Flavio typing something on his laptop. His fingers were so fast in typing the words. Gabriella sat on the couch beside him and took a peak at his work.
“What do you want, dear?” he asks, not moving his gaze on the screen.
“Nothing. Just watch what you are working for. Is it about the clan again?” she guessed.
“Yeah. Too much work,” he sighs, laced with tiredness.
“You know… you should start handing over the clan to Angelo. He deserves it. Besides, you’re getting old, honey,” Gabriella confronts him.
He let out a deep sigh, “I know that. Even though he’s already married and follows the deal, I still have to see whether he marries her just for the deal or not.”
“Is that even a question? Of course for a deal,” she rolls her eyes. She knows how her son is.
“That’s why I can’t let him have the clan just yet.” Flavio pinch the bridge of his nose.
“Calm down. I’m sure Melody can melt his heart. Trust me, I will win this bet,” she grins.
“Shit, I forgot about the bet,” he ruffles his hair. “You still on it, huh?”
“Of course!” she smiles proudly.
Suddenly, Victor walks in and shuts the door. He walks toward the married couple and bowed his head.
“I heard you call for me, sir,”
“Yes, Victor. Remember what I asked you to do these past few days?” Flavio put away his laptop.
“Yes, sir,” he nods.
“Great. Can you tell me what happened? Are there any… sparks between them?” Gabriella chimed in with an excited smile.
Victor pauses for a moment, then smiles softly. It took the married couple by surprise. As far as they know, this man rarely smiles. Just like their son.
“They seem much closer, ma’am, sir,” he smiles.
“Closer!? Like…-Like how!!??” Flavio shocked.
Victor didn’t stop smiling, “I never see Damian treat someone so gently and think about someone else feelings. The sight of him being so comfortable with her, the way he looks at her even though he wasn’t aware of it… everything looked so… different.”
“He changes, sir. He has changed a lot since Melody came into his life,”
Gabriella and Flavio exchange looks. It is hard for them to believe it since that’s out of Damian’s character. Since his twin died, he shut out every person who tried to bring him back.
Even Victor and Matthew can’t. Yet, Melody did it so easily.
“Wow. That was… unexpected,” Flavio mumbles, rubbing his chin.
Gabriella smirks and nudges him, “Do you know what that means?” she opens her palm hand, asking for it.
He looks at his wife and rolls his eyes. He takes out his wallet and pulls some dollars before putting it on his wife’s hand.
“Did you lose the bet, sir?” Victor chuckles.
“Shut it,” he huffs.
___
Matthew and Victor look between them. Damian, who is taking a deep breath on his cigar, then blows it in the air while Melody glares at him. They didn’t know what happened, but there must be something that happened, that is for sure.
It was still early in the morning, and Damian had already called them to come.
“Why does she keep glaring at you, Dam?” Matthew questioned.
“I don’t know. She’s probably on her period or something,” Damian says nonchalantly.
Melody gritted her teeth as he said that. “I’m not!”
“I thought you were,” he shrugs his shoulder.
Victor shakes his head slightly. He felt like he got used to them bickering all the time. It’s not like it was a bad thing. He knows that the only way for them to grow their bond together.
“So, I don’t want to know what happened between you two. Why did you call us here? With Melody,” Matthew looks at his friend in curiosity.
Damian put his cigar on the ashtray. “I want to discuss about the plan.”
“Plan? What plan now?” she grunts, “I don’t want to get involved in your plan,”
“Are you sure? Then, it’s fine. It not like I eager to help you to get your father’s property back,” he shrugs his shoulder.
Her father’s property!?
Melody looks at him stunned. She didn’t expect him to help her after what she did yesterday.
“I thought… you wouldn’t help,”
“I said what I said,” he stares at her.
She felt like all the burdens were lifted off her shoulders. It looks like she doesn’t have to follow her stepfather’s orders anymore.
“What’s your plan then?” Victor chimed in.
“Easy. Frank is stupid, you know that right?” Damian smirks.
