Love in Deceit: Mafia Boss's Enigmatic Wife

Fallon.

“$1 MILLION GOING ONCE…” The announcer’s voice was starting to fade in my ears. I bowed my head, hiding my expression with my hair, and stared at the ground.

“Going twice…Thrice…No more bidders? Alright, sold! Item 34 sold to Number 456!”

So far, so good, I thought. I couldn’t help the smirk that curled up to one side of my mouth. The plan was proceeding smoothly. The men yanked me up and I had to clench my fists behind me to restrain myself from going out of character and flinching away from them. My cuffed wrists were starting to itch so I quietly thanked God they took it off of me once I got back inside the cell with the other girls. I fixed the skirt of my dirty janitress outfit and sat properly.

Immediately, one of them came up to me and asked, “Did someone buy you?”

I slowly nodded.

“For how much?”

“$1 million.”

“Wow, good for you,” she dreamily mumbled as her shoulders slumped. “I was only worth for $300,000. I can’t believe it. I even showed them my boobs!”

I remained staring blankly at her. “You wanted to be sold?”

“Duh, of course! Madame told me I’ll live a life of luxury and pleasure if I’m sold at a good price,” she replied, eyes dreamy with the false idea that ‘Madame’ gave her. The girl didn’t know the opposite was waiting for her.

In this auction, men are gathered to look for a woman-for-sale for one out of two choices; either use them for sheer sexual pleasure – a mistress – or re-sell them at a higher price. The women here are very much objectified, and although it disgusts me to be in this situation, I’ll have to bear it for just a little longer.

Once the auction finished, the men came rushing in and picked up the bought girls one by one. There was a mix of emotions in the backstage. When my turn came, I quietly followed them out to the farthest door at the back, with my hands still cuffed behind me and my head bowed.

“My dear, Fallon!” I looked up and saw the gay announcer grinning while nearing me. The men holding me stopped in their tracks. “You’re the luckiest girl tonight! I can’t believe Mr. Rios chose you and for $1 million!” His eyes sparkled at the thought of the large sum of money.

I feigned a worried smile. “Do you think he’ll be good to me?”

“Of course, of course!” He eagerly nodded. “Make sure to not disobey him, darling!”

I was told to continue walking and he had already left to help the others that were bought too. Before I was completely out, my vision dimmed as they blindfolded me. I chose to trust my other senses and felt as they escorted me inside a vehicle. Judging by the amount of breathing inside, I assumed there were at least four other men with me.

“Is that her?” someone spoke.

“Yes, Sir.”

The door closed beside me and my blindfold was taken off. I gulped when I saw the four massive men in suits around me. Two were on either side, a driver, and another on the shotgun seat. They all carried an intimidating air, which led me to believe they’re the Boss’s underlings. So, they were taking me to their hideout. Good.

Reminding myself of the persona of Fallon, my current identity for this mission where I used my real name, I frantically darted my eyes everywhere and forced my body to shake. The Fallon for this mission is a cowardly, innocent, and gullible woman. I should keep that in mind.

The environment inside during the travel was suffocating. Every time I would twitch even just a muscle, their sharp senses would always dart at me. The road we were taking was familiar to me, probably because I had planned everything beforehand and already found out their hideout – but I wouldn’t show that I knew, of course. Not now that I’m defenseless anyway.

We entered a vast front yard with a tall circular fountain in the middle of the path and behind is a wide European mansion. This mansion was at the end of an exclusive village and for passersby, this was just like the others – full of wealthy professionals because they were the only ones that could afford such luxury, where they were not entirely wrong. But this was Casa Rios, according to the data I gathered. Casa Rios was currently inhabited by Jett Rios, a business tyrant and infamous boss of the Rios Mafia – my target.

“W-Where are we?” I asked through gritted teeth, feigning a frightened expression.

“Your new home.”

I visibly gulped, hiding my smirk by pursing my lips. The real Fallon inside of me was itching for an action-packed mission. The Rios Mafia better not disappoint.

***

Two weeks before the Casa Rios infiltration…

“Here, I got you some cola.” Jaguar placed a canned bottle in front of me, holding his own as he sat in the chair opposite mine. I grinned and accepted it, exhaling after the first sip.

“Thanks,” I muttered, taking another sip.

“So, Las Vegas, huh?”

