Deadly Nightshade

Chapter 22: The Headlines

"Enzo and I will have a match," I whisper to Damiano.

"This is going to be fun to watch," he smirks, "Enzo! Get in the ring, you will be fighting against Lea." he says, his smirk never fading away.

Enzo, whom was standing by the door walks up to us. He looks at me puzzled, "Why am I fighting against you?"

"To show them what a real fight looks like," I answer, "Now get on the ring." I order him.

Enzo takes out his suit jacket and hands it to Damiano, he undoes a few buttons of his dress shirt and he puts up his sleeves, showing a few of his tattoos. Then, he takes off his shoes and with that he walks up to the ring, as he does the trainees start whispering among themselves. You see, Enzo has made a name for himself in the short amount of time that he has been working for me. Inside our organization, he is known as the ace among all of my bodyguards, and I've heard that most of the new trainees look up to him. So, I understand the excitement they must feel right now.

Once Enzo gets inside the ring he stands in the middle waiting for me.

On the other hand, I am wearing gym clothes, so there is no need for me to have any preparations beforehand. I give my phone to Damiano, take off my shoes and with that I, too, walk up to the ring.

All eyes are on me now, the new trainees are looking at me as if I have signed up for my own death. I get inside the ring and sent a wink to Damiano.

They say that Enzo has been the best trainee of all, an ace at every field, someone that no one can beat or live up to his legacy. But much to their surprise, so am I.

I wait for Enzo to strike first, but I see that he is hesitating so I whisper to him, "Don't hold back for me," and with that I strike first, he blocked my jab with ease, we threw punches back and forth for a minute, but neither of us was growing tired. Enzo is taller than me, but I use that to my advantage and throw a roundhouse kick at his ribs, I hear him groan and I smirk at the gaps that leave the audience.

Did I mention that I might know a thing or two about martial arts?

I see Enzo getting frustrated that I manage to hit him so when he lands a punch on my ribs, I knew that he was not holding back like the beginning since his punch managed to take my breath away, literally.

I fell into the mat with a loud thud, Enzo immediately kneeled in front of me looking concerned. "Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you so har-" he started to apologize, and since he was distracted I use that to my favor to throw him to the mat, resulting on me being on top of him, we stared into each other's eyes, our faces close to each other and I whisper to him, "I told you not to hold back," he then grabbed my waist and turned us around so he was on top this time, "Who said I was holding back?" he whispers back and I smile at him, a genuine one, he then stands up and offers me his hand, I took it and he helps me get up and soon I hear cheers from the other trainees, I get down from the mat with the help of Damiano.

"That was amazing, that kick you did was impressive." Damiano says to me smiling proudly.

"And that guys is how you fight!" Damiano announces "Give a round of applause to Enzo and Lea!" He exclaims and everyone start to cheer louder than last time, I roll my eyes at Damiano's antics, and a smile might have escape my lips.

"Okay, let's move to the next part!" I say louder due to the cheers. All of us move to the next room.

"Nice move," Enzo whispers to me as he walks beside me.

"I could say the same about you, but you get distracted easily," I tease him, "I thought I hurt you, so I was concerned," he says in a low voice. "You know me better than that, I barely get hurt," I say to him, "That is because I always prevent that from happening..." he whispers.

I look at him and we held eye contact for a few seconds, his eyes staring right through my soul as if his soul and mine were communicating and all I could do was just stare right back. Our moment was broken by Damiano, who was calling for me.

The rest of the training with the new trainees went by smoothly. They were good in the fields that we trained, but they still need some improvement. So, I will assign Alonzo to start training them in the skills that they lack, starting tomorrow. That way, by the end of the month they can join the organization.

By the time that I went home, it was already night.

When Enzo pulled up in my driveway, I noticed a car that I don't recognize parked by the entrance of my house.

"Alonzo, who's car is that?" Enzo asked through his walkie talkie.

"Which car?" he answers, and all I can think about is that these bunch of idiots are going to hear a mouthful on the next meeting we have.

"Lea, stay in the car." Enzo says sternly, but he should know by now that I won't listen to him. I got out of the car at the same time as him, and I could already hear him cursing under his breath, followed by a sigh.

"At least, stay behind me..." he says as he takes his gun and walks in front of me.

To that, I listened, so I walked behind him, and with that, both of us got inside the house. When we got to the living room, I saw a man looking out the window at my patio, with his back to us. But you can still make out that he is smoking a cigarette from the smoke and the smell.

He must have heard our footsteps since he turns around with a smile that surprisingly reaches his eyes. He also must have seen my facial expression or more like my distaste for his presence since he asked, "Aren't you happy to see me?"

I am now standing beside Enzo, his gun still raised, ready for my command. And to be honest, all I want to do is order him to shoot until his charger is empty. But I bit my tongue and instead gave the man a few feet away from us the coldest stare I could muster.

"What are you doing here?" I ask in a low voice.

"Well, you made the headlines this week, babe. And I wanted to check for myself if there is indeed a new powerful couple in town." He says it so casually, as if we have been friends for the longest time.

"That is none of your concern." I retort.

I am getting agitated each second that I stare at his face.

"Do you know him?" Enzo asks me, his eyes never leaving the man in front of us.

"You have no idea..." I sigh.

And Enzo indeed has no idea that the man in front of us, staring at me as if nothing has happened, is the very man who broke my heart into a million pieces.