Santi's Downfall

Chapter 1: The Encounter

My cousin permitted himself to smile slightly. "Nothing, really, she just favors unusual colors for her hair. It changes from time to time depending on her mood."

My mouth twisted slightly at his answer. I have to remember that she's no longer that skinny kid from nine years ago.

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

I didn't know where the hell that question came from. I just blurted it out like an idiot and from the look on Nico's face, he was also clearly wasn't expecting such a question. He blinked before answering me. "Well, from what I gather she doesn't have."

"I see," I said dismissively, avoiding the strange smile on my cousin's face while he was looking at me. I knew I don't like that smile on his face right now.

Nico cleared his throat loudly. "If I may add something before we fetch her, cousin."

"What is it?" I queried while looking at her detailed file.

"I knew that you refused to hear anything as far as Haven is concerned since that incident but there's a high chance that she won't recognize us from her past."

My eyebrows drew together while looking at him. "What do you mean?"

My cousin cleared his throat again and avoided my gaze. "The truth is, she suffer such trauma from that incident that causes her to have selective memory loss. She doesn't remember anything of Sicily or the people she met there."

I wasn't aware that I held the file tightly in my hand. I didn't know how to react to this new information I learned but I think that's for the better if she doesn't recognize me. For her, I was just a stranger who was about to be her legal guardian until her twenty-fifth birthday.

"Should I prepare the car now?" Nico probed.

I shook my head, placing the folder back on my table. "Later. I'm still waiting for my unwanted guests to arrive."

"Guests?" My cousin frowned at me. "You mean, they have something to do with the woman who arrived with you?"

For the first time in forever, I felt myself smiling slightly. "Yes."

"Oh," the shock on his face was palpable. "I thought she was the new flavor of the month that's why I was wondering why she slept in a separate room with you last night. So who are these unwanted guests you are talking about? You mean to sell this woman to them?"

I shook my head again. "No."

"Now I am getting curious."

I waved my hand dismissively in his direction. "It's just the manipulative devil from Rome with his friends probably."

There was a worried look on Nico's face. "You mean to say, Marco Orsini?"

I permitted myself to smile slightly. "Do you know anyone eviler than me other than him? I swear sometimes I think he was the crime boss and I was the businessman the way he treats me."

His silence was enough to answer us. "That's what you get when our family had been friends with them for a very long time grandfather once courted his grandmother."

A maid entered my office to inform me that my unexpected guest already finished her breakfast and there were five men arrived.

"That must be them," I told Nico once the maid left us. "Do you want to join me and welcome them?"

He rolled his eyes. "Marco Orsini is around? No, thank you. Whenever I see that man all I could see is the mountain of detective work waiting for me. Do you know how demanding he is when he wants to locate someone? He barely gives me time to take my next breath before ordering me around like a dog. Does he even aware of how easy for me to put bullets inside his head?"