Billionaire Mafia's Manny
Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Zeno was sitting beside his friends in the cafeteria as they discussed the final mission tomorrow, but he couldn’t make out any words they were saying. He had toned them out and was lost in his thoughts, deeply thinking about what had happened between him and Sebastian inside the house an hour ago.

After Sebastian had kissed him in the living room, he didn’t see him anymore. He left him standing frozen in the living room and went out of the mansion with his flashy car.

This action left Zeno confused.

Why was Sebastian giving him hot and cold signals?

He had thought they would proceed to discuss the terms and conditions that would now be guiding their unofficial relationship, but, Sebastian just left him there and decided to take a ride out of town.

What a monster!

"Zeno? Are you listening?" Jasper asked, gently tapping Zeno’s arm.

"Oh? Oh my god, I’m sorry, sorry about that," Zeno was flustered by his thoughts.

He was angry at himself for letting the thoughts of his annoying boss occupy his mind. Was he letting himself unconsciously open up to him? No way!

"That’s okay," Jasper chuckled.

"I understand, It has been rough these past few days," Jasper replied.

Zeno nodded, glad that no one could hear his thoughts; he would have been super embarrassed by now.

"How did you guys end up bringing the girls over here?" Zeno asked.

"Hm, it was quite an unexpected event," Cody replied, then he went ahead to narrate to Zeno how everything had happened back at Mr. Glen’s house.

"Shit, that man is really a psycho," Zeno sighed and looked around the table at his friends.

"But, isn’t this going to jeopardize our mission tomorrow?" He questioned worriedly.

"No? How?" Thomas was the one to ask as he sipped his soda.

"I mean," Zeno shrugged, drumming his fingers on top of the table, "Mr. Glen’s gets released tomorrow, and, when he eventually returns to his home, he’ll first be met with a systematically shut down house, then he’ll discover that his properties were tampered with, his two lovely sons were gone, his chef was missing and his lovely trusted cousin was missing too," Zeno frowned.

"Don’t you think he’ll immediately know the culprits behind those incidents?" Zeno questioned sensibly.

Everyone remained quiet, looking at each other in sudden realization of how true Zeno’s words were.

"Hey, guys," Andre suddenly dropped his plate of food on the center of their table and proceeded to lower himself beside Zeno.

"What’s up, Andre?" Zeno asked, adjusting so the bench would fit in Andre.

"I overheard your discussion," Andre said.

"So?" Cody asked, agitated.

"Calm down, Cody, I’m not the enemy," Andre said with a chuckle.

Cody simply ignored him, the air between them tense as if they had an underlying dispute.

"Chill, Cody, he’s here to help," Ida gently patted Cody’s lap as he noticed how tense Cody was getting with Andre’s presence.

He knew the reasons for the tense atmosphere between the guys and he was just concerned the friction between them would affect their work.

Cody suddenly felt Ida’s hand on his lap and instantly stilled, his body feeling like a warm cloth had been placed over him, melting his worries away, but it was short-lived, for Ida soon retrieved his hand and continued like nothing had happened.

This was starting to get on his nerves. It’s been two days now since their encounter in Glen’s house, and Ida’s been ignoring the hell out of him, the little moments he acknowledged him always felt like an imagination because before he could savor the moment, Ida would withdraw, going onto another thing like he never initiated a contact with him.

"What do you have to tell us, Andre?" Ida asked in a serious tone.

He could feel Cody’s gaze beside him but he forced himself to keep his face straight. He knew from Cody’s actions that he regretted what happened between them, and he admitted to himself that it was his fault for letting his feelings drive him. Now, he’s lost his best friend, and he knew that Cody wasn’t as comfortable as he used to be around him anymore.

"Well, you guys don’t have to worry about Glen finding out about what happened to his house," Andre informed.

"Wait, are you saying..." Jeremiah asked, pausing midway to think about something.

Zeno was eager to know what they knew, and so was the rest, except Thomas who also had an idea like his brother.

"Yes. John had informed the boss about Glen’s movement when he gets released tomorrow," Andre said, smirking.

"And, what’s this he’s told the boss?" Zeno asked curiously, wondering if Sebastian’s absence had anything to do with the information John gave him.

