CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
“IT IS A CHANCE I HAVE TO TAKE”
SCARLETT DEL GATO
The following Monday afternoon, I was waiting in the parking lot for Giovanni or at least one of the guards to pick me up, but ten minutes of waiting later—they never arrived.
Just as I wanted to start to walk like the last time even though my brain screamed for me to stay put and wait before I get side-tracked by Diablo or Vincent again, my phone vibrates in my hand, to my utter relief.
I lift my phone up and unlock it to see that it was a message from Giovanni saying he was going to be a tad late this afternoon. Well, at least he was coming to get me himself.
I was relieved.
I type back an ‘okay’.
I immediately know he’s doing this on purpose due to me not wanting to kiss him after I told him that I want to train with guns. I knew he was stubborn all this time but this was just another level of him being stubborn.
I sigh mostly at myself, feeling the warmth of the sun baking me from above as I waited for Giovanni to arrive.
I just wanted to sit on the sidewalk when someone honks their horn at me.
Expecting Giovanni, I look up only to see that it was a white car, and staring directly at me through the windshield was Vincent, jerking his thumb toward the passenger seat of his car.
Feeling panic bubble up inside me, I swallow down the fear and make my way to his car. I knew he was going to meet with me someday, I just didn’t expect it to be so soon. He was probably here with some proof on my brother, but knowing Vincent, he was here to pressure me more.
I get into the passenger seat, clutching my school bag to my chest as I waited for him to start talking. I can feel his eyes on me and as I turn my head to look at him. I was right. He was looking at me.
“You’re brother’s time is running out, Scarlett.”
I swallow hard, clutching my bag tighter. “I can’t just kill them, Vincent. They’ll gut me down even before I pull the trigger on one of them.”
Vincent laughs bitterly before he twirls a strand of my hair between his fingers. I hated when he did that. I was always too frozen to move away from his fingers. “That would be such a shame.” He says, his thumb grazing my cheek. “You are such a beautiful little thing.”
I move away from his hand. I was flush against his car’s door, and I wasn’t going to move away from it soon. “I want proof that my brother’s alive. I told you before that I will only kill them once I have proof.”
The words felt like poison on my tongue, but I had to make him believe that it was exactly what I was going to do once I got the proof that my brother was alive. Nothing more, and nothing less. Not before he shows me proof.
“You’re not in any position to make any demands here, dear Scarlett.” I could see that his patience was slowly but surely starting to wear thin, and it won’t take long before he takes matters into his own hands. Knowing him, he would go to the mansion right now and kill every single one in sight, including the Castiglione brother’s father.
“But how do I know you’re not lying to me and that you just want me to think that you have my brother so I can do your bidding?”
He licks his lips, watching me through his thick eyelashes. I would’ve been jealous of them if I didn’t hate him so much. “I guess you’ll never know, unless you do the job you agreed on doing.”
“I didn’t agree on anything!” I yell. “You are forcing me. Blackmailing me!”
“Fine.” Vincent releases a sharp breath. “If you want proof that your brother’s alive, come to the White Pistol’s mansion tonight. It’s the only time my dad isn’t around.”
I frown at him. It is never this easy to get something you want. Something like this usually came with a price. “You’re just going to show me, just like that? What’s the condition?”
Vincent chuckles, inspecting his fingernails before he looks at me again. “No condition. I just really want the brothers dead so if I have to show you that your brother is alive for you to do so, then so be it. Come to the mansion, tonight, and if you don’t, the window closes forever.”
“B-but I don’t know where it is.”
“You’re a clever girl. I’m sure you will figure it out.” Vincent says before glancing out of the driver window. “Now get out before your boyfriend suspects you for cheating.”
I see Giovanni’s SUV pull up into the parking lot and I quickly get out of Vincent’s car.
I make my way to the SUV and see how Vincent drives around Giovanni’s SUV, making it difficult for Giovanni to see who it was.
Once I was in the SUV, throwing my school bag on the backseat, I turn to face the front.
I feel Giovanni’s gaze on me the entire time.
