To Love and Rule

Chapter 27: Confidant

My father and I had discovered that the numbers belonged to personal and business phones, all owned by one person. I have been hesitant to make a call, arguing with myself to tell the men or to keep it hidden from them, but I knew that someday it had to be done, It is what Cairo would have wanted.

"What the hell are you saying to me right now?" he asked, studying me with an intense stare.

"They're phone numbers, all leading to a man named Heitor," I informed as I passed him the paper.

"Who else knows about this?" he sighed while reading the numbers carefully.

"Just you and Atlas," I mumbled, and he continued to stare at the paper in shock.

"I wasn't sure how to proceed with this. You have more experience dealing with these type of situations than I do, I was wondering if you have any ideas on what we could do," I tried to reason with him, but he turned to me slowly with a look of disgust, as if I was being insane.

"We? There is no we," he snapped dramatically.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"I have to tell Nico about this," he said, shaking his head while standing to his feet.

"Romano, wait," I pleaded nervously as I grabbed his wrist.

"Are you kidding me?" he groaned, pulling his hand away.

"If your boyfriend finds out that we're keeping secrets from him, he'll kill me!" he exclaimed, but I rolled my eyes at the unnecessary title he gave to Nicolo.

"I'm sorry, principessa, but I care more about my life than your feelings," he scoffed as he began to dial Nicolo's number.

"Sciocca ragazza," I heard him mumble under his breath before he turned away and exited the building.

I groaned, running my hand through my hair in frustration, but I came to my senses as I knew that Romano was right. It would be wrong to keep this information from the other men for longer, I had just wished we were more prepared and knew who we were up against.

"Excuse me, miss," the bartender caught my attention as I looked up at him.

"The gentleman over there has offered to buy you another drink," he said while setting down a new glass of wine in front of me.

"Oh, thank you," I said in surprise and displayed a sweet smile towards my mysterious wine provider.

As soon as I turned away, my hair fell around my face, shielding the man from seeing my fake smile drop. I eyed the glass suspiciously, terrified of even touching it as I remembered our enemy's tactic of killing. Could it be possible that this man is one of them?

"It's not smart for a beautiful girl like you to be all alone," a low raspy voice said and I looked up to see the mysterious man approaching me.

"Who are you?" I asked as I watched him sit down beside me, taking Romano's seat.

"I could ask you the same question," he chimed with a sordid grin.

"You see, my friends and I have been studying the Mazzerelli Family for years, but you..." he trailed on.

"...you are someone new," he said, roaming his eyes over every inch of my body.

I studied him carefully in return as he was someone I did not recognize. The man had a dark complexion with black ringlets of hair almost meeting his brown eyes, but I let out a shaky breath as I saw a concealed handgun on the inside of his suit. I was completely defenseless.