The Alpha Mafia King
Chapter 32

The Falcon 7X banked into the private hangar formerly owned by Gleb Sokolov. Alonso had bought the entire airport, now his personal property. Mazza was putting on a coat like everyone else, and he was the first to hop off the jet. It was evening, and the sunset at the airport looked breathtaking.

He could not believe how unbelievably cold Russia was for him, even with his fur coat on. Jerald and Vincenzo were standing right there to welcome them, and they bowed their heads.

Mazza embraced them as he would do to his sons. About four security men stepped out of the jet too. Alonso had decided to start taking the security of Taleela so personally since her encounter with the stranger in Italy who had mistaken her for someone else.

“Boys, what degree is it out here? It feels like I walked into the motherfucking freezer!” Mazza said, his voice coming out strong, despite the frigid weather.

“It’s usually between ten to five degrees Celsius, but today the temperature lowers to three degrees at midnight thereabouts!” Vincenzo responded, and Mazza nodded uncomfortably.

“No f*****g way,” Mazza said

“Sorry, Don,” Jerald replied.

“Hmm, I guess I’m going to be needing a heavier coat,” Mazza replied, looking backward. What the hell were those two still doing inside the jet? He did not wait to replace out because he wanted to get inside the car and turn the heating up. Accompanied by Jerald, they both left.

Vincenzo stood by the side, waiting for Alonso to deplane. He was expecting Bianco to have come out, but after sniffing the air, he realized that Bianco was not on the jet. Alonso and Taleela came out like the world’s most powerful couples. He assisted Taleela by upholding her left hand as she descended the last flight of stairs.

“Vince, Grazie tante!” Taleela said. She thanked him, and she smiled.

“Non-c’è di che,” Vincenzo said, returning a smile.

“My Italian is still a little rusty, but I think you said I shouldn’t mention it!” Taleela said.

Vincenzo nodded and replied, “Sì, it means that. Your Italian is well polished.”

He looked up at Alonso and added, “Welcome, Don Alonso.”

“Vincenzo, I’ve missed you, brother!” Alonso said, giving him a hug which resulted in both men patting each other’s backs.

“I missed you too, Don!” Vincenzo said. “Your coming to Russia couldn’t have had a better timing!”

“Really, why’s that?” Alonso said as they all proceeded to the vehicle.

Vincenzo looked at Taleela uncomfortably and said, “I’m sure it can wait.”

“Of course, whatever it is can wait!” Alonso said, holding his mate’s hand. He was freezing, and Taleela looked perfectly fine. “Aren’t you feeling cold?”

“No, I’m fine!” Taleela said with a smile. She looked around the beautiful airport, wondering if something there would jog her memory, but nothing was to be remembered.

They were headed straight to the Casino in a fleet of six cars. Mazza was already trying to get accustomed to riding alone in the backseat as Alonso had taken Taleela from him. She was the reason for the strict security men following them. He was glad Alonso was starting to show her the much-needed care.

“As it should be,” he said aloud.

“What?” Jerald asked, turning from the front passenger seat to look at him.

“Nothing,” Mazza said and added, “I was just thinking aloud!”

Mazza noted the mistake painfully, and it made him realize just how old he was starting to turn out. Speaking his thoughts aloud was one of the signs of old age that had become frequent.

Taleela rested her head on top of Alonso’s chest, and he wrapped an arm around her. She did not want to look out the window because of the tainted glass. She thought that it made everything just darker, and she wanted to have that clear view of Russia if she was going to remember things.

“Is everything alright?” Alonso asked for the umpteenth time.

“Yes, I’m fine!” she insisted.

“You’re sure?” Alonso pressed on, but she gave him a thin smile in return.

Taleela aimed to replace a way to jog her memory back and hope to replace out about something useful. Carefully, she listened to his heartbeat. It was almost the calmest thing she had ever had to listen to. It rose and fell rhythmically, and it did well in soothing her nerves.

Alonso’s fingers were subconsciously playing with the tip of her hair, and it tickled her, but she kept in her comment concerning it since they were not so alone for conversations like that.

The vehicle finally came to a halt after what seemed like hours of utmost silence. Taleela has managed to stop herself from sleeping off Alonso’s chest. After the small conversation asking about her well-being, no one had bothered to say a thing, and she was not so ready to start a discussion between them at the moment. Even if she wanted to, Taleela had no idea what to say.

She gladly looked out the tinted window this time, eager to see where they had stopped the car. The car door opened, and her jaw dropped open along with it.

They chose to stop at his casino. Out of all the other places, Alonso let them go to his casino first. She was excited, but at the same time, Taleela was astonished.

Along with Alonso, she descended the car. He never let go of her hand, not even for a split second as they walked into the casino.

In the casino, Taleela marveled at the number of people out there to gamble the night away. Funnily enough, her senses judged them to be wealthy people.

Nothing about the scene looked familiar to her. She did not know jack about gambling. She was walking alone with Alonso because Mazza had immediately left them when they entered. Vincenzo also disappeared right away.

Although they seemed to be alone, Taleela knew that the security men watched with eagle eyes for any suspicious person or activity. Alonso had caught up with her paranoia of being next in line for death.

