Incendio | A Dark Mafia Romance

Capitolo Dodici | Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

In the past year Lorenzo had secretly worked to get into the minds of as many of the people around them as possible. He had become much more proficient at speaking to new people and he did not feel the same nervousness that he used to feel all that time ago.

A facade that he was never able to use before had allowed him to easily morph into whoever he had to be in order to spy on the people that Valeria wanted to know about.

He secretly admired the confidence he had gained but it was always difficult for him in certain cases. Precisely whenever the underboss's son Domenico treated him harshly and intimidated him when signorina Valeria was not around to stop it.

He knew that Domenico felt for Valeria. Lorenzo had become good at identifying the behaviour of people and he could tell when someone was lying as he had nothing to do but observe people around him anyways.

There was one thing he couldn't understand. The signorina had never asked him to tell her what he had found out. It was as though she didn't even want to know what he had learnt about everyone he was supposed to look into and that had only pushed him to strive harder and not leave even the smallest detail out.

An excellent programmer as working with technology was one of his greatest strengths, he hacked, researched and looked into everything that seemed relevant on everyone around them and even the Cosa Nostra.

Valeria was amused by how different Lorenzo was becoming. He seemed much happier and he did not not have that dreadful air of nervous tension around him anymore.

She had asked him to look into everyone not just because she wanted to know more but because she was molding him into a man who would prove to be an asset to her.

There was no use of cowards and men who could not take a stand if they were to fight by her side. Every single one of them had to know what they wanted and burn everything around them to get it.

Vito quickly walked inside Valeria's room with Domenico right behind him.

Davide also entered sensing that something was wrong as he was always outside her room. The stubborn old man never liked leaving her out of his sight to be able to protect her easily.

They all had a system. Valeria called the shots along with Vito as he was obviously wiser and had experience.

Nobody knew that Valeria was the one that would lead them. They all thought that it was Domenico and Vito. Valeria wanted to keep it that way because it was both a curse and a boon. Nobody would ever suspect that a women was the one that would be the boss of the Camorra. She would hide in plain sight.

Until she got married it was assumed that Vito and Domenico would take over as Don and the underboss. It avoided conflict and allowed her to get her way as well.

The truth was not to be revealed to anybody that Valeria didn't allow to be in her inner circle.

"Cosa c'è che non va?" She asked bluntly with no formality as she saw how furious Vito and Domenico looked. They both mirrored each other's expressions and that was quite alarming as Vito was nornally very calm even in the worst situations. (What's wrong?)

"We need to move within a day. I have a plan." Vito stated in a low tone as he kept looking towards the door, afraid of being overheard.

Valeria had no patience to figure out what the problem was as her own frustration rose, "Just say it. What the hell happened?"

Domenico answered her immediately pulling her softly by her arm to the side away from Davide and Vito as they both spoke amongst themselves without glanicing towards them. "We have a rat. We don't know who it is and it's a big problem because when we leave this time, we're getting out of Italia."

Valeria's eyes widened with panic as she whispered back swiftly, "What do you mean? We have nowhere to go outside Italy. How do you even know we have a rat?"

Domenico tried not to get distracted by the gold shimmer of her eyes as she stepped closer to him to be able to question him quietly.

His father easily helped him snap back to reality and he cleared his throat to get over the strong way he had just felt. Vito came towards them and answered her questions that exact instant without lingering on anything Domenico had just done.

"I just explained this to Domenico and Rosetta before I came here." Vito held my shoulders firmly and looked down at me resolutely eith his eyebrows furrowed. "My sister lives in the UK. She was shunned from our family for marrying an Irish mob boss. We will go there. Stay there and plan because it is safer than anywhere in Italy right now. There is a lot of rivalry going on here and you know that we will be caught if we go on like this. The young heir of the Cosa Nostra will become the Don soon and you know how important a role you play in case you get caught by them."

Valeria nodded with no further questions even though she had a million. This was no time for idle sentiments.

She was betrothed to the heir of the Cosa Nostra. They had a contract and as long as she was alive, she would lose everything if they found her. They could break the betrothal but she couldn't.

It was an arrangement that had been made by their grandfathers but Domenico had said he would explain it to her later when the time came as Vito had told him everything there was to know.

