Becceh exited an important meeting feeling slightly more flustered than when she walked into that room. She fumbled in the pocket of her dress, looking for her smokes and felt relived when she finally found them. She lit one up and took a long drag, feeling instantly better. She put on a brave face to the others exiting the room, smiling and nodding at them as they leave and waved a quick goodbye at @Assunto and @Denny- who were both staying behind to have a drink together. 

Walking back to her HQ with her heels clicking along the floor, Becceh reflects on the things that were just said in the meeting; one thing standing out in her memory. 

Becceh isn't naive, she knew the subject of money was always bound to come up one way or another. She just didn't expect it so soon. However, she was determined to make a good impression on her wonderful GodFather, @Salvatore_Luciano, so she needed a plan. Upon entering her HQ she was relieved to find it empty, although slightly concerned at what trouble the rest of her crew was getting into not being home at such a late hour. She couldn't worry about that right now though, she had other pressing concerns on her mind. 

She sighed as she got the books out, looking over and over them trying to make the numbers add up, trying to find more money in places where there was none. She lit up another smoke and poured herself a nice cold glass of wine, looking out of the window at this wonderful city of Detroit. The place she called home. 

A couple more glasses of wine later, a plan began to form in her head of what she could possibly do...but would she be able to do that? 

After the exhausing meeting Assunto looks around the room and spots @Becceh quickly shuffling out the room which wasn't out of the ordinary, although he would've liked to go over what was discussed.

He quickly walked up to @Denny- who was the only other Exodus member present and suggested to go out for a couple drinks at a nearby bar . Assunto already knew he would accept, @Denny- would never say no to a fresh draft of beer. On their way Assunto sensed something was troubling @Denny-, most likely the same thing that was troubling him.

Assunto looked into the dimly lit bar, the blues band playing in the background was loud enough so that they could have a private conversation. They entered and found a nicely secluded spot near the back entrance of the bar. Once they sat down @Denny- quickly beckoned a server to get their beers, after the server returned with their beers Assunto took a large gulp and finally they had time to talk.

Becceh began pacing back and forth across the tiled floor of her HQ, her heels clicking in time with her heart beat. She couldn't possibly be thinking about doing this could she. 

She knew where @Assunto kept his "secret" stash of cash that he keeps from all the dodgy drug deals he's been doing and she couldn't think of any other way to get some quick cash in her pockets so the GodFather doesn't think she's a waste of time. She stops pacing long enough to light up another smoke and looks over at Assunto's door. 

Nobody was in the HQ right now, she could go in, get the cash and be out before anyone noticed. She could take just enough to cover her bills and leave enough so that he shouldn't notice it missing. He's always out getting drunk anyway, the cash for that must come from somewhere. He can't possibly know the exact amount that's there. Surely?

Downing the last of her wine, she walks up to Assuntos door slowly, every click of her heels felt like another dagger into her heart. She knew if he ever found out he would never trust her again, but hopefully her reasons would be enough to convince him it was the right thing to do.

Assunto asked @Denny- what he thought the ramifications the higher tax rates would have on the crew. @Denny- looked right at Assunto, and had a look of anger; "How can you even think that?" @Denny- said. After thinking about it Assunto understood.  He had without thinking about it disrespected the loyalty the crew members had shown to them.

"However I do think recruiting in the future will be a lot harder." @Denny- tells Assunto. After drinking and talking for a couple of hours, Assunto and @Denny- thought they had solved the recruiting issue, and were ready to go back to the HQ and tell @Becceh .

Entering Corktown they saw a light was still burning in the HQ. Assunto turned to @Denny- and said, "I guess Becceh is still up, probably found her stash of Gin." @Denny- shrugged, but couldn't hide a slight hint of a smile. 

Slowly walking into @Assunto's private room Becceh looked around and took in her surroundings. She grimaced as she saw the state her LHM had left his room in, there were papers scattered around the floor, mountains of clothes, and empty beer bottles lieing around. She shook her head, sighed, and made a mental note to bring this up with him at another time. She had other, more pressing, things on her mind at the moment.