“Who was that?” He asks, more curious than angry.
“Just someone who asked if I wanted a lift, that’s all.” I lie to him. “I told them that you were coming so it wasn’t necessary for a lift.”
I felt bad for lying to him the way I did, but it was necessary.
“Oh, okay. I’m sorry I’m late though. I wanted to grab these babies before picking you up from school. You must be sick of cafeteria food.” He places a box of donuts in my lap before he starts the SUV, driving out of the parking lot.
“Wow thank you… but is this some way for you to get me to kiss you?”
“Of course not.” Giovanni says. “If you want to be stubborn, I can be too.”
I shake my head at him and open the donut box before taking one out and taking a bite from it, but as I was chewing, I felt sick when I remembered what I had to do tonight; I have to go to the White Pistols’ mansion in order for me to see if my brother was alive this entire time or not.
“Something wrong?” Giovanni asks me. He must’ve noticed something was wrong. Hell, he always does. Nothing goes unnoticed with him.
“No, nothing’s wrong at all. I just realised that I’m not really that hungry.”
“If you don’t want it, you can always give it to me?” He suggests but knowing him and how stubborn he is, I prop the donut into my mouth.
“Really?” He laughs. “You’re so unbelievable these days.” He shakes his head at my foolishness.
“Teach me how to use a gun and we can stop this once and for all.” I tell him after I stopped chewing.
“Fine!” He caves. “I’ll teach you how to use a gun.”
I clap my hands together happily, loving how the pieces of it all started to come together. I know how to fight and defend myself so if I can learn how to use a gun now, I can defend myself while in the White Pistols’ mansion.
• • •
Back at the mansion, in the backyard, Giovanni sighs as he walks over to me standing near the pool with a silenced gun.
He hands me it carefully like I’m going to drop it. “Be. Careful.” He says, emphasising each word carefully. “Once you have the gun in your hands, always check if the safety is off.” Giovanni says, pointing to a little safety pin on the gun’s side.
I move to turn the safety off but Giovanni stops me before my finger touches the pin, shaking his head at me. “For now you just aim and get to know the gun.”
“It’s heavy for such a small thing.” I tell him, examining the handgun in my hands.
My grip was nice and firm around the gun’s grip, the trigger so close but yet so far, but I take Giovanni’s advice and take my time to get to know the gun.
After I got used to the weight, I lifted the gun and pointed it at the trees in the backyard, just to see how it aimed.
“You’ll see that there is a front sight if you focus it in between the rear sight. If you can look right through the middle of the rear sight, here at the back, you can definitely count on a bull’s eye.”
I nod, seeing exactly what he was talking about: the front sight was right in the middle of the rear sight, aimed at the tree perfectly.
“Now,” Giovanni releases a breath before he slides the safety off, “if you’re ready to shoot, pull the trigger.”
I nod again, focusing on the front sight and taking in a deep breath before I finally pull the trigger.
The gun goes off and the bullet hits the tree spot on in the middle.
I cheer, jumping up and down but Giovanni grabs the gun from my hand and releases a relieved breath after he switches the gun back to safety. “Don’t jump around with a gun, especially not next to me. I don’t want to make it twelve tattoo lines.”
I laugh at him and see how his mouth curves into a smile.
“But good job. You really are a fast learner.”
“That was something else entirely. It felt so rebellious!” I chirp, just wanting to shoot at the tree again.
Giovanni must’ve noticed it because he hands me back the handgun.
“Go again, then.”
• • •
By the time I finish my gun training, the tree in Giovanni’s backyard is filled with bullet holes and bullet casings lying close to our feet. I will lie if I said that I didn’t have any fun, because it sure as hell was fun.
Giovanni was a great teacher for someone who got shot more times than actually handling a gun that is.
“Giovanni, I can’t thank you enough! This was really amazing.”
Giovanni takes the gun back before he props it into the waistband of his pants. “Anything to see you happy.” He replies. “But I think I deserve a kiss now.”
I nod, stepping onto my tippy toes before placing a quick kiss against his lips with my hands keeping me up on his shoulders.