I nodded. “I’ll start my mission as soon as I arrive there. I have to put up a good act, you know.”

“Good luck. The Director didn’t disappoint you with another dangerous mission,” he said. “I think he doesn’t expect you to come back alive this one. Prove him wrong.”

“Of course. I’ll postpone my death until I see another one of those bewildered expressions on his face.” I stood up, tapping his shoulder. “I’ll go first, Leo invited me to go shopping before I leave.”

He merely nodded. In two weeks, I’ll be diving into one of the world’s most dangerous seas. But first, I’ll need help from my colleague to test the waters. I might just know how I can avoid drowning.

Fallon.

I craned my neck around the place to look for a familiar face. Remembering her favorite place in the mall, I made my way to the ice cream shop and indeed found a redhead sitting gleefully on one corner, eating the strawberry ice cream in delight with not a care in the world. Scoffing at her childishness, I entered the shop and abruptly sat down in front of her. She curiously followed my every move while licking her ice cream, not bothering to pause and greet me at all.

“You lose your manners when eating ice cream?” I raised a brow at her.

She grinned and tore the cone away from her face after one more lick.

She beamed, “Hi, Hawk! I’m the first one to arrive here so I thought a little snack wouldn’t hurt.”

“For all I know, you wanted to come first so you can eat your ice cream. You can’t tell me otherwise, Leo,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. She merely giggled and finished her cone.

Her codename is the complete opposite of her personality. She would’ve been called kitten; and not accepted into our unit at all if not for her remarkable intelligence in the field. During missions, she’s our strategist with her tactical plans usually the key to our success.

I waited until Leo finished her cone, and she ordered another one just as we were about to leave, saying it’d be finished before we met up with the others. I only sighed.

“Oh, right! I forgot to return your lipstick from the other night. I got wasted so bad, Hawk, that I lost your lipstick! You wouldn’t want to know how I ended up in—“

“Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t want to know,” I cut her off before her tongue slips and mentions an awkward situation I definitely wouldn’t want to hear from her. I already knew where she ended up anyway. “And don’t worry about the lipstick if you’ve lost it. It wasn’t an expensive one anyway.”

She smiled sheepishly and sighed with relief. “Phew! I thought you were gonna scold me for losing it!”

I had the lipstick. Agent Jaguar, Leo and my superior, and also our unit captain, returned it to me yesterday.

He said Leo told him it was mine when she was mumbling in her sleep. How they were together that night when it was a girl’s night, I didn’t dare ask. Besides, it wasn’t the first time they were alone together at such a questionable time while off-duty.

We went to the mall’s rooftop, a place allowed only for the staff, and found the others already waiting for us. Six individuals each emitting their distinct auras. My eyes first met Agent Jaguar who was already frowning when we neared. He looked down at his wristwatch.

“You’re two minutes late, both of you.”

Leo quickly raised her palms in defense, then pointed to the closing elevator. “There were a lot of people leaving on every floor, slowing down the elevator!”

“I wasn’t asking for your excuses. Learn to accept your mistakes without blaming something else. How many times have I told you that?”

Jaguar was Leo’s polar opposite. Their codenames may have been from the same feline species, but their personalities were far from each other.

While Leo was kind and bubbly, Jaguar tended to be hotheaded and was always in a sour mood. But also because of them, I was a strong believer in ‘opposites attract’.

Leo pouted and before she could say anything else that could irk Jaguar more, a bulky seven-footer man interfered – Agent Rhino. “We wouldn’t want to stay here for any longer than 30 minutes, if I may. Can we get to business already?”

His deep, guttural voice was formal and quiet. In contrast to his rather aggressive appearance, Rhino was the most refined out of all of us, thus his three-piece suit in the middle of summer. The others kept quiet and Jaguar cleared his throat.

“Supporting Hawk’s solo mission, a mission was assigned to three of us. It’s mainly to infiltrate organizations that we believe have been working with Hawk’s target. Who would like to volunteer?”

Two raised their hands. Leo and Rhino.

Rhino spoke first, “I haven’t had a task in a month. It’s beginning to be quite the challenge to stay in the HQ recently.”

Leo agreed with Rhino, her lower lips protruding. “I have another reason aside from getting bored at the HQ. Uh…I want to help Hawk in any way I can with her big mission.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jaguar’s left eyebrow rise. I darted my eyes elsewhere.

