C5

Alejandro's POV

"You seem to be in a good mood lately, boss."

Carmelo casted a cursory glance at me from my bedside mirror. By the time his eyes met mine, he looked away immediately. I cleared my throat, signalling that I wasn't in the mood for any discussion. But he just wasn't buying it.

"Boss?" He prepped on. "C'mon, share the good news."

Busy cleaning the muzzle of my tranquiliser, I made no effort to respond. There was no good news to share. Infact, I had not figure out yet what cassimiro was going to do. When my men and I stumbled upon his hideout, he was nowhere to be found. The place was as clear as day with no single human or life in sight. Now, we were fucked!

"Alejandro?"

"Mind your business, Carmelo!" I sneered.

Carmelo walked up to me and collected the gun I was cleaning. If he wasn't my best friend, I would have had his head in return but it was obvious, He was the only one who could dare me once in a while.

"What the fuck, bro?" I spat. "Not cool."

Carmelo chuckled. "Boss, you're glowing. It's fucking obvious. Just share it already!"

I made an attempt to collect the gun. But Carmelo moved two step back, restricting me from gaining any access to the gun.

"Nothing, Carmelo!" I said, between gritted teeth. "Now give me the damn gun!"

Carmelo tossed my tranquiliser to me, and I caught it at once. "You're lucky I got it. If my beautiful baby had fallen to the floor and break, you'd be in for it real deep."

"Sorry Boss."

"You better be."

I watched him pick up the pistol he was cleaning. "You know, Boss. If I didn't know you too well, I'd say you're in love." He continued.

That got me!

Have I fallen in love with Emily? I thought to myself.

Thinking about her now, had me real hard down there. The way she kissed me always pulled me to my fucking toes. Her touch, oh geez! Whenever those beautiful tiny hands touched my skin, it was as though my whole body was on fire! Not to talk of her gorgeous eyes. The more I stared into them, the more I was pulled into her fantasy world.

What if? Just what if, I had fallen in love with her. That prompted me to have a weakness now. My enemies like Cassimiro would want to use her against me if they ever found out.

No! No! No! Alejandro pull your fucking self together. I told myself.

I rolled my eyes at Carmelo. "I'm not in love with anyone. Dammit! Mind your god-damned business, will you?" I bellowed.

Carmelo smirked. "I hope so, Boss."

He walked towards me and handed over the pistol. I took it from him, scrutinizing every part to see if it was thoroughly cleansed of the blood and dirt that splattered on it last time. Satisfied by the outcome of his work, I kept it in the brief-case beside me.

"Pick another one." I instructed.

Without further ado, Carmelo did as he was told.

He started again. "Love is a beauti—"

"Shut it!"

Carmelo kept quiet at once. Not saying a single more word, I smiled to myself. This never got old. Although, Carmelo and I were best friend, he knew damn well when I was serious and when I was not. And I loved how I commanded respect from him.

Several minutes of total silence passed by quickly. Carmelo handed the second pistol to me. "Boss, I'm done with this."

I took it from him and observed the gun closely. "You did well."

He grinned. "Thanks Boss."

"So what's up?"

"What?" He leaned closer.

"Like what's going on. Any update?"

"Oh!" He face-palmed himself. "I've got news Boss. Cassimiro family are interested in one company. But I'm yet to find out which it is."

That peaked my interest, so I ordered him to sit beside me. "Fill me in."

"Boss?"

I turned to face him. "Carmelo." My tone was a hint of sarcasm.

"Can we go clubbing tonight? Let's relief all the stress we've been through. Party with hoes and get high on—"

I tossed my hand in the air. "Spare me."

"But Boss—"

I stood to my feet immediately. "I said I will pass!"

"Okay if you don't want to go, can I take Scott with me?"

I was about to respond to Carmelo when my phone suddenly rang out, attracting the both of our attention. Who could it be? I thought to myself.

I hope that son-of-a-bitch Cassimiro had not gone to attack my men at my warehouse. Otherwise, I was going to capture the scoundrel and tear him off from limb to limb.

But when my eyes fell on the caller ID, my mood calmed and I felt my nerves relaxed at once.

Emily!

The only name I found myself yearning to hear every morning, afternoon and night. And a small smile curved my lips.

Then I realized I was supposed to have called her earlier today. She was going to scold the hell out of me but, a part of me was kind of ready for it.

"You said you'd call, Al." I heard her sigh.

"I'm sorry, I was busy."

"Oh! I take it that you're at the office then."

"Yes." I added.

"But you could have called me regardless." She complained.

"Emily—" I rubbed my brow. "I'm sorry, just got to the office not quite long and there is a lot for me to do."

Carmelo walked up to me, beaming a smile. I didn't want him suspecting who I was talking to. I tried to wave him off, telling him to get the fuck out of my face. But he stood there regardless.

"Al, My dad sa—"

The moment Carmelo closed the distance between us, I ended the call at once. I didn't want him figuring out I was speaking with a woman. He would not stop taunting me for the rest of the day. Infact, for the rest of week. Saying the almighty Alejandro had fallen at the mercy of a mere woman.

I didn't want that. I would look too vulnerable to him.

"What the fuck, dude!" I yelled at him after I hung up on Emily.

"I'm sorry, Boss." He apologized, bowing his head to face the floor.

I took a deep breath and let it out in a loud gush. "Don't let this repeat itself again." I warned.

"Yes Boss."

"So back to what we were discussing." I sat down on my bed.

"Where have you been for the past two days, Boss?" Carmelo asked again.

"Wait what?" My gaze narrowed into mere slit. "Am I being interrogated now or what?"

"No, no nothing of such."

"Yes, I thought so."

All of a sudden, he asked again. "Who were you on the phone with? A lady?"

I picked up a throw pillow on my bed and tossed it at him. He dodged swiftly, laughing so hard and cheeky. So much that I, myself couldn't stay much angry. Instead, I laughed also.

Carmelo was a clown when he wanted to be. Sometimes, it seemed as though he had two personality. One minute, he would acting all cheesy, funny and down to earth. The next, he would switched into a serious minded and a highly focused person, who neither laugh nor gave a damn about anyone.

And I must admit, that was the thing I loved the most about him. I loved how discreet he was sometimes, his sense of humor and the way he accorded me with my due respect.

"Mind your business, Carmelo. Don't let me say this again." I warned.

"You Know." He walked up to me, staring deeply into my eyes. " You can't fall in love, Alejandro. You must not."

"And why is that?"

"He sighed. "Does she know the kind of job you do?"

"Don't disturb me, Carmelo." I warned him again.

"C'mon Boss. I might have an advice for you."

"You?" I scoffed. " I rather jump in front of a moving train than listen to you."

"Ouch!" Carmelo touched his chest, feigning annoyance.

"For real. You can't advice shit!" I sneered, chuckling afterwards.

"Okay how about this?" I watched him take in a deep breath and released it in a loud gush.

"Go on."

"The lady first of all can't ever find out what kind of job you do, it could be dangerous for your safety." He gestured at the both of us. " For our safety."

"Don't you think I know that?" I asked, closing the brief-case gently. "So what else?"

"It would also be very dangerous for her. You have a lot of enemies, Alejandro." He said, jolting me back to reality. "She is going to be your weakness and in one go, everything you have ever worked for, everything we had ever worked for, would go down the drain."

I hated to admit, but Carmelo was right. The advice he gave, were no other than pure fact. A big reality, I never wanted to wake up to.

"And yes, something else." He stated.

"What?"

"It's gonna end in tears."