Billionaire Mafia's Manny
Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Chapter 26

How little!" Cody pointed angrily at Lucia.

"Hey, calm down, Cody, don’t be unreasonable," Jasper dragged Cody back down to the bed.

"It’s cool, he’s such a baby," Lucia said and went over to Jasper’s bed, lowering herself beside Ida.

The four guards stared unbelievably at Lucia, so she’s been playing them all these while, acting like a strict bitch.

But they understood why; she acted that way to make Mr. Glen not suspect anything from her, and they must give it to her, she is a great actress.

"You’re the one in charge right?" Lucia asked Ida, putting her arm around his neck.

"Yeah," Ida shrugged, not flinching from her touch.

"Hey, you! Get your hands off him," Cody warned.

"Why? Jealous?" Lucia asked, smirking.

Ida instantly turned his head towards Cody, staring intently at him to see his reaction.

"Whatever," Cody scoffed and removed his face from them.

Ida smirked. He saw a glimpse of jealousy on Cody’s face and it gave him some kind of reassurance. He knew there was a glimpse of hope for him.

"Alright, Lucia, what’s your plan for tomorrow?" Zeno asked, switching to work mode.

"Here’s what we’re going to do..."

And after a long period of planning and chatting, everyone went to bed, waiting anxiously for tomorrow to come.

And it did.

"Zeno, hurry, Glen will be down in three minutes," Cody impatiently knocked on Zeno’s door, waiting for him and Jasper to come out so they could all go out to meet Mr. Glen together.

"Why so grumpy this early, Cody?" Jasper asked as he opened the door.

"About time you get your ass moving," Cody grumbled and started walking away.

"He’ll be alright," Zeno said as he walked out of the room.

"Yeah," Jasper nodded.

They followed Cody behind and weren’t surprised when they saw Ida already waiting for them in the living room.

"Remember to keep everything on the low, this isn’t the real thing yet," Ida said to his friends.

"Sure, our main aim is to make sure he doesn’t trade any human today," Jasper said.

"Got it," Zeno nodded.

Cody remained silent, staring at Ida who hadn’t even looked his way since morning. It wasn’t supposed to affect him, but somehow, it did. He knew he was the one who started it, but he never imagined that Ida would ever stop talking to him just because he had ignored him for a whole day.

’Yeah, like that was something normal to do.’ He silently chastised himself.

"Hello, bodyguards," Jeremiah said as he walked down the stairs with his brother.

"Morning, young masters," Jasper teased.

"Oh please," Thomas said, shaking his head.

Zeno chuckled, he was glad everyone got to get along with each other now, it wouldn’t have been good working with friction amongst them.

"Ah! I see everyone’s ready," Mr. Glen came out of his cave looking all suited up in a blue tuxedo.

"We’re ready, sir," Ida responded.

"Awesome, but why are you all in a boring black outfit and a weird cap? You should all dress up, we’re going for an event," Mr. Glen frowned, looking them up and down, not satisfied with how they looked.

"We’re bodyguards, sir. This is how we dress," Zeno said, emotions void in his voice.

Ida threw him a quick look before clearing his voice.

"Um, we’re sorry, sir, we appreciate the outfits you got for us, but, to look professional, we always wear our uniforms," Ida calmly explained.

He knew Zeno hated Mr. Glen, but they had promised to keep everything under a low profile. They wouldn’t want him growing suspicious of them this soon.

"That’s alright, as long as my boys look charming... Let’s go then," Mr. Glen replied and started walking out of the house.

Thomas scoffed as they followed him behind.

In front of the house, two cars were already parked waiting for them, Lucia came out of the first car and opened the door for Mr. Glen.

"Here," She handed a key to Ida.

"Drive him," She said in her normal cold voice.

Ida wanted to ask her how she was coming but he decided against it, he was sure she had her means.

"Take this," She gave another key to Zeno, pointing at the second car.

"Got it," Zeno replied.

Ida and Cody drove Mr. Glen while Zeno and Jasper drove the twins.

In twenty minutes, they reached their destination.

The event was held in a luxurious hotel, different kinds of cars were already parked in their designated parking slots and many more were still coming.

Zeno and his friends quietly followed Mr. Glen and his sons behind, observing the environment.

Zeno noticed that Mr. Glen didn’t want any surprises, he had set two hefty security men in front of the hotel to check for authentification of the invite before they let you in.

He noted how every other guest stood in line and waited to be checked before they went into the hotel.

They walked through a long hallway which led them into a large hall where the event was held.

Zeno looked around and noticed that most of his guests were men, he wasn’t surprised about that, they had obviously come to purchase girls. And they all had an anticipatory look on their faces.

Zeno clenched his fists beside him, anger threatening to overtake him. But he calmed himself down, it was still early to act, and he had a surprise for them later.

"Make yourselves comfortable, boys, I’ll attend to my guests, have fun," He winked at them before walking away.

"Um, you don’t have to follow me around," Mr. Glen turned around when he noticed Ida and Cody following him behind.

"I’m sorry, but your safety is our concern," Ida said.

"How thoughtful, okay then, but keep your distance," Mr. Glen said and turned around to continue on his path.

Ida and Cody trailed behind, keeping some distance as they were asked.

"Hey," Cody said to Ida.

"Yeah?" Ida asked, looking at Cody briefly before removing his eyes.

"Um... Everything okay?" Cody asked, staring hopefully at Ida.

"Yeah, why?" Ida answered, looking around the hall in observation.

Cody clenched his fists. He was frustrated, he dared to ask him ’why?’ As if he didn’t know what he was talking about.

"N-nothing," Cody replied, silently sulking.

"Cool, let’s focus on work then, we wouldn’t want to get unnecessarily sidetracked," Ida said seriously.