She hated being in the dark about something that could change the very course of her life but for now she had better things to worry about so she didn't push as she normally would have.

"We cannot leave without finding the rat as everything that we do would be of no use. Those stronzi are never allowed to be one step ahead of us."

"You didn't answer my question. How do you know we have a rat?" Valeria questioned as she crossed her arms and set her curious stare on Vito.

"One of the women that we have to get vegatables and food from the market nearby heard one of the men talk about the fact that you were supposed to be somewhere nearby. To the world you are dead Valeria, except the Cosa Nostra's higher ranked officials and the men who attacked that day." Vito replied as he paced around with no way to figure out who the rat was in such a short period of time.

"Well then you're lucky to have me." Valeria calmly placated them with a smile that made them look at her as though she was pazza. (Crazy)

Vito was about to berate her and say that this was not an appropriate time for jokes but he watched her carefully. No, she was up to something. He knew her well enough to know when her mind was running, coming up with a solution.

The corner of Domenico's mouth lifted up knowing she would do something to surprise all of them.

"Get Lorenzo in here." Valeria commanded softly as she took a seat on the chair, knowing that the answer to all her problems would be here soon.

"Dom if you intimidate him now, I'll actually punch you." Valeria gave Domenico a nasty look though her eyes told him how serious she was.

Domenico rolled his eyes and waited for the idiota to arrive.

Lorenzo trudged in after Davide who had gone to fetch him.

The second he saw her, he knew that his time to finally be useful had come.

His chest puffed out as he swallowed and tried to downplay his enthusiasm. He hoped that she would be satisfied with everything he knew.

"Out of everyone who lives here with us, which members stepped out the most even when we lived in Campania. Any suspicious activity?" Valeria asked Lorenzo, struggling to hold back a chortle at how happy he looked to finally be able to prove himself to her.

If only he knew this was barely the beginning of what he had to do.

"It was Tomasso Puglisi for medical commitments and Carlo Facchiano to uh meet his mistress but that stopped after she died last week from a car accident." Lorenzo stated with his face scrunched up as he tried to recall if there was anyone else that he found suspicious.

Valeria watched him patiently as she knew he would give her the answer very soon. He just needed time to work and she had understood that when he was under pressure he worked very well as long as he wasn't forced to remember everything at once.

There were barely forty to fifty people who lived here now so it wasn't hard for him to look into everyone but it was difficult to connect the dots sometimes because of how random these people were at times.

"I don't think there's anyone else that — oh wait, a woman named Camilla Benedetto seemed very weird to me." Valeria observed that  Domenico's expression changed when Lorenzo said the name. "She had huge amounts of money that for a soldier's wife seemed absurd. I checked to see if she came from money but she was just a farmer's daughter. I wasn't able to trace where the money came from because it was highly encrypted. Only the work of powerful people but I still couldn't understand what made her so suspicious and she was just not —"

"Sputalo fuori." Valeria barked as she knew that they didn't have all day to hear him ramble.

Lorenzo nodded with widened eyes as he got to the point, "I think she was having an affair with a man from the Cosa Nostra because every Thursday the money would be deposited into her account and it's been going on for more than twenty years now. Atleast the money has been coming in for a long time. I pulled up all the security feed that I could. She went out all the time and even now, she has no reason to go out during times like these but she does every Thursday, Friday and Monday."

Valeria scoffed with astonishment. "How did nobody realise this? I knew for a fact that her husband was always on duty so she was never with him. How could nobody have seen that she was getting out that much? Lorenzo, check on the unexplained deaths of any of the soldiers at the estate. Anything that could be a link to her at all. We'll be able to find out how powerful the man she's with is."

Domenico's eyes blazed with fury as he answered. "Her daughter distracted us over here, I'm not sure about how she did it in Campania but it must have been so much easier back then with so many people moving around. She had to have been in on it. She always talked and hung out with Rosetta mostly on those days."

Valeria's blood boiled as she realised what this meant. "She was one of the ways they got in."

"Get her." Valeria snarled with dark eyes as she knew she couldn't go down there and impulsively kill her.

