The Mafia's Rose Married The CEO

The letter did find The Zookeeper. It had been around two weeks before it came to The Zoo's doorstep. The Fox had the letter clutched on his fist, not minding that the letter would be crumpled. He was furious. These Qings were getting c.o.c.ky enough to send them letters.

He was having breakfast when the mail came in. They did not usually get coded letters as the others were not clever enough to make one and understand one, so it was just update mail from their colleagues—the other mafia lords just sending word about their transaction.

The Fox had been the one placed in charge of this task. Ever since The Zookeeper had taken ill, he was put at the head of the hierarchy to make the small decisions. He pushed open the door to the tech room and handed the paper to the closest to the door. "Decode that."

The Fox didn't leave the room until the letter had been converted. It took the team longer than usual to produce the final output. At one point, they all gathered to one screen and had a silent conversation about what the symbol was about. The Fox stayed near the door, lightly biting on his thumb, praying he would not cut himself with his incisors.

Finally after quite some time, he was able to snatch the folded letter. He didn't want to get ahead his boss so he marched to his room, softly knocked on the door, and entered.

"The Qings sent a letter," he said to the form laying on the makeshift hospital bed. The machines continued to slowly beep rhythmically. "Do you want me to read?"

The Zookeeper only grunted in response. He had suffered a mild stroke a few weeks ago. At first, The Zookeeper's coughs were mild until it got worse and worse. He had suffered a bad fever. One morning, when The Fox came to wake up his boss, he found that half of The Zookeeper's body had stopped functioning. The left side of his face fell, like it was melted candle and the rest of that side was unresponsive.

The Zookeeper's cries were like from a terrible movie. Their most trusted doctor took too long to arrive so The Fox got in the car and drove to the nearest hospital complaining of something burning in his chest, acting like he was going to faint. Clutching his chest, he was admitted to the emergency room. When a cardiologist finally showed up and The Fox got the name, he followed her out to the parking lot and kidnapped her.

She struggled and and screamed all the way until he put a gag in her mouth and tied her wrists together. He drove as fast as he could and dragged the doctor to the boss's room. "Check him," he said.

The doctor looked too shell-shocked to even move. She had tears and snots on her face and hair her stuck to her skin with sweat. He pulled out a knife and she whimpered and tried to move away but he held her and cut her bounds.

"Please, check him," he said in the most gentle way he could muster. "Is he dying?"

Essential medical equipment was brought in a bag. People were crowding the doorway so The Fox slammed the door shut. The doctor jumped at the sound but found her voice when they were enveloped in silence.

"Are you going to let me go once I checked him?"

The Fox pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. "Check him first and we'll talk."

The doctor's hands were shaking. She had taken one look at the old fat man on the bed and without even checking she already knew what had happened to him. Still, she reached for the in the bag and pulled out a stethoscope and a flashlight. She did her best to check the vital signs.

"He suffered a mild stroke," she said. "We need to get him into the hospital for a series of tests and x-rays."

The Fox c.o.c.ked the gun. "He will not go anywhere. You're going to have to do everything here."

"But the machines—"

"We're going to find the machines. He cannot go to any hospitals. We'll find a way and you're going to stay here until he's stable. Don't worry, we'll pay you handsomely." He nodded at her. "List down the things you need and the things you need done. We'll get it all for you—"

"Please, we need to get him immediate help. We have to call for an ambulance—"

"No! He'll die before he would go to a hospital."

"I promise, I won't say anything."

The Fox shook his head. "I am sorry, doctor. But we are going to keep you for a little while."

Now, that doctor was still in her room. They had managed to find a smaller hospital and snuck in The Zookeeper in the wee hours of early morning. They had been able to acquire the machines now working on checking his body. Gladly just after a few weeks, his condition had bettered. But The Fox knew that The Zookeeper was still a insecure because he still could not speak that well and was shy to show his state to the other members. He had resulted in staying in his room and did his therapy there.

"We took precautions with the direction of this message. Our people in Chengshi sent a call when they received it and flew it to few countries before landing here."

The Zookeeper gave a slight nod.

The letter was something people would call "short and sweet". There were only a few letters on the page but with every passing word, The Fox hands tightened on the paper.

"The Mafia's Rose," he finished the letter. He wanted to be mad at her but he could not help but smile a little. When he raised his head, The Fox got the closest to a smile from The Zookeeper.