Chapter 112 Careful Planning

(Jean Luc POV)

After having the temporary Parrain conduct an optical inspection of my operations, I could not get my mind off Celeste. She said she would be travelling for business so she would be difficult to contact.

The Caïd, on the other hand, had announced he wanted to have a meeting tomorrow with all ranking officials. Seems Maximus has found discrepancies within the ranks. Tomorrow's meeting will be interesting.

I heard a knock on my door and my Beta enters. His head was low and I knew it wasn't good news.

"Alpha, there is  disturbing news from the neighboring town. The shop of the dark witch had caught fire last night. The whole building burned down to the ground."

"And the dark witch? Is she alive?" Merde. I was about to pay her a visit to see what information she was able to extract from the old man. I also wanted to get a love potion and a new bottle of  poison just in case I needed it.

"They assume she is dead, as well as the granddaughter and the old man. Alpha, there is something else you should know. The basement of the witch was a mass grave. There were skeletal remains of many people found in that area of the building. The humans are calling the dark witch a serial killer and are now using technology to identify the remains and inform next of kin."

Perfect. Those remains were people I had kidnapped for my human trafficking business. The dark witch never asked me for money when I came to visit her, she just wanted a warm body to feast on. I had thought she would discard of the skeletal remains properly, make use of an incinerator to burn everything to ash. Apparently, I was wrong. Now I have to deal with the police sniffing into my territory once again.

My phone rings and I eagerly look at it, hoping it was Celeste. I frown when I see it is the Alpha of the town where the witch hails from. I answer it.

"There are police everywhere. I have to shut down the sex and drug dens for tonight." Damn that witch. I have to lose money too?

"Sure, shut down. I will still expect my cut." I told him.

"I knew you would say that. How about I pay you in information instead?"

"It must be as valuable as the money you owe."

"It is more valuable. The man with the silver eyes. I saw him. At the shop of the witch." No! It can not be!

"Go on."

"He was dressed in a suit, wealthy. He had three accomplices with him. All women. Maybe his harem?" The alpha laughs.

"What did they do?"

"They took an old man and a woman with them in a van. When they left, the shop burst into flames." Jacques has the old man! How did he even find out about him? There must be traitors in my pack!

"Did you have someone follow them?"

"Yes, however they disappeared."

"What do you mean they disappeared?!"

"According to my men, the van was there one minute and when they blinked, it was gone."

"In what area was the van seen last?"

"It was headed to the tarmac. My men searched the airport. They could not find the van in any of the hangars. My men believe they may have used the train. The railway is close by."

"Thank you. I will conduct my own search. You do not have to pay for today." I hang up and look at my Beta who was standing infront of me with his head low.

"Jacques is back."

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(Jacques POV)

I had to hand it to Alexander. He played the cool bodyguard all throughout our visit to my uncle. I did see his jaw clench a little when my uncle would take Celeste's hand, but other than that, he held back.

During the optical inspection of the territory, which my uncle led, bragging how he had made Lune Brille what it was today, I saw my bestfriend. She saw me and gasped and I knew even with my green eyes, I could not fool her.

I mind linked her to meet me somewhere convenient for her. She said she could only meet me at the brothel she serves, the one which is the most expensive. I mind link Maximus of my need to see her and he said he'll take care of it.

Maximus paid astute attention to my uncle. We needed to map the place. Know it's entrance and exit points, where the majority of the wolves lived, where my uncle slept. We already conducted a drone shot, all we needed to know was which building housed what. Thanks to Celeste and her eagerness, my uncle gave us all the information we needed to know, without him knowing it.

After the tour of the territory, Maximus asked to see the sex dens. He wanted some entertainment. My uncle did not waste any time giving what Maximus wanted. He brought us to his premier men's club.

With Celeste on his arm, he knew he would be the envy of all men and wolves in the club. While he was busy showing Celeste and Maximus around his club, Alexander and I decided to sit at the bar where we had a good view of everything.

"Maximus will keep an eye on Celeste. We need to look like two men wanting to have some women. Your friend will come to you." Alexander tells me through mind link.

"Celeste won't mind?" I ask him.

"She never gets jealous. Anyway, she knows this is for a greater good." Alexander answers giving me a small smile.

Alexander takes out a money clip full of money and I do the same. A group of women came over to us in an instant.

"A couple of bottles of your finest champagne!" I tell the bartender. He nods. Alexander takes out his credit card under the name of his fake persona and tells the bartender to charge it on this card.

"The card is for the drinks and the cash is for the ladies!" Alexander yells and the ladies start cheering. In the dark, the ladies looked beautiful, their heavy painted faces making look like Barbie Dolls. However, with our keen eyes, we saw the abuse. The women were very thin, with dark circles under their eyes, their cheeks gaunt. They wore wigs to hide their actual hair and I assume it was because their hair was not as thick and luscious as the wigs on their head.