“Alright. Who else?” Jaguar looked around, but no more hands were raised. I understand. They were all busy with their current tasks or were still resting from their previous ones. “Fine. I’ll go.”

“You?” I asked, surprised.

He turned to me, his black eyes questioning. “Would you prefer someone else?”

“N-No.” I shook my head. I was just surprised because Jaguar had never left the HQ for five months now, only doing the paperwork. I had thought he was done with the fieldwork after five years of intense missions.

“I was thinking you’d retired from fieldwork already.”

He shook his head. “No, there just weren’t any missions perking my interest at the late, until this one came. But the Director gave this mission to you specifically, so I’m fine doing the supporting tasks.”

I nodded. So he wanted this mission.

“We should go down now. We’ve been here for 26 minutes already. Would anyone care for a farewell dinner? It’s not mandatory.”

We were surprised to hear the captain’s invite. A farewell dinner? All eight of us? He must be joking.

I shook my head, and so did everyone. “We’re too suspicious when together, Jaguar. Have you forgotten we have Rhino and Fox with us?”

Agent Panda, a 200-pound Asian, asked Jaguar. He motioned to Rhino, the seven-foot-tall giant, and Agent Fox, a teenager in a wheelchair. We were more like a group of oddballs than the FBI’s secret elite unit.

Leo giggled. “You attract attention too, Panda.”

“Huh?!” He sneered down at her, nose flaring. “I do not!”

“And we’ll gather too much unnecessary attention,” I add. “Thanks for the thought of having a farewell dinner. But we’re shadow agents. We’re not supposed to be known by the world.”

Jaguar merely shrugged.

That rendezvous earlier would probably be my last one for this month and the months to follow. I’ll be gone for a good amount of time. I visited the HQ the next day, looking for Agent Fox. I found him dozing off in his wheelchair on one corner of the top floor, snoring softly. The other agents were uncomfortably watching me nearing one of the most dangerous men in the building. I lightly tapped his cheeks.

“Fox…Fox…” I gently tug at him.

After a while, I got impatient and straightened my stance, smacking the back of his head. He jolted awake and within a second, a gun was cocked in my direction. I noticed how he instinctively pressed a button on the armrest of his wheelchair that was also his weapon, where a high-grade gun appeared on its left wheel and automatically locked on a target – me.

“Oh,” I scoffed. One side of my lips curled upward, impressed at his reaction time.

“You reacted quicker this time than twelve days ago.”

He frowned and quickly fixed his lopsided glasses trying to figure out who I was, though I think my sharp memory gave me away.

“Hawk?”

When he fixed his thick glasses and he finally saw me clearly, he grinned.

“Eh? Yours got slower. What if I fired? You’d be drenched in blood.”

“I gave myself away so I figured you’d recognize me before you even saw my face. I was right. And besides, I would’ve broken your little chair way before—“ I paused when I realized the floor had silenced, probably bothered by our conversation. Who wouldn’t be when they heard two people casually talk about killing each other as a way of greeting? Then again, they should be used to that.

We’re elites, we’re masters at the game.

“I forgot we had an audience. Come with me, Fox.” I trod to the elevator, hearing wheels follow closely behind me.

“I’m guessing you need all the information you can get before going there,” he spoke when the two of us entered the lift. “I can provide everything I find. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you. Is it free?”

“Of course not, stupid,” he said, snickering. Why this kid — “There’s a new movie out in two weeks. I need two tickets.”

I raised my brow in question. “Two?”

“Yes. Two weeks.”

“I meant the two tickets.” I turned to him, whose ears were starting to redden. “You have a girlfriend, Fox?”

This is surprising. Did he code a robot? How could he get a girlfriend when he never even leaves the HQ save for our meetings? And he’s only 17.

“Stop questioning me. I’m attractive like Jaguar, don’t you see?” He huffed. “And she was amazed by my advanced wheelchair, entirely ignoring my missing legs.”

It was my turn to snicker. “You’re too young to be playing with girls.”

“I-I’m not!”

That same day, I received a highly confidential e-mail that was deleted as soon as I finished reading and closed the message. I leaned back on my chair and heaved a deep sigh. This mafia has a lot of ties with a lot of dangerous people. This might be my hardest mission yet.

The thought pumped adrenaline into my veins as a smile crept up my face. How exciting.