Rodrigo's POV It was more than an insult for a subordinate of mine to hit my brother directly in the face. I was pretty sure it was not meant as an act of disrespect, but, of course, Fabio wouldn't see it that way. He was supposed to beat me up—that was the course of the battle now—but my man had stepped in to intervene and had done a lot more than just defend against him for me. "How dare you!" he asked slowly, clutching his cheek as he looked at the man with fire in his eyes. I stood up as fast as I could, feeling the pain going through my leg. The person did not even care to help me stand up, making me feel hostile towards him. The one thing on my mind now was to call him off and probably insult him. Well, while I was at it, I could probably try to make things right with Fabio. I had only a couple of seconds to decide. I could still turn the situation around if I wanted to, but it would take a lot out of me. A simple word of "sorry" was not enough to make Fabio
Rodrigo's POV "Let me pass," I instructed sternly without coming out of my car. "Do it now and fast, or you'll regret it." I was not with any of my men, which was true, but a standard gatekeeper would be easy for me to handle if he was indeed normal. I wasn't ready to be disrespected in such a way by such a lowlife. "You have to stay here," he said. "The master hasn't allowed you to leave yet." At that very moment, I decided to stop talking with him. He would not listen to my reason, so I had to force him to. Hoping I still had it to defeat an ordinary man, I stood up and opened the door, walking out slowly and calmly to avoid the pain in my leg. The fool stood there waiting. I knew he had a good idea of what I was about to do: a physical fight, organic and bloody, with both of our fists and without weapons. I was a little afraid of his confidence that he could defeat me. If he had managed to do that, I would never have been able to raise my head and look at my
Tanya's POV The both of us were husked away without any form of bind. This time, the man seemed to trust us for some reason, but I could not help but feel grateful. At least now, I could be a little more comfortable. Either way, I couldn't escape with him watching us, but if we put our hands together... I glanced at my grandfather, giving him a questioning look. If he were smart enough, he would get my point. He shook his head in response as we communicated silently. He didn't want the both of us to try to attack this man and take him down. But why? That would be a brilliant way of escaping, and it might even work. "I don't think there's anything to lose," I thought as I braced myself for what would happen. As long as my grandfather joined in the fray when it was time, then it would go well. Either way, the worst that could happen would be that he would tie us back up because I was pretty sure that he did not want us to be beaten up in any way. I threw a punch, a s
Tanya's POV "I don't know anything," I said immediately in a panic, although I had a feeling that it was a bit too late to start denying. "But you just told me that you know him," the man responded, looking at me as if I was making a mistake or was sick. "You are going to tell me everything you know when I ask you about it, or you will tell me everything you know when I force you to tell me. It's your choice." "Who the hell are you?" I asked. "I don't appreciate you using that language," he said. "You are in my care and territory, as you know." "F*** you," I cursed. I could feel the wind blowing towards my face. The next instant, I tensed up, expecting the slap to land on me, but at the last moment, it stopped. I looked up to see the man raising his hand. "Don't hurt her, not yet. I don't know whether she wants to be useful to me. That's a choice for her to make." Turning to me, he continued, "If you try that again—disrespecting me and disobeying the order I just gave
Tanya's POV The table was set, and we faced each other in silence. None of us had started eating yet, and the tension in the air was palpable. “Just say it,” he said to me, looking away. “Why did they get me here? How did they find me out?” I asked him. “I don’t know,” he replied simply. “Is it because of you?” I asked. “Are you dragging me into another one of your messes once more?” He was silent. I waited for him to deny it or at least give me some explanation, but when he didn’t say anything for the next couple of minutes, I guessed that I was correct. He was the cause of all this, and they would not have found me out if not for him. “So you admit it,” I said. He did not say anything either but looked at the food with disinterest. I decided to start eating mine before it went cold. The room was a bit dark, and that would only make it get cold faster. “They already know of our connection with each other,” he told me in a small voice. “You tried to deny it earlier
Tanya's POV I turned around to see a man with dark hair. I squinted for a while, trying to figure out who he was, before realising he was the same man. “What do you want, Dante?” I asked. “Well, I think I’ve just made it,” he said, giving me a strange expression. “And don’t ever call me Dante again. It was just an experiment, but I don’t like that name.” “What is your name then?” I asked. “Or rather, what would you like us to call you?” “That was a pseudonym,” he said. “I was taking on the name of my employer just to see whether you would recognise it at all. You don’t, so there’s no need to continue with the act.” “Really?” I asked. “You haven’t answered my question, though. What is your name? Your real name?” “Enzo,” he replied. “That’s my name, and you should call me that instead of Dante.” “We were still talking,” I said. “I wasn’t about to meet you yet, and you said you would give me time to decide.” “There’s no decision,” he said, stepping forward and waving
Tanya's POV "Please stop," I cried out, seeing that they were very serious about killing him if I didn't cooperate with them. Enzo raised his hand and looked at me. "Do you have anything to say to me?" he asked. "You know exactly how to make me stop. It's not with just one word." "Please," I said, "don't kill him." "Tell me what you know," he responded. "That's the only thing that can save him now. His life is in your hands." "I don't know anything," I responded. "He doesn't let me in on his secrets. Even if I have anything to tell you, it won't be something tangible you can use." "Is that what you thought to tell us when you came here?" he asked me. "Is that the one thought you had in mind? That should explain why you would tell us only something minor and leave the big details outside." "Please," I said, "I'm telling you the truth." "Well, I'm telling you my truth," he said. "You have to tell me everything, but since you are ready to cooperate, at least let's start
Rodrigo's POV The police were doing their best to help me find her; at least, that was what they told me. I was forced to leave their office without knowing what they were doing to see her. How could I be sure that they were putting in any effort at all when I couldn't be told exactly what they were doing? "Trust us on this," the lady said, escorting me out of the place. It was all I could do to stop myself from glaring at her when she said those words. I wasn't about to trust anybody on the matter concerning Tanya. She was the one person I loved, and just after I confessed my feelings to her, she was taken away from me. I entered my car without turning to look at the policewoman anymore. I did not need to make myself angrier by looking at her. If I did, I would only feel as if I had wasted a lot of my time—valuable time that could have been spent looking for her. "You'll find her. Don't worry," they told me. In my mind, I was probably trying to calm myself down as if it wer