The King Killer | Mafia dark romance | ✔️

49. One plays many parts

Two months back

Valentina

"Antonio, I need to tell you something." I moved out of his hold, sitting up on the bed. I knew, this could be the moment when everything perfect in my life would break apart. Yet, the risks involved were too high to hide from him. Puffing my chest, I drained out all the air before uttering, "Elena is alive. She isn't dead."

Antonio sat up on the bed, watching me bite into my cuticles. I felt the sourness reach back to my throat. The air inside the room suddenly turned warm as I waited for him to speak.

Maintaining his stern looks, Antonio tilted his head. "How do you know this?" he asked, sitting back straight. My heart tottered in its place, unwilling to accept that this may be the day when he decides to part ways.

"She contacted me one day. The day I took Sofia to the church. She asked for my help and said that if I don't, then she will tell all my secrets to you. About Ramon, about me being an assassin, of what we wanted to do initially to you." I bit into my cuticles deep enough to make it bleed. My mouth tasted metallic but that didn't stop me from confessing. "And at that time, I wanted to see what she was upto but now I know that the Castros are working for her and she is their puppeteer. And the child..." I stopped at my words.

The selfish part of me wanted to stop from confessing about the child. What if Antonio wanted her back? Then, I reminded myself. It wouldn't be love if I were to hold him from following his heart.

Antonio moved out of the bed, watching me with his arms crossed over his chest. With neutral expressions, he bobbed his head.

I continued. "The child, it seems is alive, although she said its dead. But I know she is lying and wants to protect the baby. And... and... she has a husband who is working with us."

"Why were you hiding it from me, Val?" Antonio asked in his monotonous tone. When I looked up, he stared down at me with narrowed eyes. "What were you waiting for? When were you planning on telling me that the Castros were part of it?"

For a moment, the room fell silent, only echoing my heartbeats. With a step ahead, Antonio called out. "Val," I looked up again, scared to be burned by his wrath. Instead, I saw him smiling. "You really thought I wasn't aware of all of this?"

My eyebrows bridged, trying to make sense of his words. "You knew about it?" I tossed off the bed, facing him. With his smiling nod, my fist travelled, punching his chest. With the reflexes of a jungle cat, he halted its cruise before it made contact.

"You have no right to get mad, Val." He moved closer. "You hid this information from me. Now, you have relinquished the right to be mad." Antonio held me closer in his arms and moved us to his table. Opening a drawer, he tossed a set of photos over it. The photos were Elena's - recent ones. Upon my inquiry, Antonio affirmed on my assumption. "We had Intel on her arrival. I wasn't sure if it was her. But then, I came to know of her escape by faking her death and leaving the country."

I turned to look up at him, holding his hand. "I am sorry that you came to know the truth like this."

He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, knowing of his first wife's death as fake.

"Why are you acting like this?" I asked, confusion rising like bubbles in boiling water. "You are supposed to be mad, be angry. Even toss things at people."

"Why should I?" Antonio responded. "I was a mob boss and she was doing her job. I fell in love with a woman whose plan was to play me. But now, I don't feel anything for her."