Chapter 14

Mathew’s office

Out front of the bar William and Matthew were met by Barry, an older man with wisps of grey in his black hair, one of Second Shot’s drivers, “good morning Boss, Mathew. Is this right? Are we really going to Leoni’s?”

“Good morning Barry, yes we need to be there by 8.”

“Sure thing Boss.”

The nondescript black car drove smoothly away into the morning traffic. Sat in the back seat, William tried to think of some thing to say, but every time he went to open his mouth, he lost confidence.

Turning in his seat with his head low Mathew said, “Boss when we get there if anyone mocks me or belittles me just let it go, it’s normal ok?”

Shocked William said sternly, “No not OK, you are one of my men now and no one belittles my men.”

In the front seat Barry sat up a little straighter.

“Please Boss I don’t want to make waves, I just want to do my two months and get out.”

Sighing William replied, “fine, but nothing will stop me glaring at them.”

Smirking Mathew looked William in the eye, “thank you Boss.”

William quickly looked away, he couldn’t afford to blush again. But as he turned he saw his reflection in the window, at the sight of the two scars the psycho’s had left on his face he flinched, looking down at his hands sadness clouded his eyes.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, when Mathew asked, “Boss would it be possible for me to go to my flat later? I could do with some more clothes.”

Gently William said, “it depends what restrictions Boss Leoni wants you to abide by. Also I don’t know if it is different now, but it always used to be that Boss Leoni’s workers live in his buildings?”

Sinking into his seat Mathew replied, “oh yeah, I guess I no longer have a home.”

“You have a home with me... I mean at second shot.” Barry’s brow rose in the front and William’s ears started to burn, “Hopefully he will let you go collect your belongings. Boss Leoni is generally quite reasonable.”

Appearing to have missed William’s blunder Mathew replied, “I hope so, I have photos of my parents there.”

Seeing the sadness in Mathew’s eyes, William reached over and stroked his head, “it will be ok.”

They reached Boss Leoni’s office block with ten minutes to spare.

When they walked in a group of ten men met them just inside the door, “arms out.”

With out hesitation William lifted his arms and let a burly man check him for weapons.

Mathew paled and carefully put down his brief case, a smaller strong man roughly man handled the little accountant until William put a hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “if you don’t cut it out and do that normally, I’ll make it so you have to do it with one hand.”

The man went paler than Mathew, who said, “Boss it’s alright, it wasn’t that rough.”

William glared at the man as he very gently checked the rest of Mathew.

“alright your good to go.”

Picking up their stuff the pair made their way to Mathew’s small office on the fifth floor.

The office front was made of glass, surrounded by other offices. The remnants of what had clearly been blinds, that could be closed for privacy, still hung from the tops of the glass.

All the parts needed for work were still there, but everything else had been trashed.

There was dirt and bits of plant across the floor with an empty pot left mockingly on the desk. The pictures on the walls had been slashed and ripped, even his seat had all the stuffing pulled out.

As they opened the door, William could hear sniggering from the surrounding offices.

Putting on a brave face Mathew said, “you can have the seat if you like, what is left of it, I can stand.”

With out saying a word, William put down his bag and walked out of the office and into the one where the loudest laughter was coming from, a moment later he walked back out with two chairs.

Setting the chairs down he asked, “which would you prefer?”

Mathew’s eyes went wide with delight and he pointed at the smaller chair.

William replace the trashed one with Mathew’s choice and put the trashed chair out the door, a few minutes later the man who had been laughing came and got it with a sheepish look to William.

“I’m sorry about your plant, what kind was it?”

With a sad smile Mathew said, “it was an acer, I was trying and failing to bonzi it.”

A tall man with dark eyes and a racy neck tattoo of a lady, knocked on the door, “Boss wants to see you.”

“Thanks Greg.” Replied Mathew.

Following the man to Boss Leoni’s office in silence, William smiled encouragingly at the smaller man.

Boss Leoni’s office looked like the set of the god father, big desk and leather wingback chairs, it was even full of smoke.

Sat behind the desk, smoking a big cigar was Boss Leoni, as he saw the two enter he said, “Matty, William have a seat.” To the man who brought them he said, “you can leave.”

With a sinking feeling William realised the men present were the same ones who had been at his flat.

When the door closed, Boss Leoni said, “what no hug for your old man? I guess now you have married your sweet heart you don’t want to hug me anymore.”

The men around them laughed rambunctiously.

Grinning cheekily Mathew said, “yes Father, thanks to getting your blessing I have married my Guinevere and we are happily living in wedded bliss.”

