Empire of Blood

VIII

“He agreed to dinner,” Alia repeated what Milan had told her moments earlier, no emotion present in her voice or face. It was clear there was something bothering her.

“What’s wrong?” Milan asked, not understanding why Alia was so skeptical about Luca agreeing to dinner.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Alia said. “If Andiamo wanted you like he claimed he did, you wouldn’t have been able to leave that bar without gracing his bed first. But the night ended with the barbaric Luca Andiamo dropping you off home after agreeing to take you to dinner.”

“Maybe he felt a special connection with Milan,” Leilani said, causing all of the agents in the room to roll their eyes. Luca Andiamo was a dangerous man who was after pleasure with no strings attached. Men like him did not have regular human feelings. They only saw women as one thing: s*x dolls. It was no secret that Luca Andiamo saw all women as nothing but prostitutes. He would sleep with them with the promise of fame and fortune. If they were not interested in the faeme, then he would give them money once he was finished with them. He craved dominance and power, and sleeping with women who needed him was what got him off.

“Stop the video,” Alia suddenly ordered as they were watching the CCTV footage from inside the bar. There was no volume so they couldn’t hear what was being said but Milan was the main star of the show so she just told them all the important details.

Summer stopped the video right on the scene where Leon had made an appearance. Luca looked physically agitated and although they could only see the side view of Leon’s face, it was clear he was not happy in that particular scene either. Which surprised Milan since his voice didn't give away any hint that he was feeling unhappy.

“That’s L—” Milan began to speak.

“Leonidas Alexiou,” Alia finished for her.

 “You know him?” Stella asked.

“It’s worrisome that you don’t,” Alia said as she stood up from her seat and walked closer to the screen. “This man is the leader of the biggest crime organization in the world. You think the mafia’s dangerous? Try these men. Everyone knows them and what they are capable of but no one can prove their guilt. They’re basically ghosts who commit crimes.”

Milan felt disappointment course through her veins. Considering Leon’s family was close to her family, she assumed they were not clean of crime either, but she had always hoped Leon had lead a clean life.He was such a sweet and caring boy when they were younger. No matter what happened, she could always rely on him. Aside from her father, Leon used to be the person she loved and cared for the most. And just like her father, he was an angelic being in her eyes. But considering her father turned out to be the human version of Lucifer, she shouldn't be too surprised that Leon turned out the way he had.

“It was until this moment that he was trying to get you in his bed?” Alia asked.

“Yes.”

Alia examined the scene for a few minutes before she spoke. “These men will only give up on something they want if the thing they want belongs to an accomplice,” Alia spoke as she turned to face Milan. The rest of the team turned to face her as well, lots of different thoughts running through their minds.

“What did Leonidas say when he showed up?” Stella asked.

Milan thought about it for a second before answering, “Nothing really. Andiamo just asked him what he was doing there and he said he was looking for an old friend.”

“Play the video,” Alia told Summer who complied. It was the scene where Luca had asked Leon what he had been doing at the bar. Milan was turned to the side, looking away from the two men. It was very obvious that she was trying to avoid someone. Before he answered, Leon turned his face to look at Milan directly as he told Luca that he was looking for an old friend.

Since Milan had been turned away, she had not realized that he had so obviously pointed her out as being his “old friend”. He may as well have just told Andiamo that he was there for her. Which made Milan’s heart sink to her stomach. That meant that he had recognized her, or worse yet, he had really been there just for her.

Summer stopped the video before Alia even said anything. Alia aside, the agents all had looks of confusion clearly displayed on their faces.

“How do you know Leonidas Alexiou?” Leilani asked the million dollar question everyone was thinking. “I don’t,” Milan semi-lied. It was a lie that she didn’t know him since they were family friends and he had at one stage been her only friend. However, it had been years since they had lost contact and she was at a stage where she now knew nothing about him besides his name. So she really couldn’t say that she knew him.

“Let me rephrase that for you,” Stella spoke, “how does Leonidas Alexiou know you?”

Milan sighed and was about to answer when Alia spoke up.“Let’s not worry about that for now,” she said before she turned to look Milan straight in the eyes. “It’s clear that Andiamo thinks there is some sort of relationship going on between you two and that means he has an ulterior motive with you. He won’t touch you because he wouldn’t want to aggravate Leon but you need to be even more careful now. Andiamo and Alexiou have an unspoken enmity between them. It's said that a a war will break out between the two organizations any one of these days. We don’t need you to get involved in that.”

"But that doesn't make sense," Milan said. "He asked me about my relationship with Leon and when I told him there was nothing between us two, he seemed to have believed me. Why didn't he just kill me if he thought I was lying?"

"He's not crazy enough to kill someone he believes has a relationship with the infamous Leon Alexiou. He would basically be signing his own suicide note if he did that. My guess is, he's looking into you and trying to find a possible link between you and Alexiou."

“What do you suggest we do then?” Milan asked her boss.

“We’ll continue to go on with our mission as planned. Even if this isn’t what we wanted, it’s still working in our favor.” 

Milan nodded and Alia dismissed everyone. Before Milan left however, Alia stopped her.

"Leonidas Alexiou is one of the main contributors working to end our organization. Be careful."