Chapter 34: Brewing Chaos

Chapter 34

Anna’s eyes remained wide. For a moment, it felt like time had paused between them as she tried to process the words he just said.

He wasn’t being his usual irksome self. His gray eyes were calm and held a kind of warmth she had never seen in them since she knew him, but yet she couldn’t completely trust him.

Why? Just why was he suddenly telling her he liked her? When he knew too well that she was going to get married to Domenico. Aside from that, she had no feelings for this man. She liked Rocco. Even if she had let him touch her that night, that didn’t mean anything, right? That didn’t mean she wanted any of this.

“I don’t have feelings for you.” The only feeling she had felt towards him up until now was immense hatred. That was it.

“I didn’t say that ’cause I give two fucks about what you feel.” She felt his grip on her waist tighten. “I said that as an answer to your question.” He flashed her an insincere smile.

Anna blinked twice as she stared at him, and then he let go of her. His hand flew to her head, patting it gently like she was his pet.

“Goodnight, Peach.” He flashed her another smile before jumping down the railing of her balcony.

Anna was still in a daze. What the hell just happened? She felt it was better to not think too much about it for the sake of her own mental health. He was probably just toying with her—he derived sick pleasure from watching her mental health crumble.

If she took what he said seriously, then she’s the one that would probably run crazy. With that, Anna saw it was more sensible to ignore him than let him get to her.

……

The next day. 9 a.m.

Anna held the hair brush in her hand firmly as she brushed the locks of her hair, curling the ends a bit as her mind reverted back to Leone’s words.

Her name was Annalisa, short for Anna, which she preferred being called, yet she liked it—she liked when he called her Peach.

Anna took her lips in, sighing inaudibly as her eyes fell on the books that sat idle on the table. Last night, he had brought the books that she had been trying to reach for that day at the library: Learning Italian for Beginners.

Most times, it was his nice acts that made her want to go mad, like that day he took her to the hospital… No! She shouldn’t be thinking about this. She shouldn’t be thinking about him, even if he had burned the necklace Domenico had gotten for her, only to replace it with an exact replica.

Something odd settled at the pit of her stomach as she thought about it. She just had to remind herself that it all ran down to nothing. She would be out of here soon and none of this would matter.

……..

Domenico stood at the back of Leone’s mansion with eight of his loyal men, including his right-hand man, Nevio.

They stood in front of Leone’s apple tree, which looked very much healthy with a good amount of apples hung on them. The large roots spread on the ground, and they were surrounded with various tools to dig the place out.

A wide grin sat proudly on Domenico’s lips, his broken wrist now bandaged and in the process of healing.

Even his men had an unsure expression on their faces. They didn’t want to end up dead. Everyone in the empire knew this tree was off-limits—not just this tree, anything that belonged to Leone was off-limits. It was no secret how quick he was to hand death to the beholder.

“What are you doing?!” Domenico yelled at his men, who were unmoving. “Start digging immediately!”

Left with no other choice than to inwardly say their last prayers, they began digging the soil, which had now turned loose due to the rain.

“We are to find Diego’s body at all costs,” Domenico turned to face Nevio. “Have you seen Leone today?” he questioned him.

“No, boss, I haven’t,” he replied, turning back to face the men who had begun their work.

There was absolutely no way Leone didn’t know they were here right now. He had been expecting him to come out, to throw tantrums, but there was nothing he could do to stop them since he had asked the Don for approval before doing this, and there was no way he could defy the Don’s orders. He just couldn’t wait for the body to be found and for him to see Leone rotting behind bars.

…….

Rico took long strides down the hallway of Leone’s mansion. His nerves were a mess, his mind in disarray from the now brewing chaos.

He had left the mansion early this morning to deliver some documents for his boss, Leone, when he had received a phone call from one of the guards, informing him of what was currently happening in Leone’s mansion.

He had dropped everything and driven back, and now he felt anxious. He knew hell was about to break loose. He had been extremely happy to see Leone not do anything over the top and lay low, but now that this had happened, everything was going to go down the drain.

Everyone knew no one was allowed to look at his apple tree, less go close to it and dig up the ground. He had expected to meet an all-out war going on now, but he was beyond shocked to find out his boss wasn’t cracking Domenico’s skull right now. Hadn’t he found out what was happening? If that was the case, he was beyond glad that he had come here on time.

His feet took him to the luxuriously furnished living room on the third floor. He had searched everywhere else, so he had to be here.

His eyes flew wide at the sight that greeted him. Leone sat in front of the glass window, from where he got a clear view of Domenico and his men digging up the grounds of his precious apple tree.

He sat, legs crossed, with a glass of wine in his hand, which he leisurely sipped from.

Rico’s mouth fell agape. Was that Leone? He couldn’t believe this was his boss.

“Boss,” Rico called, and Leone smiled, not bothering to turn back because he knew it was Rico.

“Had a wonderful night?” He shocked him by asking.

“Y… yes.” Rico was left tongue-tied. He didn’t even know what to say as he remained gobsmacked. “Is there anything I can get you, boss?” He asked without even thinking.

Leone remained silent for a moment, as he twirled the glass of wine in his hand. “Ah, yes,” he grinned. “Get me a casket.”