Becceh tip-toed around the mess on the floor until she got to his mattress. She hesitated for a moment, again thinking over the ramifications of her actions but decided she couldn't linger on this too much. @Assunto could come back at any moment. 

She lifted the mattress revealing the cash that he kept there, wondering exactly how much was there and where he got this amount of cash from. She hoped he wasn't getting too far into the mafia underworld, she didn't want him to get into any trouble. Slowly shaking her head she took just as much as was required and spread the rest out so that the cash looked much the same as when she lifted the mattress. 

She walked back out as quickly as she could manage whilst being careful not to stand on anything that may or may not be important and closed the door to @Assuntos private room. Walking back to her own quarters she started to feel guilty but pushed that feeling aside, a crew leader doens't have time for such feelings. She had to remain strong and provide a good leadership example to the rest of her crew. She laughed a little at the irony. 

Stuffing the money at the back of a drawer, she made a note to get it over to the godfather as soon as she could do, but that would have to wait until at least tomorrow now. She sat down and poured herself another large glass of wine to calm her nerves. 

After getting past all of their security measures, @Denny- and @Assunto were greeted by the smell of cigarettes and alcohol, it was almost overwhelming. @Assunto made a mental note that they should have a professional come through and thoroughly clean the HQ. Entering his own room, he was met by an even bigger mess than the rest of the HQ, he knew he had to clean this up before @Becceh saw this.

Sitting down on his bed he felt the bulge his cash left, @Denny- was helping him set up an off shore account so he no longer had to keep all his cash in the HQ in case of a police raid. He was happy with all the help he was getting from @Denny-, and going through the books @Assunto was amazed at the funds he had amassed over the years, even more surprising was that there was anything left at all, @Denny- had really helped him so he could keep track of what was coming in and going out. He knew it would get even easier once the off shore account was opened, which would be any day now...

@Denny- was extremely jealous of the money @Assunto had amassed over the years after helping him with his books, he found some drug deals worth over 250,000$ where he flew from Manhatten to Corktown with over 50 pounds of cocaine. Whilst reminiscing about the days where they were young and had way less to worry about @Denny- fell asleep...

Becceh heard who she only assumed could be Denny and Assunto coming into the HQ and from the way they were stumbling about, they appeared to be quite inebriated. She quickly locked her door. She didn't fancy having any visitors from her hands tonight, especially after they'd been drinking. She'd had quite enough wine herself and now had secrets to keep, and she didn't trust herself after a drink not to spill them.

Becceh downed the last of her wine and climbed into bed, it had been an exhausting night and she felt mentally drained. She could only hope that Assunto wouldn't notice the missing cash before she could deliver it to the godfather in the morning. 

-------

The next morning Becceh awoke with a pounding headache, dry mouth and blissful ignorance at what happened the night before, for all of 30 seconds. The nights events came rushing back to her in flashing images and she sat up, heart pounding once again. Becceh got out of bed slowly, trying to ignore the spinning room and the waves of nausea hitting her. She gently sipped some water, hoping she could shake this hangover off quickly. She had things that needed to be done this morning. 

Quickly getting dressed, she put her hair up into a messy bun and quickly applied some makeup to her face, making her appear more like her normal self rather than the hungover mess she felt like. She sipped some more water and crept over to where she had hidden the money the night before and quickly placed it into a cloth bag which she slung over her shoulder and went to deliver the money to the Godfather.

------

After giving the money to the Godfather, who she was sure could smell alcohol on her, she slowly walked back to the HQ enjoying the crisp fresh morning air of DT. She was trying to put what she had done out of her mind and focus on the future now, the future of her crew, and the future of DT. She sighed at the prospect of all the work that still needed to be done, but she was focused and determined. 

A few days later @Assunto received the phone call, he had been expecting for days. Denny came through for him, and @Assunto's offshore bank account was now set up on the Caymen Islands. Assunto was very excited, but also focused on how he was able to get rid of all the cash he'd been hoarding in his room in the HQ.