Davide and Domenico left to find her immediately as Lorenzo and Vito stayed for a moment longer.

Vito left instantly leaving Lorenzo looking at them awestruck as Valeria got up to head to the basement where she knew they would bring the puttana sporca.

She looked at Lorenzo with a blank, dead look in her eye. "You want to see me blow someone's head off?"

Lorenzo didn't know why he nodded even though his gut churned as he followed her, knowing that he secretly looked forward to it.

Domenico and Davide found Camilla and dragged her away from the rest of the women she was with who were sitting in the garden.

They didn't care if they garnered attention. This was exactly what happened to rats like her. They would all die for betraying them.

Camilla screamed and cursed with anger as she asked them why they were doing this.

Vito appeared in front of her as he opened the door of the house and they let go of her arms as they reached the front and saw him.

She slapped Davide's face and spit at him. "What are you bastards doing! Come osi!"

Her hand went to hit Vito's chest but he pushed her to the ground and backhanded her harshly.

"Shut up rat! You don't get to speak fottuta puttana! Betrayal gets you killed." Vito roared catching everyone's attention.
This woman was the reason his Lucia had met a fate worse than death. What those men had done to her.

The rest of the men who were there understood the situation as they hollered out curses demanding Camilla's head.


Aria watched them from the shadows as they grabbed her mother and pulled her into the basement while she swore that they would die for this.

The blonde haired girl knew they would die for it as wicked hatred bloomed within her. Right after she told them what they had just done to her mother. She knew she couldn't save her mother but she could get them all killed instead. So, she ran vowing in her head that Vito would be the first to fall.

Valeria's grin grew to full blown laughter that didn't cease as she looked at the pathetic woman who was crying as blood flowed from her head.

She slammed Camilla's head against the concrete wall over and over as she laughed and watched the wretched woman whimper underneath her.

All Valeria could see was red. This woman ruined all of their lives.

The least Camilla could do was talk but she didn't so Valeria let the men who needed to get their fury out have a turn. Any kind of torture was justified.

Domenico got to rip her fingers off as she begged for mercy. He smiled and cooed as she kept swearing even when he did it slowly savouring the cries of pain she let out.

Valeria asked her again. "Who was the man?"

She didn't answer as her head lolled and she spat at Valeria. "He will kill e-everyone again for me. T-they . . . they will." She dragged out unable to speak with all the blood she was losing.

Davide hung her by her hair from the hook at the top, causing her to scream as Vito beat her mercilessly until she was begging me for help.

Valeria didn't care if she was a woman. She herself was a little girl when they did this to her.

Camilla had a brain. She chose not to use it.

Nobody got a free pass.

Valeria walked up to her and repeated her question.

She craved her blood and wanted her dead body at her feet.

"Who was the man?"

She shook her head slowly unwilling to answer, slurring her words. "H-he will . . . come for . . . you, I won't s-say."

Oh, Camilla thought that Valeria needed her. This cagna was getting ahead of herself.

"Good. I'll just find out when he comes for me then."

She took a knife and cut through her body from top to bottom like it was butter.

Valeria unhooked her hair from the hook and let her body fall limply as the sticky puddle of blood pooled around Camilla's body and Valeria's feet.

She simply went to the sink after the job was done and looked at her bloodstained hands with glee.

It wasn't the blood that excited her. It was because she knew she was barely getting started.

Camilla may have been one of the biggest factors in getting her famiglia slaughtered but she was still step one in everything that was yet to come.

Her eyes burned as she remembered her brother's dead body in her arms as she talked to him every day in that rotten cell.

Lorenzo watched everything wanting to puke as he shivered but he didn't pass out and for once he knew he was happy he contributed to her death in some way atleast.

Camilla was a disease that had gotten every person he knew back then killed. Innocent and cruel people without any remorse.

Valeria looked at Vito who came back into the basement as she finished washing up, "Where is the girl?"

"Nowhere to be found." He stated with insurmountable anger as he punched the wall.

A hot amount of fury filled her but her blank expression was maintained on the outside as she  shook her head.

"We need to leave now."

Valeria knew the beginning of the end of this nightmare had finally started but she hoped that everyone she cared for even made it till the end because in their world, even the impossible was possible.