Fair Trade

Sei turned the pages looking for the date of the day Uncle Albert was shot and killed a few years ago. Since she didn’t use her notebook often, she was able to quickly find the page she was looking for.

<Italian Man / Patent Leather Black Derby Shoes / Size 43.5–44 / Was Lame in a Leg>

That day, the man who shot the uncle spoke clearly in Italian. In addition, there was a slight limp in one leg and there was no splint. It was all the information she could get while hiding under the sofa. No matter how people try to comprehend it, no one but the Mafia members could speak Italian while opening fire in the very heart of New York City.

In addition to that, even though she left the drug dealers and traders as possible candidates, Sei remembered hearing a terrible boredom in the man’s voice.

As if he saw human life as a mere bug, he felt no guilt…

This was the reason why she did not try to leave Guilio’s side and continued this life-threatening relationship. What her father stole, why the man had to die, and who pulled the trigger. She wanted to find out for herself by using a similar Italian mafia group, Guilio Parenti.

Since her body was anyway bound to fall into hell, she thought it wouldn’t be bad to pull the trigger for the uncle at least once.

‘It’s so easy for you to say you’re going to kill.’

‘I’m that kind of person.’

‘I know.’

‘But… Do you really hate flowers?’

‘Oh, I hate hyacinths, to be exact. I have a bad memory of it.’

Yuri looked as if he had received a blow.

Don’t tell me, was he trying to give me flowers?

Determined to ask his age the next time they met next, she lay flat on her back with a light heart. But it was quite noisy outside. Something kept flashing repeatedly and she could hear the sound of laughter…

Is there a party going on nearby?

But now, all she wanted to do was lie on a pretty and big bed and toss around.

A door opened without permission with a light knock. Lorenzo was standing in front of her with a smile, holding a vintage wine bottle that could not be easily accessed.

“Come out, let’s go party.”

*  *  *

The party was truly a party, but the difference in the ratio between men and women was too large. The party hall built around the pool was full of people in swimsuits.

Sei wondered when everything was prepared. The huge amount of champagne and the colorful flashy lights that adorned the backyard seemed to say it took days to prepare. But it appeared it only took one afternoon to get everything ready. Some beautiful women proceeded to walk past her, showing off their voluminous bodies.

“You can move from California to this side completely. There are also some new guys here. I heard Guilio has given permission to use this place to party like crazy today.”

Sei took the white wine that Lorenzo poured for her and then sat down overlooking the pool.

“If that’s the case, why not make a villa in Ibiza?”

“He already has a club there.”

“It was my fault for asking.”

“Haha, just drink your alcohol. Good job today. Your acting seems to be getting better day by day.”

“That’s because that’s all I’ve been focusing on.”

She felt out of place at this party, where the people seemed superficial and pretentious.

Sei, who was savoring the wine, slowly held her breath and turned her head in Guilio’s direction.

Inside the diagonally built lower part of the bungalow, five women were tangled next to Guilio, who lay languidly on the bed with his eyes closed. She bit her lips looking at the women with black hair all over him.

Their explicit acts could be seen more and more clearly. Displeased, Sei swallowed the rest of the wine and got up.

“This party doesn’t suit me.”

“Oi, just sit down. I have something to say.”

After spinning the bottle around and checking the remaining amount, Lorenzo ordered a new bottle of wine and then held out a soft cheese plate in front of her.

“Is your throat okay?”

When Lorenzo asked the question with genuine worry, Sei nodded her head and sat back down. Romano was enjoying the pool with the women with an expressionless face and the new members of the organization enjoyed the party regardless of their gender.

“I like blonde women. Not black-haired ones.”

Lorenzo drank a bottle of wine with a bitter look on his face as he looked at the women filling the party.

“By any chance, is it because of Guilio’s mother? I saw the articles. She also had black hair.”

“There is some influence from that. His mother had an affair with another man. It was a Russian worker working in a coffee bean warehouse, and Guilio saw the two of them fucking. Well, I was there too… I had never seen Guilio so angry.”

She knew the story afterwards without having to listen to Lorenzo.

His mother’s lover was sent to Russia with torn limbs and his mother slowly died from bleeding while hanging upside down.

It was said that Giulio stabbed his mother little by little and watched her die painfully. Then he pulled out all of her hair and burned it and threw her corpse away as food for wild dogs.

Later, he was arrested by the FBI, but he walked out proudly after paying $10 million for his bail. People reacted oddly to the smile he had at that time.

Guilio Parenti.

The devil with the face of an angel.

Sei let out a long sigh and emptied Lorenzo’s wine one after another.

“So, does he have a mother complex?”

“No, he’s just paranoid. He has been requesting black-haired women like that exactly ever since the day you pickpocketed him. Don’t you feel it to some degree?”

It was the words she didn’t want to hear. To put it simply, it was indeed confirmation that what that madman was obsessed with was a poor Asian woman named Jang Sei.

“I don’t know if you want me to be nice to him or run away from him.”

Lorenzo smiled and shrugged his shoulders at her cold response.

“What I’m saying is don’t provoke him. It seems Guilio is also at his limit. If… If you think you’re going to die again next time, you should become his lover.”

“Ah, seriously! Crazy bastard! Why do you keep repeating the word lover again and again? Am I a mistress? This pig really…!”

“Hey, don’t curse in Korean. I understand that much now.”

“That’s enough. Stop it. You do know I’m the type of woman who prioritizes her life over everything, right? ”

Sei rose from her seat with a loud voice. Then Lorenzo took the wine he was holding and left the party. But her heart kept beating like crazy. She felt like she was caught in an invisible noose.

Unintentionally, she started walking faster. She was soon out of breath wanting to hide somewhere.

Just when she headed for the low wall on the left side of the building and threw away the empty wine bottle, she heard a clicking sound.

“It’s been a long time, Yuri Rose.”

Someone suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder and a gun touched the back of her head.

This bloody mafia lair is full of trash that only knows how to shoot.

Sei knew a traitor who called her Yuri Rose. Of course, all she knew was the man’s supposed voice and name, but…

Sighing, she answered with her eyes closed.

“Valentine… Did you come here to die?”