Aefia dusted the dirt off her coat before lazily putting it back over her shoulder. Her uncle, the senior member, and the female member helped her gather as many spy devices as they could find. They planned on using it to find clues or any sort of hints that could lead them to a discovery.
Though none of the members wanted to reveal their real intentions towards the company, some of them forcibly added a few lies mixed with truths to make it seem like they were telling the truth. For Aefia, she had played those games before.
"Actually, let's just leave. Take all the weapons with you, or else the police may inspect and track us down." Aefia finally said. Seeing that her uncle was a bit upset, she decided not to add anything further.
When each member was dropped in front of their homes, Aefia told her uncle, "I think it's time you start thinking about reorganizing with whom you want to continue working. Based on what has happened today, you are probably worried that someone else is about to betray you.
"As a twelve-year-old kid, I know it sounds unwise to tell you this, but honestly, I thought you would know that they are part of your enemy's company. The fact that the way they spoke in front of you must have at least caused a trigger in your brain.
"Despite being eight and new to your company, I figured that those members could be backstabbers for you in the future, but how would I have told you that? You might have been depressed or, if you leaned towards the unlikely ward, you may have punished me.
"Although I absolutely don't know, my main question is, as a former spy for the military, how did you not know the psychology of your own employees? As a boss, did you fear them?"
Her uncle was silent and listened to everything Aefia had to say. He analyzed and thought through every single question she asked and looked down. He stared at his feet for five seconds and spoke up.
"I am not sure why, but I had a feeling they would one day change their mentality and work for me. When I first opened my company, I wanted to have a family of friends who would have helped me with my missions, and at the end of the successful mission, we would all have fun and discuss our days.
"During the first days, they gave me that, but they also blinded me with all that fun and left me to be a selfish boss who stole money from the poor and returned the money to another poor person. I asked them why, but I got a reply, 'you will see', but I didn't know they were building up evidence of me doing bad things."
"Wait..." Aefia stopped her uncle from talking any further. "So you are telling me, you listened to a bunch of junior Mafias to try and help the poor, and they are basically fooling you behind your back, but you didn't even bother analyzing the situation by yourself in the first place?!"
Her uncle looked at her and laughed. "Yes, you can say it that way. I wish I had your brain back then, because of you, the Mafia group has a very high reputation in our area." He patted Aefia on the head.
With an irritated expression, she moved his hand away from her head. "Uncle, it's time to get serious. If you aren't able to detect simple things like this in the future, I am sure that you will suffer more horribly than today. You have lost more than twenty low-ranking members and six high-ranking members; it's time to recollect, regroup, and build a new family." She said while standing up.
"Just how are you planning on doing that? I have the funds, but the police know our location, don't they?"
"If you really consider yourselves as mafias, why don't you act like it for once? After all, it is totally alright to raid the office of your former enemy." She stretched her limbs and walked towards the border of the lake. "And if your enemy is dead, I don't think it isn't already your company."
Her uncle thought for a while. Mr. Robert was, in fact, in a coma, and it wasn't stated when he would regain his consciousness. If he could forge his signature and his fingerprint, it could be used to fool the members in that company, but it may be the work of a criminal to them.
"Are you seriously thinking about being nice again? Even after the damage he had caused you? If you had the heart to mess with poor people, why don't you have the same face to Mr. Robert? Is this what you call justice in your company? If so, I can arrange mom to take me out of your company. My training to supposed to be done by now." Aefia turned around to look at the shimmering lake.
"Wait! Alright, alright! I will do as you say. Just don't withdraw yourself from the company." Her uncle said, but then, covered his mouth with his hand.
Despite hearing that, she smiled at her uncle. "Don't worry, I already knew." With a moment of silence, she spoke again. "By the way, when were you going to tell me Nada is your daughter living with your sister?"
Her uncle was taken aback. "Well..uhh..who is Nada?"
"I thought I had told you before that she is my best friend from school who lives beside our house., Aefia replied with a curious face. "You can stop acting. I don't think she can hear us from her window or something."
She had it all figured out from the beginning. But I, too, have to close down on the things she doesn't know or is acting as if she doesn't know.
"To put it that way, I think you already know that you and Nada are cousins. The real truth is that you were switched at birth by your villainous aunt, who is greedy for your father's properties, and I can tell you that she is still craving it.
"She had you when your mom had Nada. You are the youngest child we hav, and apparently, if you realize, Nada and you both have the same birthday date. To disguise that matter, your aunt, who is your biological mother, added a different month on Nada's birth certificate. For which, her age says she is older than you..."
"So she is almost like a twin to me?"
"Yes, if you want to say it that way. Your aunt's real plan was to switch you at birth. Then, when you become a successor or heir, she was going to take both of you to a DNA test and file an arrest under your parents' names. After which she wanted to take you in and squeeze you dry of your inheritance than leave you to rot and die."
