Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“I guess the problem is solved since Rhea has proven to us that she’s capable enough to handle herself,” Winters said with obvious sarcasm and no one answered to that knowing she was exasperated – not even Rhea.
“Since we’re in, the next plan would be getting into the control room,” Lukas said and pulled up a map which he spread over the table.
“According to plans, this is the quarters you’re supposed to clean and this is the control room you are not supposed to enter, ” He circled both with his marker, “They’re far away from each other and you would definitely be caught through the camera’s heading there.”
“We can act lost,” Mimi suggested.
“And you would be chased back after showing you the way. They are not fools, Mimi,” Victor told her.
“Not if I can help with that,” Winters said, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She then pulled out a ring from her pocket, saying, “This is my life’s greatest achievement,”
They gave her blank looks.
“That is a… ring?” Mimi was confused as to how that would help them. But Lukas and Victor were calm, trying to see what she was up to while Rhea purposely kept her mouth shut just so she wouldn’t provoke her again.
“It’s not just a ring,” Winters said, displaying the four-carat diamond solitaire ring and pressing the carat only for it to pop in with a blinking red light drawing astonished gasps from everyone.
“What in the world did you create, Winters?” Lukas was in awe, drawing closer to her to take a good look at the ring.
Rhea looked at both of them and her facial expression changed at once. In the blink of an eye, her performance the past minute was forgotten. It wouldn’t surprise her if Winter did that on purpose. Well, on purpose or not, it was for the progress of this mission, she told herself.
But then, Rhea still found herself asking, “So how does this thing work and how does it help this mission?” Yep, she didn’t ask out of jealousy, trust her.
Winters went on to explain to them, “Closed-circuit television works by the camera or cameras taking a constant sequence of images that are then transmitted by cable or wirelessly, depending on the chosen system type, to the recording device and then on to the display monitor, which enables then the individual to see the sequence of images as video footage. But then, what this great technical piece of work does is to disrupt the transmission signals sent to the display monitor, ” She proudly referred to her ring.
She turned to Rhea and said, “In one word, when turned on, it would scramble the cameras within a three hundred meters for a limited time frame, earning you the opportunity to get to the control room. ” She rubbed it all over her face.
Rhea stared back at Winters, she was right. This was a competition. A one-on-one war between two women.
A Fire Ruse
Rhea and Winters stared each other deep in the eyes and if one looked closely, they would see lightning shooting out from their eyes. This was no longer just Lukas’s plan anymore, no, they both have converted it into a war.
Rhea asked her, “Let’s say then, even if your…” She looked down at her finger, “great technical ring does work, how would that move the men out of the control room? I bet that didn’t cross your mind.” Her expression was smug, knowing that Winters had no answer for that.
But Winters replied to her, “Of course, that didn’t cross my mind because that sounds like a ‘you’ problem. After all, I’m not the one slipping into the control room like a thief, I’ll be behind the keyboard doing my magic,” She made a typing gesture.
The smile was slapped off Rhea’s face and her hands clenched into fists. This little bug was beginning to get under her skin and the best thing to do to a bug was to squash it beneath her feet.
“Alright, ladies, let us all calm down and think of an amicable solution to our problem at hand,” Lukas stepped in as a mediator. He couldn’t side with any of them knowing that was equivalent to landing himself in hot soup.
If he sided with Rhea, Winters might pull out of this deal and he wouldn’t want to force her to help him, ruining their relationship formed over the years already. But then, Lukas couldn’t side with Winters either, Rhea would give him hell on earth. In one word, he would rather remain on neutral ground.
Winters said she was only helping him, you know, to get Rhea to admit her feelings for him. However, with the way things were going, he couldn’t help but wonder if she had gone off track as well or gotten too absorbed in her role because her acting was becoming too real – and frightening.
“We could start a fire,” Mimi suddenly suggested, “There are quite a number of flammable cleaning products,”
“No, that is too risky, you could get hurt,” Victor was against it immediately.
…..
“And I promised David not to cause him any damage. If the explosion were to escalate, my father would not accept it and would likely give the man a tough time.” Lukas was not in support either.
“Then we create a ruse,” Rhea said, Winters’ head jerking up in her direction.
“What ruse?” Lukas was interested, arms wrapped across his chest.
“A fire ruse. I still go with Mimi’s suggestion, but on a low scale this time, Instead of burning the whole house down. I’m sure there are smoke detectors and sprinklers set in place at your father’s place. With enough commotion in place when the cameras go out, I’m sure they wouldn’t be able to handle more drama when the fire alarm sounds, and I know someone good at dramas,” Rhea turned in Mimi’s direction, causing the others to stare at her as well.
“Me?” Mimi pointed at her chest under their intense scrutiny.
Rhea rolled their eyes, “Just give them one of your hysterical performances. There’s so much a human brain can handle, with the transmission problem and the fire alarm, every one of them would likely leave their duty post and hurry up to go find out what’s happening. I would then sneak in and do my thing and then hopefully sneak out before they’re back. That way…. “
And while Rhea was saying all of this, Lukas turned and stared at her in admiration. He wondered if Rhea knew she would make a great criminal mastermind by his side. She was the kind of woman he wanted, strong, independent, resilient and intelligent.
If Rhea became his wife, even if something were to happen to him, Lukas was sure with the help of Adele and Victor, she would be able to lead the Luciano family – with his father out of the way. He didn’t even want to think about that man. Unfortunately, Victor caught him staring and he looked away.
“That means I would be sneaking two items in and your smaller lighter would be my preferred choice,” Rhea still didn’t give up on goading the young girl.
Winters scoffed, as if.
“The idea is feasible, however, the harder part of the plan would be leaving the property. Not to mention that time is of the essence, whatever we do must be done before Daniel returns,” Victor reminded them.
“I could drag out time with Daniel,” Lukas hardly referred to the man as his father, “You know, buy enough time till all is done.”
“And we could leave the place after getting the information we need,” Mimi said.
“Without our team, that is impossible. They would suspect something is up if the both of us were to leave without them.” Rhea disagreed with the idea.
Lukas stepped in, “Don’t worry about that one, for now, I will think of something before tomorrow and keep you updated.”
“Sure,” Winters answered before others could, stepping forward to say, “I think you should have the ring now before I change my mind.” She hinted at the fact that the device was priceless.
But just as Rhea tried to take it, Winters closed her palm and turned her back to her. Rhea scoffed in disbelief, was the girl kidding her right now?
However, Winters didn’t just turn her back to her, she faced Lukas, “Could you do me the honors? It’s quite awkward for me to put the ring on her.” She said to everyone’s hearing.
Upon seeing that the girl give the ring to Lukas, Rhea panicked immediately, “Well, I didn’t ask you to put the ring on my finger, I’m not into women either! You could just give me the ring and I would wear it myself….” But she trailed off when Lukas accepted the ring.
“Sure,” He said.
What the hell was the both of them doing? Rhea panicked. Her heart began to pound as Lukas came in her direction. Her hands were clammy and beads of sweat rolled down her face and she couldn’t breathe at the thought of Lukas proposing to her.
Except that, this wasn’t really a proposal.
Sweep Someone Off His Feet
“Ba-dum!” “Ba-dum!”