Chapter five—Bella...Mia

"You brat," Mr. X seethed, his eyes blazing with fury. "I told you to impersonate Antonio, but your blood-licking, maniacal obsession makes you incompetent. You're ruining my fucking legacy!"

Manson cowered, his eyes widening in fear as Mr X's words cut deep.

"Right from when you were in your mother's womb I have always known you were a bastard" Mr X spat, his contempt palpable.

"And yet I've given you an opportunity to prove yourself, I made you my heir and how do you repay me?!"

Mr X anger boiled over as he kicked Manson in the head,sending him crashing to the ground.

"Father-" 

"Don't call me that,if I hear that word come out of your goddamn mouth, I will disown you for good this time" Mr X said cutting him off and Manson swallowed the bile rising up in his throat, his fear palpable.

"You were supposed to remain in hiding but what did you do,you revealed yourself to our opponent" Mr X said

"She won't find out, I did my best-"

"Your best?,your best isn't enough you brat, she is a fucking detective, do you think she won't put one and two together, Antonio would never lock her up in a bird cage,will he?"

Mr X said cutting him off.

"I'm sorry I won't repeat this mistake "

"You're.... you're sorry?" Mr X repeated, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Sorry isn't enough Manson" he said

Manson's eyes flickered up, meeting his father's gaze briefly before dropping down to the floor. He knew better than to make an eye contact when his father was in rage.

"What do you want me to do fath...Sir?" His voice barely above a whisper.

"What do I want you to do?, I want you to fix this mess, kill Antonio just the way I killed his father and if you can't...then maybe you are not worthy of being my heir" Mr X said, his voice cold. The threat hung in the air, which made Manson's blood run cold, he knew what his father was capable of and what he would do to anybody who failed him.

★

An hour later, Raven and Lexi arrived safely at the warehouse, the special unit's makeshift headquarters. As they stepped inside, Lexi's eyes scanned the room, relief washing over her when she saw that her team were all safe. Except for Merlin, who lay on a makeshift medical bed, a bandage wrapped around her stomach. A faint smudge of pain on her face, but otherwise, she seemed stable.

Lexi's eyes welled up with tears as she rushed to Merlin's side, embracing her gently. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling. "This is all my fault. I never should have dragged you all into this mess."

Merlin's face creased into a weak smile. "Don't apologize, Lexi," she said, her voice low and gravelly. "We're a team. We're in this together, right guys?" Merlin said and the team chorused.

"We're in this together"

'Yeah we are'

' We pledge our loyalty to you Lexi'

The encouragement made her emotional, Vincent approached Lexi, he had a few wounds on his face, his gaze filled with concern as he wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. Lexi's brave facade crumbled as she began to sob gently, her emotions spilling over. She buried her face in Vincent's shoulder allowing her moment of vulnerability.

" We're all in this together, Lexi" he said and Raven came closer joining the hug too.

When Lexi felt better she broke the hug and was shocked to see the bruises on his face.

"Oh my God, Vincent why haven't you treated your wounds yet"

" I got carried away taking care of everyone else on your behalf and only God knows how scared I was when we couldn't find you" Vincent said

"Speaking of which, how did you get kidnapped and what's that tear on your elbow" Vincent asked curiously.

"I. I... I ehm." Lexi said stuttering not knowing where to start from and just when Vincent was about to throw another question Raven came to her rescue.

"That's enough big brother, she just came back, she needs rest". Raven said and although Vincent stopped talking,his eyes still gleamed of suspicion. 

After an hour, they left the warehouse, Lexi's car was already damaged in the clash they had last night and Raven offered to drop her off at her apartment. 

"Don't worry about my brother, I'll speak to him" Raven said in the car.

"No don't he has every right to ask, I just feel bad that am hiding it away from him" Lexi said

"Don't feel bad, dear" 

"Take care" Raven said as Lexi got down from the car and waved.

She watched her as she zoomed off into the street while she walked back into her apartment.

★

She stepped into her apartment after inputting her password and went straight to the bathroom to have a shower. She peeled of the clothes from her body and stepped into the shower, she took her sponge and started scrubbing her skin hard. Her mind replaying the conversation between her and Raven in the car earlier.

"Are you sure that the person who kidnapped me might not be Antonio" she could remember asking 

" I'm pretty sure, his only mob house is in Sicily and he has well-established warehouses spread out in the country but I haven't heard of a secret hide out"

" I mean, if he wanted to kidnap you he would have done it expertly and his mobsters are badasses at driving and I could tell from the way those guards drive that they were not experts" Raven said.

" We need to be more careful, Lexi , the assassin's and now the imposter, promise me you will reach out to me if anything happens" Raven said making her promise.

Lexi sighed, she turned of the shower as Raven's last words rang madly in her head.

 Why didn't she think of this, Antonio hates using perfumes ever since she knew him, he had only one natural scent-bergamot.

' shake that ass for me Bella' she suddenly recalled that sentence that came out of his corrupt mouth as he spanked her ass on the teacher's desk in highschool,his lips placing wet kisses on her neck. She clenched her legs together getting aroused by merely thinking about him. She frowned as she tried to trash out anything related to him, getting a towel, she wrapped it around her body. She stepped out of the bathroom into the main room and she froze as the familiar scent hit her nose, she turned around and saw a huge figure sitting on her chair staring back at her with predator eyes.

"Do you miss me Bella..mia"