Liam, who had just been called in by Elijah, came in with a cup of coffee for his Boss.

Elijah took two big gulps, nearly emptying out half of the mug brought to him, yet this action still looked rather elegant when done by this handsome young man.

​​

Liam looked at this sight and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

His boss's figure just looked too much like a mix between a mafia gang leader and a high aristocratic son.

It was disturbing to Liam, as a male of the same species, that even after having been his boss's assistant for years, he still couldn't get used to his boss's mesmerizing and imposing looks.

This was too sad.

We are all human and all male. So why the f**k is the difference so big? :)

Anyways, it only got worse the older Elijah got.

It was still okay when Elijah was a kid, but then he became a teenager.

His genetics as one from the ***** family had long determined that he would grow up in size and build at a much faster pace than a normal child.

Now that Liam looked at his boss, he could definitely pass as a 21-year-old at the minimum, while he could pass as a 27-year-old if he released his aura.

In fact, if he released his aura, the vast majority of the people, wouldn't even be able to look at him properly enough to determine his age, ultimately assuming he was much older than he really was.

In reality, their Boss hadn't even come of age!

[They come of age at 21 in his country and one can start working at 14, of course there at exceptions to the rule.]

He was still 18, yet he didn't look a bit like it.

At least from an outsider's perspective.

Anyways, Liam stopped paying these wandering thoughts any mind seeing as nothing would bare of them.

"Boss, are you going to make your move now?"

Elijah put his empty mug down, basking in the bitter taste that made him feel alive.

"I'll start phase two when He comes to find me."

Elijah could wait.

He matter-of-factly responded as if it were the most no-nonsense thing he had ever said in his life.

Liam stopped for a bit to catch up to his Boss's train of thought before nodding.

'I have no f**king clue what you mean, but okay.'

He smiled calmly as if this were an everyday occurrence.

Which it was. :)

***

As for who Elijah was talking about, the man whose call he was waiting for at the moment, that man would be Maverick Lenin, who more widely went by Mav.

Giovanni Lenin's youngest brother.

He was the kind of figure that had enough power to be able to hide in the shadows.

After such a big event, it was only natural that Giovanni would first and foremost inform his younger brother, the one whose daughter was directly involved in this matter.

And just as Elijah predicted, at this moment the old man, Master Giovanni, was making the call.

This much was well within his expectations.

If Elijah's luck was good, then by the end of the day, Elijah would be doing the other party a favor by assisting them in the search for M.

Of course, that was the best-case scenario that had quite a low probability of occurring.

What Elijah was really aiming for, was for the other party to contact him first.

But in this scenario, Elijah actually didn't dare say that his thoughts were foolproof nor that things would go his way.

Maverick was not one to be tricked like Master Giovanni.

No, he was much, much sharper.

Elijah knew this fact well, all too well.

If he was going to contact Elijah, then he would already know Elijah's thoughts.

This is why Elijah hadn't complicated things.

He was rather straightforward in his intentions because there was really no point in plotting here if all his intentions were going to be seen through by the other party.

At least he could make a better impression if he didn't give chase and run around in circles with the man old enough to be his father.

Just from his lifestyle and job, one could tell that this man wasn't particularly fond of mind games, or else he might have followed his second elder brother into the political field and brought the whole Lenin family into a whole new level in the political world.

But that didn't mean that the man didn't excel at it.

When it came to mind games, Elijah wasn't particularly confident against Maverick, rather he knew that he wouldn't be able to hide his thoughts from him.

The world didn't know, but he knew.

He knew that if Maverick was second, then there probably wouldn't be a first in anything that the man wanted to do.

Others could spend decades learning something only to end up not as good as a month's work from Mav.

He was a man of talent.

His only flaw was his lack of ambition for such things.

If you could call it a flaw at all.

At least Maverick didn't think it was.

As someone with an unmeasurable IQ, Maverick was in fact, a man of many emotions, and one who liked to proactively show them too.

Elijah found it fascinating, but he felt like he couldn't do the same, not in this lifetime, and probably not in the next either.

That was why Elijah adopted another tactic when it came to dealing with him.

He would always make sure that even if Mav knew what he was thinking, the man would still go with his flow.

Then again, when it came to him, one never knew.

***

"What's up Eldest Brother? Am I going crazy, or did you not just call me yesterday? To think that the day would come where my Eldest Big Bro would spare me some time two days in a row! Wait, wait, wait, give me one second…"

The man on the other side said in a light and playful tone.

The sound of rummaging could be heard before the same man spoke again with a scarily serious tone.

"I must go see my weather satellites; I think that the world may be ending by the time you drop the call…"

Maverick burst into laughter.

Master Giovanni, who had yet to get a word in since the call started relented and admitted his wrongdoings immediately so that he could go into the main topic sooner.

But not before he did his iconic synchronized eye and lip twitch.

"I get it, I get it Mav. I'll be sure to call more when I have time," he coaxed.

Maverick was still their family's youngest before they all went out and had children with the exception of Giovanni, so Giovanni still had the habit of giving in to this youngest brother of his.

Maverick sighed and said, "you know I'd be happy if you just dropped that last part. I know you never have time, but I wish you would make some."

"I'm not young anymore, and you're not either, Second Brother is always busy, but he also wants to get a call every once in a while, you know? Much less mom and dad," it was still in the same playful voice, but Maverick's tone told Giovanni that he was 100% serious on this matter.

And he wasn't wrong either.

Their parents indeed weren't young anymore, and neither was Giovanni.

It was about time that they reconciled…well, it was about time 25 years ago.

But Giovanni couldn't bring himself to be the first to give in.

The problem was that, though he was an old and stubborn man, his father was an even older and stubborner man.

"I'll think about it," was all he could muster after a moment of silence.

Maverick sighed.

This wasn't the place for him to intervene, but he couldn't help it.

"Big Brother, I know this is very hard for you, but I just hope that you won't end up regretting anything in the future."

He didn't want things to be too late when his Big Brother finally thought things through.

And Giovanni understood this point too.

Only sometimes, he was so immersed in the escapism in front of him, with his head lowered in front of his screen that he found it hard to look around him when ignoring problems got addictive.

"Okay then, you should think about it, but before that, why don't you tell me why you called? Though I wish I could confidently say that it was because you missed me, I also don't want to delude myself," Maverick asked.

Though Mav was not young anymore, his spirit was still as young as ever.

He could always lighten up the mood and crack a joke whenever he felt like it.

Master Giovanni suddenly felt old by comparison.

"Yes, this is indeed about a very important matter," Giovanni explained.

"It hurts me that you'll only call for very important matters… but do tell," Maverick said as if he was about to shed some tears.