Assassination 101

Lesson 15: Keeping Calm

Lesson 15: Keeping Calm

"I- what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, tapping the empty spot next to him on the sofa. "Come sit. This game show is so easy that even you'd get the right answers."

I glared, storming over to him and ripping the remote from his grasp.

"What that hell, Blair?" Emilio whined as I switched off the television.

"Emilio, I'm going to ask you once more and once more only. What are you doing here?"

His being here right now could jeopardise the entire mission. If Celine or Rob or Henry or Kole or anyone else for that matter got wind of him being here I was royally screwed.

"Relax, sorella. No one knows who I am," Emilio said as if reading my thoughts. He was always the calmer of us two, too lax in my opinion. "If anyone were to ever find out I was here, they'd just assume you had a guy over for the night. Totally normal for a single twenty-one-year-old."

I sighed through my nose and sat down. He was right but that didn't mean I was just going to sit here and stare into space without a care in the world as to why he was here.

"Fine, I'm calm," I said a bit too quickly.

Emilio gave me a look that said he knew I was certainly not calm which just agitated me further. How had I missed this guy? Right now all I wanted to do was strangle him.

I took three deep breaths and we sat in silence for five painfully long minutes before he decided I was relaxed enough. Relaxed my ass.

"Okay," he said, clasping his hands together. "There is a reason I'm here, Blair. How are you?"

I shot him a deadpan glare. "You did not just fly here from Italy after four years to ask how I am. You do know telephones exist, right?"

He grinned in a way that made me want to punch him even more than before if that was possible. "Exactly, it's been four years. You're family, Blair. I miss you. Is it a crime to want to know how you are?"

I gritted my teeth, counting to ten in my head but he was getting on my last nerve. "I'm fine."

"No. Nope. Not an acceptable answer. After all these years I want a lot more than an 'I'm fine'."

Deep breaths, Jaia. One, two, th- fuck it.

I punched Emilio square in the jaw and he tumbled off the sofa and onto the floor. "There's your 'a lot more'," I smiled sweetly, grabbing his discarded bowl of popcorn.

Emilio pouted, rubbing the left side of his face. "I guess I deserved that but I must say I'm impressed that you held out so long. Four years ago you would've punched me the second I didn't answer your question."

"Who would've thought that by not being stuck around vermin like you I would get a better hold over my anger? Without you rilling me up every two seconds, life has been quite peaceful."

He rolled his eyes with a fond smile, giving his tender coccyx a quick dusting as he got up and sat back down on the sofa. "I'm glad, Blair. You deserved a more stable environment to finish growing up in."

I gave him a weird look at that. MI5 wasn't exactly the nurturing environment a teenager needed but then again neither was the mafia.

"Just don't mention it to Luca," he rushed out. "He'll think you've gone soft."

I scowled. "I've not gone soft."

Emilio put his hands up in surrender when he saw me raising my arms. "I know that but you know what Luca's like. I'm just looking out for you, sorella."