything like this.

"[Voglio che tu tenga d'occhio la tua donna. Assicurati di sapere tutto quello che sta facendo [I want you to keep an eye on your woman. Make sure you know everything she's up to]" He says

I understand Papa not trusting Rachel; he hardly trusts people. But telling me to keep an eye on her seems too odd. Whenever Papa gets suspicious of someone, he tells them to leave without any hesitation but the fact that he suspects Rachel and didn’t tell me to get her out of my life is so fascinating. Sometimes I wonder why he asks me to marry her in the first place, I mean she’s just an ordinary lady, right? Why is Papa changing his ways for her?

Something is definitely going on in his head, Rachel can’t be an ordinary lady, if she were, Papa won’t be conscious of her all the time and he wouldn’t have asked me to marry her. It's time for me to find out who Rachel is.