Cruel Innocence- Mafia Dark Romance Story- Book 2

Chapter Twenty Three - Oscar

The phone rings; I glance at it; Rafael.

I silence it and return my attention to this dinner; it has been a tedious affair so far. While a generous hostess in feeding her guest, Gemma is poorly hiding her desire to get this dinner over, serving one plate after the other with no time to spare. The only thing she remaining is telling them; get it done and leave.

The phone rings again; it is Rafael again; I better take it.

"excuse me for a minute; I must take this" I get up and head to my office. Gemma's abandoned expression follows me, I don't like her feeling this way, but I have to take this call, and I am confident she will be fine; it is only Giovanni and his little wife.

I close the door behind me and dial Rafael back

"is it done ?" I ask

"the merchandise is in motion, all of them," he answers gleefully. I am not sure I share his sentiment. If all the merchandise is being used, it could mean they are on to us. This is too good to be true, and in my experience, that usually is the first flag that something is royally off.

I rub my forehead as I think through this; something is wrong, but I cannot put my finger on it.

Even if that is the case, the ship has sailed, and we need to continue ahead with this plan. Whatever comes out of it.

"all trackers are working?" I confirm. The least we should do is make sure none of these kids actually gets hurt.

"all, Marco and Arturo are tracking them on separate systems... we will catch them this time," sounding excited and energized.

I pinch my nose and close my eyes. I hope so...I really do.

Sadly though, hope has never been a strategy worth shit.

"Keep me posted" I end the conversation and put my head back on the chair, recalculating what else can we do.

This Italian is one heck of a foe. He has eluded my father and mother. I really need to find him...I owe it to my father, and his blood is how I will honor them and pay tribute to what they both stood for.

I hear movement at the front door, and then the door click; I guess Gemma has successfully led our guests to the door.

Thinking of her brings a smile to my face; she has definitely become engrained in me, or more like I am an addict, obsessed with everything about her; face, smell, voice, and body.

We had not talked about the last conversation we had before I went to New York, but I think all will work out given time. Indeed, there is no reason for any alarms.

I leave the office and look for Gemma; I find her in the kitchen, scrubbing the kitchen counters with intense focus. She looks funny; I guess this dinner took a higher toll on her than expected.

"Hey, Mr. Clean," I tease her while startling her.

She says nothing, looks at me absent-mindedly and gets back to cleaning.

Odd, something is off.

"hey," I get behind her and wrap my hand around her waist while turning her towards me, causing her to lose her footing so that her hands land on my chest, steadying her.

"I think the counters are good." I look over her face for any sign of what is going on.

she lowers her eyes "still, the dishes need to be done."

"It can wait till tomorrow" I raise her chin up to look her in the eye

She pushes me off her and heads to the sink. "I think we can give Lucia a break," her anger rising.