Chapter Five

            Mariano

"They have the girl" All day, it's been nothing but good news all fucking day.

"Well if it isn't the lady in red to what do I owe the pleasure?" I knew why she was here, for  the same reason that brought her to me every other early night of the month.

"This girl, will she be a problem?" She of a people should know that if she was a problem I'd handle her just like I handled the Ciovelli's just like I was going to handle Antonio.

  "So far does she look like a problem to you?" I questioned twirling a strand of her silky hair in my finger. Laura was a beautiful woman but I don't take kindly to traitors and if she could betray Antonio she could also betray me.

She flinched stepping backwards. I wasn't stupid I knew exactly what was going on in the mansion of his. He was a smart man I'll give him that, which is why I needed him reckless and irrational, Infiltrating his mansion took no less than seven months.

I didn't have the luxury of time no not anymore. Julia was my main resort but that ship sailed once he set his eyes on her and couldn't remember a damn thing. So plan B it is, I don't know how he survived my last attack probably just dumb luck but I'd be damned if I let it happen again.

"What are y--." I pulled the trigger the bullet lodged deep in between her eyes. She was no Lia but she would do the trick I just hoped he'd take the bait.

                    Julia

The kind maid drew me a bath, tending to my wounds. My one eye was swollen shut and I could barely see through the other.

  I'd already met with a doctor who told me the same thing over and over again.

Overly enthusiastic about my recovery why wouldn't he be? They paid him to be happy didn't they?

  She was gone, the lady I saw before with him, she was gone and he was a mess... devastated.

This has Mariano's name written all over it always trying way too hard to play hero. Did he think he could rid the world of all it's problems? he was beyond stupid if he believed that.

The only way to rid this world and mankind of all its problems is to dispose of mankind itself. He had no right playing messiah, sacrificing the lives of innocents to attain his own perverted form of justice. Tick Tock Mariano your times almost up.

"Lasciaci" he ordered

[Leave us]

glancing at the lady squatted next to the tub wiping me clean of a day worth of filth. She scurried off leaving me alone with him, I could feel his hot gaze drinking me all in. He inhaled sharply making his way towards me I didn't hide from him there was no point in doing so anyway.

   "What is this?" He asked tossing the locket into my arms, I stroked it gently popping it open. A familiar picture of us both basking in the languid moments we once shared. The tingles from the forlong sensation of his lips on mine just like in the picture.

I stared at the grey tiles of the bathroom avoiding his questioning gaze. What do I tell him now? Should the past stay in the past?. He was Antonio not Toni  they seemed to have become to different people. Antonio was demanding and ruthless, powerful traits that they both shared but most of all he was Engaged. My Toni was long gone, he would never put me through all that Antonio did.

   He growled his displeasure at my silence slamming his fist into the wall next to me. I flinched clutching on tightly to locket pulling it firmly against my chest.

This was probably equivalent to suicide, an embarrassingly bold move on my part but I did it anyway. Pulling him close to me I massaged my fingers through his hair just like I always did to Toni when he'd get stressed. I tried to calm him down  loving the feeling of the soft strands against my fingers. He stilled in my arms soft breath coming out in pants.

Was he responsive to my touch?

It couldn't be could it? I massaged his scalp trying to relieve him of the tension ,lost in the euphoria of the moment. He lost someone very dear to him and  in order to find her he needed to be practical not reckless, never reckless too many casualties.

As if snapping back to reality he abruptly pulled away eyes as wide as saucers. Had I done something wrong? He stared down at me, something foreign flashing through his eyes. Suddenly he couldn't look me in the eye anymore shuffling his way out of the room his fury long forgotten.

   Did I really do something wrong ?

               Mariano

     "How long will it take?" I growled questioning their competence. Time was of the essence and at this rate it could take months maybe years. we needed to move faster,quick enough to catch him off guard.

He was warming up to dear Lia, catching fragments of the past that she began to show him. Setting him back on track, he didn't know it but she was the only reason he hadn't lost it completely.

He thought it was over once he found the body but it had just begun. The pain he felt when he found her floating by the river would be nothing once he realizes what he'd actually done.

I needed a window into the Ciovelli mansion, seems like one just presented itself.

https://my.w.tt/2gxce3vMZ8