"Glen wouldn’t be returning to his home directly; her fears there might be spies sent by officials to track him home, so he’ll be going to one of his secret houses," Andre informed proudly.

"Great," Jeremiah said.

"Yeah, at least now, we don’t have to worry about him finding us out. The mission would still be as planned tomorrow," Thomas explained.

Jasper silently nodded, getting the whole picture together.

Zeno took a second before he understood what they were talking about. If Mr. Glen didn’t return to his home tomorrow, he wouldn’t find out any of those things he’d mentioned before, and there would be no need to panic over their mission.

They would still show up as his bodyguards, and when the time came, they’d be the ones to take him down.

"That’s good, everything seems to be working out fine for us," Ida said with a slight nod.

Cody scoffed at Ida’s comment, drawing attention to himself, "You alright?" Jeremiah asked Cody who remained mute, looking interestingly at his fingers as if they were the most interesting thing at that moment.

"I’m perfect, Jerry. Thanks for asking," Cody was talking to Jeremiah, but his eyes were trained on Ida’s side profile.

"Right," Jeremiah replied.

Zeno noticed how Cody kept staring at Ida like he had wronged him; Ida, on the other side, did everything possible not to turn his face and look at Cody.

Something was up, but he was going to pretend like he knew nothing.

"Um, where’s Lucia and Julia?" Zeno questioned, looking at Jasper.

Jasper shrugged, "I don’t know, the last I saw of them was when they went with Nicole," He explained.

"I know," Thomas suddenly raised his hand like he was in a classroom.

Cody rolled his eyes, "Does anyone else know where they are?" He asked, ignoring Thomas who was sitting right in front of him, waving his hand above his head to get someone’s attention.

Jeremiah sighed, using his palm to cover his face in shame, "Quit it, Thomas, tell us already if you know."

"Ah, since you’ve asked," Thomas said victoriously, smiling at Cody.

Zeno was busy staring at Ida and Cody’s silent interaction.

They ignored each other but were still very much aware of each other.

"Well, Julia’s going to become the cook, and Lucia will now be in charge of the bodyguards," Thomas informed.

"What?!" Ida asked, disbelief written all across his face.

How and why did they suddenly make Lucia the head of the bodyguards? That was his position!

"Chill, Ida," Thomas chuckled, satisfied with the reaction Ida was giving.

He had already imagined he would act in that manner.

Ida scoffed quietly, "I’m Chill, Tom. Chill as ice," He replied sarcastically.

Cody found Ida’s reaction funny; he looked like a kid who was denied his favorite toy. He was about to say something to Ida but Thomas beat him to it.

"Don’t worry, Lucia was Just made in charge of our welfare in this building, more like a chaperone, so you see, you’re still the head, undisputed," Thomas teased.

Ida heard what Thomas said and instantly calmed down; he wouldn’t have rested within himself if Lucia had been in charge of him.

"Okay, that’s great then," Ida said.

Zeno shook his head at Ida; he was just realizing that adulthood was a forced belief; everyone was still a child within, even the strongest human too. He believed that one never truly part with one’s inner child; it wasn’t even possible. How could one live the primary character and voice that shaped them into the strong intimidating adult they were today?

He looked around the table, staring at everyone’s faces, and smiled.

They still bickered like children, showed their emotions the same way Ken did, and played like children too. But, this was the same set of people who turned formidable in the face of danger.

"Children," Zeno muttered.

"How dare you call us children, Zeno?!" Thomas asked playfully, pointing accusingly at Zeno.

Zeno chuckled and stood from the table, sliding past Andre.

"This," He flicked Thomas’ finger away from him.

"See you guys later, have to go check on Ken," Zeno said.

"I’ll come with," Jeremiah volunteered and immediately stood to follow Zeno.

Zeno paused, looking for a way to tell him that Sebastian would kill him if he found him uninvited inside his home, "Um-"

"You can’t; only he gets to freely go in and out as he pleases," Cody interrupted Zeno’s reply.

"Why?" Jeremiah asked, squinting his eyes at the guards at the table.

"Because he’s special," Andre simply replied with a shrug and went ahead to stuff his mouth with food.

Zeno heard his reply and tensed up. Was he going to tell everyone about Sebastian and him? How was he going to defend himself if he did?

But another question overtook his worries: Was he really special to Sebastian?