CHAPTER FIVE

"Ellie...this is a big misunderstanding....."

Yeah, being in the arms of an enemy is a misunderstanding!

"What I misunderstood was the fact that I thought you were my friend!" I burst out.

Then I turn towards the man who is behind all of this crap. "Have I done something wrong that you after my happiness?"

The betrayal pierced my heart, and the pain in my cheek burned tears in my eyes. "All I did was help you....and you repaid me so well!"

I wince as the tears touch my cheek, he takes a step towards me, but I stop him with my hand. Harshly rubbing the tears from my cheek, not caring about the burn now. As I was angry, not angry towards Arcadio cause he was a stranger to me, but frustrated towards the one person I thought was my friend. How could she betray me for Arcadio?

The bile rose in my throat as I spat at Leo. "Why did you hurt me like that? What did he offer you money?....what tell me to damn it!"

She flinches from my tone, but I didn't care.

"Ellie, listen to me please,....it is not what it looks like!"

"Like what. Like how you helped your lover kidnap me! Not just me, but how can you cheat on Theo like this!"

She looked taken aback by my words. "Lover?" Before she could say anything further, I interrupted her. "Are you kidding me, Leo?!"

Suddenly a smile appears on Arcadio's face. It was the first time I've seen him smile, and even though it was not a full-blown smile, it melted my frustration a little.

A chuckle comes from a man who brought me here. I glare at him. Leo takes this time to close the gap between us. "Ellie, you think Arcadio....is my lover?"

"Isn't he?"

"Ellie he," she points at Arcadio. "Is my brother"

"What?....but?...." I immediately talk a seat on the beautiful couch because my shaking legs couldn't hold my weight any longer.

"Roger and I will leave you both to talk. Leona, explain to her everything, and make sure she understands every word," he ordered while leaving the room with the big man whose name was Roger, who was smiling.

"Ellie, are you okay?" She puts a hand on my shoulder.

I take a deep breath and reply, "Explain, please."

She sighs and settles beside me. "First, I want to clarify that Arcadio is my big brother, and I love Theo. Second I'm sorry for all this mess."

I stay silent. Leo understood that I needed more explanation than that. "Concentino has been ruling the Italian Mafia for centuries, and Ellie, I am a Concentino."

"B...But your last name is Abrams? and Mafia?" Even though the words came out of me very gracefully, from the inside, my body was shaking with fear.

Leo, surprised by my calmness, answered, "It was a given name for my protection. You see, even though we are in Mafia, my family never indulged themselves in any illegal practices. That is what made my family a target of others who want to take the title from us. As they wanted to involve drugs and prostitution as a part of the Italian Mafia."

"So where does Arcadio comes in all this? Because I know you have only two brothers, and one is the CEO of the company and the other is a Lawyer."

"Arcadio is my brother Ellie as you now know. The Boss of this family. When our parents died in a car accident, to save the title from going to our enemies, he had to take on the role at that time to save us and to avoid any illegal practice within Italian Mafia".

"Isn't that what Mafia's do?"

She gave out a chuckle, and I felt the tense environment surrounding both of us fade a little. "Is that what you think? Well, you think just like Romero and Valerio. They too have this notion that Arcadio does all those things that is why both of them hate him so much".

The sad expression on her face made me frown. "But if Arcadio practices mafia legally," I laughed at the statement. Mafia and Legal did not sound good in a sentence, but Leo's glare made me stop laughing. I continued, "Why are you brothers against it?"

"After our parents got killed, many families came forward and united against us, leaving two choices in front, either join them or end the Concentino clan."

I completed the rest of the sentence for her. "You couldn't let them end the legacy, so Arcadio joined them."

"Uh-huh. But even though Arcadio is with them, he hasn't done anything illegal, he has to only keep up with the facade and slowly take revenge, and because Arcadio can't let the others know my brothers think he is a monster", it's hard to do the right thing when your own family is against you.

Even though I had gotten the scholarship in New York, my parents had a tough time agreeing to it. For me, it was a great opportunity, but for my parents, it was me leaving my whole country and moving far away from them. Surprisingly for Dad, it was such great news, but for Ma, it had taken a toll on her. Finally, after I settled properly and video called them every day, it assured them that I was alright. Which reminds me I have to call them!

But first, sorting out everything with Leo was important. It would've been tough for her to choose between her brothers, especially if there was a cold war going on, "What about you, Leo? What do you think about Arcadio?"

A wry smile appears on her face, "I trust him. I was three years old when we lost our parents, so Arcadio had to raise me with my brothers. So I know he would never do something that would put us all in harm's way".

Then suddenly something struck me, "There was this another guy, the big man. I thought he and Arcadio are brothers?"

"Oh, you must be talking about Savino. He is Arcadio's best friend. Well, they are more like brothers. They did everything together, and now he is Arcadio's right-hand man. Sometimes I think he is more of a family to Arcadio than my blood brothers."

"Okay, so now tell me, how do I come in all of this?"

"Well, I don't know if I could tell you that or not?"

I narrow my eyes at her, "Really, Leo, after telling me everything, you are going to hide this from me?"

"Uh," she pauses for two seconds, then finally answers. "I guess you have a right to know." She continued, "Arcadio told me that you were involved in all this because you saved him. Now your life is in danger. Is that true that you saved him?"

"Did he tell you how?" I don't know if she could handle hearing that her brother was about to die that day if he didn't accept my help.

"Nope, he didn't say much, but Ellie, why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Leo, but everything happened so fast that I didn't have time to tell you anything. Yesterday was the day I met your brother. He was sitting at the side of the road drunk. First, I didn't want to help him, but then I figured from his clothes that he was not a bad guy so, I did help him", I mean it is kind of was true, the only thing that was not is instead of him being drunk, he was fighting for his life.

Her eyes widen with shock, but then a smirk appears, "Do you honestly think I would buy this story, Ellie? I know this because after Jess....because it's been a while since my brother has touched alcohol".

"Oh"

She shakes her head at me, "I know you won't ever lie to me if it wasn't that necessary, and I know he was probably not in such a great condition that you would run away without helping. So whatever it was, thank you."

I immediately engulf her in a hug. "Thank you for understanding."

"Now, if you don't mind, I have to go to your stupid brother."

"Why?"

"Well, first I need a way to contact my family because if they didn't hear from me, they would probably start calling the Indian Embassy, and second he can't just trap me here! You know he tried to threaten Maya if I didn't come with him, and he can't do that!"

"Oh no, he did that?" I nodded. "You have to know Ellie he did this so he could help you."

"I know! But if he would've just told me he was protecting me, I could've come here willingly, without threatening anyone. I hope everyone is alright in the café," I prayed.