From the looks of them, one huge bald man about sevenfeet tall and all muscles with a girly name like Barbie to the old man withpock marks and scars on his face, wearing a black and white suit with widelapels screaming 70s; the creeps were something out of a mob movie.
I didn’t think people actually dressed like that,especially in the mob. But apparently, movies like the Godfather were based onreal mobsters, and their sense of fashion were taken straight from the realmobsters.
“Look, kids,” the pock-mocked clown said, looking atme pointedly and then at Thomas and Ash. “I’m letting you live tonight. Countyourselves lucky. You said you will solve your father’s will in oneweek?” He looked over at Thomas.
Thomas said, “If everything goes well, and we are ableto solve each piece of the puzzle at a quick pace. But with something likethis… we probably lost a bit of time…”
“One week and nothing more,” the old man said.
“But, like I said, we already lost a day or two,”Thomas said.
The big oaf stepped up, ready to throttle Thomas forspeaking back to the Boss, when the old man said, “You will end up solving thepuzzle and getting me you heirs’ inheritance?”
“Mr. Langley…” Barbie the Oaf began.
“Barbie,” the old man said murderously, “I’mconducting this meeting here. You step in only when I say to. Got it?”
“Yes, Mr. Langley. Sorry, Boss,” Barbie said.
“That’s more like it,” Mr. Langley said. He turned toThomas again. “One week, Genius Boy. I know you’re smart like a whip. You canmake up for lost time. One week and no more.”
Thomas nodded, keeping his eyes steady on Mr. Langley.
Mr. Langley turned to me and said, “In the meantime,you go and see what you can drum up from your dad’s business, like you said.”He leaned in to sneer into my face, his foul breath reeking of cabbages,sausages, and beer. I almost gagged.
“I’ll come up with something,” I said confidently.
“You’d better in case your brothers do not comethrough with your father’s treasure hunt,” Mr. Langley said. “In which case, I’llkill them, and find it myself.”
I looked over at Thomas. I’ve never seen Thomas asscared as he did then. Gone was his poker face. He knew Mr. Langley meantbusiness. He also knew there was a possibility he might not pull it off. SeeingThomas lose his cool was scarier to me than anything.
Because being able to deliver what Mr. Langley wanted,was what was going to keep us and Kaley alive.
Chapter 2
Thomas
Not in a million years would I have thought that mydear old Dad would be tied to the mob.
It just wasn’t Dad.
Or so I thought.
But then again, Dad did make his will socryptic that whatever he was hiding would be kept a secret until he was willingto reveal it.
What could it be?
Was it more than an inheritance?
I wished I had gotten closer to Dad over the years andmade more of an effort to get involved with the family business like Seb did.Dad would have been able to trust his secrets with me instead of carrying them tothe grave. But then again, Seb went to work for the family business, and Daddidn’t tell him his secrets.
Especially this one big secret – that the mob wasafter him and his heirs.
*****
I spent the entire night, racking my brain, whilesweating bullets trying to come up with a way out of this whole mob business.Dad had taught me to remain cool under pressure. That was the lesson heinstilled in me that day he questioned me about my science project when I was akid.
He had liked my project, a model hotel built towithstand hurricanes set in the Caribbean, but he had cautioned me about theway I was flustered just by his line of questioning.
Watching the mobster Mr. Langley and his henchmanBarbie worked the room, was like watching a King Cobra ready to strike. It wasintense. You never know when he was going to let you have it or maybe someoneyou love like my brothers Seb and Ash.
But there was one thing I could count on from the wayMr. Langley handled Barbie – he liked to be in charge on every decision. Crosshim, no matter how close you are, he was going to let you have it. The man hadsome kind of standard and decorum.
Like our father Clay Keystone.
They were almost cut from the same cloth.
I could work within that system. I knew my father andhis ways. I spent a lifetime abiding by it. Now if Mr. Langley was reasonableand a man of his word, then we might get somewhere.
So far, he seemed reasonable, cutting our wrists looseand agreeing to let Seb go to work on Keystone Enterprises, while Ash and Isolve the puzzles in Dad’s will.
But when he said if we can’t come through and he wouldkill us himself, and solve the will himself, I knew he would find outabout Kaley and her important role in the will. A man as thorough as Mr.Langley would find out eventually. And more than anything in the world,bringing Kaley into this mess and getting her killed by Mr. Langley, terrifiedme like nothing else.
She was my heart.
She made me feel everything.
She brought out every feelings, every emotions I’veever felt.
Losing her would devastate me. Just the thought mademe forget myself for a moment as Mr. Langley drove in his threat to us.
It was a moment Seb saw. He saw the fear in me. Butthen he nodded, silently telling me to man up as his face became stoic andstrong. He wasn’t going to let his younger brothers down.
I took a breath to steady myself, steeling myselfagain when Mr. Langley looked into my eyes. I needed to be strong. I needed toshow no fear.
He was watching me and observing. Was I bluffing aboutthe puzzles in the will? Can I solve it in time?
“It wouldn’t be a problem, Mr. Langley,” I saidconfidently. “I already have an idea how to solve this will, and nodoubt, we will
