Elia
"You are now in-charge of this family, Elia," His voice broke at every syllable, but yet there was some authority still left in them.
"Sì papà," The fifteen year old boy whispered.
There were no tears in his eyes. He didn't know how to cry but he could feel the stifling emotions. The pain of losing his father, the fear of what lay ahead. A life he didn't want. A life that was his legacy. He was scared but he didn't know how to express that. He didn't know how to express anything.
"Be better than me, son,"
----------------------------------------------------
"Be better than me, son,"
I closed my eyes and tried to reign my anger. It was getting hard by the minute to keep my promise to dad.
"Don't push your luck," I whispered. "Scarlett,"
"Or what? You will kill me? Rape me? Do whatever filthy work you do?" She said, green eyes glaring at me. "Go ahead,"
I took three deep breaths, unable to stop myself from glaring back at her and what annoyed me the most was that it did nothing to her. My anger did nothing to her! I have never witnessed the type of defiance she was putting up. And I DID'NT LIKE IT. AT ALL.
I didn't like dominating women. I liked submission and that's what my women has been always like...submissive.
She is not your woman!
I closed my eyes. Of course. What was I thinking? She was just a liability for me, someone who should have been dead by now but yet here I was putting up with her tantrums.
Fuck.
"Ten," I hissed, clenching my teeth. "Ten minutes is all you will get and then I will drag you out of there myself and that won't be pretty,"
She stared at me with her big Bambi eyes and it made me uncomfortable. It was like she could see right through me, like a pyschic.
"Okay," She nodded at last.
I gave her another look and then let go off her arm that I forgot I was clutching for the past ten minutes. Fetching out my phone, I dialled Mario's number. God knows where the bastard disappeared.
"Sarò proprio dietro di te," I muttered. "Won't take much long,"
Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed Scarlett vigorously rubbing her arm. There was now a red welt forming on her pale skin where I grabbed her. I turned away and walked out of the room leaving her alone.
"Why can't you head straight to the airport?" Mario demanded, sounding exasperated.
"She needs to go home," I answered. "Ten minutes that's all,"
"What is with you?" He cried. "You are getting soft, Elia. Whatever she says, you agree like a faithful dog. What is this really about, huh?"
"Stai zitto," I growled. "Don't be an asshole. Just do what I am saying,"
"I am sending Pedro and Zacharia behind you. They will keep an eye on you," Mario said and cut the call, clearly offended.
I sighed. Of all the time he has chosen today to go all sissy. His dislike for Scarlett was clearly biased for she has done nothing to offend him or us for matter. All she did was follow her big kind heart and try helping a complete stranger. It was annoying for it has imposed such a mess on all of us but also admirable. And now she was leaving her entire life behind to protect her family. I felt pissed yet not. It was disturbing.
"Let's go," I muttered, knocking on the door.
She was sitting on the bed facing the window, lost in some thought. I heard her sigh deeply and then she wiped her eyes which were now red and turned to face me, her face blank.
"Where's my phone?" She demanded.
Oh no...not again!
"With me," I answered.
"I need to talk to my mother," She said, standing up.
"Later," I said. "Now get going, we don't have much time,"
I was hoping she would start arguing again or put up another fight but instead she shot me a dirty look and stalked out of the room. I frowned and followed her. As long as she keeps her smart mouth shut, I don't care how many disgusted looks she throws at me.
"Now listen carefully," I muttered as we got into the elevator. "We are going to act like a happy couple. You don't have to say anything just keep smiling that's all, got me?"
"Fine," She replied.
"And don't try to be smart. I don't need to tell you that it won't take me much to kill every single person out there if you try to pull any stunt. I am sure you don't want the blame of innocent people's death on you," I stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
"You are going to hell, I am sure you know that, don't you?" She replied, glaring at the door.
"Hell is overrated," I answered. "Here we go, smile on,"
The door opened and I wrapped my arm around Scarlett's waist and dragged her closer to me. She stiffened instantly and glared at me. Like I would give a fuck about that.
"Do not touch me," She hissed.
"Play along or you know what," I hissed.
