Hearing Jax's cry, Rory was surprised at the speed with which the arrogant man had given in to Vicente's demands.
"That's fast!" He commented to his group, noting that everything had been settled in less than half an hour since Vicente's arrival.
Vicente stood up, put on his metal mask, and walked to the entrance of his estate.
His men returned to their positions, with Rory following at his side.
Arriving outside the facility, Vice found the street a little different, without the bodies of the men killed earlier.
Jax and his men had taken his dead men to his estate, where he had immediately gone searching for his contracts with the Viscount's family.
When he did it, he nearly had a heart attack when he discovered that more than half of what was stored in that safe place was gone!
He couldn't imagine who could have done it, but judging by the days he hadn't looked at his safe, the theft had happened in the last 3 days.
He had already ordered his people to start investigating the case. Still, with Brody's problem on his mind and the strange powers of that masked enemy, he couldn't be distracted at the moment.
Brody was the future of the family, who, in a few short years, could elevate them significantly. He was worth more than a few coins and even one of the Symons family contracts!
That was why he had accepted Vicente's condition without hesitation and was already there with his brother and sister to retrieve the precious Brody.
Vicente looked at the already blue sky, getting used to the brightness of the street. "You are wiser than I thought, Jax. But it'll be better for both of us this way."
Jax braced himself not to say something stupid and expressed. "Just give me my nephew, and I'll give you what you requested."
"Hmm, it's not that easy, Jax." Vicente smiled under his mask. "Give me the papers I asked for. I guarantee I'll release Brody after that."
"No!" Jax's younger brother shouted, not accepting this. "Who guarantees you'll give us Brody after? This kind of trade doesn't work for us!"
"What other choice do you have but to trust me?" Vicente asked, a few steps ahead of the stairs leading to his headquarters entrance.
There were few people around, as it was early in the day and this area was far from the city center. Still, a few witnesses were walking around, watching the situation unfold.
Vicente said. "These papers are enough for me to have the assurance that you will not act against my group. That is more valuable to me than having this guy in my possession. Let's get this done, Jax."
Brody's mother then pleaded with her brother. "Brother, let's do what he said. Please, my little boy is in more danger every moment that passes!"
Jax closed his eyes and swallowed his saliva, feeling so angry that his head felt like it could explode at any moment.
But Vicente's words made sense. Those papers would be what kept them away from this group. As long as Vice had them, he would have to stay away or risk losing his deal with Viscount Symons.
Brody would never be a good guarantee. He was just too valuable to be threatened indefinitely.
So Jax dropped the papers he had with him and let his sister make the exchange.
With the papers in hand, the woman quickly walked halfway down the path, where Rory picked it up and saw that it was indeed a Magical Agreement between Viscount Symons and the Peters family.
"Very well, bring young master Brody Peters to me," Vicente said in a good-natured tone, ordering his men.
Two minutes after receiving the papers of such an agreement, Vicente released Brody, who immediately ran to his mother like a dog who had not seen his owners for a long time.
"Mom! Those animals treated me like a stray!" He complained, quickly trying to get his people to turn against Vicente's group now that he was among them.
"Calm down, Brody. This doesn't end here." Jax said in a low voice, but knowing that Vicente now had something valuable to keep them away, he wouldn't do anything for now, nor would he make useless threats.
"Let's go!"
The two groups finished their business, and Vicente returned to his estate to celebrate with his people.
...
Later that day, the rumor spread around the area of Vicente's estate, saying Brody had been released, but his captors were still safe.
The patrons of the two taverns run by the men of the Fuller family were already discussing the matter, theorizing about the strength of the group of guards and how they had resolved the problem with the Peters family.
But while the owners of the two taverns were feeling more confident about their dealings with Vicente and Rory, they returned to business in the morning and early afternoon.
They didn't expect to get immediate results from the action against the Peters family. Yet, both felt it was essential to get some area store' owners interested in them to speed things up.
They both visited three other shops that day and talked about where they were already operating, giving those people a reason to get to know the rumors already spreading in those two taverns.
Late in the afternoon, Rory returned to their group headquarters to deal with some issues with the group while Vicente went home.
He had been out all day, so when he saw Nina again in the late afternoon, he took her for an ice cream at a local plaza to make up for worrying her the night before.
After walking and playing with her, he ate dinner next to Nina and Eve before putting his little sister to sleep, as he had done many times since losing the rest of his family.
At the end of the day, Vicente sighed as he drank with Eve, so tired that he couldn't pay attention to the beautiful cleavage of this woman who had helped him so much.
"Eve, thank you for everything. I don't know what I would do without you taking care of Nina." He commented with his eyes closed, relaxing in an armchair in his living room.
"Don't worry, Vice. Taking care of Nina is a pleasure for me. For someone who could have had to go to bed with various strange, old, ugly men daily for years, taking care of a young girl like Nina is a real dream." Eve sighed and laughed, but inside, she didn't feel as good as she looked.
As much as she had escaped the fate of a prostitute, not everyone in her family had done so in time, which still bothered her!
Comments