While listening, Aefia didn't have a hint of surprise on her face, making it obvious that she had known it from the very first but was faking it to know about the real plan. It was always the case for her, even when a new case had appeared. It was as if she had her ear in all locations.
"And why didn't you do anything to stop her? Were you also interested in some of the money?" She asked finally.
"Well...I wanted to get some financial help from your father. I did have wishes to stop her,, but she was already moving on a different path. She was a very talented persuader."
"And I got that one quality of hers." Aefia clenched her fist and spun around. "And I am assuming that your reason for moving Nada off to your sister's house was to foreshadow the fact that you are a Mafia boss from her, am I right?"
"Yes."
"So is my brother supposed to be my real biological brother? Or is he my cousin-brother?"
"He is whatever kind of brother you think of him as. Though I would say, the way you are trying to protect him, he is more like your biological brother than a cousin."
"Now for the final question..." Aefia spoke with a serious face. "Would you ever try to rescue Nada, your actual niece, from suffering a brutal push in life?"
He stared at Aefia's face for a very long time. "Just what is it that is going to happen?" He asked.
"You do know that in our country, poor people sell off their children to rich families through marriage. As far as I have gathered the information, Nada is being asked to choose a rich family to get married into. You know they don't carf whose child or how old they are, they just sell them."
"Do you mean...my sister is planning to marry off Nada for money? And that too without asking me first?"
Aefia nodded. "It can be seen in her psychology who exactly she is targeting. If you want to know, I can tell you the family name. Her psychology is also telling me that she has a fear of you finding out. She is very cleaaboutof your true identity as a Mafia bo,ss and she doesn't want to mess with you, but she is also in need of money."
"So what is the name of the family Nada is being sold off to?"
Aefia flashed a grin before speaking again, "The father's name is Robert Sandsman."
Her uncle abruptly stood up and charged towards nowhere. "Your psychology is telling me you are a very emotional person." Aefia shouted from her place.
Her uncle stood still and turned around. She wasn't wrong when she said that; she was so much like her biological mother, that it was hard to tell who was who if they heard only the way they spoke.
What am I supposed to do then? I have also raised her till the age of five as my own daughter." Her uncle sobbed. "It is hard for me to believe that my sister would do such a thing."
"Firstly, if you want your enemy to fear you, you should wipe off your tears and not let them see your emotions and reactions towards such things," Aefia replied without any movement. She stood like a mannequin at a shopping mall.
"Secondly, if you really want to save Nada, grow your business from scratch again. When you have done so, your sister will think about resisting any marriage request that comes Nada's way. When you have become more popular than the entire government, your sister would stop and try to sell you back your daughter.
"Although, I think that would be a longer option. What we need is an instant solution. In my opinion, that would be to team up with Mr. Robert and have him work for you. By doing so, after Nada has been sold to that family, she will be brought to you sooner or later.
"By using that as evidence, you can smoothly accuse your sister of reckless thinking and selling your daughter off without your permission. Do you get what I mean?
"Actually, just have Mr. Robert work for you. That is enough, I guess." Aefia spoke as she thought. "But as a brother, you know her psychology a little more than I do. So I want to leave this family matter for you to solve. Take this as an exercise to learn how a real Mafia boss should operate."
"Alright. I understand why you are asking me to do that." He walked with Aefia to their building, which was in front of the lake.
"Though I don't understand, why did you want to start a Mafia business? Why not a detective agency or any other thing?" Aefia asked with curiosity.
"Because..." He spoke, "Mafias are more feared in public than detectives and those organizations. They are also fun."
Aefia thought while she climbed the stairs. "For me, if you are powerful in knowledge, strongh and financially, you are one of the most feared people in community."
"I know you have something in mind. Tell it, I won't mind any sort of insult to the Mafia boss. Speak as if you are my biological daughter, even if you choose not to think of me as your father. I would completely understand."
After a moment of silence, "No, I won't mind calling your as father. But I have a fear that the parents I stay with will find out,and worst things will happen. I won't describe what sort of bad things but you know what I mean.
"Honestly, the reason I survived those harsh words from my parents was due to the knowledge that they aren't even my real parents. If someone said it was a miracle, I would have replied that way.
"And about an insult to Mafias. I won't really say insult because that is the only place where, although we do bad things to people, there is something about being a Mafia that is fun and feels like family. In our case, we do evil stuff but we do it to save people from those ruthless governors don't we? And those crimes were all their faults, so we can rebuild ourselves as a real good Mafia group this time. You have the number of people you need, what else do you want?"
He smiled, Youu are right. There is something about being the boss of a Mafia, that feels like belonging to a family. I remember telling you that too, the Mafia group is a family. I agree that we don't need anything else to have fun in the life we are leading."
"Being part of a mafia and being its boss is like being the father to a group of children with a hard life who are still striving to learn more about this world."