Desire or Revenge (Cancelled)

Chapter 29: New intentions

"Hey, hey..." he stroked my wet cheek with the back of his hand, so gently I could hardly feel it. "We'll get her back." While he sounded confident his face looked uncertain. He shouldn't lie to me, he sucked at it. Then I realised.

"They could be pressuring her, torturing her, she could spill about the mission!"
"We're aware of that, so we're going to hurry this mission up. We've teamed up with the Italian Carabinieri in hopes of taking them down here in Italy. And by them, we're also now including the Coltelli. We just need some kind of event."

"This is... too dangerous and too sudden!"
"Why's it too sudden?" He lifted his left eyebrow in a confused manner. "Don't you want them gone?"
"Of course..." I said but in my mind, I was excluding Hunter, I didn't want him to get caught.
"Good. Now we need a good opportunity, know anything?"
"No, but I'll, let you know..."
"You probably should get back to your oblivious boyfriend."
"Yeah I should, I'll see you later Kai."

I turned on my heel, ready to leave when Kai's fingers laced around mine unexpectedly.
"You don't deny that he's your boyfriend?" He chuckled with uncertainty. I hadn't even noticed. The word boyfriend, sounded so natural.
"He's.. not my boyfriend." I replied with a guilty chill running down my spine.
"I'm relieved. I've really missed you Alexa. Can I... kiss you?"

I was very surprised at him asking to kiss me. It seemed so formal, something I never got from Hunter, with Hunter it was always passionate and impulsive. Like an unexpected but beautiful firework exploding and igniting the black sky with a burst of colours.

He sheepishly looked at my tear stained lips and my glassy eyes. His lips curled into a shy smile and his hand rubbed the back of his neck.
This was not like before, what was different now?

Nevertheless I nodded and inched closer to him. With his hand he lifted up my chin and planted one soft kiss on my lips. I realised that I hadn't even closed my eyes, and that is something that happens naturally. It felt just like I expected it to. It felt empty. It felt so formal and mechanical, like a kiss between friends. It felt nothing like Hunter's kisses.
Here I was again, thinking about Hunter while I'm with Kai.

Is this what true love is like? Thinking about the person you love no matter where you are, who you're with or what you're doing?

He pulled away with the same shy grin still plastered on his face, he seemed happy enough. He must feel the opposite emotions right now. Kai gave me a wave and walked away with his hands in his pockets.

Once I could see that he was gone, I took a deep breath of relief which I hadn't realised I was holding in. I wiped the saliva off my lips and sped up the stairs to our room - not before checking myself in the mirror hanging in the lobby. My eyes were still a bit puffy so I fanned at them as I made my journey back.

In the one or two minutes I had alone, I had to think, hard. The police were planning to strike soon, and Hunter would be caught in the crossfire of this mission. When taking on this mission, I never thought that I of all people would be a liability in this... It was up to me to protect Hunter now...
•••
A melodic strum hit my ear as I entered the room. It sounded so calming and gentle and it flowed with such love. There was only Hunter in our room, but it seemed so unbelievable for him to be playing.

The music came to an abrupt stop as I closed the front door. I felt a bit disappointed that it stopped, it felt like I ruined a private moment.

I found the musician in the sitting room laying on the couch like a model with a guitar in his arms. He looked just like a kind beautiful human being in his white loose shirt and jeans holding his guitar like a baby.

He saw me standing at the door frame and immediately let go of his guitar, placing it on the floor, as if he doesn't care for it.
"Hey! You okay?" He beams at me. I hope my puffy eyes aren't visible to him.
"Yeah... You play guitar?"
He gritted his teeth into an embarrassed smile.
"I used to, I found this in the hotel, I thought I'd play a bit. Forget you saw anything." He chuckled.
"Why, you're good!"
"It doesn't matter if I'm good, a mafia member playing a guitar isn't right."
"Who says that?"
"My father, Igor."

Igor is not your father was all I could think of in this moment. Poor Hunter, he can't ever be his truest self around him.
I went over to him and sat on the sofa and placed my head on his shoulder.
"Well I think it was beautiful."
"It's embarrassing Alexa!"
"No it isn't. You shouldn't let anyone control what you like and what you do just because you think they're higher and more important than you..."

"He's my father and not to mention, my boss."
"He's a bad father to you then..."
"He is a good father." He said with such emphasis that it sounded fake. "Speaking of my father, we'll be seeming him at The Ball."
Hold on, am I missing something here, what ball?
"What Ball?"
"Oh right, you don't know. An annual event hosted by our family where different mafias from around the world attend a night of dancing, drinking maybe some fighting."

A real Ball, I had never been to one before, Balls are meant to be magical and beautiful like in those fairytales, this one however seems deadly. Then it occurred to me. The police are looking for an event which involves different mafias, to take them all down together. This would be perfect.

"Would Coltelli be there?" I asked in hopes of a no.
"I hope they will." He smirked while looking into my shocked fearful eyes. Was he serious?! Why would he want to put me in danger?
"Why..?"
"Cause I'm planning... to kill them."