Two days later @Assunto arrived at the office.  @Denny- had hooked him up with his car fully loaded with his cash, and his books containing detailed logs of his income and transactions. @Assunto was extremely pleased he no longer needed to keep track of any of his finances. Entering the building, he was greeted by a lady nicely dressed in a pantsuit; she led him to a rather dark room where a guy in a suit was waiting for @Assunto.

After a firm handshake, they talked everything through, and how everything will work in the future, drop locations and how to make withdrawals. @Assunto pulled out the large bag of cash, and handed over the book afterwards.  The guy smiled then took everything back to count it all, and make sure everything added up. After what felt like ages, the guy returned with a rather frowned face. @Assunto instantly knew something was wrong.

"Whats wrong?" @Assunto asked with a stern look on his face...

The suited man came back with a look on his face that @Assunto could only interpret as fear, and this didn't bode well he thought to himself. The man stumbled a bit after walking out of the darkness, after sitting down and straightening his tie, he finally mustered up the courage to speak the words @Assunto had feared... "The count is wrong sir, by quite a substantial amount..." he spoke softly with a trembling voice.

A million thoughts shot through @Assunto's head immediately after hearing this news; did Denny and him make a mistake? Impossible he thought.  They recounted and made sure it added up at least three times. Did this agency miscount?  This was the most likely answer he thought. However after being led out of the dimly lit room, they made their way into the backbone of the building; this room was brightly lit with only a little Asian lady with a kind smile on her face. Next to her was @Assunto's cash neatly divided in piles of $10,000.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw they were banded. After what seemed like an eternity he agreed, there was at least $7,500,000 missing...

Extremely frustrated @Assunto left the office building.  He didn't know how this could have happened. He started blaming himself wondering how could he be so dumb to keep all of his cash at the HQ. After thinking about it for a while, he came to the conclusion the thief must have been part of the crew, cause he deemed it impossible for an outside intruder to get away without being spotted or without leaving any trace.

Upon entering his room back at the HQ, he didn't tell anyone of his troubles as he knew he couldn't trust anyone at this point. After hours of pondering he heard a faint knock on his door...

Becceh heard Assunto come back to the HQ, she'd been wondering where he had been all day without telling her. She heard him come back and slam the door to his room...he seemed to be in a foul mood.

Her heart quickening, Becceh began to pace back and forth. What if he had found out about the missing money? What if he knew it was her? Would he want to leave her? Would he ever forgive her? Would he want to.... she couldn't even bring herself to think of the possibility of the last thought. 

Her mind was getting away from her, she was becoming too paranoid. Taking a deep breath, she decided to go and see what was wrong with him and where he had been all day before she had any more ridiculous thoughts. 

She slowly and quietly walked up to his door and softly knocked...

As @Assunto slowly walked up to the door, he knew only one of two people would be at his door. After opening the door and seeing @Becceh it was confirmed; he knew none of his associates would dare come up to him after seeing him return in such a foul mood. Standing in the door opening @Assunto tried to block the way in, he really wasn't in the mood for a visit.

"Yes?" @Assunto almost barked at @Becceh.

@Becceh knew @Assunto was in a bad mood and this was only going to make that worse...should she have come back at another time? The longer she left it, the worse this would be.
"Can I come in?," She said, softly.

@Assunto really didn't feel like having visitors, but he already knew that @Becceh would persist so he just turned around and walked back into his cold and dark room. "Why?" is all that he could muster. It was a loaded question...

Becceh followed Assunto into his room, a few steps behind him. Cringing once again at the mess but now wasn't the time to bring that up so she stepped around items scattered about the floor, feeling nervous at what was to come;

"We need to talk, I..uhm..I'm not sure how to tell you this." Becceh looked at the floor, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically shy.

@Assunto looked up at @Becceh, the nervousness was written all over her face. This one glance confirmed his worst nightmare. He couldn't believe it had been his own crew leader...

His mind racing at a million miles an hour; he thought about how this scenario was going to play out... Instinctively he reached for his gun, just in case. He loved the family that they had built up together, but how was he going to allow such betrayal? As a respected mafiosi this just wasn't going to fly, he hoped that there was an explanation, but he feared the worst...

