Dance Of Devils

Chapter Ten - Leo & Nadia

Chapter ten

Lorenzo

I heard her get up and leave but stayed silent, mimicking the even breath of a sleeping man. My chest screamed at me to go after her, but my brain won, knowing it would just lead to an argument, a fight that I didn't have the willpower to stop. I wanted to rage at her, scream sense into her, argue until there was no more breath in my lungs and then hold her and make up for it all, the world on her shoulders. But how was I any different? There was too much at stake to waste all my energy on an endless argument that would get us nowhere. She wanted answers and she got them. How am I at fault for that? I'd find her in the training room later, or maybe even the firing range, but I knew she needed time to process. Something I didn't have the luxury of doing at that moment.

Swiftly as I could, I got out of bed and dressed ready to deal with the calls and meetings over shipments coming in that morning. A knock sounded at my door and, moments later, both Giovani and Piero bounded through into my room.

"Tell him," Giovani commands Piero, his face cold as stone, arms folded but still within reach of his gun.

"Tell me what?" I ask, confused as fuck as to why my men barged into my room like this.

"Nadia's gone." Piero shrugged, standing all too casually for the information he had just given me.

"The fuck do you mean 'gone'?" I spat out at my weapons master.

"She left to do the only thing she knew you couldn't," came the bite from Piero. My blood ran cold.

"I'd be very careful with what you say next," I threatened lowly, stalking towards him. I don't care that he has more skill than me, that he was dangerous or deadly, if he disrespected me like that again I would kill him. I'm not in a playful mood, I don't have time for his taunts, I need to get to Nadia before she does something irreversible.

"Don't shoot the messenger," he whispers tauntingly back at me, lip quirking at the promise of a fight. Every inch of me wants to shoot this messenger but I know we would have no chance in hell of finding her without him. He was the one who told us she went, which means he must have some idea where.

"Arguing won't get her back," Giovani muttered from behind my weapons master, stoic as ever, "It won't get either of them back."

"Then what do you suggest?" I continue to spit, refusing to turn away from Piero.

"A conversation which doesn't end in bloodshed," Gio shoots back, folding his arms in a protective stance. "Where did she go, Piero?" Gio commands. I envy his ability to remain so unbothered, so unaffected by this all, but a glance in his direction tells me all I need to know- he's just as on edge as I am.

Piero is the first to look away, glancing over his shoulder to where my second stands behind him. "The pit."

My heart stutters. She went to kill Victor. "Shit."

"The girl doesn't mind getting her hands dirty." Piero shrugs. "and I commend her for it."

"She knew the fastest way to Ivan was through that slimy piece of shit so she took the opportunity she had." Giovani considers, weighing up the pros and cons of the situation like the news hasn't just ruined everything.

"And now we have someone on the inside. Can't you see what a gift she has given us?"

I feel like I'm burning from the inside. "Gift?" I snarl, every inch of my body tensing.

Giovani moves swiftly and silently, standing between us as a physical barrier. If I were a better man I would thank him but the world has enough good men, it has enough pushovers and enough weak-willed humans. I had built this empire from the very base of hell and I would be sure to keep it standing, no matter what.