Marco has a crush on Pietro, I was right. Criminal or not, everyone has to get the chance to confess their feelings to the person they like. The longer they suppress it, the harder and more tangled it gets. Speaking from personal experience, of course.

For the remaining days, at any chance, I wholeheartedly bugged Marco, and tirelessly attempted to convince him to talk to Pietro.

Now I understand why Ruby always did that to me. I miss her. I'm sure if she was here, not that I want her to be here, but hypothetically speaking, things would have been so much better.

Talking about crushes and confessing, I've been constantly reminded of Caleb. I miss him too. Even though we didn't talk much, I could see him occasionally, but that too has been taken away from me.

I've been extra careful to dodge Marco's inquiries regarding my unsuccessful love life and the man I've been crushing on forever. The guy's a mafioso after all, and I don't intend on endangering Caleb's life.

At some times, his behavior reminds me of Ruby, the same free-spirited, fun-to-be-around kind of person. Sometimes, it's too easy to forget he's a criminal, just like the others, and we're enemies.

The seven days are up, the serving crew is back and the mansion is buzzing with life once more. This morning the usual lady who brings my food brought my breakfast.

I'm certain Elio the asshat is back too. Pacing up and down the bedroom, I prep myself to meet him.

I've been denied access to a phone, laptop, and learning Italian. I'm slowly losing my sanity.

I march out of the room and down the hallway. Rapping on his office door twice, I fling the door open.

Elio halts in the middle of the room, spinning to me with surprise. "Cerise?"

I shut the door and notice Marco is sitting on the armchair placed on the left side of the room. "Hi Cerise," he cheerfully greets me.

I force a smile at him before glowering at Elio. "You fucking asshole." I wave my index finger at him.

"Hi to you too," he casually says, leaning to the edge of the black loveseat's backrest, folding his arms, and crossing his legs.

The first few buttons of his pine green shirt are done and the edges of his swirling black ink tattoo peek out from underneath. The sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, showcasing the defined and prominent muscles of his forearm, covered with a bunch of tattoos as he holds my gaze with a ridiculous amount of calmness.

"You lying piece of shit! Who do you think you are!"

A corner of his lips twitches upwards. "The boss." He shrugs nonchalantly.

I glare harder at him as I purse my lips and place myself in front of him. "You are not my boss, I don't take orders from you. First, you say, I'm not a hostage, I'm not monitored, then you limit my access to every fucking thing! You have no right to tell me what I can or can't do."

"Actually, I can," he interjects, arching his eyebrow pointedly. "As long as you're in my house and I'm keeping you alive, I have the right to permit or forbid you from whatever I see fit."

I fist my hands. "No, you can't. You don't have permission to tell me I can't have a phone or learn a language and you most certainly cannot prohibit me from-"

"I can, and I have," he retorts, a smug smirk curling his stupid mouth.

I close my eyes and inhale deeply to gather my composure but his strong cologne scent, tickling my nostrils makes it impossibly hard.

"You're free to leave if you don't agree with the rules. But don't look at me once you step out of my territory and someone kills you."

I scowl at him and his smirk widens.

"You kidnapped me. I was an active, working woman and now I'm stuck here with nothing to do and a bunch of criminals who hate my guts. I can assure you, the biggest asshole capo of all time, if you don't do as I want, I won't set up a case for you to threaten your stupid rivals with. Then you'll kill me and my dad will kill you."

His features darken at the mention of my dad but I ignore it and take another step toward him. "So, it'd be in your best interest, since you're not allowing me to leave this goddamned house, to let me do whatever I wish to do."

With a deep inhale he leans down to me slightly, locking our eyes. "That's not going to happen. Frankly, I don't care if you lose your sanity or not, what I do care about is the safety of Cosa Nostra. You are free to roam around the place and do as you wish," he pauses and glances at Marco.

He has been watching us with an absurd amount of interest, his hazel eyes wide with intrigue.

I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from saying 'get the dude some popcorn to complete his entire setup of entertainment.'

"I'm sure Marco wouldn't mind accompanying you if you wish to venture outside or set up a team who hates you less than others if you don't want to go with Marco." 

"Sì. Cerise and me harre gooda frriends now." Marco flashes me a grin and I roll my eyes.

Elio turns to me and arches an eyebrow. "All I'm saying, is you're not allowed to learn Italian and Russian, or have a phone and laptop during your stay. And don't you ever dare to threaten me-"

"Elio," Marco sharply cuts him off and shakes his head and he gets to his feet.

I watch the exchange between them with confusion as Marco approaches me.

"Cerise, do you 'ave hany... err... 'obbiesa?"

My frown deepens as I grow more perplexed.

"You harre righta, 'ere gets borringa with nothing to do. We weell geta whateverr you needa to be busy, but phone hand laptop harre securrity risksa... especially forr you."

