Rooted from Betrayal

Chapter 15: Lunch with Lovely cars

Despite the ever present scowl on Mario’s face and the dark glint in Dante’s eyes, lunch went on smoothly.

Before the sweet lady brought the food to the table—with two servants following behind her—Geovanni had chatted amusedly telling a story about a lovely beauty he had and made sure to look after because he loved her so much.

The way he talked about this beauty of his made his eyes sparkle and even with my mind struggling to stay afloat in the ocean of dark thoughts in my head, I had to admit it was a heart warming sight. I had found it sweet that he cared so much for his lover, at least that is what I thought he was talking about until Mina had came in and busied herself with setting up our food, something I noticed she did with a genuine smile.

As she continued to set things up when she was next to Geovanni she flicked his arm, a motherly scowl on her beautiful face. The sight of it had surprised me just as much as the words that left her lips.
“Stop talking about cars around the table. This is not a car dealership.”

To say I had been shocked would be an understatement, my jaw had dropped and I am sure I had looked like a fish out of water. Mina had noticed my shock and chuckled lightly, the sound of it just as beautiful as her voice.

“You did not think he was talking about a woman did you? This one here would rather walk for the rest of his life than to let a woman into his car.” At her words, Geovanni shivered as if just the thought of it repulsed him. After that she had said nothing as she moved around and as she finished setting up Alessandro’s plate, said brother spoke addressing her.
“Mina prepare a drink for my brothers, they are going to need it when they return.” I was shocked, again, and then confused. Why was he speaking in English? The fact that that was the longest English sentence Alessandro had ever said shocked me just as much as the fact that somehow Mina was able to smile at him despite the cold look in his eyes but it confused me more.

However, while I had been shocked up until that moment nothing amounted to how I felt when Alessandro spoke next.
“Fratelino, what model did you say your car was?”

Even Mario was shocked but he said nothing, not that he could have really, with Geovanni describing his car. Alessandro listened for about a full minute before Geovanni mentioned the model of his car and with that he nodded his head at something only he knew and then he focused on his food losing all interest in Geovanni’s ranting.

I was confused but I could not get myself to worry about that because watching Geovanni talk was the most interesting I had done in weeks. Also worrying about questions I would not get answers to would only ruin my mood so I let it go. Throughout lunch Geovanni spoke, first about his car, then about his previous car, his dream car basically he just spoke cars.

However, that did not matter because it kept me entertained and he was able to momentarily ease my pain and even forget that two of the people in the table despised me for a apparent reason.

My attention remained solely on Geovanni and though my thoughts were still dark and my emotions darker I still managed to smile. It did not pass my attention that Dante’s mood for the rest of the meal had been dark with hints of violence in its eyes and Mario had watched me with keen eyes filled with distaste and bitterness while Alessandro remained unaffected, his features ever neutral.

Although at some point when I smiled widely at something Giovanni had said, Mario’s expression had shifted slightly and from the corner of my eye I could have sworn I saw a curve in Alessandro’s lips but even today I cannot be sure whether it had been real or not.

Dante was the first to leave the table, his plate untouched.

After that, the atmosphere had changed Geovanni tried to continue with his talk but his eyes kept glancing to where Dante had been sitting. Five minutes after Dante left, Geovanni excused himself.

Geovanni’s absence was prominent in the way that silence suddenly dominated the room. I focused on my almost-empty plate trying and failing to ignore Mario’s level gaze. With Geovanni gone he did not have something to distract him and so I was left at his mercy.

He showed not a hint of being merciful.

“Are you done? Or do you need more time to play with your food?”

There was something in his voice that made me suddenly wish I had not left the confines of my room. Instead of answering I brought the fork to my mouth and felt my throat constrict in protest. I knew if I attempted to eat anymore I would likely vomit so I set down the fork and slightly pushed away the plate as I looked at Mario’s impatient gaze.

“I’m done.” I spoke softly, I had never been loud.
“Good then, let’s go.”
I was already pushing back my chair when he spoke next making me freeze.
“Back to your cell.” He said it off handedly not even checking what effect it had on me as he stood up and rounded the table.

Instinctually, and unexpectedly, my eyes went to the only other person in the room; Alessandro. As soon as our eyes connected it registered in my head what I was doing and the question of why I was looking at him for help presented itself to me but I could not answer.

I had fully expected Alessandro to simply ignore me but instead he nodded reassuringly at me which, unexpectedly, eased my nerves.

I moved away from the table after smiling briefly and stiffly in gratitude at Alessandro and headed towards Mario. Before I reached Mario’s side, the sound of footsteps made me tense in anticipation of Dante’s glare but what I got was infinitely worse.

Instead of Dante and Giovanni coming into the dining room, Antonio strolled in with Nikolai following behind him.

The moment he noticed me his brows rose in shock and a smirk formed itself on his lips. Every muscle on my body froze in anticipation of what he would say. I didn’t have to wait long.

“And here I thought my day couldn’t get any better.”

The look in his eyes made shivers go down my spine and when, by chance, my eyes caught/noticed the apprehensive look in Nikolai’s eyes, ice formed deep in my bones.

There had been times before that Antonio had looked at me like that but something was different this time, I could see it in his eyes and by the way Mario tensed while looking at his brothers.

Out of nowhere, Mina suddenly walked in with a tray with two glasses with ice and a glass bottle with brown liquid while a smile danced in her eyes along with something hard I could not name.
“I made drinks for you. Come.” She spoke softly in her usual tone but I saw and heard the unflinching resolve that came over her as she glanced at Antonio. I am not sure what I was expecting but Antonio silently obeying that one command was not it.

They both followed her to the table and after they passed Mario, the aforementioned brother glanced at me sharply and spoke.

“I don’t have all day come on.”

The usual bite in his words was missing and though I was curious, I did not want to find out why. I stepped towards his direction forgetting about the menacing brother heading towards me, and by mistake on my part because Antonio’s rough hand suddenly clamped around my fore arm making me stop dead in my tracks.

I did not look up at him despite feeling his eyes on my face.
“Don’t worry about it brother, I’ll take it from here.”

While only moments before I had been reluctant to go anywhere with Mario now my eyes pleaded him to tame with him but he’s features only hardened before he turned away. My skin prickled as Antonio brought his mouth next to my ear and whispered.

“You are staying right here with me.”