. . .
Tw - mention of SA. Tiny mention.
Lily Jenkins
An almost smiling Dante was making pancakes when I walked into the kitchen, rubbing my eyes. Even after washing my face and slapping on my minimal skincare, I was yet to fully awake - or I was till I saw him and stopped dead in my tracks.
Now, Dante didn't smile. He just was not a smiley person. Neither was I. But seeing him almost smile, so casually... It warmed my heart. Even though the admission of last night still made me a bit...uneasy. I had almost bared my soul. I had always said the three words.
He looked at me, pausing his stirring. "Blue."
"Hey." I folded my arms against my chest. "Shouldn't you be out scaring people in meetings?"
"I wanted to spend the day with you, considering how I am your everything." He grinned. He grinned as he resumed his stirring.
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"
"Never."
I couldn't help but grin right back.
. . .
"What happened?" Dante asked as soon as Marco and Nino, his trusted guards or whatever their job was, entered the penthouse with tense jaws.
"Samuel left Australia."
Dante frowned, rubbing my thigh. I was sitting on his lap. He had refused to let me go when the elevator opened. My book was forgotten in my hands as I listened to Marco and Nino.
"He left last night. He left a message for you. He texted it to us."
"What is it?" Dante demanded.
Nino and Marco shared a look that told me it could not be anything good. One of them handed Dante his phone, the text already opened.
We read it together.
Not a cage fight, Dante. It will be something worse.
"Dante-"
"Your mothers are safe." He interrupted before I could freak out. "I made their plane stop in Venice. They're vacationing there, protected by the best bodyguards."
"What?" I gasped.
Dante handed the phone back. "He wanted a cage fight. We had decided to do it after the last fight. He changed it. I'd say he is scared, but he is a Creed. They're stubborn bastards."
Marco and Nino nodded. "We are tracking his flight. It is headed for Italy. We changed pilot." They glanced at me. "Speak freely?" One of them asked. Dante gave a nod after a pause during which I glared at him. "The pilot will crash if you want."
I froze. "Is there anyone on the plane with him?" I asked. It must be a private plane.
"No."
My heart thundered. A murder. This was a murder. Killing someone in the sky. It was murder.
"We have to keep other factors in mind," Marco or Nino said. "This might as well be a declaration of war. Creeds may take it the wrong way."
Dante rubbed my back. "You're right. He is still a Creed. Their Mafia will demand retribution, and the Creeds, if they're wise, will have to do something. Its...it's about blood. It's always about blood." He looked at me and then at his guards. "Crash it."
They nodded. Marco or Nino made the call, and then there was silence in the living room.
. . .
"What will happen to the pilot?" I asked Dante after Marco and Nino were gone.
"Parachute."
I nodded and continued my pacing. I could not sit still. "We just murdered a man."
"I did. And I suppose Nino and Marco did, too. You didn't do anything."
"We murdered him." I stopped. "Another one from their family. At this point, I won't even blame the Creeds if they kill me."
Dante's eyes flashed. He grabbed my waist with his giant hands and pulled me onto his hard lap. He grabbed the back of my neck and made me look at him. "They all will burn if they hurt you. I don't care about anything else."
"You..." I shook my head. "Olivia trusted me enough to tell me all she did, but this...this wasn't right. We could have told the Creeds where Samuel was going to land or something. They would have gotten him under control."
"Samuel would never allow himself to get captured. He is too skilled."
I set my head against his shoulder, breathing him in, trying to calm myself down. "What happened?" I asked. "Why does he want to hurt you?"
He sighed. "I killed Michael."
"Who is that?"
"He loved him," he said. "Samuel loved Michael and I killed him after my sister killed...a friend."
I looked at him. "What?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I think I need to tell you. And you might hate me by the end of it."
"Tell me."
"When..." He hesitated. "I gave my sister away when I was young. My parents made me hurt Fabiano and Giovanni, they said it'd make and and my brothers strong. When my sister was born, they told me they would make me do the same to her when she grew up just a bit. I had to get her out. I knew this...this maid, who was always kind to me. I begged her to find a good place for Carla, my sister. I begged her to keep her safe till I was strong enough."
He tucked me closer to his thundering heart.
"She wasn't kind, Blue. She had just been acting. She gave my sister away to sex traffickers for money. I didn't know that for a long time. I foolishly believed she was safe till my mother told me what I had done. She laughed while telling me. She didn't care about Carla at all. That was the first time Giovanni and Fabiano hit me. I let them." He wrapped his arms around me, putting a hand behind my head to tuck me to his neck, to not let me see his face.
"That maid she..." He let out a breath which slightly trembled. "She made me so many things, things I may never be able to tell you. I did all of them, wishing I would make her happy enough one day and she would tell me where Carla was. She never told me. In the end, my father killed her because of what she had been making me do. He said it was obvious that I wasn't strong enough."
I tried to look at his face but he kept me tucked.
"So he sent my brothers and me away to Igor. And you know what happened there. Three ago, we received footage that showed a man beating Carla to death." I froze. "But, two years ago, we found out she was alive. She was...alive. She had survived the trafficking. But she hated us. She loathed us. And we didn't blame her. I didn't blame her. Anyone...Anyone would hate me. I failed as a brother. I've failed many times as a brother."
"Rosa was a girl I saved from the system, one of the many. She and I...were a thing, I suppose. She wanted me, and I thought it was just lust. Someone liking me was something I could not comprehend. As soon as I found out that she had feelings for me, I broke it off. I did not want to lead her on, but I think...I think I broke her, Blue. She never got over it, even after I explained that I couldn't...I couldn't love. My heart had died years ago. I tried to make myself feel, just so I'd be able to give her what she needed. But I just couldn't." He sighed. "She deserved better. She deserved someone who'd be able to care for her on a deeper level. I cared, but not enough. Not in a way she wanted, at least."
He kept rubbing my back. "Carla managed to get Rosa and me on our knees, with a gun pointed at us. She made Zavier Creed choose who to kill. I begged him to choose me but he chose Rosa. And then, in my...anger, I killed Michael. This is how the Creeds became our enemy. This is why Samuel hates me. It's all justified. I would have let him kill me if I didn't have you."
I sat there, frozen and completely beyond words.
. . .
