Francesco was holding Adele's hand as he was leading her out of the hotels elevator towards their room. They were walking under the watchful eyes of guards whom had lined up in the corridors of the floor the Rosarios had hired in an orderly manner. The Hollywood ball was almost over and Francesco had decided for both of them to retire for the night.
When they reached their room, Francesco turned the key into the lock and spoke " I hope you enjoyed the night sweetheart."
Adele spoke " The ball was great."
Francesco chuckled " I meant.... our engagement night."
Adele said " Oh..." She then gasped as she was lead inside the room. Their room had become decorated more beautifully that it was before. Not only that. She noticed so many buckets of flowers were covering most of the floor and many nicely wrapped boxes were piled up in the corner.
Francesco let go of Adele's hand and walked inside towards their bed. He sat down and took off his shoes " It's annoying how these people have sent so many flowers and gifts to the hotel room because of our engagement announcement. There is hardly any space for us now."
Adele took off her shoes too and walked to Francesco's sitting form on the bed and stood in front of him. She slowly reached her hand to his cheek and stroked it gently " I think it's really nice of them to send flowers. But gifts are confusing. What kind of shops are open at this time for them to quickly find gifts."
Francesco, wrapped his arms around her waist. He then laid down on the bed and in the process pulled Adele on top of him. He kissed her cheek and looked into her eyes as he was laying beneath her " Sweetheart, New York is a city that never sleeps. Especially the Hollywood people work 24/7. I am involved with many projects and they should do their duty to send me gifts for my engagement. I expect some gifts to arrive at the mansion too."
Adele sighed " What kind of gifts?"
Francesco suddenly swapped positions with Adele as he suddenly pinned her down and climbed on top of her. He started planting kisses on Adele's hair and jaw line as he whispered " What kind of gifts? Hm.... gifts that are of some use for our wedding. Like how the United Dreamers offered to perform at our wedding. That kind of gift, is what I am talking about."
Adele bit her lip " Francesco ..... When is it? When is our wedding?"
Francesco stopped kissing her and pulled away staring into Adele's eyes " Sweetheart. You will decide the wedding date. Everything will be your choice. The venue, the cake, the three course meal to be served, the dress makers.... Everything is upto you but .... I will be the decider of the level of security."
Adele spoke " But you told me before that you were planning the wedding and even the ..... the honeymoon." She blushed.
Francesco spoke " I will plan it for you sweetheart but you will choose and decide amongst all the choices I will give you. I think our wedding should happen within the next twelve months. I am
Willing to give you upto one year to wait until you decide it's time to make it official. How do you feel about that? Is that long enough for you to get used to the idea of being Lady Rosario?"
Adele spoke sounding unsure " I don't know. I haven't thought about it,"
Francesco spoke " Don't worry sweetheart. You have plenty of time to decide. I will take you to see the venue at some point and of course will get you to meet the dress maker and the chef as well as her team. Does that sound good?"
Adele nodded silently. "Yes. I suppose."
Francesco smiled. He leaned close and kissed Adele's lips. He then pulled away " Also the guest list is my choice, it's a security issue and a business issue. I will invite family, friends and allies. People like Sancia and her husband will be there too."
Adele gasped " What? But she is not nice."
Francesco shrugged " The minute O'Neil wakes up from that coma or whatever estate he is in right now, my nemesis with the Giovannis will end. Sancia would be able to resume relationships as usual. But don't think too much of it. Sancia and her husband are not social people. They may not even show up but they will be invited. All my allies amongst crime families will be invited......"
Adele looked thoughtful " What about my family? Are they invited?"
Francesco smiled and kissed Adele's forehead. He pulled away and looked deeply into Adele's eyes " Of course sweetheart. You can invite whoever you want. Our wedding is not a business event. It's a personal event."
Adele sighed " Really? You don't mind? But .... There are criminals present when they come. Is that a good idea?"
Francesco nodded " Criminals are normal people with families. They won't cause any trouble in a wedding. Your family and friends are more than welcome."
Adele wasn't sure if she could ask her the next question. She looked away.
Francesco gently reached his hand to Adele's cheek, stroking it " Sweetheart. What is the matter? Talk to me? Is there something wrong?.... I won't invite the crime families if you really don't want to. I won't pressure you but I prefer it if they come. I trust my allies to behave themselves. It's custom to show respect to your peers in family events by inviting them."
Adele slowly turned her head and looked at Francesco " It's not that. I don't mind who you invite. I .... trust your judgment on that."
Francesco smiled brightly " You trust me. My beautiful angel..." He then leaned close and planted kisses on Adele's cheek and whispered "I love you so much. Tell me sweetheart. What's the matter then? What is bothering you?"
Adele took a deep breath and spoke "You don't want to hear it. I am sure."
Francesco pulled away and frowned "What is it? Adele ...."
