Aurora (Book #1)

Chapter 4

I wake up because of the phone call. It's Elena.
"Si?" I say, rubbing  my forehead.
"Called to make sure that you are okay, miele," she says.
She's usually very mean with people and with me in the public. She doesn't want to show people that I'm different, I guess. She never had a family, because for her family is a weakness and responsibility, she doesn't want to have. When she found me, some kind of mother instinct kicked in her. Now, it's like I'm a daughter she never had.
"I'm fine,i  just have a little headache, thanks madre," I tease her, because I know she hates when I call her "madre".
"Don't call me that," she says, "It makes me feel old, and I'm just 43."
I giggle.
"You betrayed me though," I say, as if I'm offended.
"Dio, Aurora, like you didn't know that it would happen. You know, I see Roberto so rarely"
Yes, you see him rarely. If rarely means three times a week.
"You better tell me why you left my car at Espositos'."
I bit my tongue.
Shit. I completely forgot about her car.
"Well, um, I wanted to walk," I lie.
"Oh, really?" she doubts. She knows I'm lying, but I don't give up.
"Yeah. The weather was so nice."
"So, you walked 5 kilometers to your house?" she asks.
I don't  answer.
I'm fucked.
"Christian took you home, didn't he?" she asks
"Well, yeah"
"And that's it?" she asks.
"Yeah,"
"Hm. Okay...,"
The inquisition is over, thank god.
"We need to prepare for tomorrow's mission. Be here in an hour. With.my. car."
She drops the phone. How I'm going to manage to do everything In an hour? I put my phone down but it buzzes, so I take it again.
It's a message from Christian.
"Buongiorno, tesoro," the message said.
"New nickname,huh?" I say to myself.
I smile and when I realize that, I immediately stop. I ignore the text.
I quickly got ready and got out of the house. I take a taxi, so I can manage everything.
Elena's car was given to her without a scratch.
She called some of her soldiers to the conference hall to discuss the next possible mission connected to Salvadors.
Marc starts to talk.
"So, our informants reported that there's going to be a masquerade ball next weekend. We have information that one of the biggest Spanish weapon sellers, Diego Perez, is going to attend there with his wife.
Brilliant idea to make a deal at masquerade ball.
"Just for dancing?" one of our male soliders jokes.
"Besides the fact that Spanish people love to dance, no. They are going there to make a deal - supposedly with Salvadors," Capo answers.
Ha. I knew it.
Everybody's eyes just lights up.
"Where's the ball going to be?" Sofia asks.
"London, England," consigliere says with a smile.
We all share "ooooh"s with each other.
"Marc, is the information truthful?" Elena finally talks, "Last time we listened to you informants, we nearly got killed."
The last time. The last time, when I told everyone it's not a good idea to deal with Spanish mafia.
Marc hesitated.
"I have people in England," I save Marc, " I trust them as much as I trust myself. I'll clarify the information and let you know. It won't take long, i promise."
"Very good, Aurora," Elena says proudly, "Now, about the upcoming elections."
My phone buzzes during the discussion.
It's him again.
"Ignore me one more time and see what happens," the message says.
"I'm busy, Don Daloi," I answer.
"No phone, Aurora," Elena announces.
She hates when someone was typing on the phone when she's talking. She nearly killed someone once.
"Scusi," I mouth.
When we got out of the conference hall, another message was already sent.
"Text me when you are not busy. And it's Christian"
"I am always busy, Christian " I answer.
"I want to see you, again, this weekend," he replies.
What?Why?
"I can't, I have a job to do on weekend"
He reads the message and ignores it.
Ma che cazzo!
He texts me, saying that he wants to see me and now he ignores me?
"Who are you texting with?" I hear Elena's voice from behind and shudder from surprise , "Must be someone interesting."
"I told you about my people in England. I'm texting them," I lie.
Elena narrowed her eyes.
She knows I'm lying.
Elena was a living lie detector, especially when it came to me. She went to her office without saying anything. I felt bad, as if I was betraying her by texting with another mafia member.
As I promised, I quickly get the confirmation of Marc's information. The ball will happen on Saturday and Perez's people are going to be there.
——————————————————————————————————
On Friday, our team, Sofia included, were in London. Elena stayed because she has some problems with some British mafias.
"So, what are you going to wear?" Sofia asks me, while we were preparing our equipment for tomorrow. I always make my team to check all of the guns and clean all the knives. I find doing all of that before the mission really important. First, well prepared equipment, means accomplished mission. And second is discipline. It keeps everyone in line and focused.
"You know that that's the last thing on my mind," I say, checking the guns aim and carefully put it on the table.
Actually, the first thing on my mind is Christian, who ignored my texts. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he's not texting but it's weird.
"That's important though. We need to fit in," she claims and she's right.
"Show me what you are wearing," I say.
I need a distraction.
She shows me a white silk dress, with white gloves to the elbow,paired with a white mask.
She would look stunning in it.
"Davvero carina," I said.(really pretty)
"I know, right? Now, it's your turn."
