𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 (Discontinued)

19

I FLINCHED WHEN Dante cursed as he paced around his office. He ran his hands through his hair, cursing quietly to himself. I could tell he was tense and stressed- We all were, but he took the crown. His hands would shake every few seconds, and I wanted nothing more than to soothe his nerves. But I stayed put.

"Come lo risolviamo Come la troviamo?!" Dante asked angrily as Giovanni pinched the bridge of his nose. (How do we solve this? How do we find her?)

"Non lo so, ma prima dobbiamo assicurarci che l'immagine non sia photoshoppata," Gio responded, and I found myself regretting refusing Italian in High-school. (I don't know but first, we need to make sure that image isn't photoshopped)

"È un vero fottuto Marco. Deve essere. Questo è Artura. È vivo e là fuori da qualche parte." Dante exclaimed. (It's fucking real, Marco. It has to be. This is Artura. She's alive and out there somewhere.)

I couldn't understand what they were saying but there was a lot of tension in the room.

"Capisco ma dobbiamo avvicinarci con cautela." Rosa mumbled as she looked at her brother. (We understand but we have to approach this with caution)

"Scommetto i fottuti russi. Quel figlio di puttana" Dante whispered as he clenched his jaw. His eyes were a deadly dark color. (I bet it was the Russians. Those sons of bitches.)

Marco promised everything would be okay but Dante wouldn't budge. When Marco's eyes traveled to me desperately, I knew he wanted me to calm his brother down. I hesitated before getting up from the seat and placing my hand on his shoulder. Dante immediately tensed and moved his shoulder before looking at me with black eyes. There was no proof his eyes were gray once before.

"I just need a drink," He mumbled before walking out of the office, leaving all of us alone. For some reason, I felt my heart drop. Did I have any effect on him at all?

"Well, what do you we do now?" Rosa asked her siblings while my mind was still on Dante. Why did he tense up when I touched his shoulder?

My eyes began to wander around his office. I don't know what I was looking for but they just kept moving, searching for something. My eyes stopped when they landed on a picture, that was on his desk. It was Dante and some other woman standing next to him. He was younger maybe in his teenage years.

He was smiling. The happiness in his eyes was evident as he side-hugged the woman that looked just like him. The woman has brown hair with gray eyes as well. She was also grinning but it looked like she was laughing at something before the picture was taken. Just looking at the picture, made me smile. I noticed he and the woman were holding papers that were shown to the camera. It read, 'First mission for Dante and Val. Completed! May 29, 2009.'

"We need to find out if that picture is photoshopped," Marco said snapping me out of my daze. I watched as they all began to stand up. They all began to walk out but Rosa faced me. "You coming?"

"Uh yeah." I agreed before I looked down at the picture in my hands. I quickly placed it in my back pocket, and I cleared my throat before following Rosa.

"You have to promise me, you won't tell Faith about this," She said as she pulled me to the side. "Yeah, I know."

"Vanessa." She said sternly.

"I know," I promised just as Faith and November appeared in the hallway. "So you left us to hang with Rosa?" Faith said as she walked to us with November behind her.

"I- I um, I-" I stuttered as I scratched the back of my head while she giggled. "I'm kidding. You're out of the gym." She said to Rosa who didn't even know we overheard their conversation.

"Nice to know that the future Mrs. Cassio has finally come out of the gym. Oh, wait, I forgot, you didn't accept Sergio's offer." November said as Rosa gave her a threatening look.

"Hey, go easy on her, or else she'll throw a knife at your shoulder." Faith said defending Rosa. At that moment, I felt trapped. I knew the secret about Rosa and I knew the secret about Faith's daughter. I had to leave before I burst and revealed everything.

I had to find Dante, I just couldn't understand why he didn't like the fact that I touched his shoulder. What was that about?

"Um, I'm gonna go look for Dante. I need to ask him something," I announced before I walked further down the hallway. Before I knew it, I walked into the kitchen accidentally but I used that to my advantage.

"Andrews, where does Dante go when he wants to have a drink?" I asked the chef.

"Miss Vanessa, To the wine cellar. Would you care for me to show you?" He replied before I nodded. "Right this way." He said as he began to guide me.

I followed after him as we headed down to the basement that I didn't know existed. It was dark until he turned on the light. That's when I noticed, the basement didn't look like a basement at all. It had decent lighting, marble flooring, and some couches, and a bar.

"Wouldn't he be at the bar?" I asked Andrews but he just kept walking. "Mr. Di Vaio prefers a much better option," He stated before we arrived at two black double doors.

"Is this the wine cellar?" I asked and he nodded as he held his hands behind his back. "Thank you," I said. He smiled at me before I opened the door and walked inside.

"Dante?" I mumbled as I walked further into the spacious wine cellar. I froze when I saw him sitting on the leather couch with a glass of alcohol in his hand.

"Dante, what are you doing?" I asked as I sat next to him. "Just having a drink." He replied. I nodded slightly, my eyes traveling around the environment. When they returned to him, his eyes captured mine and I cleared my throat. I wanted to ask about that woman, but the words didn't come out.

"Vanessa, what is it?" He asked, grabbing my attention. I frowned in confusion, raising my right eyebrow. "I can tell you want to say something, no?"

I pulled the picture out of my pocket and handed it to him. I watched as he took it from me before his thumb moved over the woman's face. He placed his hand over his mouth and I noticed his breathing got heavy.

"You'll hate me if I tell you," I sat down next to him, and offered him a small smile.

"It's too late for that," I whispered as I placed my hand on his leg. His eyes flickered to my hand before he placed his hand on top and entwined them.

I heard him sigh next to me. "She was my sister. She died," He admitted. "They killed her-The Russians. Her name was Valentina. But we called her Val. She was always strong and pure. She was older than me by 2 minutes."

He chuckled as he drank some more from his glass. "We were so fucking close. But they just had to take her away from us."

"What happened?"

"It was her wedding day. She was marrying the love of her life but I never really liked that motherfucker. They were about to say their vows when all of a sudden, a gunshot was heard and her white dress was now red. I watched as she fell to the floor before her fiancé was killed too. I got up from my seat and ran to her but then I was stopped," He sighed, rubbing his temples. I noticed his adam apple bobbed up and down before he continued.

"A hand was placed on my shoulder from behind and turned me around, before a bag was placed over my head, trapping my air supply until I passed out like a fucking pussy. The Russians killed her and kidnapped me. They tortured me for 4 months, burning me, cutting me, scaring me. Finally, my brothers rescued me and brought me back to Italy where realization hit me. She was dead. Valentina was dead. All because the Russian Army wanted to kidnap the Italian Mafia Don. It's all my fault, she's dead. All of it." He whispered.

A tear slide down his left eye.