To Love and Rule

Chapter 16: Opia Part: 1

Opia (n.) The ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.

Arabella's P.O.V.

Only a few weeks had gone by since I first had my meeting with Cairo, but it had felt like a dreadful eternity since I last spoke to Nicolo. Although I had made sure to lessen my contact with him, he had made it his goal to always have eyes on me, as I've occasionally spotted his guard, Luca, who was sent to observe and keep watch from a distance. I've learned to not mind Luca's unnecessary presence as I felt it was useless to argue on this subject again with Nicolo, and it would be an even greater nuisance to face him once more.

My business with Romano had surprisingly been going well, his aid in weapons and supplies were of tremendous help to Scarlett Operations as we were now productive and successful in helping those who sought out our assistance. The organization remained clueless of how our storage room was now stocked to the brim with new weapons, they had concluded that these supplies were donated to us as a kind gesture from our allies. It was only I who knew that these gifts stemmed from something much more threatening and came at a cost, which is the disapproval and judgment from my family if they were to ever discover what I had done.

The last conversation between Nicolo and I had caused me to become cautious of trusting Romano, but during these past few days he had proven to me that I should not see him as a dangerous mistake. Romano is a man of his words and, has so far, kept up his end of our deal. Working with him may be questionable, but I was glad with the decision that I had made, and so I stood here, gazing proudly at the list of red names that had grown shorter, and continued to slowly disappear as time continued on.

"Arabella," Atlas' frantic voice echoed down the hallway, and I peeled my eyes away from the screen to face my father, with Alexander hastily trailing behind him.

"Yes?" I asked, my face now filled with concern.

"I knew that I would find you here," he smiled with the corner of his eyes forming wrinkles as his grin grew wider, and I foolishly smiled in return.

"It seems like you've grown an interest in our data and progress these last few days," he said, nodding towards the screen that held my attention only moments ago.

I would have thought that his kind greeting was genuine, but the tone in his voice had changed into something that was more cynical, causing my face to fall sullen. My lips were pressed into a line out of nervousness as I studied his face more carefully, allowing me to understand his true emotions. He showed off his grin proudly, but I could now see through his eyes that it was fake, it was a sarcastic smile, an almost angry and sneering matter.

"I'm just glad to see that we've gotten the chance to help more people," I replied innocently, but my nerves had exposed my guilt as I awkwardly darted my eyes between my father, the screen, and Alexander, then towards my father...again.

"Is that so?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Father, wait," Alexander mumbled towards Atlas, but he returned a threatening glare. My heart began to race as I now knew that something was terribly wrong once I watched Alexander slouch in his stance and remained quiet against our father's growing exasperation.

"I mean, the more people we help, the shorter this list gets, and soon enough this screen will be empty, as it should be," I replied carefully, and darted my eyes towards my brother as I watched him slowly shake his head at the sound of my words.

"Yes, that would be a wonderful sight, indeed. It's amazing how quickly we've helped so many people in such a short amount of time, don't you think?" he asked as he raised his brows, urging me to come up with a response.