"Let it be a surprise for you," I say teasingly.
She begs me to show her the dress for a couple of minutes. When she realized I have no intentions to show her, she gives up.——————————————————————————————————
Saturday. One hour left until the ball.
"Rory, please hurry up. We are going to be late," Sofia shouts and knocks on the bathroom door.
I open the door and walk out of the bathroom.
"Mamma mia, Aurora," Sofia exclaims and claps her palm on her mouth.
I'm wearing a simple black dress (my favorite color) paired with a black mask. My dress has a cut, not a very long one because I need  to fix a gun on my thigh in case my purse won't be with me.
"You look stunning too, Sofia," I say and a smile spreads on my face, when I see her. She looks like a princess. A princess that can slit your throat, if you annoy her too much.
"Okay, moglie, let's go." (wife) I giggle and we get out of our room.
We get there on time. The ball was held at some royalty's place, which meant it's going to be really fancy. With my connections, it wasn't hard to get the invitation. We get into the main hall. So many beautiful men and women. Women especially, not gonna lie. Sofia took a glass of wine from fourchette. We stood there, observing the place for a couple of minutes.
"We need to get on the dancefloor for a better look," she suggested.
Good idea.
"Yes, I agree. How about you seduce the young man over there and dance with him?" I say.
"Why is it always me," she says but doesn't complain for long. She knows she's the best at these games. She walks to the man, just like a lioness, and with some flirty words gets him on the dancefloor. I can see her observing every person with her cunning look. She was a professional, indeed. Of course, sometimes she acted immature which made me the mom of our friendship. She always lived a good life: there was no reason for her to grow up fast.
I'm walking around the hall and trying to catch anything suspicious. I press the mic in my ear.
"Guys?anything caught your eye?" I ask everyone.
I look over them and shake their heads.
I sigh and I lean on one of the columns. Suddenly, someone's deep voice interrupts my observation.
" Why is such a pretty young thing like you standing alone here?" the male voice asks. He's leaning on the other side of the column and is wearing a mask, so I can't see him properly but he is familiar as fuck. 
Is my mind playing games with me?
"Do we know each other,sir?" I ask harshly.
"You don't recognize me?" he asks and stands in front of me. "Consider me offended. I had higher opinion on your skills, Morana"
Fuck, he knows who I am.
How?
He smiles.
That devilish smile.
No, diavolo!
"Don Daloi ," I mumble. A horror takes over me, but I successfully mask it with a slight surprise.
Why he's here? Or , more correctly, HOW is he here?
"Bingo, piccola," he chuckles. "And for the last time, it's Christian"
"Christian" I try his name on my tongue for the first time. His eyes light up with...lust?
I need to escape.
Oddio, why is this happening?
I need to let Sofia know that he's here. I turn around to run but he's faster. He takes my wrist and presses me against his body. The smell of his cologne hits my nostrils and the heat of his body makes me to feel weak in my knees. I'm not able to push him away even if I tried to. And I didn't.
"And where are we going?" he asks, "To inform our little friend?"
Merda.
He takes me on the dance floor. Forcibly, of course. My anger is very visible on my face.
"Relax, tesoro," he says, "we are just going to dance."
Demi Lovatos' "Dancing with the devil" played in my head.
He knew that I'm here. He knew that I would ruin his plans and he needed to distract me.
Dirty move, Daloi.
"How did you know about the ball?" I ask.
"Why would I tell you that, tesoro?"
I glare at him. "How. Did you. Know about the ball, Christian?"
He doesn't say a word. I scoff push him him away from me to leave, but he puts his hands back. Holding me even tighter. He sighs.
"Well, it's kind of your merit"
"What do you mean?" I'm so confused.
My merit?
He giggles. But not in a cute way. More like in a cold-hearted villain way, which is who he exactly is. But it doesn't scare the way it's supposed to. It turns me on. I guess I have a thing for villains.
Something is definitely wrong with me.
"You told me you had a job this weekend. So, I did some clarifications and came to the conclusion that you must be here," he says proudly.
Cazzo.
That's why he didn't reply.
No matter how inappropriate this is, I start to laugh.
"So, that's what this little game was about,"
"What game?" he asks slightly surprised.
"You played this "I want to fuck you" game and used me for your own good," I says my jaw clenched.
"Piccola, I will not deny that I used you," he says.
Well, at least he doesn't deny it,
He brings his lips close to my ear.
"But I really want to fuck you, though." he whispers.
I inhaled deeply. Is this excitement or shock? I don't know. The worst part is that I might not object.
"I'll kill you," I confess out of no where, "After the mission, I promise you, I'll kill you."
He lifted the corner of his mouth a bit.
"You wouldn't do that," he says.
"Why wouldn't I?" I tilt my head to the side and look at him innocently.
"First of all, you are attracted to me, piccola, and don't even deny it," he says and moves his face closer to mine. Never noticed he was this tall. Now I see why he called me "piccola". I glance at his lips for a second, remembering our first kiss.
"That's not true," I lie, I guess, "But even if It is ,believe me when I say , it's not a reason for me."