I blink a few times before mumbling, "Okay." It's been years since the last time I busied myself with my favorite hobby, painting.

Marco smiles at me and Elio huffs, straightening himself.

"I'm leaving tonight again for another meeting; I should be back by tomorrow if everything goes according to plan. Can you save your complaints for a few hours?" Elio mockingly asks.

"Asshole," I mutter, shoving my hands into my pockets.

Elio ignores my comment and walks past me as he continues, "Don't ever barge into my room." He halts midway and spins around to face me. "Also, I expect you to start respecting me. You're staying here, you must abide by the rules."

"Anything else, sir?" Sarcastically I retort instantly.

Marco snorts and coughs to drown out his laughter as Elio's eyes narrow on me, roving from my head to toe before zooming in on my eyes.

I plaster a fake sweet smile, holding his glare with ease.

"No," he mutters through gritted teeth.

I huff and I'm about to turn but halt as an idea sparks in my head.

Gingerly, I meet Elio's annoyed face and school my expression into a civil one. "Where are you going?" From the corner of my eye, I catch Marco's surprised face.

Elio frowns at me, cocking his head to one side as he eyes me suspiciously. "Firen—uh... Florence," he hesitantly answers.

I drum my fingers on the smooth leather of the loveseat's backrest, holding his gaze. "Are you meeting a mafioso?"

"I don't see what this has anything to do with you?"

I inhale sharply and quirk an eyebrow. "Oh really? The last time we spoke, I got the impression I've been dragged into the middle of an up-roaring mafia war. If you're meeting a gangster, then it'll have either a direct or indirect effect on the coming conflict, which means it will affect me. So?"

He scrutinizes me for a moment. "I am."

Slowly, I nod. "Who?"

"Fabris," Marco replies.

I chew my bottom lip as I ponder over the information. The third Sicilian mafia in power, coming after Mariano and Esposito. Their information wasn't on the flash drive.

I'm tempted to ask why them, but instead, settle with, "I want to come too."

"What!"

"Che cosa!"

Elio and Marco shout simultaneously.

"No," they both say at the same time again.

Elio shoots Marco a glare before walking back to me. "You're not coming."

"Hit's dangerrousa," Marco adds.

I pay them no heed and with a long stride plant myself in front of Elio. Craning my neck, I look into his dark brown eyes. "You said I'm your guest," I start softly. His eyes darken as his features grow hard. "You also said I'm free to go where ever I want... I wish to join you."

"No," he growls.

I draw in a deep breath and dare to push harder. "It'll be getting your opposing team's information, I can't harm you guys with that. Also, you said no one, including yourself, trusts me enough to let me file a case against Salazar, maybe this is the opportunity to prove myself."

The engines slowly turn in his head, so I continue, "I'm going to be here for a long time, might as well let me join you. Who knows it might be beneficial." I tilt my head slightly to my left, holding his gaze steadily. "We have to work in a team if we want to win, why not let me become a part of it sooner rather than later."

"Porta più uomini con te," Marco's voice pulls my attention away from Elio.

"Sei d'accordo con questa follia?" Elio snaps at him.

I roll my eyes and cross my arms in front of my chest. Sub-fucking-titles, please.

"Prima o poi devi conquistare la sua fiducia," Marco replies nonchalantly, before adding in a softer tone, "E forse anche fidarti di lei."

Elio's eyes widen with incredulity and I'm almost tempted to cuss out both of them.

"Hi'm saying to Elio to take more mena with him so you can safely go with 'ima," Marco translates, at last, offering an apologetic smile to me. "Hand Elio is nota agreeing."

I spin to Elio, glowering. "Why not?"

He throws his hands up, shooting daggers at Marco, and he flashes an impish grin.

Elio fixes his attention back on me, jabbing his index finger at the space between us. "If you get yourself killed, I'm going to bring you back to life and kill you myself."

I snort and his glare grows fiercer.

"You get in my way and I'm sending you back here in a heartbeat, you understand?"

I bite my bottom lip to stop the smile from growing.

"And you do as I tell you, I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you, is that clear?"

I nod again.

He pinches the bridge of his nose and at last, I allow myself to grin.

"When are we leaving?" I ask, my voice jumping up an octave with excitement.

He groans. "In a few hours, I'll send someone to get you when we're leaving."

I bounce to the door. "Thanks," I say and catch Elio sending another glare at me. "I wasn't with you, I was with Marco." I turn to him beaming and add, "Thanks for not being like your obnoxious capo."

With that, I spin on my heels and march out of the room, Marco's booming laughter follows me to the hallway.

As small as it might be, it's a good little win to start this crazy journey that's like a chessboard. I have to take calculated steps if I want to navigate and get out of this shitshow unscathed; today was the first step.

☯︎ ☯︎ ☯︎

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it (vote if you did), and comment your thoughts! Tell me your thoughts on Marco =)

Prepare yourself for some action xD

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