In Plain Site (Y/N x Villanelle)

Roman Holiday

Your P.O.V.

Rome, the Capital of the World, known for its architecture, rich history, food, and art. It's tough to not be at peace when staying in the city, unless if you're being chased by a globe trotting assassin. One who is exceptionally good at her job... yeah, that must suck.

For him. 

Running after a tall man, wanted drug trafficker Donte Allegeri, dressed in a black three-piece suit through cobblestone streets between buildings, dodging pedestrians who eye you suspiciously. The dark haired man repeatedly looks over his shoulder to see if I'm still following him, making eye contact with me before continuing on his escape. Surprisingly, the man is making no effort to get help from the crowd but he is heading towards somewhere or someone familiar. False confidence, how typical. 

Think. 

Cut him off... give him false security that he escaped me... let's make this a game. 

I look to the left to see a less crowded alleyway and take it, gripping the small knife from my pocket. Without haste, I sprint towards the end of the way and take a right, nearly running into the fleeing target. His facial expression dropped from relief to fear rapidly. My left hand clutched Donte's red Hermès tie, pulling his face and neck down to eye level. 

"Sorpresa." Surprise. 

The evening sun cast enough light to highlight the look of panic on the Italian drug trafficker's face. I held the up to my lips to form the gesture to be quiet and he hurriedly nodded in response. I moved the blade to be against his throat as I flipped our positions so that his back was against my front and my left arm was wrapped around his waist, pulling him into the alleyway. Donte took this as a slight opportunity to struggle against my grip, causing the knife to scratch his throat, causing some slight bleeding. He picked a bad time to try to be brave. 

"Fermare! Per favore!"  Stop! Please!

The man begged as my grip on his waist grew tighter.  

They always struggle. Ugh.  

"Posso pagarti! Quanto volete?" I can pay you! How much do you want?

"I soldi non contano per me..."  Money doesn't matter to me.

The drug trafficker's tone grew desperate as the knife began to cut deeper into his neck. Blood began to trickle down on my hands and stained his once pure white shirt. His hands attempted to knock my knife from my hands but I drove the blade deeper into him, slitting his throat. I let go of the dying man, watching him drop to the streets, sitting with his back propped up against the brick of a building, his hands weakly trying to cover up his neck. I knelt down to his face level, observing the looks of horror during his last moments, and calmly said:

"I soldi non contano per me, perché alla fine rimani solo con te stesso." Money doesn't matter to me because you are left alone with yourself in the end. 

And with that, the man attempted to use his last breath to curse me. 

Good bye and good riddance Donte Allegeri. 

I reach into his left coat pocket to pull out a handkerchief and inspected it. The cloth was deep blue with a golden eagle designed on it with matching gold detailing of his initials in the bottom right corner.

Gaudy. 

 I stand up and wipe Donte's blood from my hands and knife. I walk towards the end of the alleyway, onto the Roman street now lively with the night dwellers heading to dinner reservations with family or out to dances with friends. Being alone in a crowd is both comforting and depressing, but I have other matters to tend to. I toss the handkerchief and knife in a nearby trash bin and trek back to the small hotel room that I call my own during my stay in the Eternal City. 

In an instant, time momentarily moves slower as I feel another woman's hand brush against my own, causing me to recoil it quickly. I look over my shoulder to see a fashionable blonde figure hurridly walking in the opposite direction from me, disappearing into the crowd.

Strange.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, the hotel room was quiet, save for the TV playing an old Italian movie and the munching of the small feast of various pastas, expensive chardonnay, and gelato. As entertaining as the film and food were, something unsettling about the extremely brief interaction with the blonde woman troubled my mind. 

Who was she? How can just a simple touch unnerve me? I killed a man for Christ's sake. 

Continuing to reflect on her, I cleaned up my dinner, and flopped onto the firm bed. I stared at the ceiling thinking of my mystery woman, getting myself into a comfortable position while the noise from the TV continued in the background as my eyes drifted to sleep. 

 The Next Day

I groggily wake up the next morning and walk over to the small dining area to prepare breakfast. 

"Oh, you're awake."

A man with a Russian accent speaks. Konstantin. 

"I heard that Italy has once less drug dealer to worry about. Donte Allegeri was found dead this morning in an alleyway."

"He had terrible taste in accessories. What a shame." 

I attempt to scavenge the hotel room's breakfast offerings in the mini fridge but sparkling water isn't the first choice for food but it'll help wake me up enough to look over the room service menu. I take a seat at the table and Konstantin immediately sits down across from me. I open the bottle and browse the small menu to find something appetizing. 

"You know you need to be more careful."

Konstantin speaks, I ignore him.

"The American breakfast sounds interesting, do you want me to order one for you too?" 

"Y/N..."

"What? It has sausage, your favorite."

I put the menu down, giving him an innocent smile, clearly he is not amused. 

"My point is, you need to be smart. Chasing targets through the streets isn't so subtle."

"But it's fun."

 I retort. The Russian stares at me dumfounded. 

"It's fun if you don't get caught, or noticed by another agent."

Wait...

Who?

.....

The blonde. 

THE BLONDE!

Shit.

(A/N Hi, I hope you are well. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope this offers some sort of entertainment. I would appreciate any form of criticism or thoughts for the development of this story. It's gonna stray a bit from the TV series but I will try to tie in main plot points :). Please stay safe and strong through this crazy times.)