I finally saw my friend, dressed in a gown unlike the other women who wore so little. She looked very beautiful, her curly hair fixed to one side, her lips a blood red  Her sheer backless gown was draped over her body, her nipples peeking through the front of her dress. She must be the Madam of the club. She sashayed towards me, a cigarette in her mouth and a tiny booklet in her hands.

"Sir, which women will be yours tonight?" She says. "Jacques, I can't believe you are here. You have to save the pack from your uncle. You are the rightful Alpha." She mind links me.

"I'll have these three." I yell at her so she could hear me through the music. "In time. We need to plan carefully. Jean Luc is well established. We need to break the legs of the spider before we kill the whole thing." I mind link her back.

"I need you to sign this and pay up." She hands me a tiny booklet with a pocket for the money. "Do so quickly. There are many women who are being drugged and raped every day. Including children."

I scribble a signature and place the money for the three girls in the pocket. "Rest assured we will do everything to bring down Jean Luc. Here is my number, memorize it. Call me when you need help." I mind link her my phone number. She nods and walks away.

I watched her walk away to another table of men who seemed to be patrons of the club. One man put his hand on her back rubbing her bare skin with his thumb. I felt the anger rise within me, but it was all my fault she led a life like this.

When I escaped, I vowed I would come back for her. She was the only one who made my young miserable life worth living. I knew I couldn't just barge into the territory and take her. I had to earn enough money to pay for her release.

No one wanted to give me work. I was too young, too small to do anything of value to the people I asked. When I did find a job, it paid so little, not even enough to pay for food and when I did have food, the vagrants would steal from me leaving me with almost nothing left. That day when my mother found me, I didn't have anything to eat for almost three days.

I told my mother of her and the whole month we were here, she tried to purchase my friend through a contact of hers. My uncle though, a scoundrel that he is, kept raising the price until Amelie gave up. She told her contact to give Jean Luc an ultimatum if not, she will back out. Little did we know, my uncle was buying himself time to locate me which he almost did if it weren't for my mother.

"Boys, I'm completely exhausted. The jet is waiting for us at the airport. I have an early flight to London tomorrow." Celeste's voice comes from behind us. "Here ladies." Celeste gives out a thousand euros. "The boys had fun. Thank you for your services." To her astonishment, the girls hugged her, thanking her for the money.

"Celeste, my dear, I'm sorry if it is not to your liking." My uncle tries to apologize to Celeste for bringing her here. Celeste shakes her head and laughs.

"I'm really exhausted and I have an early flight tomorrow. I need to rest. It is not your fault." Celeste hugs my uncle and turns on her heels to leave, grabbing Maximus. I nod at Jean Luc and Alexander and I follow her to the car that will bring us to the airport.

Once we were safe and secure in Celeste's private plane, she lets out a growl, clearly frustrated.

"We really need to stop Jean Luc's operations. Those girls are slaves. They hardly get anything. I just want to squeeze his heart in his chest, but an easy death is too good for him."

" I agree, Celeste. He needs to suffer."

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(Caid POV)

It's been a week since my party and I haven't heard from Andre.

I had someone check on Andre at his mansion. I knew he would use one of his aliases, so I called the nearest hospital and the nurse said there was no one by any of the names I had asked. I called all the hospitals in France even the Hospital of the Mafia, but I could not find him. I called a detective who is under my payroll to locate which precinct Andre was in. "Dubois, hasn't been arrested. It would be front page news if he were," the detective told me.

"Caïd, the mansion of the Parrain is empty. No guards and his butler is gone as is his sister." My men had combed Andre's property and came back empty-handed.

Something was not right. Did Andre fake his heart attack so he could leave the mafia?

I called the bank, the only bank the mafia deals using large amounts of money and I was transferred to the new VP of External Affairs, a woman named Cecile.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Lacroix. My name is Cecile, the new VP of External Affairs. How may I help you?"

"I called to ask if Andre Dubois' accounts are still open. Are they?"

"Monsieur, he closed all his accounts, including the ones under his many aliases." Andre has left. Why? Has he betrayed me?

"How about his safety deposit boxes?"

"All emptied. He personally came here  two nights ago. He was given special authorization to enter the bank and conduct his business which was granted upon his request. Is there anything else I can assist you with, Monsieur Lacroix?"

"No, that is all. Merci." I hang up. I could not believe Andre would leave me. He was a traitor!

He also had all the dirt on every mafia member. I guess as insurance so we would never bother him. This is not going to sit well with the other mafia members. Without him, I'm a sitting duck.

There is only one thing I can do. I arrange a meeting with the various ranking heads of the mafia then, I pick up my phone and dial a number.

"Maximus, I need to speak with you. In person."