Crisis Of War

{ XLIX }

'A man your age, Rafael, can not be this rich without getting his hands dirty, everyone knows that.' I nod, genuinely not knowing what I'm supposed to say at this point. 'The world thinks you just have this huge legacy, it's like they're blind.' 

'Most of them are.' I state, watching as she raises a brow at me. 'But not you, miss Velez.' 

Valentina looks at me with wide eyes, shifting in her seat when her mom turns to her instead of me. 

'I asked Veah what was going on and told her to be honest with me, which she was.' Fucking hell... 'And I don't understand why you didn't just tell me.' 

'Mom, I couldn't just-' 'What if something happened to you?' Ariana asks, raising her voice a little. 

Again, she's not angry. She's genuinely worried about her daughter's wellbeing. 

'Cataleya, you could've died because of this stuff and I wouldn't even know because you didn't tell me.' Valentina looks away again, staring helplessly at the table between her mother and herself, 'Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?' 

'I'm sorry.' 

'Don't keep stuff like this from me, especially if it has anything to do with your safety.' Ariana states, waiting for her daughter to look at her again. Which she slowly does. 

'You're my daughter, Cataleya. If he makes you happy, I would never stop you from being with him, but I need you to talk to me about everything going on, especially when he's in the mafia.' She says with tears in her eyes. 

Wait... 

'Rafael.' I look at Ariana and wait for her to continue, unable to say or do anything else right now. 'I'll ask you again, are you putting her in danger?' 

Again, the answer is simple. 

I don't want to put her in danger, but there will always be some kind of danger. If it's out in the open, or lurking around the corner. There will always be someone out to get us. 

So lying won't be any good.

Especially if I want Ariana to somewhat like me... 

'There will always be a threat.' I answer honestly, making her frown a little. 'But I will do everything in my power to keep her safe.' 

She inhales slowly, holding her breath for a few seconds, before nodding and slowly releasing her breath. 

'Thank you.' She says as she tries to blink the tears away. 

'Now what happened with that Hunter guy?' Ariana asks, turning to her daughter again. 

Valentina sighs deeply and shakes her head, smiling a little. 'He's a psycho.' 

'I could already tell something was off with him, but at least he didn't hold Theo at gunpoint.' She says, frowning when she quickly glances at me. 'I wanted to apologize for the way I acted the first time around-' 'You did what?!' Great... 

'Let's just say that he did the same to us.' I say, hoping that it will calm Valentina down. But it does the exact opposite. 

'That doesn't mean- God Rio! Are you fucking insane?' Ariana chuckles and shakes her head, making me frown a little. 'Calm down, mi amor, Theo was a bit tense after you left so he did it out of self-defense.' 

'Well... I kind of held a knife at his throat, so I guess he had every right to be tense.' Not just Ariana's eyes widen, but mine do too. 'You stabbed Theo!?' Her mom shouts. 

'I didn't stab him, I just thought he was this random dude in our house!' 

I can already imagine her pressing the blade against his neck, slowly waiting for him to squirm and just- 'We'll talk more tomorrow.'