Garden of Roses ✔️

Chapter 40

Dante

"She went back home, boss, as we expected." Marco starts to say something else, but as soon as I hear her location, I end the call and stride over to the closet. For the occasion, I chose classic black dress pants and a navy blue button-up shirt. It was too warm for a jacket, so I didn't even bother bringing it with me.

Alright, keys, sunglasses, gun, wallet, phone. I have the essentials and now I'm ready to go. A few minutes ago, I requested my car to wait for me in the driveway. As I descend the stairs, I see it parked there through the massive glass front doors. Putting on my sunglasses, I step out of the house and stop in my tracks as I notice Camilla and Lorenzo leaning on my car.

"Could you two move? I don't want your ass prints on my freshly polished car," I say as I step closer to them. I had my favorite car, all black Maserati Ghibli washed and polished only yesterday. "And whatever you're here for, I don't have time. I gotta go."

"Yeah, we know. We're coming with you," Camilla says nonchalantly as she opens the passenger door and graciously settles in the burgundy red leather seat. I notice that Camilla looks like a completely different person than she was this morning. She's wearing tight black jeans that reach a bit above her ankles, a crème color strapless top, and extremely high heels in the same color. Her long red hair is freshly curled, and her eyebrows look sharper than my jawline.

"What the hell did you get all dressed up for?" I'm still standing in front of the car, refusing to believe the two of them are actually going with me. Camilla turns her head towards me, lowering her oversized Chanel sunglasses and eyeing me from top to bottom. "Could ask you the same thing, handsome." She smiles and winks at me, making me even more annoyed than before. I roll my eyes at her and then turn to Lorenzo who is still leaning on the car, silently chuckling at Camilla and mine's interaction.

"And why are you here?" I ask sharply, making Lorenzo put on a straight face and push himself off of the car surface.

"Moral support," he says, and I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Fine, but if any of you decide to start singing at the top of your lungs as you usually like to do, I'm throwing both of you out of the car."

"Oh, come on, that's hardly fair." I hear Camilla mutter under her breath. Lorenzo flops down in the back seat, slamming the car door behind him and earning an annoyed look from me. He mouths a 'sorry' and I feel my eyes roll in the back of my skull again. I didn't even start the car, and he was already getting on my nerves.

"Oh, shit. Wait here. I forgot something." I turn around and jog back inside the house, heading upstairs to my bedroom. I take the small bronze key that is attached to a ring with my other keys and unlock the top drawer of my desk. Inside is a small wooden box with two red roses engraved on the top. I open the box, take the small object from it, and shove it into my pocket. Okay, now I'm ready.

As I get back outside, I hear loud music already blasting from the car. The front door of the house slams behind me, and Camilla's head snaps in my direction, meeting my death glare for a second before she turns the music down.

Yeah, I thought so.

"So what's your plan?" Lorenzo asks, leaning forward in between two front seats and chewing a piece of gum annoyingly loudly next to my ear.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you know what you're going to say?"

"What, you think I wrote a speech or something?" I retort and he shrugs his shoulders. "I'll figure it out when I get there. Now lean back and close your mouth while you're chewing."