Redemption

chapter 11

Lily was sitting alone in the living room, all bored, questioning her existence. Honestly she pondered over how tough life can become being a part of the mafia family. From losing your mother to dealing with weapons and learning to fight when you are not even willing. Her thoughts ran off to what it would be like to just be a normal girl; not having to worry about anyone trying to get you killed or trying to get your family members killed.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Vincenzo broke her chain of thoughts as joined her on the couch.
"Nothing," she replied tiredly. "By the way did you find any news on that bastard?"
"We are trying. I have contacted my best trackers and they are doing their work. We have your father's support so we will surely get somewhere in a while," Lily nodded.
Vincenzo took a moment to take in her features. Her flawless skin, her rosy cheeks, the cute button nose, everything about her made him feel excited.
"You know you do something to me," he mumbled lowly.
Even though Lily was not supposed to hear that, she still caught on what he said. And that made her heart skip a beat. It was clear Vincenzo was not a man to compliment anyone and yet he was sitting next to her doing exactly the opposite.

It would be a lie if she denied the fact that she too took all her time memorizing every detail of his face. The way his grey eyes glowed with a tint of sparkle, the way his nose was perfectly carved making it seem like the god himself paid extra attention to it, the way his lips looked so inviting, ready to be sucked anytime, the way everything of his face screamed perfection.
Lily averted her eyes when she finally looked back into Vincenzo's eyes and saw that he had caught her drooling over him. Vincenzo smirked at her cute reaction. But he knew that she was not the only one. The things I want to do to you, he thought.
"You've got any plans for the day?" Vincenzo wanted to know what she was doing for the day.
"Nothing much. Just decided to go for shopping later," she replied shortly.
"Ok, I'll come with you." Lily frowned as she did not take him to be a shopping guy.
"You want to buy something?" She questioned.
"Be ready by five," was all Vincenzo said before he dismissed her question leaving her confused and took his leave. He still had some pending work that strongly needed his attention.

Rose was making herself a sandwich to eat. She was desperately trying to get the mustard sauce from the top shelf, but couldn't reach it.
"Come on 5ft 5 inch is not that short!" she mumbled to herself when a hand snaked around her waist. She immediately gasped and squealed, turning around to be met with the same breathtaking emerald eyes. How cliche? She thought.

Dante looked at her and smiled at her cuteness. He then reached out his other hand and grabbed the mustard jar from the top cabinet before handing it to her.
"Umm thank you," she mumbled not looking into his eyes because of their closeness. Dante took a step back giving her some personal space.
"What were you doing here?" he asked her curiously and leaned against the kitchen counter.
"Making a sandwich." Dante nodded and continued looking at her. She carefully opened the jar and scooped some mustard on a spoon before spreading it on her bread slice. She could feel his intense gaze on her the whole time which was making her a little nervous.

"What are you looking at," She tried to ease the tension between them.
"Just figuring you out," Dante replied sheepishly. Rose scoffed at him.
"Well good luck with that, not an easy task you know." Rose replied with a hint of amusement.
"Oh I know," he chuckled, "trust me sweetheart I do. I know well that you don't allow people to read you easily. And I know why," Dante replied with an unknown emotion.
That caught her attention as she placed the spoon on the plate before turning to meet his eyes, "And why is that? Enlighten me please Mr. Connor" Rose asked challenging him.
Dante stood up straight and took a step closer to where Rose was.
"You are an amazing person Rose," he started and took a step closer to her.
"Fearless, always standing with your head high, no matter what the circumstances are. Not letting anyone play with you. Always being that brave little tiger everyone knows. This is something I admire about you."
He moved forward and was now close enough to feel her breath on his neck. He gently brushed one of her hair strand and tucked it behind her ear. Rose looked up to him suddenly feeling hot at the attention. She knew there was more to what he was saying.

"But ...?" She pushed forward to see if he had really seen through her soul.
"But..." he trailed before tipping her chin up to make her look in his eyes.
"But deep down, somewhere, this brave warrior is scared." Rose scowled and he continued.
"She is scared for the people she loves. Her family. She is scared of losing them. Scared of being left all alone. She refuses to open up to anyone so that they can't take advantage of her. She is sacred......of loving. Scared of falling in love. Scared of having a weakness," Rose released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was flabbergasted at Dante's revelation because she knew he was right. And the worse part, he was the one she wanted to hide this from the most.
"But what she doesn't know is that it's ok to be scared. It is not your loved ones who are your weakness. They are actually your strength. The people who you strive to fight for. They are the ones who turn you into the strongest of the stronger people.

You know the stories that goes on about me; the fearless Assassin. The reason that people are scared of me is because they don't know what I look like. They don't know any of my weakness to use against me. They think that I only fight because it's business. That I strive for success." Rose for the first time couldn't understand where he was going with this but then it all clicked on his next words.
"They were all right .... Until.... Now. I know one thing for sure , that my missions, my fights are not going to be business anymore. They are going to be more personal. I won't be striving to win anymore. I will be striving for someone. Someone who takes my breath away. Someone who made me feel something I wanted to feel for years. I want to be the only one for that someone. The only one she runs to when she is scared. The only one to take her fears and all her pain away. I was strong before but now I want to be stronger for her," Her breathing got heavy with his revelation.
"She's done something extremely vicious to me. Extremely evil." Rose gulped slightly when Dante's voice became a mere whisper, leaning in close to her ear and trailing his nose over her soft skin.
"She stole my heart." He revealed and Rose's jaw dropped.
"And I want my revenge." He moved closer to her ear and his lips brushed her earlobe. Her eyes shut involuntarily as she shivered at their proximity.
Dante inched back just a little to come face to face with her. Then leaning in slightly, he kissed her forehead with an intensity that was all new to her. When she opened her eyes, Dante was nowhere in sight. She sighed heavily feeling scared. Scared because she had a clear idea of who that 'someone' was.

Vincenzo was sitting on his recliner, his whole body tense as his glare burned holes in the piece of paper that was crumpled in his hand.

Remember to expect the most unexpected, it said. Who could possibly get this message in his office. But most surprisingly, it was written in the ink that he knew very well. It was his pen from the club's office after all.

He immediately called Dante to his office. He knew this was some sort of a trick. There has to be a mole. The person behind this wouldn't be stupid to let himself get tracked so easily. This had to be a distraction of some sort. And only a person with much experience and finesse could get to the root of this case and bring the man behind the message to him alive.

"Go to the club, look for anything suspicious," he spoke as soon as Dante entered. Whoever it was, would not be able hide for long.

"On it," Dante replied moving to exit the room. But before leaving, Dante did not ignore how Vincenzo was dressed up in his casuals today, very different from how he usually dresses. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I have someone I have to accompany for shopping." Vincenzo smirked.

Dante scoffed "You? Shopping? Since when? You know what actually? Don't answer. Because I know since when." Dante teased his brother.

"Get out." He chuckled before leaving at Vincenzo's command.