The Mafia Bride

40.

"Nico! Have you done this before?" I asked, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt. I was reading someone's diary, this was so wrong and bad.

"Yeah and trust me, it is the only way I understand him and what he feels. He's so closed off that breaching and reading his private diary is the only way to know that fool has feelings." Nico said.

Well, Nico made a good argument. And, screw it, I was curious. I mean what girlfriend wouldn't want to know what her boyfriend thought of her, as in really thought of her. If someone knew I was listening they'd only praise me, if I wanted to know what they truly felt of me, I needed to know what they thought of me when they knew I wasn't listening.

"This is from the day you guys first met." Nico said as he handed me the laptop.

I went through the first entry of Leo's diary.

#

I had the worst day ever. I had to punch that bastard myself to make him spill out the details. If that wasn't enough I got airsick. The seats made my feet cramp. And, as if things weren't better, I noticed a woman struggling with my a similar red bag. I went and told her it was my bag. She looked down at me. She told me in the most condescending tone that it was a limited edition and I made a mistake. Excuse me lady, I do not appreciate you snubbing me. But, I had to be patient. I simply showed her the identical bag in my hands. She blushed for a moment and I thought she'd admit her mistake but she told me it was my problem and began to walk off. Ugh she was such a jerk. Why do I always run into jerks? I swear for a moment I pondered about putting a bullet right through her head.

Millions of possibilities ran through my mind. Did this woman knew that I was carrying weapons in my luggage? Was she a killer sent by our enemies? It seemed likely. No sane person would act this fishy without a reason. I used my cold voice, the one which my father often used and me and my siblings liked to call as 'The Don Voice'. I told her that if she was trying to steal my voice, the consequences would be severe. She looked terrified and I felt a little shitty. Maybe, she wasn't a killer, maybe, she was just a normal girl. She tried her best to be tough and honestly, it was cute. I vaguely threatened her again, not that I meant to harm her, I was just playing. After her rude behaviour, my empty threat was justified.

Our arguments attracted attention. This was bad. I had to do this job discreetly. Our enemies could be around and there was a risk of getting spotted and sabotaging the entire mission. I had to stay more patient now more than anything else. People were watching and I had to watch my every step.

The girl crouched low and yanked my luggage. She flipped my bag open. I swear, my heart came in my throat and I was so close to puking it out. There were a grenade in it, for emergencies. I thought I was exposed. But she only skimmed through the top part and did not touch it. Praise the heavens. But, she did find my handcuff. How was I supposed to explain that? Handcuffs are shady. Well, ever since that shitty fifty shades of grey became a thing, I guess handcuffs are pretty vanilla compared to the other stuff in the book.

The girl looked sheepishly. Such an idiot, pretty but a total idiot. I wonder how easy would it be to kill a clumsy and rude jerk like her. What the hell was wrong with me? Why was this woman getting on my nerves? I'm Leo Moretti, I'm supposed to be calm and composed, like the don everyone expects me to be. I've tolerated the worst people yet, I could not stand this woman.

I glared at her and I noticed that ivory of her off-shoulder sweater brought out the golden tones of her skin. My eyes may have darted to the curve of her slender neck and her well-shaped collar bones. Her hair was loosely tied at the nape of her neck, loose and dark strands of hair cascading down her shoulders. Fine... she was pretty and I guess a girl that stunning would be used to everyone falling over her feet. Pretty girls always have it so easy because one sight of a beautiful woman makes the strongest men weak, making them a slave for that woman's beauty. She was one of those women who got away with being rude to others because she was pretty. She was probably raised with the idea that pretty women get away with anything. Well, if she thinks she was getting away with me, she was so wrong. She messed up with the wrong person.

She was about to go when I stopped her. I crouched and grabbed her bag. Before she could realise anything, I rummaged through it, jumbling up her clothes. From the way her clothes were arranged she looked like a neat-freak, organising everything in those tiny cutesy boxes and cheap plastic pouches. I saw her face and she looked like one of those cartoons with smoke coming out of her ears and stuff. Well, serves the rude woman right. I smiled at her, just to annoy her a bit more, before walking off. She had it coming. No one gets away by messing with me.

I quickly left the airport and made it to my car. As we travelled a distance from the airport, I felt guilty as I recalled that pretty girl's face. I always thought I'm a chivalrous gentleman. I always thought I was generous. Yet, the way I acted today was shitty. I mean I was almost as bad and petty as she was. I could've left gracefully but I felt so annoyed that I simply had to stoop down to her level. It was like that idiot woman brought out my inner bitchy side. This was not me. I'm the type of person to shoot someone who annoys me, I would never do something so stupid.

A notification on my phone startled me and brought me out of my thoughts. It was a reminder that I had a meeting with that wedding planner to talk about Gabriella's wedding. I instructed my driver to take me to that address.

I reached the venue and waited to meet this Meghana Anand. Apparently, she was this new up and coming wedding planner who'd planned Lady Selene's royal wedding which was a very praised affair. Selene was all praises for Meghana and so was Gabriella. But, she was supposed to be very busy woman so I fixed up a meeting as soon as possible so I could discuss about Gabriella's wedding. It was my surprise for her, an advanced wedding gift for her of sorts. I greeted Emily, Meghana's secretary. We'd spoken on phone and she was pretty nice. She led me to the office.

There, I saw a woman with her back turned, arranging her succulent and cactus plants. Her blue jeans and ivory sweater felt familiar. Before I could connect the dots, she turned and then it hit me. Yes, she was that same rude idiot woman from the airport. Well, curse my luck.

#

"What the hell?" I blurted. "Who does he think he is? How dare he call me rude?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Calm down this was from the day you guys met for the first time. Of course he found you rude."

That was totally understandable. I was a bit snobby. Not that I'd ever admit it front of anyone.

I re-read it again and gasped. "What does he mean when he says pretty girls have it easy? I take major offence at that. I've been explaining men that my success comes from my abilities not my looks. Pretty girls are always assumed to be dumb, they're underestimated. We have it tough, okay?"

Nico raised his palms in a surrendering gesture. "Look on the bright side, he thinks you were pretty."

I heard a knock on my door. I opened it and found the butler who came to inform us that breakfast would be served shortly. Nico and I told him we'd be there in a minute or so.

"So, Leo thought you were pretty even when you got on his nerves." Nico said, reminding me of our topic of conversation.

"Of course he did." I blurted. "because I am pretty and he has eyes."

Ugh I was so pissed. I thought I'd be reading how he fell in love with me at the first sight and he'd been pining for me secretly ever since. Instead, I find out that he thought of me to be an annoying woman. If he weren't in Russia, I'd have punched him. I was tempted to call him and argue with him. But then I remembered what I was doing was wrong so I kept my mouth shut. It's a struggle to lurk over your boyfriend, find stuff that upsets you but having to pretend you don't know it because you did some shady stuff to find that information. My struggle is so real.

Anyway, mission lurking Leo can wait for a while. I needed to get some food— proper food not chips—in my system before I can get angrier. Hangry doesn't suit me well.

Nico and I took a breakfast break.

#