chapter 5( Marcelo's POV)

    " Would you care for wine?" I ask as I refill the wine glass in my hands, but she doesn't reply.

    I go ahead and refill it anyway, before I drop it beside her, because at some point during this whole show, she would need it to balance her bile levels.

    I pick up my already sharpened and cleaned dagger for another round of inspection, this time I mistakenly nip my hands with it.

    " I almost forgot how Sharp this bad boy can be." I chuckle darkly as I sheath the weapon back. She's sweating now, and I find it very interesting.

    " Fiamma bella, I think you should take off the hoodie. You look like a fish out of water, all sweaty, and hyperventilating." I say,while giving her a smile that doesn't reach my eyes. She doesn't budge, and I don't stress it, instead I refocus on the show before the both of us.

    Like I said earlier, we had a meeting on the recent attacks on our tuff, someone was messing with us, destroying our dealings, and properties. Starting with the smaller ones, like minor shipments, and some of our smaller clubs.

    In as much they were minor properties, it was a serious problem as that could only mean there was insider information, a breach in the system, a mole in the clan. And What better way to get it out of them other than torturing them.

     That was the scene before my little wife. My men all battered and torn, including the ones who had given her access outside.

    To my men, this was all about the recent attacks, but to her, this was about her sneaking out of the house without my consent.

    I'm big fan of working smart, and not hard, which is why I don't bother correcting any of them. As long as I could pass the message across to both parties at once, I was fine.

    I move over to one of my men, the one that had smiled at her the most, and grab a handful of his hair. He's already battered form struggles to kneel erect as he feels the cold metal from my recently unsheathed dagger piercing his skin.

    I make it slow, cutting through, taking my time, making sure he feels every slice, and like I predicted, my little wife takes a large swing of the wine to keep in the bile.

    Just before I reach anything major, I let him go, and the doctor on standby rushes over to treat him. If there's really a mole among them, then I couldn't kill them, instead I could show them what the cost of betrayal felt like.

    " Be careful with the blood Luca, you're ruining my rug. " I say to the doctor.

     He sees that as his cue to take his ministrations outside, while I resume my work on the remaining men.

    I had to hand it to Enzo, the kind of damage he had done to this men under twenty minutes was impressive, and I wonder who must have angered him to this point.

    " No please, that's enough, please." She says as she watches me pick up the second culprit.

    I pause for a while, and she breathes a sigh of relief, but it's too soon, because I slit off this particular mans entire head, decapitating him a beat after

    Her eyes widens before she looks away, and presses down on her lips, she's crying, and it doesn't taste nice. I regret my actions almost immediately but I had to do it there, least the men think she could be my weakness, not like that was even possible.

    Also that particular man wasn't one of my men, but a mole from a neighbouring gang disguised as one of my men.

    Enzo had captured him for questioning, thinking his gang was responsible for the recent shootings, turns out they weren't, but we still had to kill him just so the others would know that no one messes with the De Lucas.

    I call my assistant Carlos to get the remaining men out, of which he does swiftly, while I work at cleaning my hands.

    " This is always the issue with active kills you know, the cleanup is always a hassle, and I hate having a  strangers blood on me." I tell her, as I head over to one of the bathrooms closest to the living room to wash my hands.

     When I get back she's still pressing down on her lips, and forcing herself not to cry. I have the sudden urge to pick her up, and console her but I banished the thoughts almost immediately.

    I wasn't a man of emotions, and I most definitely wouldn't start now.

    " You disrespected me." I say as I look at her broken form.

    " You went out to see your ex, and as if that wasn't already enough, you brought him over to my house." I say, the anger finally getting to me.

    " You brought your freaking ex to my home, to my doorstep. The least you could have done was respect the vows you took in front of the church less than twelve hours ago, but instead, you decided to disregard me, and your vows."

" I.. I'm so.. sorry." She apologizes in-between sobs, causing something in my heart to break.

    " Words don't solve anything Fiamma bella, actions do, if you're sorry, start acting like it." I say before walking out. As I approach the door to the corridor, I pause, and add.

    " I see you've picked the room at the other end of the hall, that's fine, at least I'll get to see less of you. Let your boyfriend know to watch his back, I may have been nice, and understanding before the wedding, but that liberty ended the moment you walked down that aisle."

    With that I walk away, leaving her sobbing form, along with the maids that had come over to clean the mess.

               ***********

    When Enzo said not to traumatize my wife, I should have taken the advice seriously because, it seemed my actions had successfully scared her away.

    Winter had even taken to complaining to Enzo everyday about her sister's sudden withdrawal, and Enzo in turn has not let me have peace. It's been almost a week since our little interaction yet no one lets me forget it.

    As for my little wife, she may have taken the things I said to her that night a little too seriously because, she makes sure to avoid me like a plaque.

    When she hears my voice in the hallway, she hides in the bathroom, she would even wake up as early as three to have her breakfast so she wouldn't have to meet me when I come in for mine at five, and she ends her day by seven because she knows by eight I would be back home.

    To be be frank, I haven't seen her since the night of our little show, she has been doing a damn perfect job at avoiding me, and the only way I get to see her is whenever I go through the CCTV footage of the house.I finally understood why Enzo was so committed to going through the CCTV cameras.

Speaking of Enzo, he was the one profiting the most from this whole situation, because that meant he got to see Winter every single day she visits to nag about me.

    Even his mood had reasonably improved, asides from the little complaints he would make here and there about me apologizing to my wife, everything else was chill.

    And as for me, my mood had taken the bow, I had transformed from the calm, and calculated Marcelo into Enzo 2.0. I would have an outburst at the littlest things, and settle every problem with blood shed.

    She was messing with my head, and it wasn't good.

    A few more days go by, but my little wife keeps up with her routine of avoiding me completely. Normally, it shouldn't be a problem for me because I was used to being alone, but the problem was that I wasn't alone, the house smelt different, like oranges, like her and, my properties were always in a different location any time I needed them.

Nothing was as it used to be, and It bothered me.

    I was trying my best to get a hang of it again, until Friday night, Enzo and I were out on inspection to one of our clubs down south when a fight breaks out outside the club.

    At first we had thought it was a little squabble, between drunk customers but that was far from it, instead it was another attack on our property, and whoever had given them the Intel this time was aware that we would be visiting that night.