The next morning...
As I creep downstairs, I pray Pietro isn't awake but thankfully everyone is asleep...except Silas. That man just doesn't give work a break.
The marble floor is so cold against my feet, I clench my teeth while tiptoeing to the living room. This morning I woke up and realised I lost my phone, so here I am, except I don't think I've woken up properly.
Because a huge wail sounds.
Before I can react, Bianca walks out the living room crying like a whale. Face covered in mascara. Blonde hair matted. She's even wearing my dress from last night, except its torn.
My eyes grow wide. I feel like I'm standing next to a ticking time bomb.
"Its useless!" She yells, stomping her foot before running away.
I try looking for her, but she's gone, or so I think before another cry comes from above. "Say goodbye to Silas for me for will you!?" She heaves. "I'm killing myself."
"Oh my-"
Trying to see how the hell she got on the edge of the Roman statue forty feet in the air, I gasp and pace around. "We can talk about this! Will you just tell me whats wrong?"
"Theres this guy I've been seeing who works for Silas." She pulls her knees to her chest. "He fell behind on a debt he owed my brother and...now he-he's going to kill him."
I pause.
"And don't tell me he won't! Silas already marked the day he'll come to kill him on his arm saying he was too busy to do it now."
"We'll work this out, just come down."
"No!"
"Come on Bianca what will it take for you to come down?"
Peeling away a piece of hair clinging to her wet face, she peers down at me with shiny eyes. "I need this file..."
Oh. No.
"It-it holds some info my boyfriend can use against Silas if he tries to kill him."
I gulp. Bianca has known Silas her whole life, is she that oblivious to think anyone could go up against him and live?
"That's risky."
Her face drops onto her knees. She lets out one long cry and I bare my teeth. The whole of New York can hear her.
"Fine! I'll do it."
"You will?"
I take a second to hesitate. Chewing on my lip, I shake my head and if she was never crying she climbs off, using half a marble pillar against the wall to slide down like a freaking fireman's pole. She then runs down the stairs and grabs my shoulders.
"Ask him now, he's here." Bianca tilts me towards the staircase where Silas comes down, completely unassuming of us until he sees us on his last steps.
His eyes dart between me and Bianca, who's already gone.
"Where are you going?" I ask, and as he comes down the last steps he runs his eyes over me. When he meets my gaze and realises I'm being serious, his brows furrow.
"Work?" He says dryly.
"Can...can I go?"
Suddenly I can't swallow. With how the corner of his lips almost turn up, I feel like he already knows everything.
He steps closer and my feet plant onto the floor. He smells so good, my chest flutters and I can't believe myself. I ball my clammy hands and try to keep my eyes on his, he doesn't intimidate me.
"Why?" He finally asks.
"I'm...uhm, I'm bored."
"Most women would be content with an at home spa."
My eyes narrow. "Are you saying all women are the same?"
Silas copies me by narrowing his eyes. "I'm saying what are you up to Catalina? Thats the second time Bianca's looked out at us from behind the living room door."
"Nothing." Liar. A bead of sweat runs down my back, and I have to ask myself...Do I really want to break his trust? Especially after yesterday morning?
As much as I don't want to admit it, this scam of a marriage is built on it. I trust Silas will give me my money. I trust that he'll let me leave him when the time comes.
As he steps even closer I stumble away from his proximity. "Are we going now?" I blurt out. "Or do you want to keep entertaining me here?"
Amusement lights the back of dark, dark eyes. "Get dressed in five minutes."
~Silas POV~
Another gust of wind knocks my side.
My hands slip into my pockets, shoulders rock hard. Getting whipped with snow was something I never thought I'd despise, until I stand waiting for her.
Catalina looks around as if she's lost. I'm starting to believe the woman hasn't seen snow before she moved here, she's dressed like she's ready to climb Everest.
She burrows into her jacket searching for me through the haze, and I bend down, grab a handful of snow, before balling it up.
When it hits the side of her jacket she tightly clenches her jaw, and I smile. In a sadistic way, pissing her off always gets me going.
"We don't have all day." I call out, and feel her stare on my cheek as she approaches.
"Bully." She mutters as I open her car door, gesturing inside.
Once we're on the road Catalina starts rubbing her hands together and I eye her pink wool mittens. "You ever been to work with your Papa?"
"No?" She says like she's asking herself if she should have.
"That means you don't know what you're walking into."
"Whatever it is, I can handle it."
"My men are brutal, Catalina. Theres a reason I chose them. The compound is where they train so prepare for what you're going to see, otherwise, don't come running to me. I'm not your protector."