Matthew and Victor quickly agreed. Melody just chuckles under her breath. It seems like they think he is stupid, which she didn’t deny, of course. His stupidest is too exposing to everyone.
“I can kill him with just one shot,” Damian says coldly. When he glanced at Melody, “But I wouldn’t do that.”
He remembers the last time when they were in Thailand. That’s the first time he ever saw that side of Melody. Not knowing why, he doesn’t want to repeat the same mistake. Not again.
Damian leans on his couch, “I know Frank probably thinks that Melody wouldn’t tell me about this, but he’s wrong. So, Melody…”
Melody perks up as her name is being called.
“Just go with the flow and inform every action of him. Can you do that?” he arches his eyebrows.
“Sure but… I think he will ask about the information. That’s what he wanted,” she says softly.
“Just give him what he wants,” he smirks.
His words make Matthew and Victor look at him stunned. Giving his clan’s information just like that?
“Damian, what are you talking about? There’s no way you want to give the information to Frank!?” Matthew exclaims, trying to protest.
“Calm down, idiot. It’s not like he can use it for something,” he shakes his head slightly.
“You mean… you give him the fake one?” Victor frowns.
Damian didn’t answer but just smirked.
__
The car parks in front of the penthouse that known as his mafia base. She looks at the penthouse in excitement. This is her first time to be here. She was not sure why Damian brought her here all of a sudden.
“Let’s go,”
He says before he unlocks the door. Melody follows his lead and walks after him. The door opens by the guards, and her jaw drops.
“You got to be kidding me!!! You got a whole castle for you!!” Melody beams.
“It’s not a castle, idiot. It’s penthouse,” he rolls his eyes.
“Still… nothing changes the fact of it,” she smiles. She looks around the place, “I could be lost in this penthouse.”
“Stick with me if you don’t want it to happen,” he says coldly.
Melody turned around and saw Damian already walking. She gasps and runs after him. While they were walking, she could see some guards doing their work and training outside. Some of them having their meals and goofing around.
“This is the main base. My guards live here. Their place is on the right side so don’t go there. That’s where they live,” Damian warns her.
“Why not?”
“I told you, that’s their dorm. My guards are all male. As you can see, they’re kind… of wild,” he nods at something.
Melody looks at where he points at. There, she could see some guards doing something dirty and making videos. She looked away and felt shivers.
“Gosh…”
“I told you,” he smirks.
They stop in front of one room. Damian pushed the door open, and it was the training section. Melody looked around to see all the men were topless. They lift weights, push up, exercise and do combats.
The smell of sweat hit her nostrils. She scrunched her nose, “What are we doing in here?”
“Training you,” Damian says bluntly.
“I see,” she slowly nods. Then, her eyes wide open. “WHAT!!??”
All guards move their attention to her when her voice echoes in the training section. Damian looks at her with an unbothered expression. He knows he will get this kind of expression.
“What’s wrong?”
Melody frowns, “Don’t you know what’s wrong with me!! What do you mean by ‘training me’?”
“I notice you need to keep yourself indoors and don’t even do something that could make you sweat,” he explains.
“I’m fine! I’m healthy!!” she protested.
“You are healthy; I didn’t deny it,” he shrugs his shoulder. “But, I’m not always with you. You can’t depend on my guards all the time.”
“What do you mean?” Melody looks up at him.
Damian walks toward her. His gazes fall on her wrist where the bruise is. He clenches his jaw, and even his expression is stoic.
“You need to defend yourself. Even for a bit,”
“Defend myself…” she mumbles.
Damian went to one table and rummaged the box. He pulls out some boxing gloves. He takes off his top, leaving him in his sweatpants.
“Wait, hold on. Why this is out of sudden!?” Melody moves to him.
“Nothing is out of sudden,” he says nonchalantly.
“Dami-” her sentence got cut off when Damian shoved the boxing gloves to her.
“Go change your clothes. Don’t be late,” he says firmly before walking off.
Melody is standing there in confusion, thinking about what just happened. She looks at the boxing gloves.
“Did something hit that old man’s head or what?”