She glared at me a little more and then closed her eyes, no doubt trying to calm down. When she opened them they were cold and hard but a smile made it's way on her lips nevertheless.
"Let's go," She hissed.
The girl at the reception desk eyed me curiously as she checked me out and then eyed Scarlett who smiled at her and then at me which I reciprocated, though both of us knew how hard it was for us, especially for Scarlett. Only I could tell the difference because I did saw her genuine smile and it was alluring.
"Good acting," I commented as I told the driver the direction to her place.
"You know my address," She observed dryly.
"Was that a question? Or an observation?" I demanded, putting on my sunglasses.
"Disgust," She replied, staring out of the window.
I said nothing and started scrolling through my phone instead. No point in making things worse than it already was. There were five missed calls from my step- mother and I assumed as a revenge on me
Mario has probably told her about this whole Scarlett thing.
I rolled my eyes. What was he...eight? Mom was not going to be happy, definitely not. She was true to the family values and killing and revenge was not something that bothered her. For her, my way of dealing with Scarlett was a sign of cowardice, a weakness that can cost me. I rolled my eyes again.
Talk about exaggeration...
"Here we are," Scarlett cried as we approached a red brick house in a peaceful, sophisticated neighborhood.
It was a simple house with a big lawn and colourful flowerpots and stuff, nothing exuberant. Yet it gave a feeling that this place was more than a house. It was a home, filled with memories and laughter.
I waited patiently as Scarlett unlocked the door. Her hands were already shaking no doubt from the thought of leaving and and her bottled up wrath for me.
"Let's go," I muttered as soon as the door opened.
"Wait a sec, who said you can come in?" She demanded, blocking my way.
"I don't need your permission," I answered. "Now move,"
"This is my home and I won't allow you inside," She retorted.
"Really," I hissed. "And who will stop me, you?"
"Try me," She hissed.
"Out of your ten minutes you have already wasted two," I stated. "Now you only have eight minutes to go. You wanna stand here and fight? Fine by me,"
She glared at me and glanced at her watch, then realising that I was indeed right she stomped inside leaving the door open. I followed her in, feeling a little amused.
We walked into a neat living room slash dinning room and kitchen that overlooked their pretty lawn through a floor to ceiling window. Scarlett scooted down and grabbed the mails lying by the door and disposed them off on the kitchen island without even looking at them.
"Stay here," She muttered before stomping up the spiral staircase, two steps at a time.
I rolled my eyes and walked around assessing my surroundings. I wandered over to fridge and grabbed a water bottle and a granola bar from it. My eyes landed on various polaroids stuck all over the fridge.
"Interesting," I muttered to myself, reading the captions below.
In one of the photographs, Scarlett was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with her arms wrapped tightly around a woman, I presumed to be her mother. They had matching green eyes. Below it the caption read: Scarlett and Mom, October 2016.
In another one she stood beside another striking female with blonde hairs like her mothers. They both had riding gear on and beside them stood two white mare- Scarlett and Aunt Jo, February 2018.
There were so many memories in just this one place, I thought. There were several childhood pictures of her as well and each and every photograph here represented one thing- she had a happy life. A normal, happy life. I put the bottle back in the refrigerator and glanced at my Rolex, only two more minutes.
I turned my attention back to the collection when something caught my eyes. I froze. Oh no...
I squinted hard at the photograph that caught my attention. In it, Scarlett stood with a man with similar dark hairs like her. She beamed at him which he reciprocated back. It said, Scarlett and Daddy, Amsterdam, 2018. I felt like I couldn't breath. This could not be happening. It can't...it was just so...
My phone began to ring, distracting me from the full blown panic attack I was about to experience. It was Zacharia. Weren't they supposed to be following us?
"Si?" I muttered, gathering my wits.
"Sir, the cops are here," He said urgently. "They are almost outside,"
"How much time?" I demanded.
"A minute at the most," He answered.
"Fuck," I swore, cutting the call.
Things just keep getting shittier by the minute!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/n: Hello readers! Happy Sunday! Thank you so much for the first 100 reads!!! Here's the next update! Hope you like it!