Chapter 20: The Inception of the conflict

Matteo walked into Perini Navi as a force of habit rather than enthusiastically. He had taken a break from work because of Vincenzo and his many shenanigans. However, he is doing much better now. Vincenzo's selfishness no longer annoyed him, and it was trumped by the thoughts of the sharp-tongued princess.

Ursula.

He tested her name in his mouth, and it came out nicely. The image of a furious woman flashed before his eyes, making him chuckle slightly. The mere thought of seeing her again made him smile. He almost wanted to put in effort to run into her on purpose coincidentally. He walked into the reception and contemplated between going to Vincenzo's office or the workshop. He was going for the former when a loud noise stopped him.

It was coming from the direction of the workshop. He strained his ears to hear, only then realizing he was the only one present at the reception. He followed the sound of the noise, which led him to the path of their workshop. Stepping out, he met a chaotic scene.

Uniform men were surrounding everywhere. The entrance to the workshop was sealed with a do not enter warning sign. He still couldn't wrap his head around the scene. Wondering what may have caused the cops to invade Perini Navi suddenly, he walked forward to satisfy his curiosity. Just then, Priscilla turned, and their eyes met. She hastily walked over to him.

"What is going on here?" he asked when she got to him.

"The cops," she said, taking off her sunglasses. He wondered why she had them on in the first place. It was only about nine in the morning.

"They have a warrant to search for illegal substances. Someone reported suspicion of dodgy business here."

"That's bullshit," Matteo said and walked toward an officer to find more information. Priscilla followed closely. She couldn't gather much on her own simply because the redneck officer refused to spill much. She chucked it down to misogyny because he looked ready to spill his guts to Matteo.

"I'm Matteo Hernando, the MD of Perini Navi!" the redneck officer stretched out his hands for a handshake. Priscilla rolled her eyes at the testosterone voyage.

"We have intel that your company stacks illegal substances for distribution. We're just here to do our job. I hope you can understand Mr. Matteo?"

"Of course, I understand that, but I would also like you to know that these claims are nothing but mere musings of an envious person. This organization has been up and running for years, and we've never had any scandal," he said, hoping to reason with the officer.

"I'm sorry, sir, I'm just doing my job," the officer replied and walked away without many details to give to him.

"What a snobbish man," Priscilla said, irritated with her eyes downcast to Matteo.

"This is madness, Priscilla!" He exclaimed. "Does Vincenzo know about this already?" He added with anguish in his eyes.

"No. I tried calling his number, but it's been going straight to voicemail," she replied with an angry face.

"Okay, I'll try him now" Matteo made to leave but was stopped by the arrival of another officer.

"I'm Georgio Enziano the head of the department and my officer tells me you're the MD of this company," the elderly man said. Priscilla scoffed at her total erasure. She wondered if they were blind or just trying to annoy her purposely.

"I am," Matteo replied with a face of distress.

"Good. Now listen up, son. I'm sorry, but we've got to shut down this place until the investigation is done," he said. Matteo looked at him in disbelief. He didn't think they knew who exactly they were toying with.

"Sir, you do know this establishment belongs to Vincenzo Santoro, right? Surely it would help if you reconsidered your stance on this"

"Sorry, son. This is above me now" he bowed and left immediately.

"This is above me? What does that even mean?" Matteo wondered. He excused himself from Priscilla after instructing her to do her best for the whole drama not to reach the press.

He doubted the possibilities of that happening, but Priscilla sometimes pulled out miracles.

Matteo dialed Vincenzo's private number he used when he didn't want to be disturbed.

As the phone rang, he wondered what would have made Vincenzo switch off his phone. He was out of the loop with the happenings of the Santoro's, but something told him he was in for an earful.

"He finally calls," Vincenzo said after picking up the call.

"We don't have time for this. Where are you right now?" He asked.

Vincenzo noticed the urgency in Matteo's voice and disembarked from the sarcastic comment he was about to make.

"The beach house. Why?" He asked.

"I'm on my way now," he said, dropping the call.

The drive to Vincenzo's beach house was about forty-five minutes from the office. Matteo used that time to ponder what could be why Vincenzo was in the beach house with his mainline switched off.

It ae do," Vincenzo replied, leading the way.

They sat at a small hut at the side of the beach. One of the maids provided them with drinks.

"Isn't it too early for alcohol?" Matteo asked, taking one long gulp.

"Never too early for alcohol," they chorused after and burst into laughter.

"Now that you like me again, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Vincenzo asked.

"Aha! Straight to the point, I see" he adjusted himself on the chair and sighed deeply. "Perini Navi at this moment is being held by the cops."

"What?" He yelled.

"Yeah well, I stepped into the office today and saw a host of cops at the workshop. Someone said we're storing and selling drugs there, so the officers said it'll be closed down until the investigation is done" Matteo looked at his friend who looked deep in thought.

He wondered what was going through that brilliant mind. Perhaps he knew something about this.

"Unbelievable!" He exclaimed, stamping his feet.

"Do you know something about this?" Matteo asked, worried.

"That damned Maria," he cussed in his breath.

"What does she have to do with this?" Matteo asked in confusion.

"She's the mastermind behind this. After our little confrontation, I thought she would finally concede defeat and beg me, but now she's going after my company with this fallacious accusation?" He shook his head in disbelief and paced around.

"Wait, what do you mean by confrontation? Have you met Maria?" Vincenzo paused, realizing Matteo was well out of the loop with everything going on. He gave him a summary of everything that went down at the dinner, and after he was done, Matteo was stunned.

"You mean she pointed a gun and aimed at you?"

"Not like that is the bone of contention, but yeah she did," Vincenzo answered and continued pacing.

"Damn! She's even colder than I thought," Matteo remarked in astonishment.

"Focus, Matteo, we don't have time to dwell on such trivialities."

"Wait, you said you have her brother. How sure are you it's him? Do they bear an uncanny resemblance?" Matteo asked reasonably.

"Well, not exactly. But I know it's him. There's this birthmark Marco used to have. I checked, and it's still there" Vincenzo paused and took a large gulp of his drink.

"The thing that worries me the most is that he may have amnesia. He doesn't seem to recognize me. I don't think he even recognized his sister at the dinner."

"Then you have the biggest ammunition in this game. You have her brother." Matte looks back at Vince with downcast eyes.

"You don't think I thought of that? I swore by now she would be on her knees begging for his life, but she goes and does the complete opposite. What sort of audacity does she have!" He screamed in frustration.

"I think she knows if she surrenders easily, you've won. She's trying to force your hand," Matteo said.

"Well, I'll have her know she's not the only one with connections. I can also go for her investments." Vince said.

"That's a losing battle, brother. She has more money and influence than you do. I still think her brother is your best bet."

"But she doesn't care." Matter said with a tired voice.

"She does. You have to show her how far you're willing to go," Vincenzo looked sharply at his friend.

"Since when did you become a champion of violence?" He asked in awe.

"You know I'll always side with you," Matteo replied.

"I wanted to do that as a last resort," he sighed.

"I understand. You were best friends after all"

"Screw that, though. If Maria wants to go low, I'll show her I am affinity for geology," Vincenzo declared.

"That's more like it!" Matteo cheered.

"So, are you ready to meet Marco Caruso?" Vincenzo asked.

"Sure," he replied, and they both raised their glass and drank, cementing their diabolical master plan.