“Over there, we have the baccarat,” Alonso offered to do some explaining as she nodded her head as if to understand everything he was saying. They were holding hands.

Taleela looked towards the green table with some inscriptions on it. The table also contained some colored chips and a discard tray from which the dealer dealt a total of two cards for each of the banker’s and player’s hands in each round.

“I’ve heard about it, but I don’t know how it’s played, and I believe I’m just seeing this game for the first time.”

Her eyes were lit in excitement as she continued to stare straight ahead.

“Hmm, Baccarat is an exciting game of pure chance. It’s an easy, slow-paced game that’s great for new players; there’s no strategy or skill needed. Plus, Baccarat offers some of the best odds in the casino.”

“Wow, it looks exciting! Is it your favorite game?” Taleela said, taking a step forward.

“No, let me take you to my favorite!” Alonso said, pulling her back gently away from the severe gamblers who paid very minimum attention to them.

“What’s your favorite?” Taleela beamed in anticipation.

“Crap,” Alonoso replied. “It’s a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of a pair of dice. Interestingly enough, the jet we flew in was gambled away by playing crap with the Casino’s lucky winner.”

“Lucky?” Taleela said. “I won’t call losing my jet lucky.”

“He was lucky with a few million until I stepped in, and he ran out of luck. He also committed suicide right after then.”

“Holy crap!” Taleela said, looking at him with a horrific expression as her skin went cold and pale at how plainly he said it.

“That’s right, holy crap!” Alonso said, chuckling lightly. He explained everything to her that happened that night.

“It seems like there are more sad love stories than happy ones these days,” Taleela commented after he finished.

“Yeah, I know, right, and life is starting to seem like a Shakespearean play. You know Shakespeare, right?”

Taleela nodded. “A great man. I didn’t know Don Alonso likes to read.”

“I only love to read stories, my dear,” Alonso said.

“Okay,” Taleela said.

Alonso spun around instinctively. He had caught the scent of Jamie, one out of two of Callisto’s werewolves here in Russia. Their eyes locked, and Jamie used the fact that a small crowd of people had blocked him to slip away.

Alonso did not bother going after him. He had been told that the man was frequenting the casino these days, so it was not surprising to see Jamie. Taleela was watching the crap table with an intense desire.

“Do you want to join the game?” Alonso said, making her realize she was looking interested.

“No, I wouldn’t even know how to even if I wanted to!” Taleela responded. There was something about the game that ignited parts of her memory, but as usual, she was going to dig into it later.

Alonso could tell that something was off, but he didn’t want to force her to say it to him.

“Okay, shall we go upstairs then?” Alonso said, surprised that she was still interested in watching the game. “My Grandfather will be there waiting for us.”

Taleela nodded absentmindedly and said. “Let’s go.”

Jamie could have sworn at that moment that Alonso had heard his heart miss a beat as he walked past him with the lady. He still hated this idea of risking life and limb to spy on the activities happening in Alonso’s casino.

Tonight, however, Jamie had something tangible to report. He was well aware of the eyes in the sky, which could be the reason Alonso ignored him while he went straight up with the lady. He brought out his phone and texted Laslow.

***

Laslow’s phone chimed, and he looked at the incoming message from Jamie. He read the text: De Sina is here with his mate!

Interestingly enough, he and Callisto had just finished talking about Alonso’s mate. His boss was planning a move on her, and it was just fitting for her to walk into the lion’s den. He called Callisto right back.

“Speak,” Callisto said.

“Alonso and his mate are in Russia, in the Casino!” Laslow said.

“Do nothing for now,” Callisto said. “We have an alpha’s meeting coming up tomorrow night, and it is happening here.”

“Alright, boss, I understand!” Laslow replied. He texted Jamie a set of instructions to observe and do nothing.

***

Agent Fox had flown to Russia with his quarries. Aliyona’s sudden return to her father’s land greatly troubled Mariyanna. Mariyanna had ordered a hit on her sister before she could make contact with any of the family members.

The problem was that Taleela had not been left alone since Mariyanna had given him the instruction to terminate her. In Italy, Alyona’s bodyguards followed her around. He had lost his quarries for a while when they were in the sky and also when they had landed at different airports.

However, he had believed the Casino was an excellent place to start searching for them again. He bumped into a man who immediately apologized to him.

“Hey, don’t I know you?” Fox said to Jamie, turning him back after he had apologized.

“I don’t think so,” Jamie said, smiling apologetically. “My face is always looking familiar to people.”

“My apologies, I thought you were a friend!” Fox said, letting the man leave.

His instincts told him to stick with the man, so he followed the man to the crap table. He was a man of casino games, and crap was almost his favorite game; it came second to Russian Roulette. He decided to play at the table Jamie was playing, and he could sense that Jamie was nervous, but he needed to know why. He smiled, and Jamie smiled back.

There was something that was not genuine about this man, and if he could dig a little deeper, he would uncover it, and maybe this man will be responsible for the murder of Alyona tonight. He was hoping he would kill her tonight. From time to time, he would look around, hoping that Alyona had not secretly made contact with her family to come here.