She crosses her arms. "I can handle brutal. And I won't come running to you, you aren't my knight in shining armour."
She's confident for a girl who's father locked her away from everything.
She might not think I know, but word gets around fast, and its no surprise her father Santiago has a kink for keeping her under his thumb.
After a short ride through hailing snow and city buildings, the car stops outside a tall skyscraper made of glass. We get out, she spins her head around and then looks up at the building.
"This is it? I was expecting something more..."
"Grim?" I finish, stepping over a sidewalk covered in three inches of snow. Its only when Catalina stops next to me do I see her footwear.
Fucking hell.
Heels.
And red ones too.
She lowers her face and puts her feet together, while I make a mental note to take her shopping again. Before marriage I hadn't stepped foot in a mall, except for Bianca when we were teenagers.
Placing my hand on her lower back, I guide her towards the clear doors. The entire building is just windows, but don't be fooled. Every inch of it's bulletproof, and guarded more than a prison.
After a thud, Catalina stumbles back from the glass doors. She rubs her head, and the silence goes on for a second. Two seconds.
And I laugh. My hand immediately moves to my mouth to wipe the amusement off, her expression pinching when hearing my chuckle.
She notices the thumb scanner by the door, and with too much confidence taps it like its a button, wondering why the doors don't open before I take my thumb and press down on it. Once the doors slide open she folds her arms. "I knew that."
I'm not convinced.
We step into a lobby, which is a blend of space grey marble and brown. The dull sunlight bleeds in through floor to ceiling windows, snowflakes falling against the glass.
Walking past towards the front desk, Catalina lugs behind and I notice the receptionist looking her way.
"Mr Cavallaro." She gives a dark lipped smile, before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Aaliyah." I say back and stop in front of the elevators. Catalina eyes everything, from the clear glass elevator to the buttons, especially the negative one. I click one, scan my fingerprint and the doors close.
As the elevator lowers and her mouth drops open seeing the different floors, part of me feels pride.
Its bitter. Unfamiliar, and though I fucking hate it, I hate it even more that she's impressed. Nobody had ever been impressed by anything I did. Rather they feared it'd give me more power. Like my Mother thought.
We stop at minus six levels, with one side of the elevator opening up to a hallway, and the other exposing the training area through the glass. I take a look out and make sure everything's going smoothly, which it is.
We step out. Head through the hallway, and I look back to see her far from me. Her gloved hands clasp onto each other and as her eyes dart around, it's as if she's afraid someone would jump out.
Handle it my ass.
"You're a slow walker."
"Not all of us are six foot fifty." She retorts, but then stiffens when one of my men walk past.
"Boss." He nods, making sure to keep a distance away from Catalina as he passes. She hurries close to me, looking back his way like she'd seen a demon. Domenico wasn't far from one.
His build is three times the size of hers, and his knuckles are bloodied raw from dealing with the new recruits.
"Thought you could handle it."
"I can." She mumbles, sticking to my side. At the end of the hallway we go through a door and reach the base, a giant hall with two floors.
The base is filled with men, brutes of all kinds. Some built so much they take up the space they walk through. Others measly and slim, carrying folders or boxes to the control room. A few voices echo around, but the silence is mostly filled with their footsteps against the tiles.
Gabriele emerges from a black door covered in bulging veins, a sight that makes her cling onto my arm. I look down at her, and then at my arm, but never shake her off.
"You have no reason to be scared." I grumble, not annoyed at her, but by the curl of unease in my stomach from the urge to protect her.
"Why?"
She makes fearful eye contact with the other men who pay no attention to her.
"Because they belong to me." I turn to the men. "Ascolta." I call out. If they heard me, they stopped immediately, and if they didn't, they followed the others. From under her hood, Catalina looks up at me with something I can't tell is awe, or fear.
"On with your work."
And they continue like they'd never stopped in the first place.
"Belong?" She rasps quietly, watching them snap back into work like machines.
"After their initiations, they have a code. The Omertà symbol burned into their skin reminding them of the duty they've promised towards me."
"Do I belong to you?"
"No." I pause. "Not unless you want to."
I look her way but by the way she gulps, I know she didn't take the joke well. Her loss.
We go through a short, squared hallway, and into a door leading to my office.
"Stay here until my meeting is over." I step away from the door just as Renzo walks in. "Renzo will guard you."
"How long is that?" She asks, eying everything.
"Three hours."
✧༺♥༻∞
Authors note: I'm still alive! Sorry for the long delay of not posting, its so hard writing three stories at one but this one is my priority. Thank you for your support!!