SHE’S THE CALM BEFORE MY STORM

CHAPTER 005

CHRISTIAN:

I stood by the tall window, overseeing the city from my mansion with one hand in my pocket while the other swirled my glass of wine.

It was showering lightly, the rain leaving streaks across the glass as a jazz record played faintly in the background.

I took a sip, the liquid leaving a warm trail down my guts. The door clicked softly behind me.

“Sir,” called a calm, respectful voice.

“Did you find what I asked for?” I asked without turning as I took another sip.

Matteo stepped forward, “Yes, boss.”

I spun around and dropped a glass on my desk. “Let me have it.” I extended my arms, and he passed a manila folder to me.

“Her name is Celeste William. Twenty years old. Orphan. Her parents are nowhere to be found; she was abandoned at the orphanage when she was still very young. She went to a community high school. She used to be a volunteer worker before she started her nun training. She sings in the choir, clean life all through,” he explained without missing a beat.

My lips twitched into a smile as I flipped through the pages. It contained photographs of her across the years and school records as well.

“She likes mint tea,” Matteo added. “Reads a lot, doesn't go out much, and keeps to herself. Introverted, I must add.”

I closed the folder. “Interesting.”

Matteo cleared his throat. “With all due respect, she's just a girl. A nun, basically. Someone so far away from your league. Why is she so important to you?”

My eyes glinted at the statement. “You're asking questions I don't have the answer for myself. I guess it's because she's different from all the other ladies in my life; there's something about her… You feel it, even before she speaks.”

He looked even more confused. “You feel it?” he echoed after me.

I smiled. “Yes, sometimes we do things because of a certain… feeling, not because of logic or anything.”

“Well, this is very much unlike you, sir.”

“People change,” I said sharply.

He sighed. “Well, another thing, the orphanage is going through a hitch right now. When I was making my findings, I discovered that they had lost state funding yesterday for reasons I don't quite understand yet.”

I settled on my plush leather chair. “There really isn't much to understand; it's an orphanage. Places like that rely on kindness… and sometimes, kindness forgets.”

“That's rather unfortunate.”

“It is,” I replied, taking the final gulp of my drink. My eyes narrowed, and my lips curled into a weak smile.

There was a soft knock on the door; it was one of the maids. “Sir, there's someone who wants to see you; she's in the living room.”

“Who?”

“Ms Astrid.”

Matteo and I shared a knowing look. “Send her to my office,” I instructed.

“She's never going to give up if you keep entertaining her,” he said to me in a stern voice. He was no longer talking as my right hand this time but as my friend.

“I know,” I whispered, noticing from the corner of my eyes that Astrid was ascending the stairs.

He nodded and stepped back. As he was leaving the office, she was stepping in.

“Hello, bad boy,” she started, moving towards me. Her voice was sickly sweet. “I missed you.”

“Astrid, I'm going to need you to stop.”

She paused, a frown dominating her beautiful features. Then she pouted. “Christian, why are you doing this to me? I love you, and I'm sorry for everything that I said. I— I take it all back.”

I pressed my thumb against the bridge of my nose. “You were the one that ended things, and honestly I'm tired of this back and forth already. Starting today, I'm going to tell the guards not to let you in.”

Her eyes grew watery, and she practically threw herself on me. “Christian, please, I'll change, I promise,” she cried. “I’ll do anything you ask of me. Just say it, and it is done. Please.”

“It's not about you changing, Astrid; don't you get it?” I had every woman at the whip, anyone I wanted at my beck and call, but I chose to love her. But she betrayed me. Now, she only felt like a great sexy fuck, and that’s what she would always be. “I don’t love you anymore.”

She froze like she had just been splashed with cold water. “No— no! You can't say that, Christian! No, please!” She grabbed my face and tried to force a kiss, but I pulled back.

“Astrid, stop!”

Just then, Matteo barged in, looking at the two of us with a confused expression. “I'm sorry to bother you… But I just got some news; they found him. At the warehouse.”

Every nerve in my body fired, and my muscles tensed. I got on my feet and practically pried her fingers off me.

“I have some important business to take care of; you better be gone by the time I come back,” I deadpanned before walking away. “Don’t dare test my patience.”

***

The brick walls of the factory were stained, and a bulb above swung loosely, casting shifting shadows on the chained man sitting in the chair with a swollen, bloody face.

He was covered in bruises from head to toe. My men had already dealt with him a great deal.

I stood a few feet away from the half-conscious man. And everyone fell into a hushed silence as we stared at each other.

“You were fed, paid, and protected,” I said calmly. “And yet you chose to betray me; why?”

He coughed blood as he struggled to speak. “You might think you've won, but you've already made yourself a dangerous enemy.”

I tilted my head, curious.

“The boy”, his voice rasped, “Damien, he's coming for you. You killed his father.”

My eyes flickered with a hint of recognition. “So he has a son,” I remarked.

He smiled, exposing his blood-stained broken teeth. “He'll kill you with his bare hands.”

I stepped forward and drew my gun out, leveling it at his forehead. “You see, that's where you're wrong,” I said flatly. “Because I'm going to find Damien first, and I'm going to kill him, just like I did his scum of a father.”

His eyes suddenly turned crazed. “YOU BASTARD. YOU THINK THE OTHER MAFIAS WOULD SIT BACK AND WATCH YOU BURN EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND? I’LL MAKE SURE THEY COME FOR YOU. I WILL MAKE SURE THEY TEAR YOU APART—“

Bang.

The gunshot rang out like thunder, silencing him mid-sentence as I pulled the trigger. The bullet marked his skull with a sickening crunch, jerking his body backward. Swiftly,

Without missing a beat, I slipped the hidden dagger hidden beneath my suit. One clean move.

Slice.

A heavy thud followed after as his body fell to the floor in a heap, his head with a bullet hole rolling off as his sentence was cut short. Blood pooled fast around his lifeless body.

I exhaled, holstering my weapons. “I never liked him anyway. Talked too damn much.”

Turning to my men, I nodded once. “Take care of this mess.”

Matteo moved immediately as I stepped out, the cold air greeting my face.

“Find this Damien,” I said without looking back. “Before he finds me.”

“Yes sir.”

“Meanwhile… I have an alluring virgin to attain.”