Veil of Sin (Dark Mafia Romance)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

NATALIE

I swirl the fork in the plate, watching as the pasta twists around the tines, my eyes glazing over the food without any interest.

"Keep staring at it, and it will just disappear." My mother says, breaking my concentration.

My eyes flicker up, and I look at her. "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

I blink, glancing at my father who sits right to me and then my mother, who is opposite of me. The silence hangs as if everyone is waiting for me to tell them what's running in my mind.

But it's not what they think it is.

"Oh, nothing, just the usual things. Nothing of importance." I give her a smile, and then my father, who watches me intently.

"There's nothing to worry about," My father assures me before going back into his dinner. "You're thinking too much of it. There's an alliance in place, a truce. Nothing can happen."

"I know, papa."

The conversation shifts after another moment of silence. My father speaks up again, this time about something else entirely, to which I listen.

"Have you had a chance to meet with Luigi recently? We need to go over the new shipment protocols. His team has been handling the last two shipments, and both of them have been delayed."

"Luigi," I whisper, staring at my plate again. "I didn't. Yet. I was supposed to but I got caught up. I'll see him tomorrow at earliest. Anything specific you want me to look into?"

"Just the shipments. They were delayed, and the last report indicated some inconsistencies. I need you to get to the bottom of it and find out what's going on. If it was someone, you need to handle them."

I nod, still lost in thought. "Understood. I'll handle it."

The conversation changes again, this time to something trivial.

We speak about the upcoming family dinner. It's meant to be something big, especially with our extended relatives arriving from across the states. I've never really liked it.

The noise, the chatter, the laughter, and the attention.

It's not what I like.

But I have no choice, and so I have to show up.

My father seems rather calm about the whole situation with the Karpov's. I told him about them arriving into the city last week, and it has been a topic that we have tried to avoid.

I think it's more about the fact that Vladmir, the Pakhan, hasn't arrived. And Zor is merely his son along with his little brother, who's not so little anymore.

My father's reaction is unsettling. He acts as though the presence of the Karpovs and the threat they bring us is nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Perhaps it's his way to keep his family calm.

But I know better.

There is no keeping calm when the Karpovs come around.

And the last time they were here, they brought hell with them and destroyed everything we held dear.

I was just a young girl then, but I remember.

I remember the gunshots, the violence, the chaos, and, of course, the aftermath.

If the Pakhan, as they call him, arrives in the city along with the rest of his family, then there's going to be trouble. Big trouble. For sure. My father has a truce settled in a place with them, a fragile alliance that has been keeping the peace for years. But now, with them here, it could very well be broken.