"Yeah...unnecessarily sidetracked," Cody murmured, feeling more conflicted within himself.

"How about we go the opposite directions, we can’t just stick in one place," Jasper suggested.

"Good idea, you can go that way with Thomas, I’ll go the other way with Zeno," Jeremiah said, pointing to his left and right sides.

"Okay, careful, Zeno," Jasper said before walking away with Thomas.

"Let’s go," Jeremiah said to Zeno, walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey, I don’t see any girls here, are you sure he’s auctioning them today?" Zeno asked quietly beside Jeremiah.

"Don’t worry, they come in disguise. After his boring speech," Jeremiah pointed up to the stage.

Zeno’s sight followed the direction Jeremiah had pointed to and saw Mr. Glen going up the stage, a microphone in his hand.

"How long does he give it?" Zeno asked, already feeling bored with the upcoming speech.

"Five minutes," Jeremiah chuckled at Zeno’s helpless expression.

He just discovered that he wasn’t the only one who was bored to death with Mr. Glen’s speech.

"Hey, cheer up," Jeremiah put his hand on Zeno’s lower back, turning him away from the stage.

"Come on, Coach, come with me," Jeremiah said, leading him towards a corner.

Zeno didn’t ask questions, he would go anywhere to escape those boring five minutes.

Jeremiah led him to a corner, pushing open a tall brown double door.

Zeno was led into a small balcony, flower pots were placed all around the protective rail.

"We can stay here for five minutes, or more if you want," Jeremiah said behind Zeno who was busy looking down from the balcony.

"Five minutes will do, we have to get back there soon," Zeno said, still looking down, observing the guests who kept arriving in their tinted expensive cars.

"What are you thinking of?" Jeremiah’s voice sounded close to Zeno’s neck.

He put each hand beside Zeno, caging him between the railing and himself, slowly moving up behind Zeno.

Zeno didn’t think anything of it, he was too busy thinking about stuff to read meaning into Jeremiah’s actions.

"Just thinking of how those poor girls are feeling right now, forced against their wills to become sex slaves to those entitled assholes," Zeno sighed.

He heard Jeremiah chuckle behind him and he felt his

hand on his arm. That was when he paid attention to their position, Jeremiah was almost pressed behind his back, and he could feel his hot breath faintly on his neck.

He stood still. These days, he noticed he’s been attracting the same gender, and he was curious to know the cause. Does it mean he’s turning gay?

He closed his eyes and sighed, he didn’t push Jeremiah away because, just like Jasper, he was trying to check his reactions towards other men.

"Don’t worry, we’ll do everything to save them, together," Jeremiah whispered, placing a kiss behind Zeno’s neck.

Nothing...

Zeno felt nothing apart from the warmth of Jeremiah’s lips pressing against his neck.

He slowly turned and faced him.

Jeremiah looked intently at him, an unsure feeling washing over him.

"Zeno-"

"Let’s get back inside," Zeno said, cutting him off.

"Yeah... Sure," Jeremiah replied and moved away from Zeno.

He let Zeno walk in front of him while he slowly trailed behind him, thinking about what he had just done.

Did he just make everything worse?

Inside the hall, Zeno saw Ida and Cody standing behind Mr. Glen who was busy talking with a very young and handsome man.

He was surprised to see someone of his age already so rich and associating himself with the likes of Mr. Glen.

Was he also here to purchase girls?

"That’s Marcus, he’s real son," Jeremiah provided, standing beside Zeno.

"Makes sense now," Zeno narrowed his eyes.

"Is he in with him in the business?" Zeno asked, still staring at Marcus.

"No. It’s safe to say, he’s clueless. He believes his father’s companies are what fetches all the money," Jeremiah said, putting his hands into his pockets.

"I see. When are the girls coming?" Zeno asked the main question which was the reason why they were there.

"Right about... Now," Jeremiah pointed to the door which they had come in from.

Zeno looked at the door but only saw a train of waitresses carrying drinks and food inside the hall.

"Umm, I don’t see no girls, just waitresses serving drinks," Zeno frowned.

Was Jeremiah wrong about his information, did he misplace the dates? Or, did Mr. Glen find them out and decide to surprise them instead? Making them look like fools.

"No, Zeno, observe," Jeremiah said, waving one waitress over.

"What would you like to drink, sir?" A girl with short brown hair came over with a tray of drinks.

"Water for me and my friend, please," Jeremiah replied.

"Here you are, please wave me over if you need something else, anything at all," The girl said before walking away.

"Did you notice anything?" Jeremiah asked.

"Nothing special, just her name tag and a number below it, I guess it’s her employee number," Zeno replied, still not believing him.

"You’re right about the name, but so wrong about the figures," Jeremiah sipped his water.

"What’s it then?" Zeno asked impatiently.

"That’s her price tag," Jeremiah replied.

Zeno looked shocked.

How could he have been so dumb not to think of it?

"Fuck, I didn’t think about that," Zeno said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, that’s why he does it that way, for the clueless to remain clueless," Jeremiah looked at Marcus as he spoke.

"Then I’ll make a call to Lucia," Zeno said and brought out his phone.

"Not here," Jeremiah stopped Zeno from dialing Lucia’s number.

"You can pretend to go to the restroom," Jeremiah suggested.

Zeno nodded and walked away.

"Yes, you can send them in, I’m sure," Zeno spoke into his phone inside the men’s restroom.

"In three minutes," Lucia responded through the phone and ended the call immediately.

Zeno used the opportunity to release his bladder and wash his hands.

He opened the door to return to the hall when he was suddenly pushed back in, the door clicking, indicating that it had been locked.

"Having fun?" Sebastian asked, pressing Zeno against the sink.

"Sebastian?" Zeno didn’t realize he had called Sebastian’s name out of shock.

What was he doing here?!