Chapter 11: A Room Of Suspicion

Chapter 11

His eyes held something sinister in them, and that smirk promised her no good.

Was he the one behind the fire attack? But why would he do that for her? The coincidence was quite alarming, and she had only told him about Domenico a few minutes before the incident.

His nonchalance… but then again, it could simply be him being Leone. She watched him leave her to the thoughts that clouded her mind.

She turned back to watch. They had successfully put out the fire. She could see Domenico fuming with rage and a guard trembling in front of him. Domenico suddenly pulled out his gun, and Anna quickly turned her back on the scene, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hear the loud gunshot that followed. Goosebumps formed all over her body. This was the world she was born into, and from the look of things, she might die in this world too.

2 weeks later……………..

Anna sat alone in the garden, her blonde hair packed into a neat ponytail while she held a book in her hand, and although her eyes were fixed on it, her thoughts trailed elsewhere.

Since the incident, she hadn’t seen Leone nor had she seen Domenico, which she was extremely grateful for. She didn’t want to see him. He scared her, and she had seen how powerful and merciless he was. Who knows when he might decide to hit her or worse, kill her?

She wished there was a way she could defend herself. She had spoken to the Don about it, but he had blatantly refused. If only there was a way she could defend herself—undergo some kind of training perhaps—so she could learn to protect herself, it would really be helpful for her.

She couldn’t stop thinking about that night. Domenico was this close to having his way with her. Earlier before that, she hadn’t meant to tell Leone about it; it had been a spur of the moment. She hadn’t expected what had happened.

She had overheard a few intel reports about the fire that night. Up until now, no one could figure out how the fire had started. A mysterious fire in the middle of the night? How possible was that?

And the look Leone had given her that night, like he was giving her a room of suspicion. She bit her lips, releasing cold air from her mouth.

She shut the book and started staring into space. Why would Leone do that for her? He was far from kind. It had barely been a month since she met him, and he had aimed his gun at her thrice already.

Her throat felt parched, so she left the garden and began heading for the kitchen. As she walked, she saw some guards headed her way, and they gave her a bow before they walked past her.

If someone had told her that she would become a respected figure in the strongest mafia clan in the world, she’d have pegged the person to be insane. But here she was now.

A few months ago, she would have definitely thought that she would be the happiest human in the world upon hearing she would be in this position, but it was the direct opposite for her.

Each day, she felt like a huge axe hung over her head by a thin thread. Her heart felt like there were thorns pricking it.

She couldn’t tell. She didn’t know when Domenico’s head would snap and then kill her. And there was Leone, who was toying with her for his personal entertainment. She felt like he had placed her in front of a cliff and was only toying with her as a means to kill time. Heaven knows when he would decide to push her off the cliff and end her.

There was the Don, who seemed considerably nice with her, but who knew what went on in his head behind those shrewd eyes of his? Was it possible that he didn’t have something up his sleeves like her father? It was hard to believe that he was fully into the peace treaty.

There was that and also the fact that they didn’t know she wasn’t related to the Lorenzos by blood. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also the plan to poison them they knew absolutely nothing about.

Her heart ached from carrying all these worries. She had never asked for this to begin with. She was content with being a servant. At least then she had Rocco. Now she might never see him again. She missed him and the love they shared, and she missed Philomena. She had to get out of here—she just had to.

She got to the kitchen and took the water she needed. She turned to head back to her room when she saw him—the man who was always beside Leone. Did it mean he was here right now?

She clutched the glass of water in her hand as she began heading outside the mansion, not waiting a second longer.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him leaning on his car. He wore a loose black T-shirt, which would have looked normal on anyone else, but for him, it looked like a weapon for a fashion war.

His taut chest peeked out, and Anna’s eyes trailed to his muscular arm and then the veins that danced from his elbows to his palm. He wore black trousers and then black boots. His neck and wrist were adorned with diamond chains.

His hair tousled by the wind, his gray eyes finally met hers, and time seemed to pause as he held her gaze.

His phone was placed on his ear as he spoke over the phone, but his eyes continued to hold hers. Anna finally got herself back after a good ten seconds, and she slowly walked to stand in front of him. And even if she had maintained a good distance between them, that didn’t stop his expensive cologne from hitting her.

It had been a good two weeks since she last laid her eyes on him, and she definitely wasn’t standing here because she missed him.

“Don’t tell me you missed me, peach?” His voice jolted her from her thoughts. Deep, calm, but yet unraveling.

“Why would I miss you?” She rolled her eyes. This man had been nothing but a thorn in her flesh.

Not wasting any more time nor giving him a chance to utter any foul words, she quickly cut to the chase. “You—you are responsible for the fire that night, right? My instincts keep telling me you did it, but why?”

A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. “Why?” he repeated.

“Did you do it to… help me?” Her blue eyes shone with uncertainty as she stared at him. “Why would you help me?”  As stupid as her question sounded in her ears, she needed answers because would he do that for her?

“Because you’re mine, Anna,” he deadpanned, the smile long gone from his lips. And Anna was waiting for him to complete his words—to say she was his to kill and dispose of like what he had said the last time—but that moment never came.