Garden of Roses ✔️

Chapter 6

Dante

        When we walked into the ballroom an hour late, I must say, I wasn't impressed. Sure, it was huge and nicely decorated, but so was every other ballroom that I've been to.

Carlo, Lorenzo, and Camilla are now smiling from ear to ear while putting on their masks, excited about the party while Marco and I don't look very amused.

I was forced to attend too many parties like this before to find it even remotely interesting. To be honest, they always bored me. Bad champagne, awkward small talk with familiar and unfamiliar people, large crowd, people stepping on your toes, not enough air. I could go on but it would be pointless. As for Marco, this generally wasn't his scene. He felt uncomfortable around many people and hadn't danced once in his life. He was more of a person to stay indoors. Not just indoors, but preferably in his personal space where nobody bothered him and he could work. He loved to test different chemical substances and play with them, creating all kinds of poisons.

"Camilla, would you like a drink?" Lorenzo asks her, motioning to the waiter nearby.

"Yeah, that would be great," she answers and mumbles a quick thank you when he hands her the glass.

"What, none for the rest of us?" Carlo turns to Lorenzo and leans his elbow on Lorenzo's shoulder. Lorenzo and Carlo are the same height, but considering muscle mass, Carlo looks like a much bigger man compared to Lorenzo.

I met Lorenzo when we were still kids. He was the son of one of my father's closest men, so we've seen each other often around the house. He was also the only male person our age that knew Camilla even existed and saw her around the house. Our father kept Camilla a secret from the world, saying that she would only be a liability if anyone knew she existed. Lorenzo's big brown eyes always drifted to her when he saw her, but she never paid much attention to him.

Now he's one of my most loyal friends. As for Camilla, she still doesn't really see him, although he's not giving up. I'm aware of how he feels about her and he knows that I know even though we've never talked about it.

Lorenzo moves away from Carlo and takes Camilla's hand. She chugs the rest of her champagne and lets him drag her to the dance floor.

"Come on, let's have some fun." I hear him say as they distance themselves from us, disappearing into the crowd.

Carlo, Marco, and I are left alone at our table and I order them to start looking around for our target. I don't know if she will even be here, nor if I will even recognize her since no one has ever seen her face. I was kind of counting on her wearing her signature black veil. The small number of pictures that some security cameras managed to catch of her didn't show anything specific on her body that could help me recognize her. She was always dressed in black from top to bottom and she was careful never to show her face. That's why her veil was always in place and that was the only thing that could help me identify her.

Tonight everyone is wearing fucking masks but I don't see one person with a veil. I guess the night is still young and she could still show up.

As the song ends and Lorenzo comes back with Camilla, I see her face is now cold and she looks lost, a total opposite of her mood when we first got here. Lorenzo isn't holding her hand anymore. He is walking behind her while looking at the floor.

What the hell did he do to her?

I know that he would never intentionally hurt her, but something happened and they are both acting weird.