Shooting lessons

Shooting lessons

~GEMMA~

Luca opened the door and we went into the room together and for some strange reason, I suddenly felt nervous and shy staying in the same room alone with him.

"You can sit," he said and pulled out a chair for me.

"Thank you" I said and sat down. There was a table in front of me.

I looked around the room and saw pictures of Luca on the walls and some other artworks.

This must be his room.

"Your room is nice. In fact, your house is beautiful" I complimented.

"Thank you" he said over his shoulders and shrugged his shoulders. He was standing beside a table with a laptop on it and some remote control.

There was a projector on the wall.

I didn't say a thing as I kept observing the room. I was starting to settle down when we heard a knock on the door.

Luca went to open the door and his maid, Alice walked into the room carrying a tray in her hands.

She walked straight to where I was sitting and gently dropped the tray on the table. She bowed to me and Luca and then left the room, leaving me and Luca alone in the room again.

This was the meaning of the signals Luca had made to her. He had asked her to bring this.

On the tray was a glass of orange juices with some cookies.

"Have some. I have nothing much to offer. You're welcome to my house" Luca said as he turned to face me.

"Thank you"

I picked a cookie, took a bite then closed my eyes to savour the taste.

"Hmmm…so yummy" I complimented then flashed him a smile.

"I'm glad you like it. Alice is really good at what she does" he said.

"How did you find her?"I asked.

"Dante found her. He brought her in one day and begged that I keep her. I allowed it because I wasn't always at home and he feels lonely most times. Even though she can't talk or hear, she's a good companion to Dante. Also, she's not a threat to me or the syndicate because of her condition so there's nothing for me to worry about. I had to let her stay" he explained.

I nodded my head in approval.

"So thoughtful of you. I could bet she feels so loved here"

"Maybe"he shrugged his shoulders.

There was silence as I ate my cookies and drank my juice, soon I was done and there was an empty plate and cup on the tray.

I belched loudly and when I saw the funny look on Luca's face, I immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry. It's just that this tastes so nice"

"It's fine. Are you ready now? We need to get back to business"

The tone in his voice shows he's serious and he's back to the mean,cold Luca I know.

"I'm ready," I replied.

"Alright then. Let me introduce you to the syndicate members" he said and opened the laptop on the table he's standing close to.

I took my chair to the table he was on and sat beside him while he operated his laptop.

The projector screen came on and the first picture on display was that of Antonio.

"Antonio Romano, leader of one of the most powerful syndicates in the whole country. Involved in a lot of operations, smuggling, drug trafficking, black market. He has a lot of friends in politics, including police generals and the millitarians. They receive lots of millions from Antonio in return for the protection they give our group"

"You need to know them, all these big people. This is the life you're entering, "he said.

"What about Isabella, Nanny Emilia and Maya, his late wife. They don't know about this, right?" I asked.

"They know nothing. They don't know he's a monster" he replied and showed me a picture of Antonio and his late wife, Maya. She's really beautiful.

The next picture was a picture of Antonio and his daughter, Isabella. They're looking so cute.

"I'm scared of this person, Luca. I'm scared of Antonio," I spilled out.

"Before, Antonio used to handle a small syndicate. He went big time when this man joined him, Bryan Morris" he explained, totally ignoring what I just said and showed me a picture of Bryan Morris.

"This man was Antonio's closest friend. He's also the fiance of Margaret but he died before they could get married"

"Which of the Margaret? The one I know?" I asked.

"Yes, the one you know" he replied and displayed a picture of Margaret.

"Margaret Steele. This woman works as Henry's partner in the organization, they're really close" he explained.

"So she moved to Antonio after her fiance died?"

"She has always loved Antonio. She just decided to be with Antonio's closest friend because she couldn't get him and thought it was a way of carrying out her revenge on Antonio for getting married to Maya" he replied.

"But unfortunately Maya and Antonio didn't get to enjoy each other as she died that year they got married, after giving birth to Isabella"

"The big boss, Mr Williams, made Antonio the heir to the mafia and leader of the syndicate when he saw that Antonio was capable,"he explained.

"Oh wow" was the only thing I could say.

"For the next few days, you'll find out about your new life as a Pink butterfly. Everything you need to know about the syndicate. You should get prepared and ready for war if you want to win over Margaret."

"You've become her enemy just by being Antonio's wife and she'll do everything in her power to fight you. You shouldn't be scared of her, stand up to her when necessary, learn how to protect and defend yourself. Margaret is very evil and dangerous and would stop at nothing to see her enemies suffer" he disclosed.

"I'll try my best," I replied.

He went on to show me pictures of other important people I need to know till he felt I've seen enough.

"I'll take you on shooting lessons. You'll start now" he informed me.

"Start what? I don't understand….what do you mean??" I stuttered.

"You need to learn how to shoot a gun if you want to protect yourself"

"I've never held a gun before in my life. I don't even know how to shoot a gun" I protested.

"That's why I said I'll teach you. And besides, a gun was in your bag that night you got caught " he reminded me and I quickly looked away in embarrassment.

I heard him chuckle and looked up. There was a wide grin on his face.

"Let's go out and start," he said.

He picked up some guns, a headset, bullets and led the way and I followed behind. He took me out in the open where there were shooting boards with poles stuck in the ground.

"First thing, you need to learn how to put bullets in your gun" he said and taught me how to put bullets in a gun.

Then he gave me the gun and asked me to do it myself. I fumbled with the gun and had so many failed attempts.

"Focus Gemma" he berated me. He was getting frustrated.

"If you can't even load bullets in your gun properly, how do you want to shoot?" He asked.

"You don't talk to your boss' wife like that" I retorted.

"You asked me to call you Gemma when we're alone. So now, you're Gemma and not boss' wife" he fired back.

I stared at him hard, then sighed loudly. I tried again and again and finally got it right.

"See, I finally got it," I said.

"Good. Now we go to the next stage. We're going to practice shooting" He gave me the headset to wear and handed a gun to me.

I slowly took the gun from him and wore the headset.

"You need to be smart, fast and sharp if you want to survive in the syndicate. Any dull moment and you might die" he berated me.

I rolled my eyes at him and hissed.

"It's not like I want to do any of this"

"You have no choice, Gemma"

"First, you choose a comfortable pistol firing chance, then you extend the gun directly out in front of you" he started.

"Second, you get a good grip on the gun. Always use two hands when firing a pistol. Focus on your target, manage the pistol's recoil then you shoot" he finished and shot the gun in his hands.

The bullet went straight to the center of the shooting board and made a hole in it. And even though I couldn't hear the sound of the gun because of the headset, I was startled and fixed to a spot when I saw the hole the bullet made and imagined it was my head the bullet went through.