MATTEO (book 2)

61. XENA

All i can hear is gunshots and shouting.

The junior with me is a 16 year old. Matteo sent him to guard me on his own. He smiles again as our eyes meet. "Dario, by the way." He clears his throat.

"Xena."

"Oh, we all know." He smiles again.

"What's going on up there?" I ask.

He looks up at the ceiling as if he can see through the floorboards. "Uh... Oleg got arrested so the gang war has started. Just guns at the minute but we'll win."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Reigns have never lost, plus, Matteo and Romeo are the best capos. They planned for this months in advance. We all know our place."

I sit back. "And they assigned a 16 year old boy to watch me?"

"Seventeen." He clears his throat. "I'm seventeen."

"You're a child."

"I have the highest level of training in every martial arts and when I turn 18 for the initiation, I will take Leo's spot."

I frown.

"I'm just good at what I do."

"You're a child." I repeat.

"I've killed over a hundred people from the age of 10."

"They paired me with a child serial killer?" I say in astonishment.

He smiles at that. "No- well technically speaking yes, but I was-" He stops talking, and like a cat hearing something, his ears perk up.

He loads the machine gun he's holding and not even five seconds later, he's shooting all of the rounds into five bald headed men.

He then turns back to me as if he didn't just kill 5 people. "Yes. I'm a serial killer in your terms, but so is Matteo and you still trust him." He clears his throat. "So trust me. He would only leave you with the best." He winks at me.

Matteo must teach these kids how to be cocky.

After a while of sitting in silence, it went dead quiet upstairs.

Heavy footsteps decends the basement stairs but Dario doesn't move a muscle for these ones.

Somehow, he knew who it was. Matteo walks around, looking at the dead bodies. "Thank you, Dario. Go help upstairs." He pats the boy on the head.

Dario leaves the machine gun on the stairs and then walks away.

I look around Matteo, making sure he isn't hurt.

"I'm fine." He holds my hands, kissing my fingertips. "I'm taking you down."

"To where?"

"A safe house, one that we own. Your mother and father will be there, Neves and the boys too. Feds will be there, my mother and Luca too." He says quietly.

"Where are you going?"

"To help out here. He's started a gang war and it's my responsibility to finish it." He grabs my hand, leading me up the stairs.

Bodies were everywhere.

Men injured.

Bullet holes in the walls.

What on earth.

He takes me straight outside and we get into an SUV. He starts to drive, and I notice he's more paranoid than usual.

"Matteo, everything will be fine, right?"

"Yes." He answers, almost too quickly.

And then he's silent.

He gets out of the car once we're on a street, and walks the rest of the way with my hand in his.

He walks to a door and it opens, a police officer standing there. "Xena Mendes. She's staying here full time." He says quickly, pulling me into the living room.

"Your family havent arrived yet but my dads bringing them himself." He holds my face in his hands. "You'll be safe here."

"What's going on, Matteo?"

"Those men I killed were assassins after me, and they knew we had a connection and so went after you. They won't stop until either one of us is dead, and it sure as hell ain't gonna be you, pretty."

"Or you. You can't die." I look around his eyes

He smiles as if he's finding amusement in the fact I'm worrying for him.

"It won't be. It'll be anyone that got in my way. I'll see you later, pretty." And then he leaves.

I go after him but the officer pushes me back. "You can't leave, ma'am." He says. "He can handle himself."

After an hour of arguing with him, my family finally show up and convince me to sit down.

There were police everywhere, my entire family was on lockdown.

And every time I called Matteo he ignored me.

Everytime i called Ilaria she ignored me.

Everybody ignored me.

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wc: 748