His Caged Dove -Mafia Romance (BOOK ONE)

Twenty-Seven: Gedeon

"She's outside," Anastasia said before glaring at Nicolai. "And they're not stupid."

"Gardening?" Aleksei questioned back and then turned to roll his eyes at Nicolai. "And I trust her enough to know she's not going to, I don't know, run off when no one is looking."

"I don't think she's gardening, she doesn't have her gardening stuff," Anastasia pointed at the small area in front of the door where it's since warped into a makeshift gardening area. I wasn't too taken by surprise with her hobby since she seemed to know a lot regarding plant life. And so long as she continued to steer clear of the greenhouse which she didn't seem to show much interest in, it'll be fine.

I kept my face mutual from any sort of emotions as I got up from my seat. It scraped onto the marble floor, catching everyone's attention while I mumbled, "I'll go check on her then."

Aleksei snorted loudly as he leaned onto the countersink, folding his arms with an arrogant grin. He pointed his fork at me and sighed. "I'm not surprised our love sic—"

He didn't get to finish before I gutted him right in the gut. He dropped his fork, hunching over in agony with a loud groan. That was more like it. He glared up at me while clutching onto his stomach and I was the one giving an arrogant grin now. Fixing my tie, I shrugged. "I thought a bodyguard should always be expecting the unexpected. You need to get your head back in the game."

"Jackass," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to get you back on that one."

I flicked my wrist at his comment, making my way out while pulling out my phone to check everything was going smoothly. Since Mateo and I had dinner, he's been more than willing to tell me secrets about the family, especially Gaggi's in hopes that I wouldn't back out on our agreement. Truly, greedy people that were power hungry would never be able to grasp the bigger picture since they were hyper focused onto miniscule things.

Opening the front door, a ray of sunlight hits me followed by the sound of rustling trees and bird chirps. Spring was approaching fast with subtle hints of its arrival. I used to love Spring, because it was my Mother's favorite too. But it quickly shifted to liking the cold where everything was quiet and dead. Running my fingers through my hair to comb it back, I looked around for any signs of her.

And like a magnet, I was able to do so without much effort.

Her back was turned towards me, her hair blowing softly as it got carried by the wind. In a blue dress and a soft grey cardigan, I couldn't help but wonder if she was cold. It was still in the low fifties on average. I watched her bend down, stroking something and then I realized after it scurried off into the bushes of what happened.

For a moment, I thought my eyes deceived me by what she had done.

Closing the distance between us, I cleared my throat to not startle her. Yet, she turned as if she was already expecting me there. She tucks her hair back and smiles up at me, though it was one half filled with melancholy and another of contentment. Either way, I couldn't quite understand her motives.

"Why did you let your rabbit go?"

She gave a small halfhearted shrug as she stared at where it last dashed after she lets it go. "Because it wasn't mine to begin with. I wanted to nurse it back to health, and I did that."

Puzzled still and not understanding her logic, I cocked my head to the side. Walking to her side, I followed her to where she had been gardening the last few days. Small buds started to sprout from the ground, and I knew the whole place would be filled with flowers soon. I forced myself away from staring and focused back onto her as she bent down to check. "Haven't you grown attached to the thing?"