Lorenzo POV
"The Masquerade ball will be in one week. With Christmas around the corner, a winter themed ball would be quite the statement. Is there any questions?"
"This is an illegal event, right? It's not with all your legal business partners?" Someone asked, their hand raised.
"Sí, sí- there will be no legal business associates there; only neighbouring mafias and gangs will be there but this isn't an opportunity for you to slip up," Don said, "I'll have my eyes on you all." He added in a joking manner.
The men laughed and got up as Don dismissed us all.
"Lorenzo, I want to talk to you. Can you stay back please?"
Once everyone had left, Don turned to me and gestured for me to take a seat, with him sitting opposite me.
"Come stai, Lorenzo?"
[translation: how are you lorenzo?]
"Sono bravo, e tu?"
[i am good, and you?]
"Si, si- sto bene. Volevo parlarti della ragazza di Javier."
[yes, yes- I am well. I wanted to talk to you about Javier's girlfriend.]
"E lei?" I asked, confused as to why the Don was interested.
[what about her?]
"Io e Rosalina stavamo parlando l'altra sera ed entrambi pensiamo che Anastasia non sia chi dice di essere. C'è qualcosa in lei che mi sta facendo chiedere chi sia veramente." He answered, his voice getting quieter in hopes of not being overheard.
[Rosalina and I were talking the other night and we both think that Anastasia isn't who she says she is. There's something about her that is making me wonder who she really is.{
"Ho pensato lo stesso. Ho già Ivan che segue i suoi movimenti quando non è qui e ho già un suo noto socio. Capì che Ivan la stava seguendo e minacciò di ucciderlo se avesse continuato."
[I thought the same. I already have Ivan tracking her movements when she isn't here and I have one known associate of hers already. She figured out that Ivan was following her and threatened to kill him if he continued.]
"Dì a Ivan di mantenere le distanze. Non voglio che nessuno dei nostri uomini muoia per mano prima che abbiamo capito cosa vuole da noi."
[Tell Ivan to keep his distance. I don't want any of our men dying by her hands before we've figured out what she wants from us]
I nodded in agreement and stood up, shaking the Don's hand as we left.
This woman...
Adjusting my cuffs as I walked out of the meeting room, I bumped into someone and my instincts forced me to reach out and grab them to make sure they wouldn't fall.
"Боже мой."
[translation: My God.]
Speak of the devil.
"Can I help you Ana?"
"I told you what would happen if I found your men following me again." She said in a low tone.
"I'm aware."
"Tell your man to back off. Next time I won't be as generous."
"What would you do? Hmm? Because all I've heard from you is talk, no action." I challenged.
"I thought you might say that, Lorenzo, and that's why I did this."
"Get the doctors, quick!!" Came a shout from downstairs.
I rushed down the stairs to see Ivan laying on the living room floor, his face all bloody and his body limp.
The doctors ran into the living room, a stretcher being carried by two of our men and Ivan was lifted onto it as one doctor checked his pulse and the other looked for any bleeding.
I helped with carrying the stretcher into the makeshift room and left as the doctor ushered me out.
I went back upstairs and saw Anastasia who was smirking at me.
"You fucking bitch." I said, pushing her against the wall and flicking my blade out as I held it to her neck.
"Lorenzo, enough!! What the hell man?!" Javier said, pushing my away from his girlfriend.
"This- You know what? No. You and I will talk about this later. But you," I said, pointing at Anastasia who was acting hurt, "You stay the fuck away from me and my men."
Antonio and Javier were looking at me as if I was crazy, so I ignored their stares and went back to my room.
___________________________
"First, you had Ivan following her and now, you're holding a knife to her neck? What the fuck, Lorenzo?"
Antonio was pacing around in my office as I stared at the glass in front of me, the scent of whiskey in the air and a lone drop of the drink sitting at the bottom of the glass.
"I thought she was bad news. The Don agreed." I slurred.
I couldn't remember how many drinks I had. I didn't know the time.
I was drunk.
"Okay, but why didn't you let the Don deal with this?"
"I told him... that I had... Ivan following her."
He shook his head at me and sighed. Then, the door opened and the don walked into the room.
"Lucía." I murmured.
"What did he say?"
"He said her name."
The Don and Antonio looked at
each other then back at me as I traced my finger along the rim of the glass.
"She's gone." I spoke quietly. "I want her back."
"Lucía's not coming back Lorenzo... She's gone."
"I know!" I shouted, throwing my glass which shattered on impact against the door.
"Don, why don't you leave? I'll take care of him." Antonio assured.
My eyes felt heavy and I felt like I was going to fall asleep.
My head pounded in pain and I lay my head in my hands, my elbows resting on the table as I rubbed at my eyes.
"I thought she might be back. I waited." I said; my eyes were watering but no tears fell.
"I know. Mano, I wish I could tell you that she's coming back but you and I both know that I'd be lying. Let her rest. Come, let's clean you up and get you to sleep. You're going to need it."
He came around the table and grabbed my left arm, pulled it over his shoulder and lifted me up to stand.
I stumbled a little but he kept me steady as he walked me to the door, carefully stepping over the glass shards that rested on the floor of my office.
Antonio took me to my room and put me in the bathroom where he splashed my face with cold water which startled me.
He took my shirt off which left me in a t-shirt and my trousers.
He left the trousers on and practically shoved me into the bed then covered me with the blanket before closing the curtains in my room.
"Sleep well Lorenzo."
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YOU ARE READING
Siempre Mío
ActionBook 2 Siempre. Always. That's how I thought it would be. That's how I thought we would be. But we weren't, because she was gone even before our story began. L.M