His lips felt so warm and soft, as always.
I always melt when he kisses me against the forehead or temple. It was such a beautiful gesture and it never failed to fill my belly right up with swarming butterflies.
“No, really. Thank you so much.” I tell him as soon as I pull away, but my hands were still resting on his shoulders.
“You’re welcome.” He says, grabbing my hand from his shoulder before he intertwines it into his. “Vito’s really proud of you too.” He jerks his head towards the living room window, and when I turn around, I spot Vito giving me a thumb’s up.
I smile at him and he returns it before he disappears behind the blinds.
“Now go do your homework.” Giovanni says before placing a kiss against my forehead.
“Party pooper.” I shake my head at him but I still found myself backing away from him, going to my pool house.
I had to think of a way how to get to the White Pistols’ mansion without any of them noticing. After what happened with the guards from the last time, they won’t let me leave, not unless Giovanni or Vito are there to give them a thumb’s up.
So I had to think of something, and fast.
As I was doing my homework on my bed, the sun was slowly starting to set.
Giovanni’s bound to come here to tell me that dinner’s ready and to give me my plate of food because I can’t eat in the house due to his dad hating my guts.
“Working hard I see.” Joshua’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
I turn to the pool house’s doorway and there he stood, his arms propped into the pockets of his pair of jeans.
“Joshua, hi!” I smile at him, not remembering when the last time was I last saw him. “It’s been a while!”
He nods, walking into the pool house before he sits on the edge of my desk. “I just came to say hi and that Giovanni said that you can come eat in the house in twenty minutes. Their dad’s out for the evening apparently.”
“He could’ve told me himself, you know? He didn’t have to send you after me.” I tell Joshua, sitting up on my bed after I closed my Math book.
“He’s discussing a few things with Vito so I told him I’d come to tell you.”
“Oh. Well, thank you Joshua. I’ll be out in a little bit. I just want to finish my homework first before I join you guys.”
“Okay then.” He says, smiling at me.
“Did you park outside?” I ask before I could stop myself.
He frowns confusedly at me. “That’s a super random question.” He laughs.
“Sorry, I just wanted to know if the gate was open. There’s this flower I have to pick just outside the mansion for Biology class.”
Please believe me.
Please believe me.
“Oh... well, yes I did park outside.” He says. “But what does this have to do with my car?”
“The guards won’t let me leave so if I have an excuse to quickly just slip outside to get something from your car, because you asked me to, they’ll let me out.”
“I can just walk with you?” He suggests but I quickly shake my head at him.
“That won’t be necessary. I will be quick. Five minutes tops.”
“You’re so strange, Scarlett. But okay. I’ll tell Giovanni you’re going to be joining us for dinner in a few.”
He turns on his heels to leave but I stop him right before he does.
“I’ll need the keys to your car though. If the guard’s going to see I don’t have keys to our car, he’ll know something’s up.”
“All this for just a flower…” He shakes his head before he throws me the keys to his car after he fished them out from his pocket.
“I know… Biology is so unnecessary these days.”
“I can imagine... but dinner, almost, so hurry.”
I nod and watch him leave the pool house.
That was such a bad thing to do—lying the way I did—but I had to lie to him. They just won’t understand.
That’s why I wrote a letter to the boys. Telling them I’m sorry that I left yet again without them knowing and that I didn’t have a choice to do so.
I have to convince Vincent somehow that the brothers are good people and that they don’t deserve to die. I just have to, otherwise the sacrifice I’m going to make is for nothing. I’m doing this for them and for my brother, if he’s alive and if Vincent didn’t lie to me.
I’m doing it for Giovanni because I love him and for Vito who has been nothing but kind and supportive to me. I’m doing this for the three J’s because they deserve a family after what happened to them.
And lastly, I’m doing this for myself because if I don’t, the brothers die and I won’t be able to live with myself if that happens.
It’s going to take a lot of convincing but doing nothing at all isn’t an option. If Vincent and the White Pistols’ cannot be convinced, then I’d have to kill them before they kill the people I started to care about.
The Castigliones.