Adele swallowed hard as the look in Francesco's eyes became darker. She spoke quickly "Its nothing that you would want to hear right now?"
Francesco narrowed his eyes "Are you ..... having second thoughts about getting engaged? Don't you want us to get married? Tell me. I need to know."
Adele knew she had to fix this quickly. She spoke as she shook her head vigorously "No. I am not having second thoughts. Believe me."
Francesco growled "Then what is it? I can see it in your eyes. You have doubts."
Adele was panicking. To say that Francesco was furious, was an understatement. He looked terrifying with his intense stare looking right at her expecting an answer. She thought, it couldn't get any worse than this. There was nothing worse than not being able to convince Francesco that she returned his affections. She sighed "I am sorry to make you feel this way. I want to marry you. I have no doubts about us." She felt Francesco relax slightly and letting out a breath so she decided to continue hoping Francesco wasn't going to blow up. She spoke carefully " I wanted to talk to you about ..... your side of family. They should be at the wedding too."
Francesco looked surprised "Is that it? Really? Come on sweetheart. My family will be there. Antonio and Costanzo will be my best men at the wedding...."
Adele spoke "I didn't mean them. I meant ..... your uncle and your father. What about your .... mother. Your uncle promised to let her go if you take revenge on your fathers assassins and .... maybe... you know.... he would honour his word.... and your mother could come too. You never know...." Adele was out of breath by the time she finished. She had spoken so quickly. She wasn't sure of Francesco's reaction at all. She felt him tense his muscles and emotions crossed his eyes that couldn't be read.
Francesco was looking at Adele in silence deeply making her uncomfortable. The silence in the room wasn't helping.
Adele was nervous "Say something. Please. What do you think?"
Francesco shook his head and whispered "Sweetheart..... This is not a good idea to talk about this. I think you should go to bed. Don't wait for me. I have some business to attend to." His eyes were hardened and cold. He was now in business mode as he got up from his position on the bed where he was pinning Adele down. Adele instantly missed his presence and sat up watching him walk to his wardrobe.
Adele spoke "Francesco... Where are you going and why? Its abit late."
Francesco took off his coat and bow tie and replaced it with a tie and a more business like coat. He then turned to Adele "Don't leave the room sweetheart. Some of my men are outside on night watch guarding you all night. If you need anything, ask them to get it for you."
Adele spoke "Wait."
Francesco didn't wait and left the room and slammed the door shut loudly behind him and his footsteps echoed through the corridors lined up with his night duty guards. He shouted orders in a rough voice "Pablo. Get me Antonio."
Francesco then stopped at the last dope in the corridor and unlocked it carefully. He entered slowly and walked into the dimly lot room. He walked to the bed and towered over the sleeping form that was on the bed. He spoke firmly " Get up Amaranta. I know you are awake. I heard shuffling in the room when I stopped at your door."
Amaranta opened her eyes and slowly sat up on the bed " Where are they?"
Francesco sighed " Those bodyguards of yours, you mean? They are in my mansion's cellar tied up but alive. Are you ready to confess you know more than you let on or you need persuasion?"
Amaranta bit her lip and got up at the opposite side of the bed and stood up facing Francesco who was looking at her calmly at the other side. She spoke " What more do you want from me. Ambrogio doesn't tell me his plans. I told you what I knew."
At that moment Antonio walked in the room with a stone cold expression.
Francesco turned to him " Where were you? I thought I told you to continue interrogating Amaranta after the party."
Antonio walked to the bed " I am so sorry. The party hasn't finished. I was just chatting up Georgina finding out about her plans after the party. I was going to come up now."
Francesco rolled his eyes "Save it. The party finishes when I leave. You failed to follow me. Negligence is not tolerated Antonio. But since you got distracted by a girl, I don't mind. At least you are following my orders about getting somewhere with getting yourself a girl who is a keeper unlike costanzo. But ..... Georgina has taken over your life, stopping you from concentrating on your duties it seems. You have been longing after that woman too long. Either propose to her or get yourself another girl. This fooling around wont get you any heirs. I give you until Christmas to make it official with her as your fiance or stop your crazy obsession with her and don't ever mention her name again.
Antonio looked down and nodded sounding defeated "Yes boss." He had no idea how he was going to convince Georgina to be his woman in such a short time. She was different to other girls.
Amaranta brought Antonio out of his train of thoughts " Georgina? You are with her? Why?"
Francesco chuckled " Of course. I almost forgot. Antonio is your ex."
Amaranta spoke " You haven't forgotten. You assigned him to interrogate me on purpose so he could take revenge on me for leaving him."
Francesco spoke " Of course. Who did you leave Antonio for in college?"
Amaranta whispered " Nico."
Francesco raised an eyebrow " Of course. Your brother's head of security. He is at my mansion by the way in the cellar in case you need to be reminded of it. So don't you think if I send Antonio to pay him a visit tonight, it would be much worse for Nico and the rest of those bodyguards you cut your heart out for. So co-operate girl. Give me some answers I want to hear."
