The Hidden Trillionaire Mafia Lord

chapter one

“LEVI!”

“Where the hell is that Baboon with two legs?!”

That was the voice of his boss at Grit n Gold jewelries, an urban exquisite jewelry store in the heart of Manhattan.

Heads turned, brows lifted and Phones lowered as his boss, whom they simply call “Boss”, waved a printed invoice sheet like a sword. Levi Sheldon froze near the diamond counter, a polishing cloth in hand.

“Yes, sir?” Levi asked, calm but careful.

Boss stormed towards him, anger lining the furrows of his brows like a man whose dignity had taken a dive.

“Do you know how much this mistake has cost us?!”

He roared, slamming the paper on the counter between them. “Twelve Thousand Dollars were supposed to go to the Vinci auction in Chinatown, and instead, what did you send?”

Levi glanced at the document, jaw tight. “It was a clerical mix-up. The dispatch codes were switched on the…”

“Shut the hell up!” Boss spat, cutting him off. “I asked you to double-check every dispatch, and yet here we are, sending five-figure pieces to the wrong client!”

Somewhere behind Levi, few coworkers exchanged stifled giggles.

“A very careless human.” whispered a coworker under his breath.

“Careless and poor.” another chuckled

Levi felt their laughter pierce the back of his neck, but what no one knew was that he was a secret mafia lord of the Eastern Front, who for some personal reasons, had disappeared from the Front years ago.

Only one of his co-worker showed empathy. A blond Victoria Griffith who stood at the far end of the showroom. She simply watched with eyes full of worry.

Boss wasn’t done. He leaned in closer.

“You’ve got one foot out the door, Levi. I suggest you fix the other before I help you out with it.”

“Yes, sir.”

He climbed up the small stepped-ladder and reached to adjust a velvet display cushion. However, he could feel Victoria’s eyes burning into his back like arrows.

His phone buzzed in his pocket for the eighth time that day.

It was Jennifer Griggs, his wife – 5 Missed Calls and streams of messages:

WE NEED TO TALK, LEVI, YOU’RE IGNORING ME AGAIN?

THIS IS EXHAUSTING, LEVI. JUST PICK UP.

YOU'RE PATHETIC, LEVI…

He let the phone drop back into his pocket.

Of course she wanted to talk. And of course it was about Maurice Langre. The army Major, the golden boy, General Griggs’ favorite. A man with medals, power, and the future she would soon be stepping into.

He saw Victoria sneaking towards him then stopped near the counter, pretending to straighten some diamonds.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Levi looked at her.

She was lucky he could still remember her face. He suffered a terrible disorder called Prosopagnosia, a situation where he had difficulty remembering most familiar faces.

He could remember names, events, even the shape of a conversation, but faces? That was where they blur like mist on plastic tubes.

“That wasn’t fair the way he shouted at you.”

“It’s his firm. He can shout if he wants.”

Another notification dropped on his phone. It was his wife, still:

MAURICE IS TAKING ME TO DINNER TONIGHT.

He locked the screen.

So that was it. Maurice had the charm, the general, and now his wife.

And Levi had... a showroom, an arrogant boss, insults, and a phone full of missed calls.

Just then a voice roared across the store.

“DOWN! Everyone down!”

Two masked men stormed into the showroom wielding pump action guns like souvenirs, faces hidden behind thick ski masks. One slammed the butt of his weapon against the glass counter near the sapphire glass.

“ON THE GROUND! NOW!”

Screams tore through the room as shoppers ducked and staff froze. Victoria let out a yelp as she stumbled behind the diamond section.

One of the robbers kicked a chair over and gestured with his weapon.

“Open the cases! MOVE!”

Levi didn’t flinch.

He stood calmly behind the emerald counter, his eyes scanning the two assailants.

The short one kept fingering the trigger.

“I said OPEN the case or are you deaf?”

Levi hesitated, then on second thoughts grabbed a velvet tray of diamond chokers and stepped away calmly, holding it like a fragile offering.

“Here, hold it steady for me.” Levi said, walking slowly toward the shorter one, “You want this, right?”

“What?”

Everyone stared at him like he’d lost his mind as the taller robber moved toward him cautiously, gun pointed straight.

“Hold it,” Levi said again, “Just hold the tray.”

As the robber extended one hand to grab it, Levi elbowed and floored him like an over-ripened bag of cherries.

The other robber turned sharply. Too late.

Levi was already on him.

A punch, duck and uppercut; and the second man collapsed with a groan. Both lay groaning on the floor, stunned.

Then someone shouted.

“Call SECURITY!”

Shortly, sirens whined faintly in the distance.

Levi stood over them, chest rising steadily, eyes blank. He looked down once at the stunned robbers, then stepped back.

“Get out!” he muttered under his breath.

The shorter man scrambled up, dragging the other one with him and in a frantic dash, they fled through the door just before two uniformed guards burst into the showroom with weapons drawn.

“Where... where did you learn to move like that?” Victoria asked, still trembling from fear.

Before he could reply, Boss came thundering down the stairs.

“What happened?! What the hell…”

He stopped as he saw the wreckage of glass shards, overturned chairs, and stunned employees.

“Who let them escape?!”

All fingers pointed to Levi.

Boss narrowed his eyes. “You?”

“They were untrained,” Levi said calmly. “I neutralized them before anyone was hurt.”

Boss' face twisted with rage. “We had armed robbers in the showroom and you what? Played hero and let them stroll out?!”

“They were already gone,” Levi said.

Boss turned red.

“You think you’re some bloody vigilante now? Do you realize what this does to our insurance? To our reputation?! And how convenient… you of all people, happened to have them down and then let them vanish?”

“You’re saying I planned it?”

“I should be thanking you, but instead I have a mess and two missing criminals,” Boss snapped. “Until further notice, your salary is slashed for two months. And if I find out you were involved in this…”

He pointed a trembling finger.

“You’re done.”

The room was silent again and no one said a word.

Levi nodded once, kneeling to help pick up the scattered diamonds.