Arianna’s POV
“Eleana what are you talking about?” I asked confusion washing over me.
We were on good terms as long as I knew. Yet she stared at me with an emotion I couldn’t read.
“Haven’t you done enough?” she whispered with spite lacing her voice.
I turned to Sofia and she shrugged as well. We were both in the same state.
“Eleana, I don’t understand. Did I do something?” I asked.
“You did everything! Everything!” she cried out pulling her hair. “Argh!” she hit the bedside lamp and it shattered on the ground. I jumped backward trying to escape the shards.
“Eleana!” Sofia shrieked as a sharp piece of the lamp missed her by mere inches.
Her eyes turned red and they flashed the flames of the anger she could no longer contain. “Sara was right! We were fine on our own! Gabriele gave us everything we wanted but when you came…” she flashed me her teeth and I felt a piece of my soul retreat in fear.
“You came and changed everything! Now Sara has gone and killed herself!”
I felt the blood drain from my face as my body stopped working. Only the sound of my beating heart filled my ears as I looked at her blankly.
“Sara has what?” Sofia whispered from the corner she had retreated from.
“She is dead! And it’s all because of her!” she spat pointing a deadly finger at me.
My motor senses returned and I started by shaking my head. Eleana must have become delusional. How could Sara die? She was overthinking. There was something wrong with her.
“Sofie don’t believe what she says, she is wrong,” I said shaking my head and refusing to believe what she was saying even though at the back of my mind it made a lot of sense.
The noise that had gone off from their side of the mansion. It only made more sense that something in that manner must have happened. But Sara?
“You think I am lying?” she screeched with a scoff. “I am going to avenge her! She was right about you! She was right!” she screamed to my face.
I felt a hand pull me away from her and I turned to find Sofia.
“Don’t worry, I understand, we need to talk to Gabriele about this,” she said and I shook my head.
I was even finding it difficult to compose a sentence. Was Sara really dead?
Just then the door opened. Basilio and Gabriele stepped in followed by an older man with glasses.
Gabriele’s eyes turned darker as soon as they settled on me. “I thought you instructed her maid to keep her away from them?” he spat out and my brows rose.
Was he talking to me?
“I am sorry Fratello, I did tell her,” Basilio replied and came towards us. “Why are you here?” he whispered through his teeth and his eyes flashed angrily at Sofia.
“It was my idea. And I am sorry, it won’t happen again,” I rushed out. Then I took Sofia’s hand. “Let’s go,” I said pulling her along with me.
I tried to keep my eyes straight on the door and refused to look at Gabriele who kept glaring at me.
“Return to my room and stay there,” Gabriele growled and I nodded obediently.
I didn’t have it in me to argue. What I had just heard was too much for me to take. Sara was a problematic two-faced bitch but I never wished for her to die.
“Sofia,” I called as we got to Gabriele’s room.
“Yeah,” she squeaked. The poor thing must have been lost in her thoughts.
This place wasn’t safe for any of us if Sara was dead.
“You should go home. I will manage for the rest of the day. I don’t think it is safe for you here,” I said to her.
She shook her head and held my arm, “Arianna, I may not know much about the mafia world but I am certain there is no place as safe as this mansion. I am safer in here than out there,” she told me.
“How then do you explain, Sara’s death?” I hissed. Sofia could be such a loyal worker sometimes it pissed me off.
Yes, we were not certain if she was truly dead. But if there was one thing we could say for sure, it was the fact that there was an attack and somebody –Sara got hurt.
“I don’t know how to explain that… but we are safe here,” she insisted and I rolled my eyes in exhaustion.
I ran my fingers through my hair and let out a long sigh. “You should go rest. I will face Gabriele. We don’t want him getting mad at you for my actions,” I told her and thankfully she didn’t argue.
“I’ll see you later then,” she said and disappeared out of the room.
I walked deeper and sat on the bed. I have run my fingers through my hair so many times today, my scalp was burning.
Why were there so many problems happening around me?
The door opened shortly afterward and Gabriele stepped in. there were lines at the corners of his eyes as he glared at me.
“Why did you disobey Basilio’s instructions?” he growled.
I could scream at him and make this day a lot worse than it was already but I swallowed everything and dropped my head to my toes. “I am sorry. I really just got worried… it won’t happen again, I promise,” I said.
He stopped for a second and the anger in his eyes seemed to dissipate as he took a step closer.
“What did she tell you?” he asked in a calmer voice.
“Eleana?” I asked looking up at him.
“Yeah. You went to her. What did she tell you?”
Maybe I could get information from him by acting obedient still.
“She said Sara was dead… is that true?” I asked tentatively. Gabriele was a man full of secrets. I crossed my fingers and waited for his reply.
Silence filled the room as he moved to the window and folded his arms across his chest. “Nadia was the one screaming earlier…” he started. “Sara committed suicide,” he added.
“She killed herself?” I squeaked in shock.
What could have Gabriele said to her that would make her kill herself?
“She did and she planted the worst of ideas into Nadia and Eleana before she died,” he said and turned away from the window. “That’s why Basilio asked Sofia to keep you away from them.”
“Oh,” I whispered as Eleana’s words now made sense in my head. Sara must have told them that I was the reason why Gabriele became different towards her… or worst.
“You need to stay away from them till they complete their medication and get returned to their quarters,” he said as he closed the distance between us. “I already have enough problems on my hands, I don’t want more Arianna. Stay away from them,” he said.
At that moment I couldn’t find the man who only wanted to sleep with me. The one who had placed a claim on me as his sex slave was gone and all I saw was a man who genuinely cared for me.
The air above us moved and the tension thickened as we stared into each other’s eyes. I felt pulled towards his very soul. The chemistry was stronger than anything I have ever felt before.
He raised his fingers and brushed against my cheeks slightly. I shivered as the contact brought a cold sweet feeling around me.
His eyes spoke of a thousand things, yet his lips stayed silent. His lips parted yet nothing left them.
Butterflies erupted in my belly and I found myself leaning against his fingers, wishing he could do more than just caress my cheeks. I wish he could tell me what was going on in that mind of his.
I saw someone I could have fallen in love with in his eyes. Someone who wanted nothing but to live a peaceful life. Someone who didn’t enjoy having guns around him. I saw a different Gabriele in that brief second.
But every good moment came to an end eventually. The door cracked open and Basilio popped his head, interrupting our little moment.
“Fratello, I am sorry for interrupting but Demyan is here,” he said.
Gabriele closed his eyes and I could tell just how much he wanted to push everything behind him and stay locked up in his room. My heart went out to him. I was almost reaching for his cheek when he opened those stormy eyes and the mafia king was back.
“Don’t step out of here until I return,” he ordered as he moved to the bedside. He pulled the top drawer open and took out two guns and secured them on his belt.
He gave me a quick nod before disappearing with Basilio out of the room.
Once again, I was left at a crossroads. The women in the house now hated me and Gabriele kept growing on me… was this a curse?