Amaranta spoke " You leave Nico and my loyal bodyguards out of this. They haven't done anything wrong. My bodyguards are innocent especially Nico. Your problem is with my brother. Ambrogio is going after your girl and you want to get it out of me what his plans are. I told you all I knew. Now you must consider letting my bodyguards and I leave. I have a show on broadway tomorrow night. It looks bad for me if as the lead actress and lead singer of that musical, I don't show up. Why do you want to ruin my career. It's not my fault what my brother does. I am not part of the business."
Francesco spoke " But you use the money to get around."
Amaranta rolled her eyes " I am like Costanzo. I am in the family but not in the business."
Francesco spoke " He is part of my business actually. He owns 20%."
At hearing that Amaranta covered her mouth. She then shook her head and the slowly moved her hand down " You forced him to join? How do you sleep at night."
Francesco turned to Antonio " She is all yours. Get something out of her that I want to know. If she doesn't give you anything worth hearing, then pay a visit to her beloved Nico in the morning when we get back."
Amaranta spoke " No please you can't hurt him."
Francesco turned to her " I thought relationships between you and employees of your brother was forbidden. You are a bad girl. He is no good for you by the way. Believe me. I agree with Ambrogio on this one. Nico is no use to no Voltolini. Nico cracked under torture. I haven't even started questioning him and I know he will reveal everything. He will be singing when I am done with him. I punished him earlier for pulling that stunt to get you out of this room as you know. He paid for his mistake so did the other body guards. Nico was crying by the end of it. They all were. Forget Nico."
Amaranta spoke" Don't act like you care. What does it matter. You want me dead. You want my family dead for going after your girl which I have no part in by the way."
Francesco spoke " I have no problem with your family. Just Ambrogio is the problem. Your younger brother Alessio is no enemy of mine. Neither is your father. Just Ambrogio is the enemy and he has hell to pay. Him alongside anyone who intends to hurt the love of my life are all dead to me."
Francesco then turned to Antonio " I want results by all means. You know her language. She is your ex. Get more out of her about Ambrogio's plans. If you fail, you can say goodbye to holidays until next thanksgiving."
As Francesco walked to the door and touched the door knob, Amaranta called out "I know where your mother is held."
Francesco froze. He turned around and the expression on his face, made both Antonio and Amaranta turn pale. He looked murderous. He gritted his teeth "What did you just say?"
Amaranta swallowed hard "I know where your mother is."
Antonio was looking at Amaranta worriedly. "What was wrong with this girl talking about the forbidden topic with Francesco." He thought.
Francesco spoke with fury "If you lie to me..."
Amaranta spoke "Why would I lie? I just want to get out of your grasp and get back to my normal life in hollywood and the broadway stage. I want to be free. I tell you where she is and in exchange, you let me and my bodyguards go unharmed. Your problems with my brother has nothing to do with me."
Francesco walked closer to her with balled fists "Where is she?"
Amaranta sighed "Its not that simple. You wont like what I tell you. She is .... in Sicily. She lives with her sister..."
Francesco was looking into her eyes intensely as he was towering over her making her feel intimidated. She stopped mid sentence and took a step backwards.
Antonio looked on worriedly "Continue... Go on."
Amaranta got the hint and continued "My brother wants to get you out of this country. Once you step foot in Italy, that's it. He would find it easier to get you. Just like how he .... you know .... Ambrogio found it easier to get to your father."
Francesco spoke "What are you saying? My father was assassinated on US soil...... What do you mean?"
Amaranta bit her lip "Oh. You didn't know? Your father was assassinated in Sicily by my brothers men. That's what I am talking about. Anything that happens outside of US, your organisation doesn't have as much power on. You must not leave this country. Your father made the mistake and nearly was killed..."
Francesco was shaking his head in disbelief "That's impossible. My father never deals with business in Italy. Why would he be there. Unless... he was there for my mother as you say she is there, but that can't be. My uncle promised, he wont let my father locate my mother."
Amaranta was looking away. She couldn't even look into Francesco's eyes as his stare was getting more intense and furious. But she knew she couldn't stop now. She took a deep breath and she spoke "Your father was there to marry your mother. He has come to the conclusion he loves your mother now and regrets letting her go. They wanted to reunite. So does your uncle and his wife. There was going to be a double wedding..... I am sorry. I found out about this when Ambrogio told me after your fathers assassination about these details. I would have told you earlier if I knew. I swear it."
Francesco was feeling so many emotions but he kept it together and retained his emotionless passive face. He turned to Antonio with cold eyes "I have heard enough. Lock this room and double the number of guards on this floor. You are free for the night to go after Georgina..... I need time to plan my next move. Don't say anything about what you heard just now to anyone. Do you understand?"
Antonio nodded quickly "Yes boss."