Becceh saw @Assunto reach for his gun and instinctively rolled her eyes. She tip-toed further into his room and perched herself at the end of his bed. She looked up at him, his body was tense and he was very pissed off. How could she make this situation better, and not any worse. As unafraid of @Assunto as she was, this could escalate very quickly into something he would regret for the rest of his life. She shook that thought out of her mind as quickly as it had entered. He would never do such a thing. 

Becceh took a deep breath and began her explanation;

"By that reaction..." Becceh nodded towards his hand on his gun. "You clearly already know by now what's happened. I could sit here and apologise but that won't get us anywhere, you have to understand why I did it. We need to keep up good appearances, and we owed money. When you owe money to a GodFather, you don't make them wait. We had nowhere else to get the money from...I tried, please believe me when I say I tried, to make the books add up in different ways so that the money could come from somewhere. But, between fortifications, bodyguards, admin, HQ costs....we just couldn't afford it. I should have asked you, but I thought you would have said no and I had to deliver it this morning and you were out all evening. I had no choice, but please understand that it was for the sake of the crew."

Becceh took another deep breath after rambling for what felt like a century, and hoped that @Assunto would accept her explanation. Although his hand holding steady on his gun was making her slightly nervous. 

@Assunto felt incredibly betrayed by the thievery of the crew leader he loved and respected so much. He had never been put into such a incredibly uncomfortable position, as a respected mafiosi @Assunto had always been of the opinion that if anyone stole from him he would kill them.

If it would've been anyone else than @Becceh sitting on the end of his bed, they would no longer be sitting but lying on the floor with a .44 caliber sized hole in their head. He couldn't bring himself to take aim and pull the trigger of his gun, but he couldn't let her get away with it either.

"How are you going to solve this...?" He spoke with a half whisper, trying to avoid his anger taking over.

Becceh had never quite seen @Assunto look so angry before. She was starting to think this was a bad idea, coming to speak to him whilst he was already annoyed. Maybe she should have let him cool off for a bit before barging into his room and telling him everything. It was too late to back out now though, he was stood blocking her only escape route, with his hand firmly on his gun. Although he hadn't pointed it at her yet, she could tell it's all he was thinking about. 

Becceh shook her head slightly, she wouldn't let her friend intimidate her like this. She was a mafia boss, for gods sake. She had to pull herself together. What she did was for the sake of the crew and if he couldn't see that, maybe he was the one who deserved to die for his disloyalty. Her nervousness and apprehension at what might happen was slowly dissipating and being replaced by anger; how dare he speak to his boss in this way. 

She slowly looked up at @Assunto and smiled sweetly at him, she didn't need to stand up to him in order to show her dominance as his boss. Shouting had no place here. Experience had shown her that shouting only escalated situations, it didn't get any point across other than to show your opponent that you are not in charge of your own emotions. This was a trait she disliked about human beings, emotions always getting in the way of the world, always getting in the way of decisions, always influencing how people interact and react to situations. Emotions had no place in the cold world of the mafia.  So when she spoke, she did so slowly and softly, ensuring he heard every word clearly.

"Assunto, take your hand off your gun and speak to me like an adult. If anyone, you should understand what I did was for the sake of the crew. At the end of the day, it's only money. Family is family. If you can't respect that, then I don't know what you are still doing standing here."

Becceh hoped she got her point across to Assunto and that he wouldn't take what she had said the wrong way. She simply wanted him to understand the implications of his actions. 

After @Becceh finished talking, he looked down at her and holstered his gun, knowing he had no desire to kill her anymore. He felt his anger fading away. After choosing his words carefully he finally spoke: "You're going to pay me back in full, and after that you'll double it, I don't care how; you'll do it." 

He didn't wait for @Becceh's answer before leaving, he needed a breather. Stepping out of the HQ he noticed it was already dark, he had been sitting inside for way too long. Cold air hitting his face woke him up immediately, after clearing his mind walking around a block, he was happy with his decision. All that remained unknown was how @Becceh planned to repay him...