Boss Leoni replied with a “oooooo,” noise and laughed again.

William’s brows shot up, but as Mathew took his hand and kissed it while giving the Boss a mocking look, he couldn’t help but smile shyly.

As had been happening a lot recently, as William smiled everyone froze.

Snapping back to his senses Boss Leoni asked Mathew, “what have you done to William?”

Confusion coloured Mathew’s voice as he replied, “what do you mean? I’ve done nothing.”

Standing up William dwarfed everyone in the room and said, “shall we get to business?”

Staring up at William’s stern face, Boss Leoni shook his head slightly, “sure thing Guinevere. First though you have to sign this N.D.A. I’ve already sent a copy to Peter, he should be contacting you any moment.”

Pulling out his phone William read the message from Peter, skimmed the contract to check for changes and signed.

Leaning forward on his desk Boss Leoni said, “Good, now the main thing we obviously are worried about is Mathew knows too much, we need assurances he is not going to go to the police or our competitors.”

Mathew sprang to his feet, “I would never do that Boss, that’s why I was going to die, I just couldn’t bring my self to jump.” Putting his hand to his mouth Mathew sank slowly down into his seat.

Stunned Boss Leoni fell back into his seat, staring at William who nodded his head solemnly.

“The only reason I agreed to take Mathew in is because I believe he genuinely can’t cope with the life and just wants out. There is no way he would go to the police, he thinks too highly of you and he is not about to go to your competitor, when what he really wants is to work with you in a legit business.”

Tears in his eyes Mathew looked at William, then nodded to Boss Leoni, “if you went straight I would be back working for you in a second.”

The idea of Mathew leaving made William’s heart sink and he asked in a slightly too stern tone, “What is your next concern?”

“His safety, what if Mathew is kidnapped and forced to tell our secrets?”

“Mathew will be under my protection same as all my men, but there is also nothing stopping you letting it be known that he is still under your retribution too.”

“You know that is a dangerous president to set William. If we protect those that leave the life, what is there to stop all of our underlings deciding they want out?”

Thinking carefully William said, “This is a rare situation, Mathew is an honest accountant that is not suited for this. How often does that happen and they don’t jump?”

They all went quiet, thinking of the too many who hadn’t had a place like William’s to go.

With a sigh Boss Leoni said, “I’ll think about that. But either way I want you either here or in Second Shot for the next two years, that is non-negotiable.”

This was shorter than William had expected, but Mathew’s eyes went wide and he said quietly, “Two years!?”

Turning to Mathew William said gently, “that’s not a bad deal, we can get you your own room and its a big building to move around in.”

Smiling at William’s encouragement, Mathew turned back to Boss Leoni, “OK, anything else?”

“You have to do a bi yearly audit for the next year and a half.”

All the blood drained out of Mathew’s face, “I...ccan’t...I...I...”

Putting a comforting hand on Mathew’s knee William said to Boss Leoni, “that is unreasonable, you just want him to do that to ferret out skimmers, which is exactly the reason he left.”

With an almost convincingly nonchalant shrug Boss Leoni said, “I understand your objections but I can’t just give up the one accountant I trust to keep the others honest.”

Taking a deep calming breath Mathew said, “I want your word it would only be three times.”

“As long as you give me your word you’ll do it properly.”

“Agreed.”

Boss Leoni picked up one of several contracts on his desk, “I guess you want me to send it to Peter?”

With a smile William said, “yes please Boss. There is one thing we would like on our side.”

Raising his brows, Boss Leoni replied, “I’ll consider it if its reasonable.”

“Please can we have Mathew’s personal belongings? We understand if you consider a lot of it yours.”

His voice on the edge of pleading Mathew said, “please can I have the photos of my parents,” his voice turned soft and he added, “and my photos of us at my graduation.”

Boss Leoni’s face softened, “I’ll have one of my men box everything up and send it over to you.”

His eyes shining Mathew said, “Thank you Boss.”

Coming round his desk and passing the contract to William, Boss Leoni put his hands on Mathew’s shoulder, “I’m truly sorry you don’t want to stay.”

Tears ran down Mathew’s cheeks as he hugged the surprised older man, muffled in the boss’s beautiful black suit Mathew said, “I do want to stay Boss, I’m just not strong enough.”

Patting the young man on the back Boss Leoni said, “I guess we aren’t all cut out for this life. William take good care of him.”

Standing William nodded, “of course.”

Pulling back Mathew said, “sorry for making your suit wet, I’ll get to work.”

With a nod from Boss Leoni the pair left and walked back to Mathew’s office in silence.