"Well, and second of all," he puts his hand on my bare thigh through the cut and lifts it. I gasp. Loudly. He licks his lower lip, "It would be pretty hard to do without bullets, don't you think?"
He says pulling out the magazine. I put my foot down.
Son of a bitch.
"Stay out of this, piccola," he commands.
"Fuck you" I say, narrowing my eyes and smiling provocatively.
"I am losing my patience,piccola," he stops dancing  and just roughly presses me against him, "I am not used to tolerating disobedience."
"And I am not used to being obedient," I say and, suddenly I see some group of men entering a room. I noticed a man with a "S" tattoo on the back of his hand.
Salvador.
Christian notices that I got distracted and looks the same direction that I'm looking.
Nothing escapes devils eye.
He looks at his men and tilts his head, ordering them to go after them. I take his distraction as an advantage and quickly take the magazine from his pocket.I direct my steps towards  Sofia, but he grabs  me with his hands and presses my back to his chest.
"No, no. Non c'è bisogno di correre," he whispers to my ear. His hot breath makes shivers run down my spine, but I couldn't let him win. I hit his ribs with my elbow. The pain makes him release me and I run to Sofia.(No need to rush)
"Follow me," I say and tap her shoulder. She gives a sign to our people.
We all carefully pass through the door and enter a room. It was empty. I load my gun.
One of my men shows a door. I come near it and hear noises. I hear two men talking.
I bet it's one of the Salvadors and Perez.
I counted to three and we all got into the room with our guns lifted.
"Excuse us for breaking a deal, gentlemen," I say, directing my gun to the  man, I supposed, is Salvador. He's not a Salvador but he is surely one of them.
"Who the fuck are you?" the men asks.
I take off my mask.
"Mamma mia, Morana," Perez claims , "What an honor to see you."
I look at him with a death stare and then look back at the man.
"You. Get up. Slowly," I say.
He obeys. I looked at one of our assassins, Rico. He quickly understands that he should check him for the gun presence.
"È pulito," he reassures.(Clean)
Suddenly more people filled the room. I felt a gun hold against the back of my head.
"Grazie, piccola," the familiar voice says, "Let me finish this."
Fucking Daloi.
I didn't say anything because my eye caught Perez's hands approaching the wall.
"Hey!" I shout, but suddenly the lights went off. I hear sprinting footsteps. I pull the trigger a couple of time, not knowing who my bullets are hitting. The lights turn on again. Perez and the men were gone and Christian, too. There were some dead bodies on the floor. Fortunately, none of them belonged to our people. I hear Christian giving orders.
No, diavolo, you're not fucking up my mission again.
He divided his group. So do I, and my group goes after him. Christian already caught Salvador. We hide behind the wall. I order the other part of the group to find a way to appear from the other side of the corridor so that we could surround them.
"Don Daloi," says the man, "What a pleasure to meet you."
"Get him," Christian orders.
"If I were you, I would've been scared of Salvadors," he says, "They're going to find you and your family and kill them all until Dalois vanish. Until Italian mafia is destroyed. Just like they your father was."
The man laughs. Christian's jaw tenses and his hand forms into a fist. The man just wrote himself a death wish.
"You should've seen him," the man continues, "The way he begged to keep him alive-"
He couldn't finish the sentence.
"Pezzo di merda," Christian utters and hits the man in the face. (Piece of shit)
The man starts to laugh. Seriously? I thought Christian broke his jaw.
I see our people on the other side of the corridor and, finally, we are able to surround them.
"Okay, Daloi, enough," I say and raise the gun at him. Others started shooting, "No, don't kill this one. Just make him unconscious."
I decided to keep someone alive from his people in case I have to shoot Christian, so someone will take him to hospital.
Why do I care?
"Game's over, Christian," I say.
"You won't shoot me," he says and smirks. I'm  pointing a gun at his fucking face and he fucking smirks. I load the gun and I hesitate. I never hesitate when I want to shoot someone. Some of the soldiers start to whisper. My hands start to tremble.
What the fuck?
"Well, I will," Sofia said and shot his leg.
I shudder. Christian falls on the ground, grunting from pain.
Some man of mine take the Spanish man and walk away away. Sofia goes with them. I put my gun down ams follow Sofia. But something makes me turn around to Christian. He's in pain.
Povero diavolo (poor devil).
The blood is coming out of his thigh like a flood. I couldn't watch that anymore. I take off a piece of clothing on my thigh that fixed my gun to it. Tore it and made a plait. While I'm tying to stop the blood , I look up. He's staring at me. He looks impressed but too weak to speak.
"This will keep you alive until your men wake up to take you to hospital," I say.
What am I doing?
"You care," he says and puts a strand of hair behind my ear, "Good."
I pull the knot harshly. He releases a groan. I know it hurt, I wanted him to hurt. I stand up and start to walk away.
"I always get what I want," he says.
I turn around and smirk.
"Says the man who had just been defeated."
And I leave.
He's right. I care. More than I'd like to admit. But I can't show it. I can't show it to anyone.