Empire of Blood

V

The four girls all stared at Alia, their eyes wide with surprise.

"You want me to go?" Milan asked, unable to comprehend the words that had left Alia’s mouth.

“Yes,” Alia confirmed, “I want you to be our field agent for this mission.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Stella exclaimed. “She has never worked on the field before. You’re basically sending her on a suicide mission!”

“That’s exactly why I’m sending her. You think the Italian mafia don’t know about you?” Alia asked as she looked all four of the girls in the eye. “They know everyone who they believe could be a potential threat to them. The likelihood of you all being on their watch list is high.”

“And Milan isn’t?” Leilani asked. “I mean, no offense to you, love, but I just don’t see how putting you on the field without any experience whatsoever is a good idea,” she spoke to Milan.

“It’s fine, I actually agree. I have only ever worked behind the screens and in the interrogation rooms. I don’t have any experience on the field. And this is such a big case too, I think it’s too precious to put me on the field.”

“First,” Alia began as she turned to face Leilani, “the likelihood of Milan being on the Mafia’s list is lower than the likelihood of you being on their list. She has never been on field work and those who enter the interrogation room know her as Irene Montgomery. And as far as anyone who can hack the system is aware, Irene Montgomery is a petite ginger with small doe eyes.”

“Secondly,” Alia continued, turning to face Milan, “you fit the job description the best. Summer and Stella are too petite and Leilani is too curvy. You on the other hand are perfect model material. Not to mention, you fit Luca Andiamo’s ideal type perfectly.”

Summer fake gagged at that causing Alia to roll her eyes.

“Luca Andiamo is a hard man to impress,” Alia continued. “He’s known to prey on young and new models who are desperate to reach the top in the field.”

“But Milan is too inexperienced,” Stella stated. “I understand everyone has a starting point but this is a dangerous person you want her to deal with. He’s the leader of one of the main branches of the mafia, for God’s sake!"

"Nothing will go wrong."

"But what if it does? If anything does go wrong, you think they'll spare her? They're the freaking mafia. They forgive no one!" 

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, all feeling unhappy and worried with Alia's decision.

“I understand your worry,” Alia suddenly stated. “However, I believe no one but Milan can pull this off.”

Stella was about to say something else but Alia stopped her.

“Of course, the final decision will be yours,” Alia spoke to Milan. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

All eyes turned to Milan. Aside from Alia, everyone else was hoping she wouldn’t take the job. It was just too dangerous.

After thinking about it for a moment, Milan responded, “Since you believe in me so much, I’ll do it.”

Her colleagues all frowned whereas her boss grinned.

“Thank you!” Alia beamed. “I know you'll be able to pull this off!"

The rest of the agent sighed but nodded when Alia said, "Let’s talk about the mission then!”

The women all sat on the meeting table and Alia played a presentation she had prepared when she had first heard who their main suspect was. 

“This is Luca Andiamo,” she introduced as a photo of a relatively handsome man showed up on the screen. He seemed to be in his early forties and was at an average height and build. “He is one of the three leaders of the mafia and is in charge of drug trafficking.”

The screen suddenly changed to a new slide and this time showed a collage of multiple different women.

“As I mentioned, he is a hard man to impress when it comes to beauty, however, he loves his women long-legged and baby-faced with a natural sexiness to them."

All women in the room looked uncomfortable by the description.

“At the moment, everything we have is speculation. We need hard evidence that Luca Andiamo’s organization is the supplier of The Reaper.”

“What do you want me to do?” Milan asked as she flipped through the case papers.

“You will be going in undercover as Milan Ossani, a new model. Andiamo owns a female intimates business and they are having their fashion show next week. I pulled some strings and made you the headliners for the show. All you need to do is gain his interest and ultimately his companionship."

“How long does he usually stay with each of his partners?” Summer asked.

“One day.”

All four girls gaped at their boss.

“One day?” Milan repeated. “How are you expecting me to keep him interested in me if he hasn’t been interested in any of his other partners for over a day?”

Alia shrugged, “You’re beautiful and intelligent. I’m sure if you wanted to, you’d be able to keep him wrapped around your fingers for as long as needed.”

Milan stayed quiet for a moment before she hesitantly asked, “Do I need to sleep with him?”

Alia’s eyes narrowed and she looked angry for a moment, however, the emotion disappeared as fast as it appeared.

“You will do no such thing,” she spat. “I will give you a piece of jewelry which will have an emergency button located on it. The moment you feel uncomfortable in any way, press the button and I’ll be right there.”

Milan felt relief wash through her. She gently smiled at her boss before she went back through her notes.

“So basically, the plan is to get him to notice me and stay interested, enough so that he’s willing to share information with me?”

“That will take too long,” Alia stated. “He’s part of the mafia, he doesn’t even trust himself.”

“Then how will I find evidence?”

“Like I said, the mafia don’t trust anyone. Each of them have a hidden safe where they keep all the records of all of their business transactions. If the Andiamo’s are responsible for The Reaper, you will find records of it in his safe.”

“Where is the safe located,” Summer asked.

“Our informant claims it’s in his bedroom. You’ll need to enter his bedroom and once you have, you’ll need to find his safe and retrieve the records.”

"I need to get in his bedroom without sleeping with him," Milan thought out loud.

"Andiamo often has parties at his house. As long as you win his companionship, you will be invited. Once inside, anything is achievable." 

Milan nodded in response, trying to figure out a way to win that would help her win Andiamo's companionship without making her do something she was uncomfortable with or without killing her in the process.

 “Do you have any other questions?” Alia asked, her question directed at everyone although her eyes were pointed at Milan.

“No,” Milan answered, seeming to understand the plan well.

“Great,” Alia smiled, “time to practice your catwalk then!”