Risky idea

They all gathered in the living room, "How did you know that I was going to be attacked?" Santiago asked.

Mateo pulled out his phone and gave it to him, "Someone sent me this anonymous message, saying that you'd be attacked today. I don't know who and why. He refused to disclose the identity of the man who attacked you because he was scared of getting caught in the chaos."

"Who would want you dead Santiago?" Ruth asked.

"Everyone wants me dead."

General Nikolas had heard of the news, he took it as his opportunity to question them again. His deadline was drawing near, if he doesn't bring a mafia soon, he'll be demoted.

"General Nikolas is here." A guard informed.

Nikolas walked in, he looked at the number of dead bodies on the floor and was stunned. He is surprised to see them all alive but then again, this house belongs to a mafia, although he doesn't have any evidence to prove this.

"Good morning señor." Santiago greeted. Nikolas greeted back, he was shocked to see Mateo here as well because he thought they were enemies after the kidnap.

"I heard about the news so my team and I want to investigate the situation. Do you mind if we search your house?" Nikolas asked.

"Come back with a search warrant," Santiago said.

Nikolas has been trying to get a search warrant but to no avail because he hasn't brought substantial evidence worthy of a search warrant.

"When did this happen?" He asked, he knew he wouldn't be able to search their home but he had to take his chance.

"Around one AM," Santiago replied.

"And do you know who could have done this? Who wants you dead?" The general asked.

"I don't know, although my business has a lot of competitors, I'm not sure anyone wants to kill me," Santiago replied. He knew that if he had given them a name, they'd dig deeper and this could reveal some things.

"What about you Señor Lopez, what are you doing here?" He asked turning to the man who was sitting and was waiting for his turn to be questioned.

"I spent the night here, although we are enemies, we still have a project we are working on together." He flashed the general a smile.

Nikolas knew that he was lying but he couldn't say anything. "The men, you brought a lot of bodyguards for a sleepover...." Nikolas trialled.

"I'm sleeping over in the house of Santiago De León, the man you believe is a mafia boss, I don't want to get killed. Better safe than sorry right?" He flashed him another smile.

"Can I take the men who died in this encounter? It's needed in the investigation."

Santiago looked at Mateo and he nodded. "Please do, it'd save us the trouble of taking care of the bodies," Santiago replied. He knew that the men he had here were professional bodyguards with licensed guns, since Mateo gave him the go-ahead it also meant he brought his guards and not the men he used to carry out his operations.

The men of the man who had attacked him, he was sure they wouldn't trace them back to him. They let Nikolas take the dead bodies away.

After Nikolas left, Santiago turned to his twin brother. Both stared at each other but didn't say anything for a while.

"Mateo, why did you decide to help Santiago?" Ruth asked, she knew that was the question Santiago wanted to ask but his pride was getting in the way.

"I don't know either, I found myself here with a car full of my most trusted bodyguards," Mateo replied honestly.

"Will you two stop this cat and rat attitude?" Ruth asked, she was getting tired of everything.

"Let's leave that aside for now, Santiago I want to have a word with you," Mateo said he had a serious look on his face, he meant business.

They entered his study. "A day ago, I sent one of my men to break into the office Nikolas, they brought some information."

"It looks like Nikolas is on the verge of getting demoted, he doesn't only suspect you, but I'm now a target of his as well. I have an idea, it could work or it could put us behind bars."

"What do you have in mind?" Santiago asked.

"Since he is desperate to catch a mafia, we should dig deep into this incident today, find the culprit and set him up. We can also strike a deal with him, we'd bring him a mafia and he'd leave us alone." Mateo waited for Santiago to say something.

"Like you said, this could either work or put us behind bars. I like it but before we do that, we should find out who wanted me dead and also we need to find out who sent you that anonymous message."

"I'll work on it," Mateo said.

A nerve-cracking silence fell upon them, they sat staring at each other, no one willing to say what was buried inside their hearts. It looks like pride is one thing they have in common, the hate they had for each other isn't there anymore but then, their pride is getting in the way.

"Thank you for helping me out, I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own," Santiago said he meant it. He would have probably been killed by the man who had a knife.

"It's nothing, I don't want you to leave your woman and unborn child behind, I did it for them."

They weren't behaving like mafias anymore, they were acting like children in nervous situations. Luckily the knock on the door brought them out of this nervous situation.

"Santiago you have a call from Epiphone," Ruth said, she handed him the phone and left.